heartofdakota.com

Hi,

I have several questions for you experienced HOD users. I have been strongly considering using HOD CTC next year for my dd. She will be 11 in June and entering the 6th grade. I've come to the conclusion that I need a schedule. I have 4 children ages 3-12. My oldest is mentally/ physically handicapped. My 9 yr old has other less severe learning disabilities.I also work part-time. I would love to live in an ideal world where I had ample time each week to plan and pull together supplies. However, I've finally accepted that curricula no matter how wonderful that are teacher intensive are not going to get consistently done in my house. TOG- this means you!

I returned from my state convention on Friday. Last year there was a large HOD booth. Unfortunately, HOD did not come to the NC state convention this year. I was very disappointed because even though I have looked extensively at the samples online I have yet to actually hold a guide in my hands. Also, I was hoping to talk to the vendor personally because I do have several questions. If anyone could help me out I would really appreciate it.

1. Is there definitely a schedule for the extension books used for storytime? I would most likely order these instead of the history pack.

2. Are there comprehension questions that go along with the storytime books a la Sonlight or is comprehension linked to the narration exercises? Is there more than just a reading list? I think she would enjoy reading some of the titles in the history pack but it would be great to have a question or two per chapter to ensure that she is "getting it". (HOD appeals to me more than Sonlight because of the more detailed daily schedule. In addition, I believe that HOD is less expensive which is a consideration for me.)

3. Are the student page notebooks done well? Do they require higher thinking skills or are they fill in the blank types pages?

4. CTR uses Apologia's Land Animals book which I already own. It also uses 4 or 5 supplementary books - one on birds, two on anatomy and medicine and maybe one more. From the sample I see students are directed to create a science notebook. Wouldn't it make more sense to use the Apologia notebook that goes with the course? She did Flying Animals this year and loved it. I wondering how often the supplemental books are used and if student also create notebook pages for these additional books.

Thanks in advance for any comments/ suggestions. I appreciate your input.

Trafal

Welcome, I will try and answer your questions since we just finished up CTC and loved it.
1) There is a schedule for the extensions, but since we didn't use those I am not sure how that works if you use those, hopefully someone else can answer this question.
2) HOD follows the CM philosophy. There aren't really comprehension questions per say for anything. Instead you have CM style narration and activities scheduled after each day for each storytime book. One day they do a detailed oral narration, one day a summary oral narration (5 sentences only), one day they alternate between a skit, an advertisement for the book, a picture of something that was meaningful to them in the reading, or they write 2 questions on a slip of paper and ask you about it and you write 2 questions and ask them about it. The last day is an activity where you and your dc take 5 minutes to look up verses in Proverbs that pertain to the storytime book. I found that the doing these really pushed the level of comprehension for my ds, much more than just asking him simple questions. Since their aren't questions that are specific to a book you can use either the history titles or the girl interest titles. We used the history titles and my ds enjoyed them all.
3) The student notebook pages are incredible. Truly a keepsake. Again no fill in the blank type things, other than writing the generations of Noah or things like that. They do have a prophecy of Christ chart they keep, but even with that they have to summarize what they think the prophesy is. You have boxes where they put their written narration, their copywork which is either a specific verse or one day a week they pick something significant out to write as copy work. They also put their Draw and Write through history drawings in their notebook as well as their timeline and sometimes their crafts that they do if they are something that will fit in a notebook. Also some mapping is included. I haven't seen notebooking pages of this quality anywhere. Did you see the sample at this link? http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTCSam ... teBook.pdf This doesn't show some of the maps and other things that are on the pages.
4) You work through all of the Science books as that is your Science for the year. They aren't supplemental. You start with 14 weeks using the Apologia book. Carrie has her own notebooking assignments that go along with the Apologia book. They make their own animal track book where they are doing copywork of bible verses as well as putting in the animals tracks of animals they learn about. Other notebooking is also done. They also do a Bird book and a plant book when they do those books. They truly are keepsake books. For the History of Medicine they answer questions at the end of each chapter and for the Anatomy book they notebook various diagrams of things like the respiratory system and the eye. They also do an experiment each week that goes with whatever book they are reading.

Hope this helps. It really is a very full program with so many things that tie in together that really get the dc to think and absorb what they are reading. Nothing is read that doesn't have some type of follow up activity.

Thank you much for taking the time to give me such a detailed response. I placed my order this afternoon for CTC. We plan to start the new school year the first week in August and I'm really looking forward to using these materials.

Trafal

Trafal,
Welcome to HOD LynnH did such a good job of answering you, I just wanted to comment on your first question. The extension books are not just for story time, they are to extend the area of history for mature 6th and 7th graders that are strog independent readers. So depending on where your daughter is in that area you may or may not need the extensions. If you do choose to add them, then they would be read on top off(as extra reading) the history already scheduled into CTC. I hope this makes sense!!

OOps, I just saw that you already placed your order and I bet they walked you through that already!

Beverett,

I ordered online and did not talk to anyone at HOD. I did not realize that the extension pack was additional reading not a replacement for the history pack. Thanks for the info!

Trafal

Trafal - sorry we missed you at Winston-Salem! HOD attended the FL convention this year, as we have been invited there for the past 8 years and never attended. HOD posts the conference schedule on the website here, so you can see next year which conventions HOD is scheduled to attend. We also attended the Greenville, SC convention this year, and many HOD families attended that instead of Winston Salem. Here's a link to the conference schedule...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/conference.php

The ladies did a wonderful job of helping here already, so I will just say that I hope you have a great year with CTC! We loved our year in CTC - such a better way to learn about the ancients than I had back when I was in school. The notebook is lovely - I think you will enjoy it! This board is a neat place to come and be encouraged, and to encourage others. The ladies here are so giving of their time, and are so uplifting. I look forward to getting to know you here!

In Christ,
Julie