How has the Lord showen you what cirriculum to use?

[lisaha1]

As I wait on the Lord for His to direct us for this next year, I printed out the week at a glance guides and started to discuss them with my children. Abby (10) loves CTC and loves the idea of working without her brothers. Joshua loves that we would be rereading a book that we already read (Pioneers and Patriots) as he so enjoyed it (I wasn't too sure about redoing it, but he can't wait to reread it! LOL!) I can now see that 2 guides wouldn't be hard if one is mostly independant... So I thought it would be fun to hear how others were led by Christ to do what they are doing for school! Please share!

[beverett]

This is such a fun idea!! I can not wait to see what others share It is also convicting me though... I went back to look through my journal and for some reason, our journey that the Lord brought us through to find HOD is not in there So I will just have ot give you the breif version and journal better from now on!!

I had used Sonlight Cores and a mix of things suggested by Susan Wide Bauer for about 8 years (since the begging of homeschooling)...while we loved homeschooling there was just no peace and there were things I did not agree with, but I knew of nothing else. So I really began praying and searching for (a couple of years) for direction and wisdom in this area, and just really did not get a clear answer. I just thought this was so strange because this is a very important area in our lives. Well I finally just decided to switch to MFW. I was all ready and had everything picked out to order. Thats when I ran into a friend at church who had decided to homeschool and told her if she had any questions I would be happy to help if I could, haha... She is very good at researching and came back with HOD... I had no clue and had never heard of it and started to look into it. LOoked at reveiewwwwws and the cirriculum and started to compare the 2. After reading on the board, and everything else I was in love. Thats when I started to ask the Lord if this was it and felt peace.

Then I remember what sealed the deal- I kept seeing the verse about a worker being worth his wages. One day I got on the HOD site and right on the top of the home page is that verse!! I know that Gods Word is one of the wayd He speaks to us and that when I am seeing a verse or hearing a message over and over again that He is trying to tell me something!! So I took this as confirmation!! AND THERE HAS BEEN TOTAL PEACE SINCE!!

[Kathleen]

Although we had homeschooled for preschool with Grant, we jumped back in for good when he was 7. That "2nd grade" year we used a bit of this and that, textbook style - mix of Saxon and Abeka, that I had been given by friends who were done with it.

That fall after we'd started homeschooling, my sister gave me a call. She was looking for something to use with her 5 yo who missed the cut-off for public school. That put me in research mode, and God immediately brought to mind a sweet blonde lady that I'd barely spoken to 3 years before that at a homeschool conference. Amazingly (and with God's direction, I'm sure), I came upon Heart of Dakota. Yep, that was what I remember the sweet lady (Julie) talking about...but now there wasn't just a pre-k guide, there were guides that would work for Grant!!! I ordered LHTH for my 3 year old, and my sister ordered LHFHG for her 5 yo. I plugged on with what I was already doing with Grant (but so wish now that we'd dropped it and dove into HOD...although it made the transition the next fall that much better. )

As I became an addict of the HOD website and read their philosophy and looked at the samples of the guides, knew that HOD's emphasis was everything that was truly important to me in homeschooling. They had God in the center!

I chose Bigger for my 8 year old that next fall. I was on the Bigger/Preparing fence, but after praying it through and really looking for an ENJOYable year wth Grant, I chose Bigger. It was perfect! And really, being new to the CM methods, it gave us some great and much-needed training in skills.

God has given me much peace about our homeschooling days wth HOD, and I find new things that I appreciate about how He is woven into our day every year. I have opportunities for those eternally significant little conversations that happen as we click along through the guide in our days. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything! I love that as my kids grow, they're led to dig into God's Word for answers to EVERYTHING!

HOD is right where God wants our family.
Kathleen

[my3luvs]

This will be our first year. Talk about overwhelming! When I initially started searching curriculum I did happen upon HOD but I quickly dismissed it...I can't remember why. I think I was judging a book by it's cover. I had amassed piles and piles of printed out paper, lists etc all from reviews what friends were using and what not but I never truly felt 100% with anything I was looking at. Meanwhile I started praying to God to lead us to the right program for our family. We are new Christian's and we have been trying to make the right choices home our HS as far as a religious based curriculum.

I was on another forum and I started reading a specific thread on HOD and how easy the lay out was and how it was truly "open and go". That is when it "clicked" for me. I NEED that. Especially for our first year. A few days after deciding on the program for DD [9] I started feeling that I need to keep DD [5] home as well. Dh and I were both in agreement at the time that she would do K at school. BUT I have had a overwhelming sense to keep her home too.

Since we have decided to HS BOTH DD and really didn't plan on HS either of them $$ has been a HUGE factor for us. DH wants me to buy used for the first year in case it doesn't fit [I don't think this will be a problem] and literally since I have decided on HOD and their sperate math program everything is falling into place for us as far as buying used where we can.

We have been truly blessed and I feel that this is the right path for our family and I am so thankful that I "Listened" and a burden has been lifted from us. I know it will be a great year for us and I look forward to sharing it with all of you. The ups and the downs.

Ive rambled. Thanks for reading. I hope this makes sense.

[BrooklynsMom03]

This is our first year home schooling and our daughter is using Beyond...2nd grade...I knew we needed to home school but it was so overwhelming I had no idea how to do it...I just never thought of myself as a home school type of personality...and I still struggle with it at times!

I do not remember how I came across HOD...no one I know uses it...we are out in the Pacific Northwest and it doesnt seem to have made its way out here yet....hoping to see it come this way on a conference sometime! I have never even been to a home school conference but would travel if HOD was going to be there!!

So as I was struggling trying to figure out some way to home school...I looked at other curriculums but nothing made sense to me....it just overwhelmed me and confused me more...so much so that I even put my daughter back in ps for awhile trying to make it work...and then...I know it was a total God thing...I came across HOD!! I read the message board...I didnt even have a catalog before I ordered...and I was like...I can do this...this is the answer for our family! And it has been so amazing.....I have struggled a bit with some growing pains...mostly on my part! My daughter is doing amazing....even today I was so thrilled an amazed as she was talking and everything came back to God..in one way or another....just in general conversation....she is so happy and full of joy...and I know it is from using HOD....that is so positive and just showing her how to learn...not just do school but embrace it....if you had known the struggles of my daughter just a few months ago and could see her today....you would be amazed!

I feel so blessed every day I get up and open the TM and ....my daughter and I sit down and begin school.....I know God led us to home school....and HOD made that possible and has kept the excitement fresh every day.....I could go on and on about how I feel God led us to HOD! We just LOVE it so much!! Beth in Idaho

[Tree House Academy]

I picked up HOD 2 years ago and got the WRONG guides for both of my kids! I ended up dropping my older son out of HOD completely and finishing the year with the absolute most boring textbooks EVER. He hated school, I hated teaching school. It was miserable. My younger son dropped back a guide to Little Hearts from Beyond and we finished the year happily. However, I did a lot of tweeking. I added stuff and omitted stuff and really made a mess of little Hearts. I knew it was solid, but coming from a classical style to CM was just...HARD. We ended that year with a throwing of hands in the air and shouting "DEFEAT." Little white flag was waving and everything.

Over that summer (last summer), I really started praying and asking God what he wanted me to do. I came here and posted - I let it all out...all about my awful year and how sad I was. I will never, ever forget Julie telling me that she had been praying for me...by name...since all of our indecision had come the year before! That touched me in an amazing way. From there, I gave a look at the placement chart and called my older son in to look. The year before, we had tried to shove him into Bigger because I wanted him to have American History. This year, I knew he fit better in CTC, so I printed out the week at a glance and showed it to him. He was very excited and said, "I want to do this!!!" Then i started looking at Beyond and remembering things about it that I really loved. At that point, God put this overwhelming peace over me and I suddenly KNEW that HOD is what He wanted me to use.

That was a year ago and I have to say that we had the most amazing, peaceful, happy, and fulfilling year EVER. I didn't tweek anything...I didn't add to the manuals or take away from them. I did HOD as written to the letter and I was so blessed! We will do HOD until my kids are graduating or the guides are gone! The Lord filled my heart with peace and this year, my cup overflowed! I want to share HOD with everyone...I only wish my friends could experience the peace that we have this year!

[momofgreatones]

I had been struggling and searching for a year for a good curriculum fit, after a disappointing run with SL and not wanting to use it anymore. I had cobbled together quite a few different things and it was just awful.

I wanted something that was still literature-based, but that had better books and more interaction with those books. And something all planned out for me with more details on what and how to teach. I also wanted a Christian curriculum. I ended up leaning toward Tapestry of Grace, since it has a lot of resources and teaching helps. However it looked very overwhelming and confusing to me, (still does) and really didn't appeal to me very much. I also didn't really love the four-year history cycle starting with such a young age. But I couldn't find anything else that looked like a real option. I researched MFW extensively and was very interested in that, but in the end the books just didn't appeal to me either.

So there I was, about to spend a large amount of money on a huge curriculum I wasn't excited about but feeling like I didn't have a choice. I needed something and wasn't happy putting together my own stuff. I decided to post on a yahoo group that I belong to for hsing moms with large families, and asked if anyone had ever used TOG and their experiences with it. My suspicions were correct - several moms had found it difficult to use and it hadn't worked out. Sonlight was a popular recommendation from the moms, but I knew I didn't want to use it again.

Then one sweet lady wrote me a long message about the curriculum she'd been using that year called Heart of Dakota. I hadn't heard of it, but she said it was wonderful, she was combining several of her kids into one program, and that it was fun, easy to use, and literature-based. I immediately searched for a website and easily found it. It was love at first sight! I still remember seeing the home page and feeling such excitement at discovering one wonderful thing after another. It was like opening presents on Christmas morning! The wonderful books, the history cycle, the character and gospel training, the doable activities. The lesson plans that are detailed on what and how to teach my kids. And the boxed format makes sense to me and is so appealing - an extra bonus I wasn't expecting! I quickly searched for reviews and found glowing review after review. The decision was an easy one after that. What a relief and joy to discover what I had been looking for!

I will always be thankful for the mom who took the time to write me about what she was using. I have tried to do the same for others and share about HOD to other moms. I was reminded that God often answers our prayers through other people. I am thankful for Carrie and her family answering the call to write this curriculum that is a blessing to so many. It will be a legacy and testament through the generations, and I pray for the Lord to lighten their burden through the hard work of writing the guides.

[Jessi]

In the beginning, I know that the Lord led me to HOD. I had never been more sure of anything in my life. But then my life got stressful and I really think I didn't place my daughter where she needed to be and I started tweaking and it got to be so hard that I quit. I'm not proud of it. I decided I knew better than God what was best for our family. But I also know that God carried me through the past couple of years using textbooks. We've had good luck with textbooks but I just felt like the Lord has been really tending my heart and "bringing me back to the basics" of why I want to homeschool. For all the good the textbooks have done our family, it lacked a focus on Christ and I didn't find the time to fit it in. I kept coming back to one thought... "Does it matter if my kids are academically strong if I haven't taken the time to woo their hearts to the Lord?" My priorities had gotten skewed.

Then circumstances in life changed and I began to think about HOD again. For how hard I thought it had been for us as a family, I realized that my daughter loved the Bible stories. She still remembered them two years later. We had daily Bible discussion and I know it really helped not only my daughter (as she accepted Christ in her heart while using HOD) but gave me time to nurture their little souls daily and to use scripture for character building. I can't remember the number of times I used the peacemaker verse with them and they got it. I've felt this guilt that I have not had those daily discussions with my now four year old son. Granted I'm not saying I couldn't have it, but I love that God has blessed HOD by making it very easy to talk about heart issues and faith issues with my children in everyday life. I want that for my son too as he is really starting to ask more questions about God.

I guess I am just feeling a deep peace that the Lord is leading me back. Kind of like the prodigal son.

[mom24boys]

God really spoke peace to my heart when I saw those BEAUTIFUL BOXES and white space!!!! Then everything was confirmed when I read what was in those beautiful boxes!

[3sweeties]

I was led to HOD through the recommendation of a friend that was using it. All I knew about HOD was that it was a preschool curriculum and wasn't even aware there were programs that went further than that!

I had been praying for and searching for a program that incorporated the Bible into our time together, which was something I sensed was really lacking with what we were doing for 1st grade (SOTW Ancients with a mix of SL Core 1). I felt like God was showing me that our Bible time/discipling shouldn't be a rushed "add-on", but needed to be an integral part of our homeschool or else what was the point of homeschooling for us? Once I looked at the samples of HOD online, I was sold! I loved (and still do!) how the Bible and biblical principles are interwoven throughout our day with multiple opportunities to talk about our faith and Jesus. We just completed our 2nd year with HOD and it has truly been a joy! I truly feel like I have multiple opportunities to disciple my children and point them to the Lord, while also challenging them academically and keeping their joy for learning alive! HOD has been such a blessing for our family!!!

[KristinBeth]

I was going to say that the Lord didn't show me which curriculum to use, that I just picked it. Then I thought about it. I was using a literature based preschool program and enjoying it, but longed for more of a Bible focus and something fun that my little one could do with her big sister. Browsing through a homeschool magazine I saw an ad for HOD and dog-eared the page to look at later (I liked the "Christ centered learning from our heart to yours" at the top of the ad). When I finally went back to look up the website I was hooked and knew it was what I had hoped to find (of course I didn't just look at preschool, I pretty much read the whole catalog online). So maybe the Lord did lead me to it...

[water2wine]

I was really at a cross roads in our hsing actually. There were four curricula that I was considering and having a hard time eliminating any of them. HOD was on that list although at the time I was really unsure how to make it fit for my children's age range. So first thing I did was to pray for God to show how He wanted me to educate my children and exactly what He wanted me to use. After doing that and not having an answer I made a list. One side was what I wanted for my kids and what I felt was important and the other side is what I felt like God would value and what I felt I would have to account for when I met Him face to face. I crossed out on my side of the list all the things that I could not honestly say would matter to God when I met Him to gave an account for how I taught my kids. So what was left were the things I felt were important that also matched what I feel God shows us in His word in terms of educating and training children. As soon as I had that list, the only curriculum that fit was HOD. It became obvious to me what the choice for our family was. Also I asked for the long term because I wanted to give up the jumping year to year only to realize I had left something out. I had one blip before HOD announced they were doing high school with my plan for my oldest child and high school in general. Ultimately that led me back to HOD again for the long haul, we were of course still using it, I was just looking ahead. I decided at that point after talking with Carrie I would beef up and modify HOD for high school as well and had peace with that. Then HOD announced they are writing high school. So truly God had answered me for the long haul just needed to wait and see how He made that happen for us and I am sure for others too. Although there are times I feel HOD was written just for our family.

[my3sons]

Carrie and I are on a plane flying home from a wonderful convention in Florida, and her computer just ran out of battery, so we will post this one together. We are both humbled and encouraged beyond measure by this entire thread. You ladies bring tears to our eyes. We were struck by how many of you shared that the Lord led you to HOD. We have to honestly admit that we pray every day that the Lord will lead those to HOD that will be blessed by what we have to offer. You are each an answer to that prayer. From the title of the thread to the last person that posted - what a filling of our hearts this has been! All glory, praise, and honor belongs to the Lord.

Love in Christ,
Carrie and Julie

[mommyof2ladies]

What a cool topic!! We were led to HOD last year and had a great year. Then I got the "grass is greener" syndrome and wanted to try something else. Silly me! So, this year, while trying to decide what program to use in the Fall, I would decide on a program and then "sit" on the idea for a few days. But, every time I did this, I would get sick to my stomach. This happened 4 times UNTIL I looked at HOD again and decided that this was the way I wanted to go. I have had a peace ever since! I had prayed for the Lord to make it clear which program to use and boy did he ever!! We can't wait for the Fall and hope to never have to change again!

[Heidi in AK]

I was going to say that the Lord didn't show me which curriculum to use, that I just picked it. Then I thought about it. I was using a literature based preschool program and enjoying it, but longed for more of a Bible focus and something fun that my little one could do with her big sister. Browsing through a homeschool magazine I saw an ad for HOD and dog-eared the page to look at later (I liked the "Christ centered learning from our heart to yours" at the top of the ad). When I finally went back to look up the website I was hooked and knew it was what I had hoped to find (of course I didn't just look at preschool, I pretty much read the whole catalog online). So maybe the Lord did lead me to it...

I second KristinBeth's post. A friend told me about HOD and I was led at the time to some literature-based studies with lots of material in them...and I could tell I'd be overwhelmed. DD is also a bit skittish, and I felt some of the reading was not appropriate for her. I also stumbled on Charlotte Mason and her philosophy, as well as some great free curriculum surrounding that...but didn't feel it was cohesive or Christ-focused enough for us. Then, I remembered HOD (after actually being deterred from it by another board poster)...looked it back over and felt it had the cohesiveness, Christ-centeredness, and lightness for her age (a 4.75 yo, starting K at a young age). Plus, it was ALREADY laid out for me, a plus for this busy, active mom! We can do all or none of it, and the book load is light, but rich with great titles and living books.

So, I kind of stumbled on it, but the peace I had allowed me to see that God really did lead me to it!