I have not used this, but I have heard several times that the journal really completes the program and you are missing out on a lot without it. Sorry I'm not much help, hopefully someone who has actually used it will chime in. :)

Gentle is NOT one of the words that come to mind when I think of HOD. :) Well, maybe the earlier guides are more gentle, but once you hit Bigger, things really ramp up. My ds has had some notebooking assignemnts in Bigger that took an hour, there was so much copywork. And the workload only increases from there as you move up in guides. I haven't used the upper guides, but I've used HOD for 3 years now and I've looked extensively at the uppper guides and I can see what people mean when they say the workload is intense. Just looking at the CTC and RTR guide makes me exhausted, lol. They look so overwhelming to me. But I have also seen many people using the upper guides who say they are wonderful so I guess it just depends. HOD is not "textbooky" if that's what you mean by school-at-home. I'm pretty certain that HOD is vastly different from what public schools are using. :) But for me, it does sort of have a rigid feel in that there are all the boxes to be completed everyday and I didn't feel like I had flexibility to move things around. I did find DITHOR to have a "classroomy" feel to it and I quicky dropped it. Also, many of the discussion questions have a generic feel to them so maybe that is one thing people are referring to when they say HOD feels to "schooly", not really sure.

I've used a few of these and really like them! I usually do it at lunch...I'll sit at the table and pick one picture for the kids to look at. We'll just casually discuss and answer the questions. Just a nice easy way to get in some art appreciation without too much fuss. :)

I've used A Reason for Handwriting for K and 1st and never bought the TM and did perfectly fine without it. :)

I know, it really is great and so fun for kids. All I added was Singapore math Earlybird workbooks and lots of good read-alouds. We had a great year. :)

When my oldest ds was a pre-ker, we did Carol's Affordable Curriculum and LOVED it! I can't remember why I didn't use it for my youngest, but I wish I had. http://www.carolscurriculum.com/

Me too!

I'm doing something different this year from my usual. We're having: Baked artichoke/spinach/cheese dip with tortilla chips and crackers Standing rib roast w/ roasted potatoes Green salad with dried cranberries, toasted almonds, red onion, and orange balsamic vinagrette dressing Nutty brussel sprouts Sweet rolls Pumpkin pie for dessert

I'm making a lot of changes for the 2nd half of our year. I dumped HOD's Bigger and Little Hearts so I've had to figure out other things for history and science. We'll be keeping our 3R's the same. :)

Yeah, I know what you mean about the "family learning" part. I feel the same way. My boys are currently using Bigger and Little Hearts and I'm not crazy how they're separated for every. single. thing. I think we'll be going with something other than HOD next year too for a lot of different reasons. I've looked at A Living History of our World too and I think it looks great! I hope it works out for you! :)

Thanks for all the responses, I appreciate the feedback! I actually already use Singapore with my older ds, but I'm not in love with it. I don't like that it doesn't include drill and I find it difficult to teach. I know there are the HIG's, but I find them very cumbersome and I have difficulty wading through all the wordiness of it. I guess I'm looking for something mastery based with a good TM that provides lots of hand-holding (scripted, I guess). And I'd like drill included. I've tried CLE with my younger ds, but I'm not crazy about the spiral approach. I just want to focus on one thing at a time. I like the looks of R&S math, but it looks like the lessons have a ton of problems and could get very time-consuming. But I'm wondering if you could just skip some problems if you feel like your child has mastered that particular area?? One thing I DO like about Singapore is that there isn't too much repitition and the lessons are fairly short. Thanks again! :)

I haven't used that much, but what I have used I really, really like. Currently using English 2 and the grade 1 reading/phonics. I love both! I just ordered the grade 1 math set, I like the looks of it. I'm seriously thinking about using more R&S materials next year. :)

:bigear:

Are you dropping HOD? Would you mind sharing why? Sorry for being O/T, I was just curious. :-)

Rod & Staff hands down!! :)

I'm using dictation for spelling as part of HOD's Bigger for my 3rd grader. I really like it but there have been many times when I've wondered if it's enough as a sole spelling program (I think studied dictation is an exellent writing exercise!). I've thought about adding a spelling program in additon to the dictation, but I just can't bring myself to add anything since Bigger feels very full as it is. So we just keep sticking with dictation..... :):001_smile:

The title pretty much says it all. Which math program would work best for a kid who "gets math" and doesn't struggle with it? Thanks!

I've been doing them once or twice a week. My ds thinks their fun but I'm pretty sure he'd get burned out on them if I tried to do them everyday. I have been doing the flashcards everyday though and I can tell he's starting to get tired of those.... I'm thinking about letting him pick between flashcards and speed drills for each lesson.

Hi, I'm thinking of buying this for my ds (6). We're currently using The Reading Lesson, but he's struggling. I think he needs something more thorough and R&S *definitely* looks thorough, lol. :) I like that it has both sight reading and phonics, I think he could do well with this. Anyway, I noticed they have optional vocab. flashcards, phonics flashcards, and phrase flashcards. How important are these, do I need them? Also, if anyone can tell me their likes/dislikes of this program, that would be great too. Thanks! -Sara

That's what I'm thinking too. Since Carrie adds writing programs to R&S English, I'm wondering if it's more justified. Hmmm....something to ponder. :)

Thanks!! :)

Hi, I see that Carrie plans for kids to finish R&S English 6 by the end of 8th grade since she feels like English 7 and 8 are high school credit worthy. Do you agree with this? Is Rod & Staff English really that advanced? I've never heard this before so I just want to get other people's thoughts on this. Thanks! :)

I think so! I know a lot of HOD users who do something different for the subjects you mentioned so you certainly wouldn't be alone. :) That would still leave you with history, Bible, geography, poetry, notebooking, creative writing, and probably more that I can't even think of right now. :)

Wait, so CTC only covers Isrealite history and not the rest of ancient history in other parts of the world? I think I would have a real problem with this! And I guess I'm wondering why an author wouldn't think it's important to cover other parts of the world??

Good question, I've wondered the same thing. I can't wait to hear the responses. :)