Heart of Dakota curriculum & homeschooling one child

[jrj972]

Hello,
I'm new to the board and need your help our DD graduates from elementary school this year (5th grade) and we have decided to home school in the fall... Have just learned about Heart of Dakota and wanted to know if this curriculum would work for a family that has one child... If so, we also need placement assistance... DD is 11 years old and we need help determining the correct spot to start with Heart of Dakota...

Thanks so much...

Blessings,
Joy

[SCStxRN]

In looking at HOD.. and looking.. and looking.. I think it would be even easier with just one child than with a group. No questions about combining guides, managing three math classes, etc.

So far as placing your DD, in my experience, the first place to look is the chart: http://heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
Paying closest attention to age, reading, and writing levels.

FWIW - my new fifth grade 10 year old will be starting Bigger, with beefed up math and English, at the end of this summer. He does not like to read or write... narrating can be challenging, at best. So we will do more spelling than Bigger requires, and we will continue working on reading fluency.

He places above Bigger in a few areas, but I've made the decision that it will be more effective to start easy and pick up the pace than try to scale back and build up the pace in Preparing. Truly, we have nothing but time.

[psreit]

I am homeschooling one, and HOD works just fine. As the PP said, look at the placement chart and make a decision where to place based on that. If you seem stuck between two of the guides, it is probably best to go with the lower one and beef up in areas needed. My dd just finished 3rd grade, but has extreme difficulties in math, and reading is still a struggle because of dyslexia. We used HOD for 2.5 years. We are taking a year to focus on the reading and math and will resume HOD in 5th grade. I am planning to use Preparing. I continue to be drawn to HOD because of the great living book choices and the Bible interwoven is excellent. Also, having it all planned out is great! As far as homeschooling one, our only issue is making sure dd gets to spend time with friends. She is very sociable. If you can find a homeschool group where you can get together with other families for field trips and activities, I would highly recommend that, especially since your dd has been among other kids for several years. That may be her biggest adjustment. Again, HOD works great with just one.

[jrj972]

In looking at HOD.. and looking.. and looking.. I think it would be even easier with just one child than with a group. No questions about combining guides, managing three math classes, etc.

So far as placing your DD, in my experience, the first place to look is the chart: http://heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
Paying closest attention to age, reading, and writing levels.

FWIW - my new fifth grade 10 year old will be starting Bigger, with beefed up math and English, at the end of this summer. He does not like to read or write... narrating can be challenging, at best. So we will do more spelling than Bigger requires, and we will continue working on reading fluency.

He places above Bigger in a few areas, but I've made the decision that it will be more effective to start easy and pick up the pace than try to scale back and build up the pace in Preparing. Truly, we have nothing but time.

Hi SCStxRN... how are you? thanks so much for replying... looked at the chart last night and was like WHERE IS MY XANAX {just kidding} we've looked at so much curriculum until my head hurts we'll look again and will pay close attention to what is mentioned in your post... this is an exciting, yet scary time for us and we apperciate your help

Have a blessed day!
Joy

[jrj972]

I am homeschooling one, and HOD works just fine. As the PP said, look at the placement chart and make a decision where to place based on that. If you seem stuck between two of the guides, it is probably best to go with the lower one and beef up in areas needed. My dd just finished 3rd grade, but has extreme difficulties in math, and reading is still a struggle because of dyslexia. We used HOD for 2.5 years. We are taking a year to focus on the reading and math and will resume HOD in 5th grade. I am planning to use Preparing. I continue to be drawn to HOD because of the great living book choices and the Bible interwoven is excellent. Also, having it all planned out is great! As far as homeschooling one, our only issue is making sure dd gets to spend time with friends. She is very sociable. If you can find a homeschool group where you can get together with other families for field trips and activities, I would highly recommend that, especially since your dd has been among other kids for several years. That may be her biggest adjustment. Again, HOD works great with just one.

Hi psreit... how are you? thanks so much for responding we will definitely take another look at the placement chart, then decide from there... is just overwhelming... we've researched for 2 years, thought we had everything together... finalized curriculum... then DD took the learning styles assessment let me just say, after the assessment, our path changed and we are now looking into Heart of Dakota as one of our curriculum choices I LOVE the fact that everything is planned out... I'll be coming home from corporate america and this will help a great deal because I have no idea what I'm doing/what to expect/etc. zilch, zero, nada, nil Heaven help me... we're joining a homeschool group, so hopefully this will help with socialization... ok, I'll stop writing this book now thanks again for responding... truly appreciate it... take care...

Continued Blessings,
Joy

[8arrows]

Welcome. I would also recommend looking at the placement chart. If you can share a little about her math, writing, and reading skills, we will be able to help you more. If you are planning on using Singapore math, have your child take the placement test. That would help with placement too. Remember, with Singapore, it is not unusual to place below "grade level". There is a lot more mental and applied math than with many curriculums. What books does she read for fun? How much does she write? I think with a little more information you will get even more responses. I just graduated my second son, and my oldest son and daughter-in-law just graduated from college this weekend (both were homeschooled until college). You are in for an exciting adventure!

[jrj972]

Welcome. I would also recommend looking at the placement chart. If you can share a little about her math, writing, and reading skills, we will be able to help you more. If you are planning on using Singapore math, have your child take the placement test. That would help with placement too. Remember, with Singapore, it is not unusual to place below "grade level". There is a lot more mental and applied math than with many curriculums. What books does she read for fun? How much does she write? I think with a little more information you will get even more responses. I just graduated my second son, and my oldest son and daughter-in-law just graduated from college this weekend (both were homeschooled until college). You are in for an exciting adventure!

Hello 8arrows... how are you? thanks so much for responding... DD has excellent math, writing and reading skills {tested on 9th grade level for all} she is part of gifted and talented in the public school system... we'll go online and take the Singapore placement test... DD reads all sorts of books... just about anything we have in the house... right now, she is reading books about Nigeria, Dork Diaries as well as books by Rosie Boom... writes daily... loves to journal and write stories... hope this provides a little more information thanks much for helping us navigate through this journey!!

Blessings,
Joy

[annaz]

Welcome. I would also recommend looking at the placement chart. If you can share a little about her math, writing, and reading skills, we will be able to help you more. If you are planning on using Singapore math, have your child take the placement test. That would help with placement too. Remember, with Singapore, it is not unusual to place below "grade level". There is a lot more mental and applied math than with many curriculums. What books does she read for fun? How much does she write? I think with a little more information you will get even more responses. I just graduated my second son, and my oldest son and daughter-in-law just graduated from college this weekend (both were homeschooled until college). You are in for an exciting adventure!

Hello 8arrows... how are you? thanks so much for responding... DD has excellent math, writing and reading skills {tested on 9th grade level for all} she is part of gifted and talented in the public school system... we'll go online and take the Singapore placement test... DD reads all sorts of books... just about anything we have in the house... right now, she is reading books about Nigeria, Dork Diaries as well as books by Rosie Boom... writes daily... loves to journal and write stories... hope this provides a little more information thanks much for helping us navigate through this journey!!

Blessings,
Joy

I am doing HOD with one child. The problem with curriculum that caters to all the family, is that you end up with a lot of paraphrasing; books that are too difficult and books that are too young. I've used such a program and had most of the books unsuitable because they weren't ever in the right age range for an only. You'll find books completely suitable in understanding and content for the age range listed on the cover of the guides.

You can use your own math, grammar and writing program without hindering HOD in content. You may run a bit longer, but just so you know, you can make those subject changes, if those particular ones don't work out as planned. If your dd loves to read and loves to write, she'll love HOD!

[lucsch]

We just finished Bigger and have used HOD for three years. It most definitely works well with an only!
As others have suggested, start with the placement chart.

[MomtoJGJE]

I don't have an only, but I use different guides for all my children So I would imagine it would be the same thing.

Just go through the placement chart and have her take the Singapore placement test. The thing about Singapore Math is that it's a different way of thinking math. So even if she's doing advanced math, the way of SM might be different enough where she'll need to go to a lower level just to get used to the way they (SM) do math.

Also, if she's borderline between two guides, since she's coming from public school you might not even want to beef up the younger guide at first. Because HOD is a different style of learning than public school.

Now as far as recommendations without knowing where she places on the placement chart

For a child new to Charlotte Mason, new to HOD, new to homeschooling in general... beginning 6th grade (right? I just looked at that not two minutes ago! ) anyway, for an 11 year old. I would likely focus on either Preparing or CTC. Preparing is a lower level, but it's a broad overview of history and it really "trains" them well as to everything involved in HOD. You could use the extensions to boost it a bit, but I'm not really sure you would have to as long as you put her in the appropriate level of Math and English as well as DITHOR.

CTC starts at creation... its' the first section of the history cycle. It seems like it would also be a great place to start! I haven't actually DONE CTC yet, but I have it sitting in our school room ready to begin next week It looks awesome!

[LynnH]

It definitely works for one child. My ds came home in 5th grade and at the time he was the only one home and we did Preparing and had an amazing first year of homeschooling. The next year my 10th grade dd came home, but she was pretty independent and didn't need me much so it was still pretty much like homeschooling only 1. She just graduated so my ds and I will be back to just the 2 of us.

From what you have shared CTC sounds like it would be a good fit. As others have shared it is a different type of learning and requires a different type of thinking than what she would have had in ps.

[Heather4Him]

Another successful HOD homeschool family with one child here, too!! We're using the older guides, and we are scheduled to start our 4th year of HOD starting in August. We love it, and it definitely works perfectly for one child!