heartofdakota.com

I'm a certified teacher and taught in the classroom prior to having my own children. I always just assumed I'd go back to teach at a private school when they my own children were school-age so they could have free tuition. However, God had other plans. He put homeschool on my heart while my ds was attending a local preschool and getting into trouble because he was bored. He also made us aware of some sensory issues my ds has that makes it easier to school at home in familiar surroundings.

I spent hours online looking at curriculum websites and browsing through catalogs. I was drawn to Sonlight, MFW, Winter Promise, etc. before discovering HOD. I first discovered the HOD guides listed in a curriculum catalog (this was a few years ago - prior to them being sold exclusively by HOD). I then went to the HOD website and spent hours reading. I realized a lot of people were led to HOD by the Lord. He placed the desire in their hearts to homeschool and then sent them the specific curriculum to train their children's hearts & minds. I knew He had led me to HOD, too! After using it almost 2 years now, I know this is the perfect fit for us.

It's also very affordable for a budget-conscious, one-income family like ours...I put the inital $ into my ds's guides/books and now as my dd is coming up, the consumable items I have to buy for her are very inexpensive.

I had been looking at Sonlight, but it was waaaaaay out of our budget. At a home school play date, the mom's were talking about the different curriculum they were using, and one mom said she used Heart of Dakota. It stuck in my mind, because I'd never heard of it before. I went home and googled it, and I fell in love . I knew I'd found the one for our family. I started reading the message board and ended up ordering right away. I've loved it ever since.

The more curriculum fairs I go to, the more speakers I hear at seminars, the more I learn about Charlotte Mason, the more I'm convinced that this is the perfect curriculum for our family. Honestly, I don't think people believe me, because it sounds too good to be true.

I'm excited about the type of education that my children are going to get and are getting. I love that it touches the heart of my children, and they are learning to have a heart for God. And, who could argue with the convenience and affordability?

This is our first year, and I plan on using it all the way through!!!!! We love it!!!!

HOD has been a God-led journey for us from the beginning.

I started homeschooling my kids in 2008 and I had never heard of HOD at all. I spent the year struggling mightily with curriculum and really just wishing I had something to guide me. I began my homeschool journey as a Christian who wanted to teach her children with secular curriculum. (LOL at that now!)

The first year was a disaster, but the kids and I made it though.

I started hearing about HOD on a forum I frequent and decided to check it out. I came to the site, looked around, and decided that there was no way because my kids couldn't school together and there was no way I could ever use two guides at once. (haha, again). Around the time school was getting ready to start back for us, I came back to the HOD website from a link that I had saved and then started to think that maybe I could make it work. The reviews were great and I was starting to like the Bible being added in, afterall. I was determined to do Beyond with my younger son, even though Carrie herself had suggested Little Hearts...and I had my mind set on doing Bigger for my older son even though he CLEARLY fit into the Preparing guide like a glove.

I was so dumb! Within 8 weeks, I had dropped my younger son back to Carrie's originally suggested Little Hearts...and we had stopped using Bigger for my older son all together (because of the very poor placement on my part). My older son spent the rest of the year using R&S textbooks for History and Science and just generally hating school. My younger son began to thrive with Little Hearts and I found myself looking forward to teaching him each day. We skipped projects, added things in, and, in hindsight, really made it less enjoyable than it could have been...but the difference between Little Hearts (even with all of my unnecessary tweeks) and the curric smorgas board I had tried the year before was HUGE.

When last school year ended, I prayed that God would lead me where He wanted me to go. He kept leading me back here. I had this sense of peace each time I came to the message board here. As I would post about my struggles and worried, I would always get support from the ladies here. I will never forget how it made me feel when Julie told me that she had remembered me from last year and had been praying for me by name! That was honestly an answer to my prayers. I made up my mind to order the guide where ds11 placed..and that was in CTC. I promised myself that I would NOT tweek the guides...that I would put my faith and trust in where God had led and I would give it a real shot.

I have been blessed each and every day as a result! My kids are learning so much and honestly, so am I. I have grown in my own faith through instilling it in them! God had plans for ME that I would have never been able to reach if I had not listened to his call to homeschool...and then listened again when He led me to...and back to!) HOD. I sing its praises everyday and tell everyone I know about how happy we are with our curriculum. We are so truly blessed to be a part of the Heart of Dakota family. I love each and every one of the ladies here - in the name of Christ.

I had tried homeschooling dd for K with other curriculum. She made some progress, but things just weren't going well (attention issues, handwriting struggles, etc.). I ended up putting her in our Christian school. She ended up having the same struggles with a teacher who didn't recognize dd's learning problems. She treated it more as behavioral. Needless to say, I had to bring her back home. Before her year at school ended, I knew I had to find different curriculum. I just started searching on the internet. I can't say how or where I came across HOD, but when I found it and learned about it, I was sold. I knew I had found what I was going to use and I have not had any regrets. I love it. It is so easy to use and works so well for dd's needs. Carrie and Julie, you are stuck with us for a long time!

I remember - I was still in the investigation stage because I had (and still have) preschoolers. I was planning on MFW or Sonlight because most people I know use one of those. I saw a little print ad in The Old Schoolhouse magazine, and I was struck by the headline "Christ centered learning from our heart to yours" (good one, Carrie!)
I dog-eared the page to look at later, and after everyone went to bed I looked up the site and pored over the curriculum. Then I found the board and started lurking, and I fell in love based upon the glowing testimonials and the supportive, knowledgeable ladies here! I am so excited about the future I keep getting ahead of myself and wanting to buy. I've only been in LHTH for 10 weeks
Kristin

My husband and I went to a homeschool conference in IA when Grant had just turned 4 and Allison was 3 weeks old. We were looking at homeschooling and just curious about what was "out there". I remember my sleep-deprived self wandering through the curriculum hall with my sweet little girl who had SCREAMED all 5 hrs of our trip to IA. (We were there because my parents live there & we were making this trip to visit, and leave Grant with them while we checked out homeschooling.) Anyway, I clearly remember this sweet blonde lady asking me, "Are you interested in a Christ-centered preschool program?" I stopped and looked at what she had and wandered on.

We did not get LHTH (which was the only HOD guide then), and opted for something else that truly did not work well for our family. For K & 1st Grant went to a small Christian school (which I know God led us to for those 2 years of our life). But it was still in our hearts to homeschool and we started again in 2nd grade. Once again we did not choose HOD - which I had forgotten about, and did not even know had anything but pre-school. Not a joy-filled year, but a step in the right direction.

My sister called me mid-year, and asked me for advice in getting some homeschool curriculum for her just-turned-5 yo who was not in K yet but she wanted to teach him something while he was at home. God flashed that sweet, pretty lady (Julie) asking me about looking for a Christ-centered preschool program into my mind...and somehow this totally non computer-savvy mom found HOD!! I sent her here, and she started LHFHG with her son & loved it! While I checked it out, I realized they have programs that I could be using with Grant! I ordered LHTH to use with Allison (then 3), and loved it. We ordered Bigger the next year and are here to stay - forever!

HOD was definitely a God-send to our family as well. It is such a blessing to us every day to be solidly in God's Word and building a relationship with Him. HOD is excellent in so many ways, but the fact that it's eternally significant in my time with my kids is the deciding factor for us!

Kathleen

This is so awesome! I just LOVE reading all of these! So encouraging! Thank you and keep them coming!!!

creativemommy wrote:I'm a certified teacher and taught in the classroom prior to having my own children. I always just assumed I'd go back to teach at a private school when they my own children were school-age so they could have free tuition. However, God had other plans. He put homeschool on my heart while my ds was attending a local preschool and getting into trouble because he was bored. He also made us aware of some sensory issues my ds has that makes it easier to school at home in familiar surroundings.

I spent hours online looking at curriculum websites and browsing through catalogs. I was drawn to Sonlight, MFW, Winter Promise, etc. before discovering HOD. I first discovered the HOD guides listed in a curriculum catalog (this was a few years ago - prior to them being sold exclusively by HOD). I then went to the HOD website and spent hours reading. I realized a lot of people were led to HOD by the Lord. He placed the desire in their hearts to homeschool and then sent them the specific curriculum to train their children's hearts & minds. I knew He had led me to HOD, too! After using it almost 2 years now, I know this is the perfect fit for us.

It's also very affordable for a budget-conscious, one-income family like ours...I put the inital $ into my ds's guides/books and now as my dd is coming up, the consumable items I have to buy for her are very inexpensive.

Yep! Ditto to this, all of it, Beth, right down to the other curricula I considered!!! Wow, to have kindred spirits on this forum is awesome!!!

We've homeschooled from the beginning. Previously, I used a unit study program that required me to do most of my planning. I was given a list of activities to choose from and needed to add our own 3Rs. It worked well from preK to 1st for my oldest. Last year we added baby #4 and it was a tough year. My oldest had reached compulsory school age and needed school each day. I was exhausted from the baby (she had some health issues at first). We all kept getting sick...mostly just colds, but with a NB who'd spend her first several days on oxygen and IVs, it was very scary! School was basically 3Rs, plus some additional topic I pulled off a 2nd grade scope and sequence and looked up on wikipedia. We did technically get school in most days, but it wasn't what I'd imagined for our HS.

Last spring, I began researching other curriculums looking for a change...so I didn't resort to public school (it was very tempting). I'd looked at HOD years ago, and it had been on my short list, but we went with the other. After looking again, it seemed perfect...Open and go, no planning on my part, great 3Rs (we'd already been using Singapore and copywork), wonderful books, school in 2-2.5 hours, etc. God had answered my prayers with HOD! It brought back my love for homeschooling. I absolutely love that I have virtually no lesson plans to make...and the lessons go over so well with my DC. Each lesson I'm blown away with how everything ties together...and often ties in with our life outside of school. This has been our best year ever and I'm really looking forward to future guides!

I knew we were going to at least attempt to homeschool during K because how in the world could I mess up K? Jayden was already at a 1st grade level at everything but reading, and she was getting better. I loved the idea of unschooling, but wanted something to give me everything laid out for my first year... Then I found Charlotte Mason, which described us perfectly!

I looked at sonlight, but she didn't like me reading to her enough for that. I looked at a friend's copy of MFW and there was so much stuff on the page that it was overwhelming to me. I thought "I will never actually do this if I get it!" Then I stumbled across HOD by the grace of God. It was organized! I could easily see what to do! Jayden fit perfectly in Beyond, so we did it slowly, not worrying if we missed days (she wasn't compulsory yet) She loved it!

Now, I'm doing Bigger, LHFHG, and LHTH... the kids are learning so much, and it's so easy. I go to curriculum fairs to promote HOD... I always tell the people there that I have no interest in actually changing curriculum because HOD works!