Considering HOD...

[Clay in IN]

My name is Clay, and my wife and I are considering Heart of Dakota for this upcoming school year. We've read a lot on the website and discussion boards and like what we have seen so far. We really appreciate the desire to exalt the Lord in an educational process tailored for homeschoolers. We were wondering if you might have any placement advice for us. Our son is currently 6 (turning 7 in September) and has been doing "1st grade" using a combination of Sonlight (core 1) and Rod and Staff (1st grade) resources. As we consider making the switch to HOD, we were thinking that "Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory" would perhaps be the best. He has been doing Singapore Math 1A/1B this year, and he reads quite well. Do you have any helpful hints as to whether "Beyond" would be the right choice? We have two younger daughters who recently turned 4 and 2, so we would also be interested in any recommendations regarding our 4-year-old. Would you recommend starting her in "Little Hands to Heaven" this year, or perhaps wait another year? Thanks for your time and insights.

[funkmomma71]

Welcome to HOD, may God bless your curriculum decision. The best thing you can do to determine which program is the best fit would be to go to the placement chart. It sounds as if your ds could go with either Beyond (using the second grade recources) or with Bigger. If you go with Beyond you'll do 2 years of American History and then move into World History. Another advantage to starting with Beyond is that you get one more year of HOD than if you start with Bigger and if your ds needs to go in areas like copywork or reading aloud then this maybe a good place to start. Ultimately you will have to pray for guidance and follow the Lord's leading. As for your 4 year-old, starting LHTH now is probably a great idea, you could even go at a slower pace to get her started. God Bless!!

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Clay! I second your appreciation of HOD's goal to exalt the Lord in their guides, with the intent to make homeschooling an academic success as well. We have loved how close our dc are growing to the Lord through our time spent in HOD, and I've also been relieved to know all of their academic needs are being met soundly.

Thanks for what you've shared so far about your dc! Nancy had a great idea to check out the placement chart. It is very accurate and quite easy to use. It has accurately placed each of our dc over the years. Here is a link to the placement chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you could please share a little bit about your 6 yo's reading - perhaps a few titles of books he has read recently? Also, his writing - is he able to do some copywork, beginning spelling, and start some gentle grammar? I also wondered if he is able to listen to books read aloud that have fewer pictures.

As far as your 4 yo - I am thinking LHTH would be a nice fit. As far as starting her now or later, could you please share if she knows any of her letters/sounds? Also can she color, cut, paste a bit, and how does she listen to short picture books read out loud? One last question, would you like to combine your 2 and 4 yo together at some point if possible?

After you share a bit about your kiddos, we'll all be sure to chime in with ideas and find a super HOD fit for you!

In Christ,
Julie

[Clay in IN]

Thanks to each of you responders. I've had some private correspondence with Carrie, and she has helped to steer me in our selections. It looks like Bigger Hearts for our son and Little Hands for our older daughter are our most likely direction right now.

[my3sons]

Thanks to each of you responders. I've had some private correspondence with Carrie, and she has helped to steer me in our selections. It looks like Bigger Hearts for our son and Little Hands for our older daughter are our most likely direction right now.

Well, that's great! I'm so glad you were able to chat it over with Carrie, and she is excellent with placement (being the author herself ), so I'm sure you are on track to have a great start. We did Bigger Hearts and LHTH with our 2 boys a few years back and had a ball - I'm sure you will too.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Clay,

It's good to see you here. It sounds like you're moving forward with a plan! I'm glad that we had a chance to correspond.

We're happy to have you on the board.

Blessings,
Carrie