I should have mentioned I have used both, but I am just wondering one which is the best approach. This fall I am considering this for 1st, 4th, and 6th. The 6th would be intermediate language lessons or CLE. CLE is more expensive of course and consumable. But there seems to be some reassurance in my kids moving through workbooks. But I also want to trust that MFW has best thought this out and thinks what they recommend is best. Different ends of the spectrum totally!

Talk to me about the pros and cons of each approach. I am so torn!!!

n/m got my answers already ;)

Thank you all. We do have insurance. So, the xrays were covered, but I just didn't expect her to go so gung-ho on his first visit. I also am sure he will refill the filling for free, but the anxiety it has caused my daugher to have it fall out twice and need to be done for a 3rd time. The first two times she went with no numbing because she was more anxious/afraid of the shot. But I have convinced her she would do much better with the numbing shot...it's much less disturbing than having a hole drilled for a 3rd time in your tooth.

We've been going to this dentist for 2 or 3 years now. I like him okay, his hygienists are nice and wonderful with the kids. However, I just keep wondering if he's over zealous when it comes to treating "cavities"? I've had teeth problems my whole life. I have only been in for a few cleanings the past 8 or 9 years due to lack of insurance. I have 9 teeth he wants to either do bonding or fillings on right now. I do actually trust this, because I can see/feel these problems. However, with the kids, if the "cavity" is only visible on an xray, do we really need to go filling it? Dd1 - no cavities dd2 - he has filled the same spot twice, and both times it has fallen out. The most recent fall out was the night before our appt (this week). She thought it had been loose for some time. He put a temporary filling in, but scheduled her to re-do it as it has new decay under it. I am frustrated it's fallen out twice. I didn't get a chance to speak to him about it at the visit the other day, but I plan to go in and ask about it Monday. dd3 - has 3 new cavities. She's already had a handful done. ds - this was his first cleaning ever. He turned 5 yesterday. They did x-rays on him before I even knew it. I don't think his cavities even were visible without the xray. But supposedly he has 4 around one tooth. They want to fill them. I am afraid of how he will handle this. He takes a flight approach to when you want to put neosporin or even just chapstick or lotion on him. :P I do not want to have a new dentist ask for our x-rays. My thoughts are this. #1 - just trust him and get the work done...afterall...I do like the office and they are good with kids #2 - cancel fillings and find a new dentist to go to in 6 months for our next appts and see what they say

We did HOD for 2 years with 3 separate guides. Honestly, at the time, I loved working independently with each child. It was good one-on-one time and I knew exactly what they were retaining. This year we went back to MFW to combine the 3 girls. I needed that simplicity this year. But now, we're on week 23. Part of it I know, is the time of year. It's the time when I start to look towards fall curriculum, I feel a bit of burnout, we are ready for the snow & cold to be gone, and I'm tired. But, I'm really trying to evaluate whether the combining was worth it. What do you think? To combine or not to combine? :huh:

Can anybody help me out if you've used both? I'm trying to look at the websites and compare samples. They are basically the same time period, yet look so different! The pretty notebook pages and book choices of HOD look so beautiful, but I also want to combine my will be 9, 11, and 12 year old girls into it. We are using MFW CTG this year and I do love combining them. I have used 4 years of MFW, on our 5th, and have used HOD 2 years (Beyond, Bigger, & Preparing). I love that HOD already has the rich books built into the reading schedule. Because of our library, I almost never get to the book basket books. I really have to just buy them. I love both for different reasons. Any thoughts?

Oh no! Definitely not offensive. :)

Melissa - thank you for the thoughts! :) I need to look closer at them and talk to the girls and see what sounds interesting to them. My husband doesn't really have an opinion on the matter. ;)

Thank you Donna! Some great ideas to chew on!

Very helpful. ;)

Those of you who've been through them, which would you choose in my situation and why? :) We started with MFW and my oldest two have been through K, 1st, Adv, and ECC. The last two years we've used Heart of Dakota. It's time to try bringing the girls back together for history, science, and Bible. My oldest has done HOD Preparing this year. We have loved it! Their next guide would be to move on to Creation to Christ. So, I planned to just pick up with MFW CTG. However, I realized my oldest will end up missing the last year in the cycle for MFW due to entering 9th grade. So, I could go with CTG and just have her miss that last year or we could move on to RTR. My girls will be 2nd, 4th, and 6th this fall. What do you think? Which should I choose? :)

We did HOD last year with 3 back-to-back guides. I know they say not to do that and now I know why! BURNOUT! I tried to repeat Bigger this year only with my 2nd daughter and we scrapped it. I ended up doing MFW 1st with dd3 while moving forward with her 2nd grade level Math and LA. I am LOVING Preparing. It has been fantastic and I hate to think of missing out on future guides, but I NEED to combine. I have a 3 year-old and am expecting another baby in April. I am wondering just how many of you make HOD work with 5 or more kids? I could possibly combine DD2 and 3 into Bigger or Preparing next year, while moving older onto CTC.....but I'd really rather just combine all 3.

dd1 ~ 7.9 (2 days late) dd2 ~ 7.5 (a couple days early) dd3 ~ 8.15 (a couple days early) ds1 ~ 9.1 (almost a week late)

I have decided to go back to MFW CTG this fall. I just don't think I can handle anything else at this point. My oldest has done very well with Preparing and I have loved all the book choices. I just know that I really really need to bring the girls together in school at this time. I have no plans to sell my Preparing set! ;P Maybe we will return to HOD. I think it is fabulous, but maybe not so much for my situation. My kids are spaced just so that I really can't combine any of them into HOD necessarily. We will see how MFW goes this fall. Gratitude - I totally agree with your comments. I think I have learned so much from my 2 years with HOD that maybe I can take back to MFW and improve upon the things I struggled so much with a few years ago in ECC. Maybe one day I'll branch out on my own totally! lol I read a great quote a little while back that talked about how more depends on us as the teacher and how we teach (our attitude) than the curriculum we choose.

Not rambling at all! :) I completely agree with all you've said. That's the main reason I'm looking to go to MFW...combining and making our lives easier, hopefully. ;)

I've heard from a good few who didn't like the Streams book and replaced it with something else after a while? I hear great things about the new science that will start next year. Great advice. from you :) I did print the samples for both CTC and CTG and have been comparing them like crazy. My poor dh is like "deja vouz"! (or however you spell it). I love HOD, but I am leaning towards MFW because I would hope the benefits I have in my mind of combining my girls would actually pan out and be so. I am actually excited about learning about the feasts. I think it would be a nice year after this year of Preparing. My oldest and I have been reading "Fountain of Life" and there is so much talk about all the Biblical Holidays but not a lot of digging into it. I think we might really enjoy learning about it. I keep trying to remind myself, worst case scenario, we switch - don't like it - and come back to HOD the next year. :P It really isn't going to ruin us. Thank you for all of your encouragement and help!

Yes, I was a bit bored this year with it since I just did it last year, not to mention morning sickness & pregnancy! :P Honestly, I'm sure she was probably reflecting a bit off of me. She also has a lot of anxiety about my pregnancy and health and I think she's just been altogether distracted this school year. So, I guess this fall I will pray between combining #2 and #3 in Bigger and moving #1 on to CTC or moving them all to MFW CTG for a try.

It does sound like we're in the same boat. ;) I loved 1st, though I omitted some of the stuff. I liked ADV okay, but was wavering at that point. We really didn't enjoy ECC. However, I will comment, HOD does have a lot of foo foo projects that some love and some don't. Some we do, some we don't. :)

We were posting at the same time. :) I can see everything you are saying and that's why I am so torn. I have heard a lot lately that CTG is a bit boring? I agree with your comments about quitting after ECC though. My girls were about 6 and 8 when I did ECC and it was such a bore. We started with such gusto and quit early. HOD and MFW are just so alike yet so different. :( I am so torn between all the options.

This is our 2nd year with HOD. Last year we did LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger. This year my girls are doing MFW1st, 1/2 Bigger sort of, and Preparing. I loved HOD last year and love Preparing this year. I think I'm just getting scared about running 3 guides again with a 4 year-old & a newborn. I am also nervous about my 2nd daughter and her ability to do the work required. I wish I had found a better way to combine starting this all out. Hindsight always helps makes things clearer doesn't it! :) So now I am wondering, next year would I.... combine dd2 and dd3 into Bigger and try extensions with dd2...this would leave dd3 missing Beyond altogether. combine dd1 and dd2 into Preparing the rest of this year and so -on Any other options?

Thank you. :) I did ADV with my oldest, but it's been a few years and I don't remember much!

Oh, I forgot to list their ages. I will go edit that. I did think of what you mentioned too! lol Too many choices!

I've read almost every past post about the matter and have gleaned so much, but I'm going to ask again so I can get some answers that relate to our situation. We have done MFW K, 1st, ADV, and ECC. I really didn't enjoy ECC AT ALL! But, my two oldest were only about 6 and 8 at the time, so maybe that didn't help us. We found HOD and did that last year. DD1 did Bigger, dd2 did Beyond, and dd3 did 1/2 Little Hearts. I liked it well enough. It went well for us last year. This year, I have oldest in Preparing (which we love), 2nd in Bigger (but I hate repeating it! I am bored and she does not like the Eggleston books), 3rd is doing MFW 1st, and did Emerging Readers. I wanted to work on her writing skills and have her read through the Bible and do the Bible notebook. I also have a 3 1/2 year old boy and am pregnant, due in April 2014. DD1 (10 turning 11 next month) - She is very bright and academically does well with what I give her. She is doing Heart of Dakota Preparing Hearts. She has done very well with it, but she's quite independent anyway. DD2 (turned 9 last Nov) - She is very smart, but a bit distracted and I am finding it really hard to keep her focused this year. I have been trying to repeat with her this year what I did with the oldest last year. However, it is not going as well. She cannot handle/retain the history read-alouds. I admit, they are a bit hard to chew on. I am bored because I was trying to repeat a guide I did last year. So, we have basically been focusing on math, LA, Spelling, and poetry. DD3 (turned 7 last Oct) - She is very bright and does very well with what I give her too. I think maybe her learning style is more like dd1. She is about to start CLE 2nd grade math. She can read super duper well, but her handwriting is awful. :) So, I'm drawn back to MFW so I can combine the 3 of them, but I'm afraid of not liking it and regretting the switch. Maybe combining the 3 of them won't really go that well? Maybe the grass is just greener? I was excited to move dd1 on to CTC next year in HOD. The books look so good, but maybe I'm just star-struck by the pretty covers on the books in the catalog? I wish I could get my hands on both sets, but HOD doesn't come to any conventions near us and I don't think I know anyone near me who uses CTC. So, if I stick with HOD next year, I am thinking of doing Bigger with dd2 and dd3, so at least 2 of them are combined to lighten my load a little? Can anyone help talk me through this?

:o