Looking for Advice on Curriculum Choices

[skaylie693]

Hi All,

I am looking for some help. I'm new here. I have a son that will be turning 8 soon and a daughter that just turned 3. We are in our first year of homeschooling. We pulled our son out of public school last year. I just found this curriculum and I really think this is awesome. We've been doing an eclectic selection of studies this year but it's wearing me out. I really want something I can open and go. I have been researching all year in order to decide on what to do next year and I thought I had settled on My Father's World for my son but when I went looking for something for my daughter, I came across this and now I think I want to use it for both of them. (My Father's World looks great but it seemed to be lacking in some areas so I was sort of settling on that.)

I am definitely buying Little Hands to Heaven for my daughter. She is asking to do school everyday with her big brother. She sits with us when we read and she loves repeating everything my son says. (For example, he does flash cards in math everyday and I have him read the problem and give the answer and then my daughter repeats what he has said! It's too cute!) So I want to get something for her and found this to be the perfect fit from what I can tell. She already knows her ABC's and can count to 30. She knows a great deal of Spanish too. She loves to sing and dance and is very active. She is even starting to write some of her letters even though they are odd looking...there is definitely the shape there. Of course she needs practice with all of these things and she loves activities.

For my son, I have reviewed the placement chart several times as well as examples from the different choices and I think I have settled on Bigger Hearts for His Glory. I think it maybe a little overwhelming for him at first but not so much that we need a year to prepare for it. I'm pretty sure working at a slower pace for the first several weeks will do the trick. My son is extremely smart and once he settles his anxiety over doing something new, he picks things up at lightning speed. His confidence level is low although he has made huge progress in the last year but I still spend more time convincing him he can do something new than I spend teaching him new things. I don't mind spending this time encouraging him though because I have seen so much progress from it and I know he is capable.

My questions are:

I'm a little confused about what I need to order. I want an all inclusive package except Grammar and Math. We have a math program we are very happy with and I see that HOD uses Rod and Staff for Grammar. I'm not sure if we'll continue with Christian Light or switch to Rod and Staff but I'll figure that out a little later. I would rather buy all of the books we need because, although we have a wonderful library system in our county, we also have a huge homeschool population and it's rare that there isn't a waiting list for all of the standard books I've seen in most curriculum.

Also, how do I figure out his reading level? I just don't know whether to place him in Drawn Into the Heart of Reading or not and if I do, which level should he be in. He reads the shorter chapter books by himself (the Magic Tree House series in one of his favorites) and his comprehension is very good.

Also, I just wanted to say that I've become very excited about next year since I discovered HOD. I can't wait to order and I have to say it will be torture to wait all summer before we start!

[mamas4loves]

I am excited you are excited about HOD. We used My Father's World for a year or so and while that was a good curriculum, HOD just fits us better! It is our third year with it and we have such rhythm to our school---now if only I could figure out that good of a rhythm with housework.....

I started my middle daughter in Bigger Hearts last spring when she had just turned 8. She will be turning nine this week and we have done/doing Bigger Hearts 4 days a week and that has been a great pace for us and she is doing so well.

As for the ordering, I would recommend ordering the Economy Package, The science Add-On, Cheerful Cursive (love, love this book), the hymn book. This will cover all of your bases except for grammar and math.

As for reading level, I would check out (from your library) one of the books in the emerging readers set such as Prairie School or the Bears on Hemlock Mountain to see how your son does with them. If he buzzes right through them, then I would start with Level 2/3 book in Drawn Into the Heart of Reading using Level 2 books. this is where we are at with our almost 9 year old daughter. and where we started her last spring. It has been a good fit.

so I hope this helps, Happy Homeschooling with Heart of Dakota!!

Jessica

[John'smom]

Adding to what Jess said, you don't want to forget the Devotional, Little Pillows. Also don't forget the read alouds for your storytime. They are down at the bottom of the page under "deluxe package". There's a light bulb at the top fo the package page that you can click on that gives you hints for ordering. Oh, welcome to HOD. We love it!!!

[kvmck]

My just turned 10 year old and almost 9 year old are using Bigger and are really liking it a lot.

As far as the reading level goes, I am not sure of any type of "test" to find that out. I had my kids go through the extension package books even though they were a bit on the easy side for them when we did the previous curriculum--Beyond (my son was 8, my daughter was 7/8 I think..) because Carrie has great questions that go with them and it really helped get them into the mode of thinking about what they are reading and yet w/o requiring any more "work". One of my children really got a great sense of accomplishment in finishing a book all at one time (I didn't always follow the reading schedule ).



Also, we have loved the Rod and Staff Grammar, we just finished up book 2 and are a few weeks into book 3-- we do most of the work orally.

You probably figured this out already (but it confused me at first...). The DITHOR books and the story time books are different (although a storytime book that is at a grade 5 level could potentially be used as a DITHOR book for level 5/6). You want one in each genre for both DITHOR and storytime (assuming you are using DITHOR). DITHOR will always be at the reading level of your child and storytime can be at a higher reading level b/c you are reading it outloud. Storytime books for Bigger are in 3 groupings of boy, girl or classic interest---we mixed and matched between all 3 groups since I had a boy and a girl and b/c I liked some of the classic story titles .

[Mom2Monkeys]

Remember you c start midway through the Emerging Readers set. That would be a great transition to DITHOR! there are some great threads about going half pace with BHFHG. That would be an excellent way to get into the swing of things and let you both grow into the program. We are also former MFWs and super happy with the switch!

[skaylie693]

Thank you all for your help. I'll look into the reading level some more before I order. Also...now I know what to order! Thank you so much! You were a wonderful help with that and now I can see the "light bulb" at the top of the page. How did I miss that?!?! Anyway, my husband was a little reluctant when I told him I had found something new because he thought I had already decided on something. He didn't know which was which so I opened both websites and had him go through both curricula and he loved HOD. Now he's even excited!

[tjswaine]

The reading levels for the Magic Tree House books are anywhere from 2.0 - 4.0. The Level 2 books for DITHOR have reading levels from 3.0 - 4.1. The Level 3 books for DITHOR have reading levels from 3.5 - 5.1.

My almost 8 year old recently completed the Emerging Readers (ERs) and has made a smooth transition into DITHOR using the Level 2 books. If you own any of the later ER titles already, such as Tornado, The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Animal Adventures, or The Courage of Sarah Noble, you could have him read a few of those before making a decision.

I would also encourage you to consider the Deluxe Package read-aloud sets. There is a Classic Set, Boy Interest Set and Girl Interest Set. Some moms purchase one complete set and other moms mix it up with various titles from each set. We are enjoying all our Beyond read aloud titles this year and are looking forward to Bigger's set next!

Welcome to HOD!

[Carrie]

I just wanted to welcome you to HOD! We're glad to have you here. The ladies have done a terrific job of helping you talk through your options. If you have other questions, ask away. The ladies on this board are very gracious with their time and truly enjoy helping one another.

We pray Bigger Hearts and Little Hands to Heaven may be a blessing to your family. We are using Bigger Hearts with our own third little guy and Little Hands with our fourth little guy and really enjoying ourselves. We pray you will too!

Blessings,
Carrie