Can someone share about Heart of Wisdom?

mamaduke · Post by **mamaduke** » Sun May 18, 2008 8:41 pm

I'm pretty well convinced to use HOD, but my friend is all excited about the Heart of Wisdom book she is reading and is going to follow with her family now. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having to read a thick book just to understand the approach! I like how Carrie's books are simple.

Is HOW very Charlotte Mason?

I searched the archives for Heart of Wisdom and only found two references, Water2Wine said something like it's teaching style is Greek oriented and HOD is more Hebrew Oriented. I'm sorry if I'm not paraphrasing correctly, but I was hoping you could tell me what you mean by that. This was in a thread about Tapestry of Grace, maybe you meant TOG was more Greek than you wanted according to the description in HOW? That's confusing to me.

The other quote was from HippyChick. She said HOW is research intensive. Could you give more detail on that for me?

Any other info on HOW would be helpful, especially how it compares to HOD. I've been to the website and find it very overwhelming; too much info to sort through and not very clearly laid out, for me anyway. I'm still so new to homeschooling and am searching down bunny trails to figure out the differences.

Thanks,

MamaMary · Post by **MamaMary** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:18 am

Hi Julie,

I used HOW back in 2000. Unfortunately it was one of my least favorite years.

In fairness, when I bought it I didn't know that I was about to become pregnant and have lots of health issue's.

The reason it didn't work out for "me", (I'm sure it works great for many people) is because it is VERY teacher and STUDENT intensive. I loved the idea of the hebrew roots, Biblical perspective, but it was a LOT of work. I found myself wanting to get to it, but it sat on my shelf more than it got used. I bought all the resources and planned it out and tried to make it work I just couldn't.

Another negative of using this program is that she kinda lost her steam while writing the program. If you go to http://www.homeschoolreviews.com and look under Unit Studies and then "Heart Of Wisdom", you will find review after review of those who have waited and waited for her to write the next manuel and been disappointed.

Rarely will you hear me say negative things about a program, but in this case it seems that lots of people respond this way.

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:53 am

We tried it for a little while. I actually like things being teacher intensive as long as my health is fine (I go up and down with my thyroid....eat right and I am okay...

) If it is not teacher intensive, I add myself to the ball game anyway if I am able. I only have one child left to school, so I am not shuffling between several grade levels like many are. I was always involved in my older kids history, Bible, and lit as we did that together as a group.

What I didn't like about HOW was the resources were either way over or way under my kid's heads. I could have substituted, but I was not good at that then.

But the main thing that bothered me was that the recommended resources had a few blatant Biblical inaccuracies. It has been a while and I don't have them anymore so I cannot give specifics. Now I know that many are able to get past the inaccuracies, and I feel that is an admirable trait, but I am the kind of person that thinks: if this is wrong, what else is wrong? Can I trust this book to feed my kids properly? ~~What really ticked me off was that the publisher of these books was also a publisher of Bibles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How could they publish Bibles, and get the info ABOUT the Bible wrong in their resource books??????

With HOD I have been able to trust Carrie's book choosing decisions. Grant it I only have the first 2 levels of HOD, but I have also heard the same thing from others that have done other levels. I also like that HOD covers all subjects. I like mixing science, history, Bible, reading, writing together as much as possible.

I'm sure that I could think of more, but I guess if you don't mind being really involved, overlooking inaccuracies, and not having all subjects intertwined then HOW could work for you. It does work for some, and I love the idea behind it.

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:50 am

I never used HOW, but I did think it sounded great. I was not able to get past my confusion while trying to navigate their web site.

HOD's site is very easy to navigate, Carrie is available to answer questions specifically, and it is Christ centered! And it is less time consuming than other programs I've tried, while making sure the kids (and Mom!) are learning a LOT!

hippiechyck · Post by **hippiechyck** » Mon May 19, 2008 8:45 am

HOW is really for older kids...grade 5+

i think it is thorough, and pretty biblically accurate...i'd like to go through it myself

but for many reasons it didn't work for us, although i very much enjoyed Robin's book "Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach" and many of the comparisons that she makes to todays educational model (Greco Roman) and education in biblical times (Hebraic)...it's an eye opening read if you take nothing else away from it

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:21 am

I use her HOW teaching approach book and apply it to our Bible Study. I love the philosophy of the book and the putting Bible first. What I found when I looked at the unit study and read reviews is it looked like a lot of work to actually use the program. Don't get me wrong I am all for putting everything into school I just think that there needs to be some time to really claim their hearts and not just all of it spent actually putting it together.

The book did actually change my heart on homeschooling though and help me find what really matters to us. It is actually a huge part of the reason we chose to use HOD ironically. Once I really got to the core of our values I was able to see that HOD was really the tool I needed to be able to teach my kids the way I wanted and still have that time to capture their hearts. We do use the HOW approach to chronological Bible reading and we do that on the side of HOD. That is a huge part of changing to a 4 day week for us and continuing with Bigger instead of moving on to Preparing this year. Reading the HOW book let me see that focusing on capturing their hearts rather than rushing them through for the sake of academics was actually not only OK but desirable.

So I guess the bottom line for us was we loved what the actual book had to say but trying to put together our own unit study (except for the first year which I do hear is very labor intensive) was not for us. I needed the organization that HOD gives and I feel like HOD has the focus on God in everything like I desire and does that all effortless for me , which really affords us the time to focus on other things I feel like God has shown me to teach my children that are not unit study type things. But I have a great deal of respect for the author of HOW. She has some real wisdom to offer homeschooling moms and dads. For us Heart of Dakota is it though.

HTH and hope you find the best fit for your family.

Homeschooling6 · Post by **Homeschooling6** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:31 am

I am currently reading HOW book right now, but I don not plan to use their curriculum. For me it just looks too labor intensive & like Water2Wine I am all for putting in the time but with 6 kiddos and a house to keep I know it wouldn't be for us.

I have thought to use it for me when the kiddos are all grown-up

It looks really good and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from it.

But for know I need everything put together for me

Blessings,

Dorla · Post by **Dorla** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:02 am

For those of you dissapointed with Robin not coming out with the next HOW book/unit, she has been VERY ill for the past year or more.
Before HOD I tried to adapt her unit studies for K and it was very labor intensive. However, it is written for grades 4 and up.
In all fairness her HOW book is excellent as a resource for Bible based homeschools.
Dorla

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:16 pm

I want to be clear that when I spoke of inaccuracies I was talking about suggested resources NOT Adam to Messiah itself. I found the info in that book to be just fine. [/i][/b]

hippiechyck · Post by **hippiechyck** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:23 pm

Dorla wrote:For those of you dissapointed with Robin not coming out with the next HOW book/unit, she has been VERY ill for the past year or more.
Dorla

yes, and her husband was very ill before her also...they have had a few very hard years physically

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:38 pm

That is the main thing that keeps me from banking on things that are *supposed to be*. Life happens. Diana Waring had a car wreck and that delayed her writing Romans Reformers and Revolutionaries by a good little while. Dorian Holt and her dh had to get outside jobs and that delayed Westward and Onward. Life happens and I NEVER count on someone saying this will be done by such and such date. It may be their intentions, but you never know what life will dish out.

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon May 19, 2008 3:05 pm

Julie,

I realized I did not answer your question. That idea about going back to the Hebrew ways is from the HOW book. The one that is the HOW teaching approach. http://homeschoolreviews.com/forums/1/t ... x?id=17678

HOD does also follow this same method to me. The focus is on God and withing that academics are learned as opposed to the opposite. The book is most definitely worth a read. For me it made me confident in my choice of HOD. If you want to make your own unit studies beyond ancients then HOW would be the way to go. For us HOD has done what we need in the way of a unit study that integrates God in everything and I use the HOW book as a reference book and a guide for how to do our family Bible study. The author of HOW is an amazing woman. She is very godly and has really shown Christ in the midst of her struggles. She has other great resources as well that are excellent but for us as far as doing our actual school day and unit study we love HOD.

mamaduke · Post by **mamaduke** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:21 pm

I just wanted to say Thank You to all the replies I received to this question. I hate to bump it up when there really isn't any new info, but didn't want you to think I don't appreciate the input. The links and personal experience were just what I need to hear. I spent time reading the threads on HomeschoolReview (sp?) both on HOW and HOD. Very informative.

It looks like the Teaching Approach book is very good. I'm still very curious about the Greek vs Hebrew teaching model so I may have to borrow a copy someday to better understand that concept. I've heard that MFW was Greek based, and heard it explained that the Greek Philosophy was empty and self centered, which I can see, but it doesn't seem likely that a quality Christian curriculum like My Father's World would be based on such.

I've also heard that HOD is more Hebraic in teaching model but also heard that MFW and HOD are actually very similar. I read that two of the major differences are MFW has more outdoor activities while HOD has more indoor. The other difference was the daily "grid" on HOD vs. the weekly grid of MFW. I know another difference is that the MFW phonics is included and not as flexible as HOD in the sense that the teacher picks the phonic/reading level separate from the guide. I like that.

One thing I could gleen from the HOW website is that the Greek teaching model does not incorporate the Bible into every subject. So is that the criticism of some Christian/Biblical curricula, calling it Greek based? I really need to research this some more.

On a positive note, after sharing this with DH he said I should just stick with HOD for the duration since it seems like the best fit for us. HOORAY!

I can hardly wait to get started, and I'm telling my friends about it.

Thanks Carrie,

edited: W2W, that thread link took me to some other topic not about Hebraic teaching style. Did you mean for that? I searched and didn't find anything about this topic, just HOW in general.

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:11 pm

Julie,

You are going to love HOD! I sent you a private message about the other. It will only confirm your decision you have made.