Heart of Dakota and WinterPromise

[Mrs. Lilac]

Hi there! I'm brand new to the HOD boards.

I've been waffling between WinterPromise and Heart of Dakota....now I'm leaning hard toward HOD. I'm wondering if any of you have opinions or experience or thoughts about both/either.

Thanks in advance for any feedback

[joyfulheart]

I looked into winterpromise. I have a lady in my son's scout group that uses it for her kids and she loves it. I looked through hers (for 3rd graders) and was very confused. It was alot of jumping around, and things weren't tied in together (in my mind) well.

Now, she loves this program, and there are lots of people who love it, but she is really experienced at homeschooling-- has 6 kids. I'm not experienced at all, so maybe that's the difference?

[1shortmomof4]

Which program were you planning on using? I've used a few of WP programs and I may be able to help you make a clearer decision by perhaps giving you a few comparisons or differences between the two. WP is definitely more hands-on but it is not a requirement in order to get the most from the program. They are trying to reach a range of kids and their learning styles. It can be overwhelming for some, especially if you are a box checker type or you want things to be clear cut and easy to implement. There are some big differences between the two programs that is for sure. Once I know which program you are considering from HOD and WP, I'll be glad to do my best to share any differences I'm aware of or have found.
Heidi

[Mrs. Lilac]

Thanks so much, Heidi! I can't wait to hear what you think.

With WinterPromise, we were considering doing Animals & Their Worlds and the Advanced K Language Arts.

[annaz]

We've done WP's Animal Worlds. My dd liked it, I didn't because some of it was scattered. You'd be talking about an animal location then out of the blue, you'd be doing something for an animal that didn't fit to the area at all , but yet it could have been matched up, which was wierd. The "other" animal was just put somewhere else that didn't match up with that location either. Just not quite perfected IMO. Being very organized, that drove me batty, along w/a lot of typos, which is even more of an issue with me. But it doesn't NOT make it a good program. Reading is in snippets, because it's literature-based. So you're reading a page or two in 3 or 4 different books which to me screwed up the flow, however that works for some. Many people just read one book one day, then another one another day. My thoughts are that I shouldn't have to rework an entire curriculum for that price or deal with typos and wrong page numbers or partial shipping issues on a grand scale.

WP AW is science, HOD is complete. WP's activities my dd liked, but they were straight from a book and some supplies were hard to come up with, some didn't work out, but again, my dd like the activities. HOD's activities are whatever you have at home, however less time consuming. WP is not bible integrated and doesn't contain any character training or "real" bible training other than the devotional book. You'd have to do that on your own along with all other subjects if that's an issue for you.

These are two completely different programs, so comparison is difficult. You're spending $350? for Science only and if you're good and able to do other subjects on your own those are above and beyond the price. HOD isn't integrated so much that you can't do portions of it. In fact, you could do WP AW for Science if you desired and HOD.

I loved the thought of AW, but it just didn't work for me. Unit study means unit study and I ended up having to rework a lot of it and a lot of people do unless they didn't mind the ideosincracies.(sp?)

We did fast track phonics and NONE of it had anything to do with the "sound of the day" so-to-speak. So that was weird. We did the Pre-K basic phonics, but then I had a book that was never used, because they forgot to add the "new" book into the old teacher's guide. That was $17 wasted.

It is a good program, but there are many wierd things about it. IMO I wouldn't use it as my main curriculum, but I would like it for a science program or history program even though I know I'd have to rework it. But that is totally cost prohibitive, since it's such an expensive program. They also don't quite have their shipping down. Books are always on back order or discontinued and it's rare that you get your "box day" in full. Some wait months for books or the rest of the program. I'm not sure if that's an issue with other companies, it hasn't been with SL (we used Pre-K) or MFW. But HOD man...fast ship and it's all there!!!! They are fantastic.

So it's really about how and what you are interested in teaching, do you want a complete curriculum or a science additive...all depends on you and your child. The things I mentioned above, people just don't mind it. Personally, I though it was a lot of money for the amount of problems I had with it.

[1shortmomof4]

Annaz gave you a good start. It is scattered and I did find while we were supposed to be reading about animals from one specific habitat for a set period of time (I want to say 6 weeks), I found that many animals were left out and then later thrown in for good measure farther down the road.

I am not a crafty-type mom although I have been known to surprise myself. And I'm the one that is responsible for preparing the crafts for our 3-5 year olds Sunday school! Many of the Little Hands books that are used in AW require you to make lots of animals out of stuff you have around the house. Use a milk carton and turn it into a deer, for example. Well, that to me seemed like a lot of effort for it to end up in the trash a week later. I know there are kids who enjoy that (and moms, too) but my child is not a hands-on fellow and I didn't see the learning value in it. We switched to Beyond and I was a bit worried when I saw the small amount of hands-on that is scheduled. but I've been pleasantly pleased at my son's reaction and enjoyment in these activities. They actually tie into what was read that day or learned about in science. Everything connects - there is a thread that is running through all of this program so the child doesn't feel disconnected (nor does mom). A difference in AW to HOD is that AW has an encyclopedia that you read from and learn about the animal. I know that an encyclopedia has its purpose but at this young age I definitely lost him on that one. I think the concept of the AW is great and has endless possibilities so they had to pick with what fell within their desire for their programs. I do like WP but it is definitely different. I was told and so hence forth always pass along this wise wisdom - if you can check your library and see if they have any of the books that would be read alouds so you can if they are a fit for your family. Check out the craft books and see if these are things that you would enjoy doing with your kids. The notebook pages are great and you could probably buy those to use for a year of science and check out books at the library each week on that animal covered for the week and fill them in and would be just fine with an animal behaviors study for the year. If I had to do over, that is what I would have done. As for their LA - I did not use it. I used the higher levels (5th and 6th) and it was fine but just didn't seem very complete for us so I ended up going with a mix of things this year which worked out better. I wish you could purchase the writing prompts that are related the study being read separately but they are located in the LA and not on the IG. That is something to also think about. It is, all in all, a very costly program and they request that you don't resell their IGs or anything that is WP-created. I think that is something to take into account as you make that choice, too.

If you have more???? please post and I'll do my best.
Heidi

[Ruth in FL]

Good gravy! IT was almost $300 or more a subject!
Too high for my family

Ruth

[Mrs. Lilac]

Wow, so much great information! You all have been so wonderful!

Hearing your feedback confirms my thinking about this whole thing, so I think it's safe to say you'll be seeing me around the HOD boards from now on.

I'm so excited to begin this journey and to be a part of such a great group!

Thanks again!

[MamaMary]

Dear Mrs. Lilac,

Not only did I use WinterPromise I owned and moderated the WP loop until this past January. I cannot tell you how hard it was for me to switch programs, (I tend to be very loyal and I LOVE the Brooks) but I had been feeling the Lord leading me to a Christ centered program where the biblical worldview was integrated.

I think Ann and Heidi did such a great job sharing some of the differences. For me the biggies were the biblical worldview throughout the entire program AND I felt like the history alone was taking up so much of our time that everything else got the short end of the stick.

My favorite part of HOD is how everything is so balanced. We cover more by doing less each day, if that makes any sense?

[crlacey]

I agree with Annaz and Heidi. I wanted to love the program. But I was so frustrated with the lack of organization. HOD is a much better fit for my personality and my DD attention span.

[shera]

I bought this program for my animal loving son and we couldn't get through it. Its possible that he wasn't ready for it but the lack of organization frustrated me. It still sits on my shelf. I have looked at it again now that he is older and I still can't picture using it. They use the one small square books, which Carrie uses in some of her older programs, and those books went over my sons head and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sarah

[Carrie]

Mrs. Lilac,

I just wanted to welcome you to the boards! We're glad to have you here. The ladies are so gracious here about giving of their time to help one another. It is a wonderful group of ladies that we are blessed to have!

Blessings,
Carrie