LHFHG Singapore Math activities?

[3sweeties]

Thank you for all the info, Carrie and everyone!!!

[MamaKim]

I'm a little frustrated, as I bought everything from HOD for 4 children at the April Homeschool convention. It was all shipped to me, and is all brand spankin' new. But I had NO CLUE this was going on So I essentially would have to return my brand new guide in order to buy another one at 50%.... so that I'll have paid 1.5x the cost, so that the guide works with the math they sent me? I'm outside of the return window.

[mothermayi]

A PDF of just the math activities would be great. I also bought my guide this year but I am outside of the return window. I feel like I'm throwing money away by buying a new guide and I haven't used the other one yet.

ETA: The same thing happened to me this year when I bought another curriculum LOL ! My luck . I think I will start asking if new things are coming out in the future bc it isn't normally posted in big letters on the company's site.

[MelInKansas]

mothermayi it looks like from your signature you are planning to use Math-U-See with your K child anyway - in that case you don't need to return your guide for a new one. Math plans and 1st grade Fine Motor book are the changes, as far as I know, between the last edition of LHFHG and the one coming out in a few weeks.

MamaKim if you got the EarlyBird Kindergarten Mathematics then your guide and your math book go together. If not, then they don't.

[mothermayi]

MelInKansas,
We are finishing MUS Primer now (began it in January). We were switching to Singapore with my kindy bc we wanted to try it with Carrie's hands-on applications that are written in the guide. So the only way to get it is to purchase another guide bc I don't have the Earlybird Math that is now out of print.

[momtomanymohr]

Just a thought:
Instead of having people send in their old LHFHG guide, how about just the cover? They could rip it off and send it in to get the new one for half price. It would save postage on having the old ones sent back in but still render the old one useless and un-sellable yet they could be kept for "memory notes" and such.
-Rebecca

[MomtoJGJE]

How long would the offer for half off be available? Would we have to get the new guide this fall to be able to take part?

[Carrie]

Ladies,

One thing that is a part of curriculum... is rewrites. We have been blessed to be able to use the original versions of our guides with few major updates to this point, however updates are a part of passing years and changing resources. This is why there are always differing versions of any curriculum.

I know that several items I used with my oldest son last year went into revisions shortly after I purchased them, so I know firsthand that this happens often. We've also been very up front in letting our customers know that the Earlybird Math was going out of print, both on our website and in our catalog (and on our Message Board). So, families have had awhile to understand this change was coming.

If you happen to be new to Heart of Dakota, and you purchased a guide prior to the new version coming out, it will still function very well. I used it this way last year myself, because the rewrites weren't done. You can also still use the Essentials Math without the new guide if desired, simply doing 2 pages a day of the math in order to complete it on time.

If you do prefer to have the hands-on math activities matched to your math workbook, then you could consider purchasing the new guide. If you desire to receive the discounted price on the new guide, simply contact us and we will send you a postage paid mailer to return your old guide. With the price being 50% off in this scenario, you are still getting a bargain. Just think what you would pay for a Teacher's Guide for math alone for most curriculums!

Whether you desire to take the opportunity to purchase the new guide is truly up to you, however please understand that we are now moving forward with the discount as outlined. We've considered the other options and have decided on this course of action. A PDF of the math changes alone would result in a 42 page document, which would be expensive to copy and labor intensive to collate and stock. With a change of this magnitude, a new version of the guide was the answer.

We pray that you will have a wonderful, God-glorifying school year with Little Hearts!

Blessings,
Carrie

[8arrows]

Carrie, how long with the 50% off offer last? I appreciate both the return mailer and the percentage off. I am planning on doing LHFHG not this year with Tessa, but next (fall 2014). Do I need to exchange now?

[MelInKansas]

I too will take advantage of the 50% off offer if I can, but we are in the middle of LHFHG now (I got an Earlybird Mathematics before they were gone for this child) so I need my guide in order to finish. We only have 3 more weeks of the guide to do, but it will probably take us until mid or the end of August. And what should we do if we want to exchange our old LHFHG guide and get a new one for 50% off? Email? I think you said this was only if you have the record of our purchasing it directly from HOD, right?

Thanks for the information and for offering a discount for those of us who need a new guide so we can keep using LHFHG with our younger children!

[Dustybug]

I will say that I'm more than a little disappointed with HOD's choice to charge customers for this update, even if at half price. That just isn't economical to many. Also, to people like me who have LOVED and bragged and actually convinced other homeschooling families to give HOD a try, but didn't buy their guide directly from HOD (because if I did that, I couldn't afford it), would still have to purchase an entirely new guide. That just doesn't seem fair. A PDF file like the rest of the updates available on the site, doesn't seem like it would put the company out of any money and a parent wouldn't even have to print it, just pull it up on the screen daily. Offering it this way would avoid getting cheated by families who may have sold their guide, but are trying to get the half price deal.

This is frustrating. While overall, it's not a huge deal because the math portion of HOD isn't integral to the program in its entirety so you could just keep your old guide and work your own schedule out for the math, it feels like a stab to some loyal users. I've heard many people brag about the level of customer service offered by this company. This move seems to counter that a bit. :/

[Gwenny]

Let's not forget that Carrie spent a lot of time, effort, energy, work, etc. writing the guide and the new updates. We need to honor and support those working to serve us. It is great when we can support them by buying straight from them as much as possible. I know not everyone can, but we should as much as possible. We should not expect them to be able to do it for free though.
The are many math programs that cost more than purchasing the new guide at full price. It is a very gracious offer.

[Dustybug]

I have not taken away from the time and effort that Carrie and her family put into this curriculum. However, no curriculum is above feedback from its customers and no curriculum has users that ALL purchase straight from the company all the time, every time. That's just not how it works. If the company doesn't wish for this to happen, then they should prohibit the resale of their materials in their copyright. There are many of us who cannot homeschool if we do not purchase used.

No one asked them to do everything or anything for free. Not one HOD user that I've ever encountered would dream of asking them to do that. We realize the value of the curricula and all the hard work that goes into putting it together. That is why we use it.

I honor and support HOD when I blog about it, when I recommend it to others, when I lug all my guides to a meet up with a fellow homeschooler so they can take a gander at what I have been raving about, when I spend time carefully responding to new users to help them and answer their questions in other HOD groups. I have been a member of this forum for years BECAUSE I honor and support HOD.

I merely stated that I don't understand why this particular update was NOT offered via PDF like every other update thus far has been offered. It seems a little counterproductive. Like I said, this isn't a make or break thing. I won't be purchasing an entirely new guide for math plans whenever I have another child that may use LHFHG because I can easily make my own or follow the instructions in the Singapore books themselves. It's only Kindergarten math. However, because I do converse with other HOD users outside of this forum on a fairly regular basis, I know that there are many who feel upset about this choice.

[StephanieU]

This was a change to each and every day of the guide. It was a complete change to the math as well as changes to the fine motor skills. It was the first change in 9 years (LHFHG was originally published in 2004). The teacher/parent manual for math alone is often $20 or more for most curriculums. It wasn't just a small change that would be a couple of pages. Carrie said the math changes were 42 pages! I don't think printing a new edition every 7-10 years is unreasonable.

[Dustybug]

No one said printing a new edition every 7-9 years was unreasonable.

I'd even pay a small fee for the PDF file if it helped.