heartofdakota.com

I sent Carrie an email and the email response said that Carrie has been very busy and please post on the message boards...so any advice would be appreciated!

I am considering Preparing Hearts for my 9 y/os next year. We did Heart of Dakota Beyond 2 yrs ago and switched for 3rd gr because someone gave me the Sonlight core 3, American History Part 1. I was planning to do the 2nd 1/2 of Amer Hist with them next year(Core 4) but my son is having a hard time with Sonlight's rigorous reading schedule, and frankly I'm behind on read-alouds too(there are a TON). He said he misses HOD and he liked it better last year, however I know he'd love reading about Abe Lincoln, Civil Wars, etc in Amer History 2. I hate to miss the 2nd 1/2 of Amer History.

I saw that Preparing is World History. When does HOD focus on Amer History, learning states & capitals, etc? I'm just not sure what to do.


> Thanks for your help,
> Amy Farmer

Preparing is an overview of World History. There is obviously some American history in there. The guide Rev. to Rev. has a state study included in it. You can look at the Table of Contents to see where in history it stops. Carrie will then be writing another guide that will go from there up to Modern History. My ds loved Preparing. It gave him enough of an overview of world history so that he had some hooks to hang future information on. This year in CTC he was able to understand so much more about what was going on because he had that overview first. Preparing also does a great job of teaching writing skills including written narration and starts having dc do some of the reading themselves, but in small doses so they aren't overwhelmed.

I just realized the Table of Contents isn't up yet for Revival to Revolution. You can look at the book packages to see some of the things that are covered.

Have you considered Bigger, possibly with extensions? It is a wonderful, biographical approach to US History. We enjoyed it thoroughly. My nephew used Bigger when he was 10 going on 11. It has great flexibility to it. Just something to consider.
Laura

Bigger Hearts may be a good fit. Have you had a chance to check out the placement chart? That is soooo helpful in deciding which guide to use as it helps dc be accurately placed. Here is a link to that...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you get a chance to share about your ds with the first page of the placement chart in mind, we'll all chime in and help! We have used all of HOD's guides, and they are all good. The history cycle comes around again and again, so wherever your ds places best skillwise will have him on the path to success year after year. I'll check back later!

In Christ,
Julie

I just remembered this past post that may be of interest to you too...

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6204&p=45509#p45509

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for all your advice. My DS could def fit into Bigger with extensions. my DD(his twin) is more in line w/ preparing for sure but would be ok with extensions. I would have to skip a chunk of Bigger though because we've already done the 1st 1/2 of American History. A friend of mine has Bigger. I will ask her if she minds me taking a look at it, or possibly borrowing it. Could I use Writers Express along with this program?
thx,
Amy
DS 9, DD 9, DS 4

You may find that even though you've covered the time period, you'll want to do the entire program because of it's biographical approach. The program before Bigger is Beyond and it covers roughly the same time period but from a different perspective. You could certainly add a writing program if you wish, but you may find it to be plenty as is. I have found over and over again that the more I leave it alone and do what is written, the better the program is and the more I love it.
hth,
Laura

Amy,

Thanks for posting on the message board and for understanding that this is the best way to get in touch with me (and with other wonderfully helpful HOD moms) right now! The ladies are giving you terrific advice and thoughts to ponder.

As I'm reading your post, I'm not quite sure I have a good feel about where each of your twins fit best as individuals on the first page only of the placement chart right now, all thoughts of the history cycle aside.

So, if you get a chance to pop back and share where each of your twins fit best on the first page of the placement chart, than we can advise you so much better on the best fit for the longer haul. This is because the skills on the placement chart are the skills needed to complete the lessons in the guide on a daily basis. So, a good fit skill-wise is so important. I'm especially wondering about some examples of what they're reading on their own right now, whether they're ready to read and follow written directions somewhat independently, how easily they write and copy longer sentences/paragraphs, and how much grammar they've had? Here's a link to the placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie. DS copies things just fine. I have him copying short poems, scripture etc. He's struggling with spelling, reads pretty well, although his fluency is not great. He still tries to spell by what the word sounds like sometimes(although he's improving). I've been having him write paragraphs and afterward I go over his punctuation and spelling with him, and have him practice the words he's misspelled. He still forgets to capitalize and tends to write long run-on sentences with no periods. In 2nd grade he wrote a 36 page story he made up and I don't think there was one period . He loves to write freely and make comic books, etc. We've been doing Rod & Staff 2 this year(slow speed), and some Easy Grammar 3. He also completed Rod & Staff Spelling 3, some of Horizons Spelling 3, and Handwriting without Tears Cursive(although he despises cursive lol). We did a lot of the Sonlight Language activities too(writing mostly). I have Drawn into the heart of Reading 2-3 but we haven't used it yet. For math we started with Saxon 3, and are now doing Rod & Staff Arith 3. Oh, and some of the books DS & DD have read this year are Om-kas-toe, Sarah Whicher's Story, Squanto, George Washington, Oragami Yoda, the Nate The Great books.
DD has used the same spelling grammar & math books as her brother. She is a good speller & reader. She had no trouble with the Sonlight readers, and is now reading Little House in the Big Woods. She also enjoyed the Diary of a Wimpy kid books & The Secret Garden. She can read bigger books, such as The Ark, The Reed & the Firecloud, (which we're reading for fun), but prefers not to:). She writes in cursive when I ask her to. She still needs a lot of guidance with grammar and punctuation.
Both children are definitely having trouble organizing their thoughts into paragraphs and understanding how that works. I have them work on paragraphs some days, Sonlight assignment some days, and sometimes just a journal. They follow instructions pretty well, but prefer that I'm there helping when specific instructions involving writing are given, unless it's creative-type writing. This year when we did Lewis & Clark, I gave them poster boards and had them make a"newspaper" with pictures and an article about Lewis & Clark. They loved it, and did most of it by themselves! They also did a research assignment where they had to write facts from books or the internet and write a page about their animal. That took a lot of help from me. I think that's about it! Thanks:).
Amy

lmercon wrote:You may find that even though you've covered the time period, you'll want to do the entire program because of it's biographical approach. The program before Bigger is Beyond and it covers roughly the same time period but from a different perspective. You could certainly add a writing program if you wish, but you may find it to be plenty as is. I have found over and over again that the more I leave it alone and do what is written, the better the program is and the more I love it.
hth,
Laura

We did Beyond yr before last.

meandmycuties,

Thanks so much for taking the time to share a bit more about your kiddos. It is so helpful to me, in offering better placement advice!

I'm leaning toward Bigger Hearts as being the best placement for your twins for a few reasons. First, it would give them time to grow into the CM style skills of oral narration, studied dictation, and copywork. Second, Bigger Hearts takes a bit less time in the day than Preparing Hearts, which would allow you to really dig into DITHR, which it sounds like both of your children are ready to have! DITHR will provide a wonderful foundation in thinking more deeply about what is read and learning to read with moral discernment.

Third, from doing Sonlight myself with my oldest son (for almost 4 years), I know that there is a different set of skills being required in our guides than those required within Sonlight. We just have two different philosophies. So, I can't imagine jumping from Beyond to Preparing Hearts without having the skill training that is contained within Bigger Hearts in between. Bigger is a big teaching year for foundational skills that are needed in Preparing Hearts. Last, while your kiddos may be able to do Preparing Hearts with quite a bit of help from you, my concern lies in the following year when they head into CTC. I know kiddos can make great strides, but I fear that you may always be having to help them more than we'd like you to in each subsequent guide, if you do Preparing Hearts instead, which can actually steal a child's independence over time. So, I feel safer in recommending Bigger Hearts, knowing you can always add the extensions if needed to extend if needed.

You will have a much better idea of what your children can do than me though, as I'm basing my comments on what you've shared here so far. So, if I am off-base, you will know better.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,
Should I use the DITHOR 2/3 next yr with Bigger or get the 4/5? (they'll be in 4th)
thx,
Amy

Amy,

Depending on how they feel about written work, and on how much independence you'd like them to have, they could go either way. Level 2/3 will be much gentler and require less writing. It will also require them to be with you for each lesson. If you desire them to have more written work, and to move toward some independence in this area, then you'd instead do Level 4/5. I'm thinking that through Beyond you've already had some exposure to literary concepts, and you'll get more in Bigger Hearts read-alouds. So, if the writing isn't a barrier, I would lean toward doing Level 4/5. If the writing is a barrier, then I'd do Level 2/3.

Blessings,
Carrie