What guides are you using?

[RSmith]

We are using Little Hearts for His Glory for my son's Kindergarten year, and we are loving it!

My favorite parts of the guide include:
* Reading the Thornton Burgess books together. Sometimes we laugh so hard at the characters. I'm also amazed at how much we are learning about animals. A few days ago, we were reading a different book that was explaining habits of little animals. My son got so excited and exclaimed, "That sounds like Danny Meadow Mouse!"
* All of the fun activities Carrie has written for us. This makes learning so enjoyable and memorable.
* The historical emphasis of the guide. I love that my five year old has gained a concept of history.

Honestly, I could write something on every box of the guide. We really do love everything about this curriculum. One thing I love in general, is that I can see my son's skills develop and grow as we continue the guide. I've seen such growth in his reading, listening, and comprehension skills since we started in August. I also really appreciate how this curriculum has given him such a positive perspective on learning and school. His little sister gets to participate in the Rhymes in Motion section and the Steve Green songs, and she loves "school" too. We all have so much fun with LHFHG, and it is giving us such a meaningful way to spend our days.

[my3sons]

Thanks for sharing these pics Julie!

I was intrigued when CookFamilyHomeschool mentioned Crusades and Clues. It sounds like something will enjoy immensely and RTR is our guide next year with my daughter so I am excited!

You are going to love the Crusades and clues history project! Whichever son was actually doing the RTR guide got to head it up, but the other two always joined in! I remember sharing the picture of the 3 of them going up the stairs and someone asking how my youngest was doing the RTR guide and how old he was! I laughed and said he was only about 3 years old and he wasn't 'doing' the guide at all - he just was joining the Crusades with his brothers and then off to play. Hope you and your daughter enjoy that RTR history project as much as we did!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

RSmith - too cute your son connected Danny Meadow Mouse to another book about little animals! Those connections our kiddos make are evidence of learning just becoming a way of life with HOD. The activities Carrie wrote were always favorites in LHFHG for our sons too. I was glad they had reasons to move that had purpose - because they were going to be moving anyway! It seemed they were always on the move at that age. History has become a favorite of everyone in our home, and it is definitely due to HOD because I personally did not like history prior to HOD.

So happy you've been able to see your son grow in his skills over these past months! That truly is such a blessing and worth celebrating. HOD is such a positive, inspirational approach to homeschooling. I have appreciated that through the guides as well. Often times little ones join in the fun - your little daughter already sees ''school" as something she enjoys and loves to do. That is a wonderful beginning for her and a great mindset to have in place already. I often found Hide 'em in Your Heart's songs lifted me up as much as my children. I also found I might have needed to hear their message as much as my sons did.

I like what you said about spending your days in a meaningful way with HOD - I feel that way too. I truly believe that homeschooling is a God-given purpose for parents. It is a meaningful way to spend our time as much as it is a meaningful way for our children to spend their time. So glad you are seeing the fruit of that in your homeschool days too! Thanks for sharing!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Rice - sounds like you have a great plan for pairing up your oldest two coming up! I know many Canadians add some Canadian books at some point. Did you find some good resources? I am always getting asked that by families I help from Canada - I have a few suggestions noted, but I'd love to hear anything you've found if you have some good ones!

Emmett is doing well with WH's ACE Biology too - praise God! That has been such an area of growth for him, and it sounds like it has been for your kiddo too. Emmett used to rush through those answers and make some silly mistakes or even miss doing some of them. Now he takes his time and works through them efficiently - he rarely misses any. So thankful for that change in him!

Congrats to your 12 yo finishing RevtoRev and starting MTMM! Had to smile at him being glad his written narrations are back on Day 4! My sons like routine such as that too. Boyhood and Beyond was a favorite of ours, so glad you'll be finishing that and enjoying that together - summer is a perfect time to do that!

Congrats also to your pair who finished PHFHG and started CTC! Riley was always on a 'start-a-new-guide-in-January- schedule for many years. I loved having a new guide to begin after Christmas as much as I loved returning to finish his guide after summer. Also fun to start a few new guides (with my other sons) in August. The way HOD increases skills from guide to guide is a favorite part of mine too. Your son's reading improving after vision therapy and after moving through the ERS and Level 2 DITHOR is really something to be proud of - what gains that will impact him lifelong!!! Sounds like you have a great plan with the reading of the history and gradually transitioning to having the kiddos do it - Carrie did that with Beau in CTC as well, and it worked so well; it was just the transition he needed to confidently do the reading well later. Watercolor painting- yes! A favorite of our sons too - especially Riley, who is my most artistic son.

What a good b-day 'gift' for your 5 yo to begin phonics - such a fun idea to link the start to his birthday! I think that is precious that he gets the LHTH and chooses what to do as you read the boxes. I 100% get being unsure if you are ready to start your 'last time' through the guides yet - that has always been me with my youngest Emmett.

I get teary thinking about it STILL... my last time through LHTH, my last time through LHFHG... fast forward to the present - my last time through World History. I am trying to live in the moment and not think too far ahead because there is much JOY in the present.

And that was the purpose of this question I posed! To share the guides we are enjoying and our favorite parts about them! Thanks for sharing!

In Christ,
Julie

[momtofive]

What a lovely thread, Julie!

It's been fun reading everyone's posts...

I've not posted on here in quite some time. Life's been pretty crazy over the last year and a half. My oldest got married last fall, and that's been quite interesting. All good, but what a year!

This year we are down to "just" my youngest two, in 11th and 9th grades. I can't believe these two are both high schoolers. When we found HOD in 2010 they were just toddlers. This year they are doing US History I, and World Geography guides. Our favorite parts about both of these guides are the books, and the AMAZING discussions we have about them! We've enjoyed both of these guides so much, and find this method of learning to be the very best for our family! So thankful we found HOD when we did! What a blessing!

[my3sons]

Thanks, Lisa! I have enjoyed this thread as well! Congrats on your oldest getting married - so exciting! We had such fun with Cole and Morgan's wedding, but yes - it was busy! All our sons were in the wedding, so that was pretty special. So neat to think of your oldest finding God's special chosen spouse - such a blessing!

So you are down to just the two? My, time does fly. USI and WG - two amazing guides with some equally amazing books! I totally agree - the books and the discussions are a favorite around here too. We too find this method of learning to be such a good fit for our family. So glad you are having a great year, and thanks for being an encourager to your family and to HOD families on this board!

In Christ,
Julie

[The2youngs]

We're down to our last 5 weeks of the year! With coming home on furlough, 15,000 miles of cross-country travel, and a delay to our timeline due to my husband's knee surgery, it's hard to believe we've made it through as well as we did! I have to say, having my kids using HOD for so many years means they're well-versed in independence and know just what to do next...even when we're car-schooling or digging books out of boxes in yet another temporary home. I'm so thankful for that!!! We've had our hiccups this year and it definitely didn't feel like my best year of teaching, but despite all of that - rather than dragging ourselves through the finish line, we're actually cruising right in!

My youngest is finishing CTC for 5th grade and (like any good last-born!) is determined to be as independent as possible! Her independent reading has come a long way, but we've utilized a couple Librivox recordings to listen and follow along with for some of her storytime books. In hopes of streamlining what I knew would be a crazy school year, I decided to go off-course and choose a science that my girls could do together. Sigh... literally every time I talk myself into choosing a different science than what Carrie has written in, I regret it. Someday I will learn! They've managed to do fine, but I feel like science has lacked life and understanding this year. Finances and lack of physical space to carry any more books around the country led me to just keep on with it, but I do wish I had just stayed the course and gone with what the guide had! Next year - Res to Res as written, with the exception of continuing CLE language arts instead of R&S!

My older daughter is finishing Rev to Rev for 7th. She's not much of a history buff, which makes me sad, but she's so diligent and so faithful in her studies. That character trait will serve her so well in the future. Our saving grace has been the living literature books that complement HOD's history studies. Without fail, I'll hand her a book and she'll balk at what she thinks will be a boring read. Lo and behold, she'll come back with a sheepish grin and a "I actually really like this book, Mom!" Next year she'll do MTMM as written, with the exception of continuing CLE instead of R&S.

My younger son is finishing MTMM for 8th. Unlike his sister, he THRIVES on history. He's absolutely loving the Presidents' Study and has regaled us with numerous stories that he's learned. His reading abilities are off the charts and he just loves every single book he's read with HOD! (Frequently, I'll bring up a book that is coming up in a future year and he'll admit that he's already snagged it when his older brother had it and read through it! ) Nonetheless, he's somewhat challenged in the areas of focus and attention, so as we move into the high school years with WG, we'll have to see whether he'll need any modifying to get through all the requirements of high school. I believe I'll be hard pressed to persuade him to give up any of the Living Library books as he is certain to love all of them.

My oldest son is finishing WH for 10th. He's a good student and is very task oriented, so he doesn't waste any time getting his stuff done. This year's Fine Art course has been a challenge to him as he doesn't consider himself a super "artsy" kid, but I've been pleased with how much effort he's put into it and I think he's been proud of his accomplishments in it. He's thoroughly enjoyed this year's literature selections - Count of Monte Cristo was his favorite! As he's moving into the last two years of HS and looking ahead to his career of choice (sports broadcasting), we've made the decision to dual enroll him for a few courses to knock out some GE credits as he wants to then attend our org's 2-year Bible school before transferring to a 4-year university to complete his degree. I plan to still utilize as much of HOD as humanly possible (without overloading him!) as I just love the richness of it!

Looking forward to next year and each kid enjoying all that comes with it! I love that each kid gets something different out of each guide and all the beautiful books!

[JPauls]

I have three girls (grades 5, 7 and 7) using Creation to Christ. It is our first year with Heart of Dakota and we are loving it. Next year we plan to continue with Resurrection to Reformation. We use almost all the books as read-alouds for group learning. The littler ones often listen in as well. The exception to this would be the extensions for our oldest two, which they read on their own. My two favorite things about this curriculum is that we can make it work for family learning, and still strengthen their ability to work independently.

[my3sons]

Heather - congratulations on cruising into your last 5 weeks of the homeschool year! HOORAY! You can feel so good about all that has been accomplished despite some pretty major things happening in life! I too have found that during some of life's hardest challenges, our sons have been able to rise to the occasion and move successfully onward through their HOD guides due to the previous years that prepared them so well for "a time such as this"!

So happy to hear of your youngest dd's progress in her independent reading, and congrats to her for her year in CTC! Have fun returning to RTR's science! Your RevtoRev dd reminds me of my youngest son - not as much of a lover of history, but always drawn into the books and eventually enjoying what he reads enough that I can tell he's learning so much. So glad your 8th grader loves learning about history and enjoys his President Study (there are so many interest piquing stories in that study)! Congrats to him as he finishes RevtoRev! Focus. Attention. Ahhh, yes, I understand those areas to improve upon as well. I know you will see continued improvements in these areas as he grows and matures. So much happens between the start of MTMM and the end of WG! I have found WH is the amazing harvest for the time spent growing and maturing in MTMM and WG.

Congrats to your oldest nearing the end of WH! Your description here of him reminds me exactly of my oldest son...
...He's a good student and is very task oriented, so he doesn't waste any time getting his stuff done. This year's Fine Art course has been a challenge to him as he doesn't consider himself a super "artsy" kid, but I've been pleased with how much effort he's put into it and I think he's been proud of his accomplishments in it. He's thoroughly enjoyed this year's literature selections - Count of Monte Cristo was his favorite!...

Wyatt is now 23 yo, and he just reread Count of Monte Cristo over his lunch breaks at work! He LOVED that book! Kind of fun, as my youngest son, Emmett, was also reading it for WH. I think it made Emmett really enjoy reading it all the more because he is so close to Wyatt and thinks the world of him. Wyatt now works full time as a sales trainee and one of the guys who worked there came in the lunch room and saw Wyatt reading Count of Monte Cristo. He told Wyatt he LOVED that book too! That he'd read 5 different versions of it and watched 2 different movies of it. He told Wyatt he was impressed Wyatt was reading it! Just kind of neat for Wyatt to meet someone else so into that book too. Just like your oldest, he was not as artsy, but he did feel good about his effort and accomplishments in WH Fine Arts. So proud of our sons for giving their best to what they do - a wonderful quality to have!

I love your attitude here...
Looking forward to next year and each kid enjoying all that comes with it! I love that each kid gets something different out of each guide and all the beautiful books!

Yes, me too! Looking forward to next year and enjoying all that comes with it too! I also love that each kid gets something different out of each guide and all the beautiful books! I could not agree more. Thank you so much for sharing here, Heather!!! And thank you for homeschooling your children with HOD these many years! We are incredibly thankful and consider it a blessing!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Jpauls - Just loved reading you and your 3 girls are loving your first year with HOD! CTC is such a Christ-centered, God-honoring, intriguing way to teach the ancients, so glad your 3 girls are enjoying it! I am sure you will love RTR just as much. Congrats on making HOD work for your family and for strengthening independent working abilities too!!! Thanks so much for sharing here!

In Christ,
Julie