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HOD and SL in Elem. Years


jer2911mom
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Hi,

 

For those of you who have used HOD and SL in the elementary years, which one did you feel furthered your child's love of learning and discovery the most and why? I'm not looking for how easy it is for the parent to use. HOD wins hands-down for me on that. I mean which one had your child excited about what they were learning, wanting to share with others what they had learned, wanting to know more about a subject, wanting to go back to the books again and again, that type of thing. I think the other HOD years would be different for us because they use more books and a wider variety of them, but with LHFHG I don't think we'll be wanting to reread the Thorton Burgess books (even though we've enjoyed them) or the CLP history and science books, which got me to thinking about the love of learning aspect. I would say the activities have been the most enjoyable part of school, but I'm trying to assess to what extent the love of learning and discovery has occurred.

 

Thanks!

Kathy

Edited by jer2911mom
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I am not well versed in either, but I do have experience with both. Here is a bit of background:

 

DD did part of SL Core K and Science K for K (5.5 yo), SOTW 1 with WP AW for 1st and HOD Bigger (minus the science) this year for 2nd. I really liked the SL K read aloud books; they sparked a lot of conversation between us. The Usborne books were too...busy? We didn't care for them. There weren't any hands-on activities, and I had a 2yo and newborn so I didn't want to go looking for any. I sent both the core and science back after about 15 weeks. It was way too much reading and not enough hands-on for my 5 yo.

 

DD's 1st grade year was the best. She LOVES animals. I threw in SOTW 1 readings with a few hands-on projects so *I* felt better about her not "missing" history. She still talks about things she learned last year and her free reading, to this day, is always from the nonfiction animal section.

 

We are on week 19 of HOD BHFHG. I like the unit study feel of it. DD makes connections between the Bible, history, activities, and poetry. We decided to do Apologia Human Anatomy 1st semester and Botany this semester because I couldn't take any more animals ;). She isn't enamored with the history readings, but they are very short so she tolerates them. The activities are fun and she is learning much from the Bible character study.

 

So, I am voting for "other" with HOD as a close second [for us]. I am leaning more towards going with whatever the child is interested in for the first few years. I think that really creates the love for learning and discovery.

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Heart of Dakota. I think the reasons are: 1, they use excellent living books for all the subject areas they can; 2, things feel more tied together with a smoother flow and I see my DS making connections frequently; 3, the things we've learned are more memorable because we're going through the books slower and there are lots of enrichment activities such as notebooking, hands-on, cooking, sketching, mapping, etc. (FWIW I have only used Bigger Hearts and Creation to Christ.) But yes, DS goes back and rereads the books all the time! You'll be getting a lot more variety in books in BLHFHG on up.

 

While my son loves to learn and read and enjoys our program, It wouldn't be honest to say that every single thing about our schoolday is a "joy." Why? I'll quote myself from another forum:

 

I have come to realize this past year that a good education will involve both the joy of learning and the discipline of learning. . . School must contain both content (information) and skill-building, and one of the reasons I feel HoD is set apart from other lit-based curricula is that it really focuses on both. Building skills will always require some discipline, and it is natural for children to dislike that part of school. I know it is tempting to feel like you're a meanie or wonder why your kids don't love every part of their schoolday the way some proponents of various educational philosophies may lead you to believe! (Incidently, CM recognized that there were both inspirational subjects and disciplinary ones.)
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I think it depends on the child. I looked at HOD, even bought the guide, but it is too flighty for my dd. She can sit for house & listen to chapter books. She loves the orderliness of MP K, and pulls out the SL binder herself. She really likes the timeline & map activities in SL as well. IMHO, it depends on the child. :)

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Thank you everyone, for your replies. HOD users, at what point do you feel the history and science become more engaging? I don't feel my daughter has been drawn in by the CLP books. I'm trying to determine how much longer it will be before it becomes "interesting" and something that really excites her/inspires her to learn more about a topic. I know we would have CLP for both history and science in Beyond. At least the Storytime literature would ramp up in Beyond and provide more interest and variety there. How are history and science after Beyond? Does it get better each year?

 

Thanks!

Kathy

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I have not used Sonlight. We are using LHFHG and BLHFHG this year. My ds loves BLHFHG, and really enjoys the reading. The history is very engaging for him, and he has loved all the storytime choices. I think the science is a bit light, but we he likes the experiments. My dh does Apologia with him in the evenings. I really like LHFHG also, but the history and storytime are a little less interesting. For my dd I let her pick out picture books that I read to her after she listens to the LHFHG selections. She loves all the activites though. I'm starting to order stuff for Bigger now, and it looks great so far.

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I have only used Bigger, and we read The Pilgrim Story last year. She liked The Pilgrim Story, has liked every HOD History and Storytime selection so far... I already mentioned the One Small Square book? Not only did she think the book was boring, but the experiments were below her level. That's what I get though... She already did Elemental Science Chemistry which is aimed at 3rd graders and Bigger is for 2nd and 3rd graders.

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YES! IT ABSOLUTELY DOES!! I love it more with each new level. My DD9 goes back to reread all her Beyond and Bigger books often, including the One Small Square books.

I have read many, many posts on this forum and everyone seems to love those books. :D;) :tongue_smilie:

 

One thing that I really like about HOD is that we have a choice for our read alouds and readers. I did skip over some that I knew would not be to our liking.

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