Hey Again
Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 2:27 pm
Hi ladies (some look familiar...some do not),
We've been gone from HOD for almost 2 years. In fact I came back here and saw my signature and realized two full years had passed since I'd updated it. WOW.
We left HOD during Little Hearts in K for various reasons. I think the biggest reason was that I was trying to make myself work for the guide exactly as written instead of making the guide work for me and my daughter as we needed it. I kind of felt all or nothing was the way to go. So, since I couldn't make it all work for us, I thought I was failing at it and we stopped using it. And I can admit that since I couldn't do it as written it was easier for me to think there was something wrong with HOD (to make myself feel better, I suppose.) *sigh* But those were my shortcomings. HOD is a great program! It was just easier to pretend it wasn't because I felt like I failed.
Plus my life got REALLY stressful with day care during that time. I had 3 kids under 3 and one was making our home life a literal MESS. I've never in my 9 years of day care and PS seen a child so off the deep end. I was extremely depressed that year by tried to hide it. It was a really dark time for me but I couldn't stop watching him for a couple of reasons.....
I will say that we've done a textbook approach for the past two years and it has worked great for us with regards to the day care. Very "get it done" approach. My daughter thrived on it and she has done well. I was able to focus on all the kids more and not worry about all the extras.
But that season of life is changing for us a bit. I still have day care but will no longer have the stressful child in my care starting next week. My own two children are much older. I will only possibly have 2 daycare kids in the fall (a 4 year old and an infant.) And add to that that because of the difficulty of the past two years we have not incorporated Bible into our school day at all, not like I'd planned to. It was just to easy to let it go. But I don't want that. I miss engaging in discussions and loving what we were doing.
I am seeing a child who is excelling in academics but is not getting spiritually fed like she (and my son) should be from home. I've felt the Lord pulling at my heart that I only have them a short time and I'm wasting opportunities.... and then my daughter has recently started talking about activities we did in Little Hearts with fondness. I honestly didn't think she even remembered them but she does. I haven't heard her talk about anything else we've used like that. Don't get me wrong....she is a workbook kind of girl but she loves to read. In fact, we have used the emerging readers list for her this year in 1st from our library. She loved them!
All that to say, I had already purchased our curriculum for next year back in March. But even with all the stuff we are using, I am wanting to fit in Beyond for some areas. I am thinking the Bible, storytime, DITHOR, copywork, poetry, etc. My son will just be doing the basics like phonics, handwriting and math and tagging along with us for Bible. Does that sound feasible to add in those areas for now as that would be the cheapest route since I have the others covered.
It is funny but recently both of my kids have been asking me to reread Reddy Fox for lunch time. Those read alouds that I did when my son was 2, he still remembers and was begging me to read them again!!! So it has been fun to revisit Reddy and the other Burgess characters.
Please let me know your thoughts about adding in Beyond for the areas I listed for this coming school year. I really love where HOD is going, love how you incrementally teach independence as the students get older, and now that you are doing high school that is VERY exciting long term. Thanks!
We've been gone from HOD for almost 2 years. In fact I came back here and saw my signature and realized two full years had passed since I'd updated it. WOW.
We left HOD during Little Hearts in K for various reasons. I think the biggest reason was that I was trying to make myself work for the guide exactly as written instead of making the guide work for me and my daughter as we needed it. I kind of felt all or nothing was the way to go. So, since I couldn't make it all work for us, I thought I was failing at it and we stopped using it. And I can admit that since I couldn't do it as written it was easier for me to think there was something wrong with HOD (to make myself feel better, I suppose.) *sigh* But those were my shortcomings. HOD is a great program! It was just easier to pretend it wasn't because I felt like I failed.
Plus my life got REALLY stressful with day care during that time. I had 3 kids under 3 and one was making our home life a literal MESS. I've never in my 9 years of day care and PS seen a child so off the deep end. I was extremely depressed that year by tried to hide it. It was a really dark time for me but I couldn't stop watching him for a couple of reasons.....
I will say that we've done a textbook approach for the past two years and it has worked great for us with regards to the day care. Very "get it done" approach. My daughter thrived on it and she has done well. I was able to focus on all the kids more and not worry about all the extras.
But that season of life is changing for us a bit. I still have day care but will no longer have the stressful child in my care starting next week. My own two children are much older. I will only possibly have 2 daycare kids in the fall (a 4 year old and an infant.) And add to that that because of the difficulty of the past two years we have not incorporated Bible into our school day at all, not like I'd planned to. It was just to easy to let it go. But I don't want that. I miss engaging in discussions and loving what we were doing.
I am seeing a child who is excelling in academics but is not getting spiritually fed like she (and my son) should be from home. I've felt the Lord pulling at my heart that I only have them a short time and I'm wasting opportunities.... and then my daughter has recently started talking about activities we did in Little Hearts with fondness. I honestly didn't think she even remembered them but she does. I haven't heard her talk about anything else we've used like that. Don't get me wrong....she is a workbook kind of girl but she loves to read. In fact, we have used the emerging readers list for her this year in 1st from our library. She loved them!
All that to say, I had already purchased our curriculum for next year back in March. But even with all the stuff we are using, I am wanting to fit in Beyond for some areas. I am thinking the Bible, storytime, DITHOR, copywork, poetry, etc. My son will just be doing the basics like phonics, handwriting and math and tagging along with us for Bible. Does that sound feasible to add in those areas for now as that would be the cheapest route since I have the others covered.
It is funny but recently both of my kids have been asking me to reread Reddy Fox for lunch time. Those read alouds that I did when my son was 2, he still remembers and was begging me to read them again!!! So it has been fun to revisit Reddy and the other Burgess characters.
Please let me know your thoughts about adding in Beyond for the areas I listed for this coming school year. I really love where HOD is going, love how you incrementally teach independence as the students get older, and now that you are doing high school that is VERY exciting long term. Thanks!