Has anyone used this? I'd love pros and cons about it, what you liked or didn't and why... I really haven't found many reviews out there. Thanks! It's for my son's 3rd grade year.

Why is it that I am just now finding this? I really LOVE what I see and I can't wait to try it out. http://www.home-school-curriculum.com/category/trail-guide-to-learning-series Reviews? Experiences? I don't know exactly how I would fit it in since it's three years of American History but I really like everything that I see. If you have used this, how did you fit it all in? Did you only use one book or all three? What grades did you use it for? Thanks :001_smile:

I am on the fence about two curriculums. I am a new homeschooler....since January of this year. Right now we are doing....Singapore Math, Easy Grammar 4, Wordly Wise, Spelling Workout 4, Progeny Press, Apologia Science, State History Texas, Words Apprentice, Handwriting without Tears, Evan Moor Daily Geography Practice, and DD reads Life of Fred at night. I feel that the curriculum that we have chosen is very sound but I feel that we are all over the place. I am looking for more of a Unit Study Curriculum approach. I would love if the subjects integrated with each other. I have looked at Trail Guide to Learning and Learning Adventures. Both use real books which is great however I want opinions of people who have used either one. Is the reading a little too light, and the language arts a little too light? My DD will read 6-8 chapters a day just because he loves to read. I also want a strong grammar/language arts program. Any help please. Thanks so much!!!

My son will be in 3rd grade this year. I pulled him from ps in January and I wanted to start SOTW 1.. But since I'm almost sure I will buy Trail Guide To Learning Paths Of Exploration for 3rd grade, I thought it would be confusing or "too much" history to do POE and SOTW 1 with him. We would keep 2 timelines? or a very long one. Now I know TGTL will release their World History series for 6,7 and 8th grades, so I don't know if I should just start with American history and then do World history (assuming that we will stick with TGTL throughout elementary) OR do SOTW 1 while studying American history on POE this year... what do y'all think? I'm so confused right now. Thanks

We are a little over 4 weeks into our new school year. I was completely settled on dd8's subjects and schedule. With math, grammar, reading, literature, Trail Guide (which includes history, geography, science, nature study, art, spelling, writing, word study, copywork and dictation...and light grammar) she is up to 4 to 4.5 hours of work a day. THEN, I went to the library yesterday and found tons of great books that tie into her topic in TG (it comes with books to use...I don't know why I grabbed 20 extra books from the library). THEN I got Time Travelers History Studies in the mail, that I had ordered for dd12, and it looks SO fun. I know dd8 will want to do all the activities too. THEN she found a box of really cute material that I had put aside to make dresses for her and she is begging me to let her make the dresses as part of "home-ec". THEN she found the grammar stage Killgallon book on my shelf and wants to do it because she has an affinity for beautifully written sentences. How do I fit this all in and stay within a reasonable amount of time per day for her!!!!! It's driving me nuts and the only thing I can think to do is to school year round. We had been spreading our school year out, taking breaks every six weeks, but we were still only schooling for about 180 to 190 days. I had already decided that dd12 would need more time this year for her interests but I'm thinking that I'm going to have to drop the yearly schedule for everyone and just wing it, taking breaks when we feel like it. I suppose math, grammar and reading will still need to be done on a daily basis so those subjects may get completed before our year is up. I could then move onto the next level or do review. Which would be better? I'm not sure how to work this out with the Trial Guide program though, since so many of our other subjects are tied to it and doing one thing is directly relational to doing another. I may end up just needing to spread it out more...doing it 3 days a week instead of 5. Oh, my head is spinning. I'm wondering now if the Trial Guide was the best choice for us. I was really looking forward to having a program that incorporated all subjects into a unit study and scheduled everything out but I keep wanting to buck the schedule it has me on and tweak it and move things around, add my own things, omit some things, do more of another...I'm hopeless and I feel foolish for not being able to have the discipline to just put blinders on and stick with the program the way it was written. I know following a program the way it was written and adhering to its schedule would make my life so much easier...why do we do this to ourselves? ( I know those out there who do the same thing.) She started out two years ago being completely satisfied to sit and do workbooks and "schooly" type of work but lately she is turning into an incredibly inquisitive, creative student who seems to want to learn through exploration, experimentation and dialogue. Much like dd12, which kind of scares me.:tongue_smilie: Sometimes I want to chuck all the "programs" and just wing it...maybe in another 10 years I'll feel confident enough to do that. Guess I'll go lay all the books and project lists on the table and see if I get an epiphany. Thanks for letting me rant!

I love the idea and the layout of TGTL but I am having a terrible time implementing it. There is so much to cover and with 2 little one we seem to never get anything done. My dc have learned so much but hate that we are spending some much time on one topic. They keep asking 'when are we going to be done learning about Christopher Columbus?' I've tried to speed it up but it's just impossible, it really doesn't seem to be as flexible as I'd hoped. I really just got it for history and geography but I hate skipping over all the other subjects as they are all so interconnected. I'm really on the fence about staying with it or trying something else.

I haven't posted here often but was wondering if any of you ladies would be willing to share any knowledge or experience with Heart of Dakota curriculum. It interests me in several ways, but is it...I don't know, academic enough? We've been using SL, which I like in many ways, but I've been wanting something that helps me draw more out of the books. HOD seems to do this, and is lit-based like SL. But SL still seems more "academic" to me, but it could be partly because HOD's website and catalog are really cheesy and have a very "unacademic", juvenile look to them. But when I analyze the nuts and bolts of the program it seems like it is rich and there is a lot there if you look beyond the look of the website, TM covers, etc. Hoping for someone who has knowledge or experience with HOD! Thanks! Nicole