How to use Heart of Dakota

[Robin Ruth]

Hi Everyone!
I am new to HOD. I have not purchased anything YET, but I am planning on using this for my curriculum for my daughter next year. She will be 9 years old and entering 4th grade. We took her out of school mid January due to anxiety issues. I NEVER thought I would see myself homeschooling. I figured if I turned out OK with public school, so should my child. Well, I am sooo glad I am homeschooling : ) When using the placement charts, I feel my daughter would be ready for PHFHG. I do have a few questions. If we are economizing, does that mean we would not be using the Independent History Study & occasionally be missing out on a Storytime because we didn't buy the Basic & Deluxe packages? We are starting copywork, dictation and narration now to prepare her for HOD curriculum. Also, I'm trying to decide which DIHR program to use for her. Her toughest subject has always been reading (specifically comprehension). She's usually in a mid-level group in public school (not gifted, but definitely not below grade level). Do you think I should go with the 2/3 student guide with a level 3 book pack to help her better grasp comprehension & work on fluency or go with her grade level which would be 4/5 student book with level 4/5 readers? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! THANKS!

Robin

[amysconfections]

I don't see how you could successfully complete a program without all the packages. You could substitute storytime books. Although I believe Preparing uses storytime books relevant to that time period.

For DITHOR, level 4/5 is a bit more independent. If you use this level you will walk her through it for a while. I might would choose the level 3 book pack and use the 2/3 workbook. But, if I did that I would do DITHOR everyday. I think*(haven't used preparing yet) that DITHOR is only scheduled for 3 days a week in Preparing.

You could choose to cut DITHOR for the first few months and work on reading. That way you could purchase all of the packages for Preparing.

As an encouragement, we have loved homeschooling. I'm sure you will too!

[Homeschooling6]

Hi Everyone!
I am new to HOD. I have not purchased anything YET, but I am planning on using this for my curriculum for my daughter next year. She will be 9 years old and entering 4th grade. We took her out of school mid January due to anxiety issues. I NEVER thought I would see myself homeschooling. I figured if I turned out OK with public school, so should my child. Well, I am sooo glad I am homeschooling : ) When using the placement charts, I feel my daughter would be ready for PHFHG. I do have a few questions. If we are economizing, does that mean we would not be using the Independent History Study & occasionally be missing out on a Storytime because we didn't buy the Basic & Deluxe packages? We are starting copywork, dictation and narration now to prepare her for HOD curriculum. Also, I'm trying to decide which DIHR program to use for her. Her toughest subject has always been reading (specifically comprehension). She's usually in a mid-level group in public school (not gifted, but definitely not below grade level). Do you think I should go with the 2/3 student guide with a level 3 book pack to help her better grasp comprehension & work on fluency or go with her grade level which would be 4/5 student book with level 4/5 readers? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! THANKS!

Robin

Yes, if you can I would recommend trying to at least get the History Read Aloud basic package.

I am using Preparing with two of my boys and we haven't started DITHOR yet I hope to in the next few months (I do own it, just haven't been able to fit it in yet). Maybe like amyscontections, mentioned you can get more of the Preparing package and wait on DITHOR until you are a few months or so into Preparing.

[Robin Ruth]

Thanks ladies! Appreciate the input.

Robin

[LAB]

DITHOR can use any book. The book packs have great selections, but you can buy a book at a time or use your library for books. You can get a book list through HOD with lots of recommendations for the different genres by level. You could take the list to the library to find good books.

I'd try to get all the books recommended. We just got our Preparing books and I'd hate for my kids to miss any of them. They look fantastic!

Another thing you can do is buy the books a few at a time as you need them. It might be easier to budget that way.

We've been in the buy the DITHOR books a few at a time camp this yr. Its been easy to pick out books and get them ordered before we need them. Unless we can budget for them before we start Preparing, we'll be doing it again. It was much more important to me to get the complete program and work on the reading books as we need them.