I feel bad for other homeschooling moms!

[blessedmomof4]

I've been homeschooling since 1996, and of all the things I have ever tried, HOD is simply the best. Until HOD, I had never, EVER finished every bit of an entire curriculum, or anything I put together myself. Thank God my older kids learned anyway but it there would have been more fun and consistency with HOD. I remember when I was doing Bigger with the younger two, their big sister (then an 8th grader) did a lot of the art projects too

[psreit]

I can't imagine doing textbooks with dd! The desire for curriculum searching is gone! I know 3 other moms who use HOD because the Lord used me to direct them in that way. They all love it! I love it! Carrie, thanks again and again!

[Carrie]

Ladies,

Bless your hearts! I am humbled and so encouraged by your posts. We pray every day for the Lord to direct our paths and show us His leading as I write. It is a huge responsibility that can feel heavy at times, but the higher up the guides go the more I need to lean on Him for His strength. That is a good lesson for me! So, the glory and the credit is all the Lord's! I know each of you must lean on Him daily too, as you seek to answer His call on your lives to homeschool. I praise Him for uniting us to encourage one another as we answer His call together!

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

I've been teaching for 16 years now (7 in ps, and 9 in homeschooling), and I have never been so content as I am with HOD. Each of my dc enjoy their school so much. Variety is the spice of life, and HOD has it. It also has continuity from year to year. It is a wonderful way to go about both teaching and learning. Having schooled many other ways previously (textbook/workbook method included), I am fully aware of the blessing of schooling in this manner. I'd never go back. Learning can be fun and highly academic at the same time - it can even be Christian-based and filled with the Lord's wisdom! HOD has it all. I used to think I may not be able to homeschool through high school (and I even have my master's degree in ed. admin.), but I don't worry about it anymore. HOD has my back. I'm happily homeschooling for the long haul, and I can't wait to see what we get to learn next with HOD! I feel bad too, Laura. When I see homeschooling moms at conventions running around frantically, stressing out over each and every child's each and every subject, worrying and fretting over what they will do from year to year, burnt out from planning and preparing their lives away, I want to just stop them and give them a big hug and say, "Calm down and come on over to HOD, honey! Let me show you something that is going to change your life." Homeschooling doesn't have to be a burden to bare. It can be a delight. And it is, with HOD for me. Thanks for this, Laura, and may we all do what we can to help our sisters in homeschooling find joy in what they are doing - by encouraging them as best we can, and by being an example of how it really can be a blessing in our lives.

In Christ,
Julie

[MomtoJGJE]

I do as well... everyone I know who does not use HOD is still, in late Sept, stressing over school! Trying to figure out how to get it all in. And they are combining kids and doing things at proper levels and all that as well. I'm so glad that my biggest issue is what days to do school completely before we do other things and what days we have to maybe finish up after we do something else.

I have to say though, that it's a tough spot to be in to have such a good solid curriculum that you really feel bad for not NEEDING to do all that extra stuff that looks neat My dh rolls his eyes at me any time I mention something looking like a fun unit study and then I check to see if we'll be covering it in HOD and lo and behold we are. I get a bit disappointed that I don't get to plan things

[Daph]

I have to say though, that it's a tough spot to be in to have such a good solid curriculum that you really feel bad for not NEEDING to do all that extra stuff that looks neat My dh rolls his eyes at me any time I mention something looking like a fun unit study and then I check to see if we'll be covering it in HOD and lo and behold we are. I get a bit disappointed that I don't get to plan things

I do too, but then again, when I plan things they don't turn out half as great as this year has been with Bigger! We did unit studies last year, which was fun, but I had no direction so I sort of floundered through it. Dd had great fun with it and she retained some things, but we didn't have a truly complete year.

This year, I'm amazed every week at how seamless it all is. I don't have to sift through books for pick out the right information, because it's already been done for me! So as much as I love to plan and buy, I'm just not a very detail oriented. HOD works very well for us in that way. I also love that it's detailed and not just an overview! That was a problem I had with another coplete curriculum. After about ten weeks, what we were doing just seemed pointless. This year, she's being challenged, but she's also having retaining information. It's wonderful!

[Heidi in AK]

Haha, that's a cute post, Daph! And true, even already for us.

I have begun to unabashedly praise HOD (please understand my use of the word "praise" as not idolizing it) to others. I'm really praying that others might see the wonderful attributes of it! Tonight, a lady at chapel asked me what I was using just as a reference (she's a 70 year old grandma and a former preschool teacher/principal/homeschool mom herself) and I was happy to tell her about HOD.

Other moms seem a bit hooked on some of the more popular curricula, but I plan to tout my book to show them how great it is. Plus, I'm putting on FB how little time it takes and we feel like we have a complete curriculum, and we get a LOT of questions that way!

I just gush about it; I have also stopped looking!

[MomtoJGJE]

I'm guessing I can put here that I wasn't "invited" (it's not a bad thing... seriously ) to the last curriculum discussion in our homeschool group because there were no new moms there and they all knew what I'd be showing! And they knew that I wouldn't be needing anything anyone else was showing.

[Daph]

I'm guessing I can put here that I wasn't "invited" (it's not a bad thing... seriously ) to the last curriculum discussion in our homeschool group because there were no new moms there and they all knew what I'd be showing! And they knew that I wouldn't be needing anything anyone else was showing.

What on earth? That's awful! I wish I could invite you to our homeschool group. It sounds like it may not have been a bad thing, though.

[tnahid]

I got to tell several ladies in a homeschool small group we are having at our church about HOD! One of them was VERY interested and said she was definitely going to look at the website. She loves the Charlotte Mason method, so that was awesome. All the ladies jotted it down to look at though. I also got to share it with another homeschool mom at the gymnastics place where my daughter now goes. She was very interested and said she was going to look at the site as well. WooHoo! Love it!

Also, one of my closest girlfriends is an Abeka girl, but is really drawn to the DITHOR program, so she wants to look at it more deeply when she comes to see me. Hopeful! I love scattering the HOD seeds all around!!!

[Gwenny]

I'm guessing I can put here that I wasn't "invited" (it's not a bad thing... seriously ) to the last curriculum discussion in our homeschool group because there were no new moms there and they all knew what I'd be showing! And they knew that I wouldn't be needing anything anyone else was showing.

This was from MomtoJGJE. I wish you could come and talk to everyone here. I'm always encouraged by your posts.

I saw this thread and wanted to bring it back up. I feel bad for others also. I LOVE HOD! It has definitely changed my whole homeschooling experience-I've been homeschooling for 20 years. I'm so grateful and my kids truly love school and are excited to do it every day. Carrie is amazing. I'm so grateful for her using her gifts. I want to do the older guides myself--oh, for more time. Maybe when my kids get older. haha

[my3sons]

Updated to add...We just finished our first high school year with HOD using the World Geography guide, and we had such an awesome year!!! I have been worried about homeschooling in high school since the start of our homeschooling, but HOD made it easy. My ds loved using his guide as his student planner, and the genius way HOD lays out each day's work makes it easy for both parent and student to see exactly what needs to be accomplished each day. The books were outstanding! I'm glad we still did the Living Library, even though it didn't count toward official credits. The World Religions and Cultures study was a favorite, along with Rooted and Grounded. Spanish was easy to do. Essentials in Writing did so much to strengthen my ds's essay writing skills. The books read for Geography were page turners. The follow-up work was so varied and fresh. I didn't have to jump in and help with the science - the lab was challenging yet complete, and Tiner's writing for the science books was incredibly living and so narrative to read (as always - love Tiner). Algebra 1 with Foersters? A challenge, yet NOT difficult having completed Singapore Primary Math through 6B prior to doing it. Logic elective? Great fun -in fact I apparently speak using multiple fallacies my ds is quite adept and fond of pointing out. Lit set? Awesome! I have read many of the books myself, and I probably will finish them just for fun this summer. I actually got the girl set for ME, and Wyatt read all of those too. A favorite was Pride and Prejudice, especially as Wyatt loved watching the 6 hour BBC version of it on DVD with his cousins! I just am incredibly thankful for the sacrifices the Austin family makes to put together such amazing curriculum. I can't wait for next year! Thanks HOD!!!

In Christ,
Julie