New to this and kind of confused...

[MrsMelancholy]

It took me a while to figure out the whole economy, basic, deluxe.... I'm still not sure I'm there, but I really have fallen in love with the way this curriculum is set up! I love how everything is spelled out, and I think it will work great once I get my head wrapped around it.
BUT, I am wondering if my current plan will work...
LHTH for my almost 3y/o. Easy. No problems there.
BHFHG for my 7y/o 3rd grader. She is very smart and a very advanced reader, but has some trouble with math at times.
We have so many books in our house that I really don't want to order any of the readers, so I am planning on using the library and paperbackswap.com for those. What exactly does DITHOR do? I am really not worried about her reading skills at all, so I am wondering if we should even get it.
Math, so far in our homeschool I have just watched to see what she needed help with and printed off fun worksheet that reinforce the ideas, so I'm not sure I want to order a math curriculum right now. I would like to keep up with the schedule, but when it just says a page number in the corresponding math book, I'm not sure what direction to go in.
Cursive, she has really nice handwriting at this point, she writes ALL the time, and has been teaching herself cursive, so I'm not going to buy another book for that either.
We have about 20 science project books, and I see that it shows an activity occasionally, so I'm not sure if I should get the science books.
LA, hmmmm... I have never heard of the book mentioned, but would it be possible to sub in my own, well known curriculum?
I am going to buy the history books however!!
We have our own bibles and childrens bibles.
Okay, so what I'm asking is, is it worth it to buy if I am going to change SO much?
Thanks!
Amee

[jenntracy]

Hmmn .good question

i myself use a different Math and i used a different Phonics book. i just plugged away every day at both just as the units in the curriculum guide do. I will also not be using the science. we will use the emerging reader this year for LHFHG.( my eldest will just turn 6 in October.)

from what i hear, DITHOR is great!

i think it would be worth it even for the whole History side (minus the science if you wish) and for the Language Arts part and DITHOR if you decide. Having a book in front of you that says "do this today", really helps me even if doing a different math, phonic book and science book. i can still follow the pattern of HOD. the Bible portion you could still follow,too.

sorry i am writing fast. feel free to ask more questions.
Jenn D.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Amee! We've done both BHFHG and LHTH before, and we loved them. I'm getting ready to do them again (with different dc of mine) this coming school year, and I'm getting excited to get to teach them again. You are right about the way the curriculum being set up turns out to be a pretty fantastic thing. I wake up every day and just enjoy teaching my dc. No scrambling or lengthy preparation, just enjoying teaching my dc. I would love for you to have this same experience. You are going to enjoy the history so much. My ds still talks about the heroes he learned about in BHFHG as if he is still in awe of them. He has continued to choose books to read on his own about them, and they have become part of his memory bank of American history.

As far as DITHOR, I am totally sold on it. My dc were early readers and could pretty much read about anything you put in front of them at a young age. DITHOR completely took their reading to the next level, and that was pretty exciting to see. Here is a past post where I poured my heart out about DITHOR...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4372&p=32131#p32131
So, yes, I do think you'd want to do DITHOR - though how many days you do it, the pacing, the order of the genres, the difficulty of the books, etc. are up to you to customize it for your dd how best you'd like to.

As far as math, there are hands-on math lessons written for 2A/2B. They are excellent and worth doing. If you use 3A/3B, the schedule is convenient and breaks up the plans nicely for a daily schedule. Singapore math is considered advanced, so to know where to start your dd, you'll want to have her do the free Singapore math placement test. You may want to start her with 2A and work up or down from there. Here's a link to the placement test: http://www.singaporemath.com/

If your dd is doing well with cursive and has learned how to write well both when copying cursive from a cursive model and when writing cursive with no model, she probably doesn't need another year of it. Cheerful Cursive is largely independent and a fun cursive program, so if she needs to fill in some gaps it would be easy to do. Our ds thoroughly enjoyed it and has not needed another year of cursive instruction after it.

My ds especially enjoyed the science, and it was done in a very memorable way. It used living books, and the experiments were key in teaching my ds to do lab sheets using the scientific method. Important LA skills are also taught within the science plans - here's a run-down of each unit's format...
Each unit includes the following science activities in coordination with the read-aloud assignments:
*Day 1: practice narration by retelling the science story
*Day 2: create a science notebook entry
*Day 3: conduct an experiment related to the reading and log it
in a science notebook
*Day 4: practice narration by retelling the science story
*Day 5: conduct an experiment related to the reading and orally
discuss it
The books, the LA skills, the notebooking, and the experiments all add up to making science a pretty key thing to teach. I'd encourage you to give it a try! You'll probably begin to enjoy it as much as I have, and science was definitely not my favorite subject before.

I'm not sure if you are talking about the R & S English book for the LA end part of your post? If so, you can sub in your own grammar if you'd like. R & S English is an academically sound well-respected grammar, so unless you're set with something else already, you'll want to take a peek at it more closely.

As far as the Bible part of BHFHG, it gets right to the heart of the matter. It has been a joy to see my dc's faith grow by leaps and bounds as we do the Bible portions of the HOD guides. If you have the funds, I'd definitely get the Hymns for Kid's Heart. What a neat book that is! It tells all about the hymn writers - why they wrote the song, what their life was like when they wrote it, etc. Joni's devotion for each hymn takes the discussion even deeper, and my dc and I were always amazed by her deep faith considering she's had a pretty difficult life being confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed. What an incredible testimony to God her life is! The singing of the songs and learning them verse by verse has helped our dc sing more confidently in church, and has put more meaning into their singing as they remember who wrote the song and why. I just had to let you know what you'd be missing out on if you skipped the Hymns!

The devotional is also optional, but it is only $4 and is written by Frances Havergal (who wrote Take My Life and Let It Be). It is such a "neat little book" according to my ds. It's kind of a paradox - it conveys childlike faith, but in a mature way. We had some great discussions based on this book, and it was worth the $4 time and time again. If you have another devotional you are excited about doing, you could sub that in, but this little devotional is well worth its cost.

So, I say all this to let you know some things I'd be very sad for you to miss out on with BHFHG. Having taught it a few years back and getting ready to teach it again, it hurts my heart for you to miss out on all these great parts of BHFHG - as well as miss out on the ease of use by using it as it is written. BUT, with all of that being said, I believe that any part of HOD that you do would be worth it - whether it's just the parts you've already considered, or whether it's everything lock stock and barrel - HOD is good no matter what part of it you do.

I pray that the Lord will guide you to the best decisions for you and your family, and whatever parts you pick - I look forward to swapping stories with you as our dc do HOD this coming year!

In Christ,
Julie

[striving2Bprov31]

Hello, there!

I just wanted to comment to you about DITHOR. It is outstanding! I am new to HOD and have been combing through my DITHOR manual, and I am so glad I purchased it! What it is is a program to teach the child how to analyze and better comprehend the story, plot, etc. It engages many tools and methods to learn how to break down a story, if you will. The child learns elements of story, looking at the characters of the story "in light of the Bible" as it says in the manual. And it introducs all of the genres to the child. --All without being too overwhelming. You would not regret purchasing it. You can use it with multiple ages. Being nonconsumable-very worth the money. I can use it later on with my now 7 month old!!! Hope this helps!!

God's wisdom to you,

Liz
Dh for 11yrs.
dd9, ds7, ds3, and ds 7 months

[water2wine]

Amee Welcome to HOD! I will give you the short answer, yes it is worth it! I would do as much of the program that first your child's needs. It is not a big deal to substitute math and LA if you wish although LA is in the program and cheap and Singapore math is amazing. I have six kids, one has special needs and one is off the chart with her reading and somewhat ahead in math. I have found that HOD has been perfect for my kids. I do customize a bit and that has worked great for us. But I would recommend doing as much of the program as possible because it is all so great.

For math I would recommend taking the placement test for Singapore and not worrying about the level that she hits if it seems low. I was given this advice long ago with my four that I pulled out of public school and did not take it becasue it had them what seemed as so far back. I regret not having done that now. My other two use Singapore and I see how effortless math is for them. They learn multiplication and division with ease where it was a huge struggle with my others. But hindsight is always 20/20. Just wanted to share with you though that is the path I wished I had taken with my other kids even if it set them back a couple of levels. They would have caught up and ended up being ahead.

OK so my short answer ended up long. But yes it is worth it and I would go for as much of it as you possibly can. We just finished Bigger and it was amazing!

[MrsMelancholy]

Thanks for all the advice!
Okay, new plan!! I talked to my dh and he said said to just order all of it!! I have a hard time spending money, but I think he convinced me! But, I still don't want to buy all the readers, we have SO many books, don't need more on the shelves right now.
How do I know which DITHOR to buy, or should I just buy the whole set since its cheaper? Did it say that some of them are out of print or is that something else?
Where was the math placement test?
Does the basic package include math, english, hymns and devotional, or am I reading this wrong?
I just wish it was easier to figure out the ordering!! LOL Can somebody walk me through this?

[Kathleen]

Hi Amee!

First I have to pop in and welcome you! LHTH and Bigger gave us an absolutely wonderful first year with HOD last year. So many good memories... (In fact, when I think about it, I find myself wanting to repeat it because it was so wonderful. It's a good thing Preparing and LHFHG are just as wonderful!! On we go. )

Here's the link to the placement test for Singapore. http://www.singaporemath.com/Placement_Test_s/86.htm
The 1st box as you scroll down has the tests for the US Edition of Primary Math. That's what you need. My son was 8 last year and had completed Saxon 2 for 2nd grade. Math comes to him easily. I'm pretty sure I had him start with the 1A test, and then we did a test a day for 4 days. (I didn't want him to think that they were "too hard" right off the bat.) He technically passed the 2A test (because he got 80% of it correct), but there were areas of the test that we had not covered in Saxon. We decided to start with 2A, and it was the best decision I made about math. We hadn't covered all of the measurements, but what we really ended up needing was more practice on 3-digit subtraction with regrouping and word problems. The Singapore word problems are wonderful and have really helped get my son thinking mathematically! Anyway...all that to say that I would definitely not expect to start a 3rd grader with 3A in Singapore. (We did 2A and 2B and Grant moved ahead of where he would have been with Saxon 3. )

If you go here...http://www.heartofdakota.com/bigger-hearts-packages.php ...and click on the light bulb at the top of the page, it will walk you through ordering. You're right on the basic package. (And, after you finish the placement test for math, if you end up needing books that don't match the packages I would give Mike a call at HOD. I know that they'll get you the math books you need. Like, if you need 2B and 3A or something.)

For DITHOR, you'll need the teacher's guide and the 2/3 student book. So, I would order the 2/3 package on this page. http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php You'll get those 2 things plus Carrie's book idea list (and it will cost less than getting them seperately ). I also ordered the Book Projects to Send Home book, and we've really enjoyed using it, but it's not absolutely necessary. At the end of each genre in DITHOR, you will do a wrap-up project. There will always be 3 choices, and the projects in this book are on of those 3 choices. The upper levels of this project book are what are out of print, not DITHOR.

You would be fine not to order the deluxe package (storytime books) and books for DITHOR. You'll just need to pick books you have or from the library that are in each of the genres. For storytime, you'll want books that are above your daughter's reading level (you'll be the one reading here). Carrie's selections are GREAT, so if you can come up with any of those that's what I'd use! There are 4 titles listed in the appendix of Bigger for each genre to help you choose. For DITHOR, I used one of these sets here for our first time through it. http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php The level 2 pack has a reading level of 3rd-4th grade. The level 3 pack has a reading level of mid-3rd to 5th grade. I liked having the books already scheduled for me as it made trying DITHOR for the 1st time easier. But, DITHOR truly works with any book you choose, so this would be a great way for you to use books you already have if you want to.

Hope that helps! And, I look forward to reminiscing with you as you move along with Bigger and LHTH this year! (You can share your fun on the week-in-review posts with us. )
Kathleen