Combining HOD Bigger with a K and a 2nd grader???

[j_thurm]

Has anyone combined Heart of Dakota with a K student and a 2nd grader? I would use their own Math and Language Arts. Any recommendations?

 

Just a side note....does anyone find the History text kind of dry? I love how HOD connects Bible, History, and Science but I wish their History text for Bigger were more interesting. How anyone else felt that way? Sorry if these questions have been asked before.

 

Thanks so much!!

[Donna T.]

I really like all of the books in Bigger Hearts but I don't know about using them with a Ker. My own son will be a 4th grader when he uses Bigger Hearts. I think the "norm" is to do Bigger Hearts with a 3rd grader. But, if you think that your 2nd grader places into the program (according to the placement chart that HOD has), you could include your Ker in some of it. Most of the readings in Bigger Hearts are intended to be done outloud, by you, so your Ker could listen in. Of course, you probably wouldn't expect that child to do the written work. You could always add in some picture books from the library on the topics that you are covering. That should be easy to do. You could probably get some specific recommendations if you ask on the HOD board or at the HOD yahoo group. I think all the painting and other art would be fun for your younger child.

 

I personally do not find the books to be dry. They are just the type of books that I want to be using with my children. There is a thread on the HOD board that explains Carrie's book choices, why she likes those so much. Here is a link:

 

http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6248

 

if you scroll down through that, you should be able to locate the info. on the history books in Bigger Hearts.

 

I do believe my son will be more interested in them as a 4th grader, rather than any younger. He is a third grader this year and will be doing Beyond but he will do alot of the reading himself and we are adding some material to the science.

[Tree House Academy]

We will not do Bigger until 3rd grade here, but I can't imagine doing it with a K'er and them getting much from it...especially the Eggleston book.

[twoxcell]

I personally would not attempt to combine a 2nd in a Ker in Bigger. I tried myself to combine my 7 year old and 4.75 year old in Beyond and it was too much for my dd. She is quite advanced for her age, but I was feeling like she would be missing too much. I'm going to be doing Beyond and Little Hearts instead now. If you absolutely want to combine I would go with Beyond. My 2nd grader is loving it. We do add in a bit with AAS, PLL, and apologia zoology 1, and he is doing SM 2a/2b. I have the Bigger guide and it is quite a step up.

[ElizabethB]

I am combining my K and 3rd in Beyond. It is going well so far, they are both enjoying it. I got a few extra books for my 3rd grader to read on her own from the next level up, it is also American history.

[Daisy]

The only way I could have done BIGGER with my children at that age is if I dropped every bit of the history & science notebooking.

 

I personally think the writing in BIGGER is better suited to an advanced 2nd grader or average 3rd grader.

 

The books would have been fine for my kids. My son didn't find them dry but we did all of the hands-on activities that made them interesting.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Daisy

[jewel7123]

I know some people do combine, but I think with HOD it's easier to combine in a lower guide and then beef up for your older child rather than put a child in a curriculum that is way over their head. I've read a lot about HOD and have 5 of their guides sitting on the shelf right now, but I finally had to resign myself that this curriculum will NOT work for me since I have three children and I very much want to keep them on the same history and science cycle. HOD's guides do not combine well because each guide has a very specific set of skills for the child to learn that is developmentally appropriate for the age the guide has recommended. A child younger than a year or two at the most will have a hard time doing the work unless you cut out a whole lot. ETA: I think this statement is true for the upper level guides. The lower levels, such as Little Hands to Heaven and Little Hearts for His Glory are much easier for children younger than the recommended ages to handle, in my experience.

 

I'm totally with you on wanting to combine, though, which is why I've decided to try out Tapestry of Grace.

Edited August 26, 2010 by jewel7123

[j_thurm]

Thanks so much for everyone's advice!!

 

I was wondering what things you leave out for your K student?

 

I like the advice about using Beyond. It looks great but we did quite a bit of My Fathers World Adventures which covers most of the same things. So I felt like maybe I would be doing a repeat of our studies from this past year. Am I correct in that thinking?

 

Thanks again!

 

I am combining my K and 3rd in Beyond. It is going well so far, they are both enjoying it. I got a few extra books for my 3rd grader to read on her own from the next level up, it is also American history.

[ElizabethB]

I just use it for history, bible, poetry, and science. They each have their own separate Language arts and math.

 

My K student listens to everything but is not expected to perform at the same level as the 3rd grader. He gets a chance to answer easy questions first!

 

He is also allowed to wander off if it goes long. I start with the Bible, I consider his mandatory school Bible, phonics, and math.

 

So far they have both been enjoying it. When my daughter was K age, I had a two year old and my husband was deployed for half of the school year, so I did not have the energy to do any fun activities with her except an occasional phonics game or playing with math manipulatives, so she is enjoying the fun activities in HOD.

[jewel7123]

Thanks so much for everyone's advice!!

 

I was wondering what things you leave out for your K student?

 

I like the advice about using Beyond. It looks great but we did quite a bit of My Fathers World Adventures which covers most of the same things. So I felt like maybe I would be doing a repeat of our studies from this past year. Am I correct in that thinking?

 

Thanks again!

 

You are correct. If you did Adventures last year than Beyond will feel repetitive, as they both use the same spine.

[j_thurm]

Thanks for the advice. I had Beyond out to do and then changed my mind at the last minute.

 

You are correct. If you did Adventures last year than Beyond will feel repetitive, as they both use the same spine.

[j_thurm]

Thanks for the help! Do you find that by starting with the bible you lose some of the History connection since you won't be reading the History part first?

 

 

I just use it for history, bible, poetry, and science. They each have their own separate Language arts and math.

 

My K student listens to everything but is not expected to perform at the same level as the 3rd grader. He gets a chance to answer easy questions first!

 

He is also allowed to wander off if it goes long. I start with the Bible, I consider his mandatory school Bible, phonics, and math.

 

So far they have both been enjoying it. When my daughter was K age, I had a two year old and my husband was deployed for half of the school year, so I did not have the energy to do any fun activities with her except an occasional phonics game or playing with math manipulatives, so she is enjoying the fun activities in HOD.

[Holly]

I'm using Beyond this year for 3rd and K/1st. There's no way my DS would be able to do Bigger this year. I have the Bigger guide for DD to use with math, English, and Cursive, and I've glanced at the Bigger history/science/Bible activities. Like PP mentioned, there is lots of notebooking and more advanced readings and narrations.

[twoxcell]

Like I said I was combining a K, and 2nd grader in Beyond. The biggest reason I decided to bump my dd back down to Little Hearts was because I bought the Bigger guide, and saw how much more work it was from Beyond. If your just using HOD for History, Bible, and science it could work, but your younger would miss out on the notebooking and such. Also Preparing I hear is quite another step up. We are doing everything in the guides though.

[Lovedtodeath]

The Bigger Spine does not do well for some younger ones. http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7058&p=51548&hilit=EGGLESTON#p51334

 

If I were you and really wanted to try HOD I would probably get both Little Hearts and Beyond and work the left side of Little Hearts and the Right side of Beyond. The Beyond story time is very good. The Bigger history and Bible look good (Protestant slant tho).

 

OOPS! I meant that the Little Hearts history and Bible look good with a Protestant slant... not Bigger.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[daybreaking]

If your 2nd grader places into Bigger, I would go that route for her, but I would highly recommend doing Little Hearts with your K'er. It's a beautiful program that only takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day and is perfectly suited for a K'er or 1st grader. Although it's nice to combine, I think your K'er would really be missing out, as Bigger is geared for a much older child. We're doing Beyond now, with a very bright 2nd grader, and it's a perfect fit. Although he would have enjoyed the readings from Bigger as a K'er, he wouldn't have been ready for all the writing and other activities present in Bigger.

 

I wish I had a link, but I remember Carrie talking about being much more stressed trying to combine her children than when she decided to have them each have their own program, due to the constant tweaking she needed to do. Perhaps you could post your question over on the HOD board and get some seasoned advice from the ladies over there. :)

[j_thurm]

Thanks for the tip. Very perplexing :) What would you do for History then?

 

The Bigger Spine does not do well for some younger ones. http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7058&p=51548&hilit=EGGLESTON#p51334

 

If I were you and really wanted to try HOD I would probably get both Little Hearts and Beyond and work the left side of Little Hearts and the Right side of Beyond. The Beyond story time is very good. The Bigger history and Bible look good (Protestant slant tho).

[j_thurm]

I understand everything you are saying! I just wish I would have found Beyond before I did MFW Adventures. I love the looks of Beyond. In fact, like I had said, I was ready to redo the History my child learned the year before just to be able to do Beyond but then changed my mind due to too much repetition.

 

If your 2nd grader places into Bigger, I would go that route for her, but I would highly recommend doing Little Hearts with your K'er. It's a beautiful program that only takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day and is perfectly suited for a K'er or 1st grader. Although it's nice to combine, I think your K'er would really be missing out, as Bigger is geared for a much older child. We're doing Beyond now, with a very bright 2nd grader, and it's a perfect fit. Although he would have enjoyed the readings from Bigger as a K'er, he wouldn't have been ready for all the writing and other activities present in Bigger.

 

I wish I had a link, but I remember Carrie talking about being much more stressed trying to combine her children than when she decided to have them each have their own program, due to the constant tweaking she needed to do. Perhaps you could post your question over on the HOD board and get some seasoned advice from the ladies over there. :)

[ElizabethB]

Thanks for the help! Do you find that by starting with the bible you lose some of the History connection since you won't be reading the History part first?

 

So far, it has been short verses. If they forget, I read the verse or verses again after history!

[Lovedtodeath]

Thanks for the tip. Very perplexing :) What would you do for History then?

I edited my post.

 

For combining those ages, I would probably do WinterPromise Hideaways in History (devotional scheduled) or my own Cultures and Creatures geography (no bible included).

 

If you are determined to use HOD then I would get Little Hearts and see if the history works for both children, then use either Bigger or Beyond's right side for the 2nd grader. (I would go with Beyond, personally, then you could use the whole Bigger guide next year.)

[Lovedtodeath]

So far, it has been short verses. If they forget, I read the verse or verses again after history!

Thanks for the tip. I was also thinking we would have to do history first.

[j_thurm]

Thanks for your help! I don't have the Little Hearts guide. What history do they teach at that level or do they not teach any History yet?

 

I edited my post.

 

For combining those ages, I would probably do WinterPromise Hideaways in History (devotional scheduled) or my own Cultures and Creatures geography (no bible included).

 

If you are determined to use HOD then I would get Little Hearts and see if the history works for both children, then use either Bigger or Beyond's right side for the 2nd grader. (I would go with Beyond, personally, then you could use the whole Bigger guide next year.)

[Lovedtodeath]

Little Hearts

The "Learning Through History" part of the program gives an overview of history from creation through present day. Bible stories are integrated with history stories. This allows students to see how the Bible fits into history and how we got to where we are today.

History Stories for Children:

This reader exposes youngsters to a wide variety of wholesome stories based upon famous historical events and personalities. Students sharpen their reading skills while they learn about Alexander the Great, King David, Miles Standish, the Boston Tea Party, and many other characters and events of history.

 

Little Hearts for His Glory uses History Stories for Children, Bible stories and History for Little Pilgrims to give an overview of God's hand through history. These stories provide the focus for "The Learning Through History" part of the daily plans.