Anyone else started HOD?

[Donna T.]

We started back to school last Monday with Creation to Christ and Bigger Hearts. Considering just how lazy we were this summer, I think we got off to a great start. Our second day was hard on my youngest. He was really intimidated by the science notebooking (he was supposed to copy illustrations from a One Small Square book and I think he just didn't know how to get started with it) and it just paralyzed him. But, he went back to that assignment first thing on Wednesday and did a great job with it. It was gratifying to see him finish a project that he wasn't so thrilled with the day before. He definately got the "connection" with the character trait he was studying... (persistence)!!

 

It felt so good to be back with HOD for both of the children. I decided by Day 2 that I am going to combine them for Storytime, focusing on choosing books that fit the genres and let my oldest read the CTC history books (those scheduled for Storytime) independently. I think I am going to drop IEW and just stick with Write With the Best. I decided to give it a try just to see what we thought of it and I liked it immediately. I am also dropping our spelling curriculum and we are just going to do the studied dictation. Both of them loved the poetry and art. My oldest was really excited about the prophecy study.

 

How is it going for you? :)

[birchbark]

Glad to have you "back" Donna! We have done two units of RTR but are quitting for a few weeks so DH and I can take an anniversary trip! DS has gotten into the groove pretty quickly this year and loves the materials. He is also loving the Shakespeare!

[Joyofsixreboot]

My kids were A little freaked out by the science note booking too. We have never done that sort of thing before. I talked them through it and they didn't like it but we got it done. Glad to hear it's going well.

[mytwomonkeys]

we are in our second week starting today. so far, we love it!! i'm not using it verbatim, but we use most of it as instructed. it's been fabulous!:)

[Evergreen Academy]

We will be starting soon, and are just doing math and reading every day as a sort of warm-up for the next two weeks; something we've been doing on and off during the summer anyway when we haven't been travelling. I am so excited to start the CTC history books, but am piecing together the read-alouds and readers from the ridiculous library I accumulated the last time I did this history cycle, as well as books from Ambleside Online. Still trying to decide whether using Intermediate Language Lessons along with CTC's dictation, copywork and narration would be overkill, or whether I should give in and do it as written.

 

A question for folks: do I need the notebooking pages? I have been thinking we will do it more traditionally CM style and use blank notebooks, where they can record their narrations and drawings without as much step-by-step instruction. Would this work? Is there anything I really need in those notebooking pages?

Thanks, I love hearing how it's going for everyone!

[MrsMe]

We started CTC 3 weeks ago, in fact I'm trying to do a 3 weeks on 1 week off year and this week we're off. The only problem is we've only done 7 days of work in that amount of time. CTC is really full and dd is part dawdler, part talker. So I told her having off is a privilege, so we have at least one more day to finish out Unit 2. I know it takes a bit to get in the groove, so I'm okay with starting out slow.

 

I had ordered the girl interest pack instead of the history pack because last spring I thought she'd like that better. So I had to reorder all the history pack and she read "The Golden Bull" in 3 days! She loved it!

 

Donna, I'd like to know what spelling you used. We use BJU spelling, minus doing "spelling tests" and just using the dictation sentences, but the sentences in BJU aren't something she studies first. So I'm still thinking of using BJU Spelling simply for working with words and using the HOD dictation. Every year I battle this. My dd reads well, narrates well, but then she'll not know a lot of simple words (odd) which is why I have her do the word work in BJU spelling. So I'm really leary of chucking that. But it adds to our day and I don't like that. I guess I can't wrap my brain around that dictation only works, without syllables and meanings and all that jazz.

 

The notebooking pages are really nice in CTC and the watercolor is pretty fun. The Apologia Science is quite interesting too as she comes to me often, with, "Mom! Did you know...?"

[MrsMe]

We will be starting soon, and are just doing math and reading every day as a sort of warm-up for the next two weeks; something we've been doing on and off during the summer anyway when we haven't been travelling. I am so excited to start the CTC history books, but am piecing together the read-alouds and readers from the ridiculous library I accumulated the last time I did this history cycle, as well as books from Ambleside Online. Still trying to decide whether using Intermediate Language Lessons along with CTC's dictation, copywork and narration would be overkill, or whether I should give in and do it as written.

 

A question for folks: do I need the notebooking pages? I have been thinking we will do it more traditionally CM style and use blank notebooks, where they can record their narrations and drawings without as much step-by-step instruction. Would this work? Is there anything I really need in those notebooking pages?

Thanks, I love hearing how it's going for everyone!

 

I think ILL is overkill as all that is covered in one place or another in HOD.

 

I suppose you don't NEED the notebooking pages, but the prophesies and fullfillment are all in the beginning and it ends up to be a scrapbook of information, filling in certain boxes. If you keep your Units together, as it says "in Unit 1 box # put ___ here", and keep the separate units as 1 page, it should be okay. It may be confusing in the directions though if you can get past that.

[Evergreen Academy]

"I suppose you don't NEED the notebooking pages, but the prophesies and fullfillment are all in the beginning and it ends up to be a scrapbook of information, filling in certain boxes. If you keep your Units together, as it says "in Unit 1 box # put ___ here", and keep the separate units as 1 page, it should be okay. It may be confusing in the directions though if you can get past that."

 

Ok, I get what you're saying here. But tell me, is there a good reason it all has to be on one page, or could there be separate pages for these things that are just filed as they are done?

Thanks!

[MrsMe]

"I suppose you don't NEED the notebooking pages, but the prophesies and fullfillment are all in the beginning and it ends up to be a scrapbook of information, filling in certain boxes. If you keep your Units together, as it says "in Unit 1 box # put ___ here", and keep the separate units as 1 page, it should be okay. It may be confusing in the directions though if you can get past that."

 

Ok, I get what you're saying here. But tell me, is there a good reason it all has to be on one page, or could there be separate pages for these things that are just filed as they are done?

Thanks!

 

I went and looked at them all. Some have directions to make things, some have maps and some have games. So it's just not all pretty blank boxes to write in. At the top of each unit are 3 small boxes that are timeline pictures then the info below them or on the same unit have to do with those boxes.

 

So I'd say you'd be missing the maps and the other projects in the pages.

[KeriJ]

We are on Unit 3 of Beyond. I have 3rd grader and 1st grader combined for most of it. And my 3 year old even tags along on the crafts etc. We are loving it. So simple, yet so thorough! It has been so freeing for me not to worry about whether or not we have done "enough" every day. We have a lot of sleep deprivation and toddler tantrums at our house...making it difficult for me to keep all of my mental plates spinning. :)

 

Love HOD! Hope we can stick with it for the long haul!!

[raceNzanesmom]

We started Beyond on the 15th. We love it! :D We're using it as written except I add Bible Study Guide for All Ages, one side per day.

[Donna T.]

I am so excited to start the CTC history books, but am piecing together the read-alouds and readers from the ridiculous library I accumulated the last time I did this history cycle, as well as books from Ambleside Online. Still trying to decide whether using Intermediate Language Lessons along with CTC's dictation, copywork and narration would be overkill, or whether I should give in and do it as written.

 

A question for folks: do I need the notebooking pages?

 

Thanks, I love hearing how it's going for everyone!

 

We have alot of Sonlight and AO books that I am using for their readers and for the Storytime box for CTC. My CTC son is reading the history books that are scheduled in Storytime for himself so I can combine him with his younger brother for the genre studies. It's working great! You really can use whatever you want for readers and read-alouds.

 

I briefly used Intermediate Language Lessons several years ago. I think it would be overkill. I know it would be for us. I really love HOD's LA. It was a big factor in us coming back to it this year. It is simple and yet very effective.

 

I wouldn't want to do CTC without the notebooking pages. My son loves them. It's not just pages for writing narrations but also maps and charts. They are gorgeous and well worth the money. You could probably get by without them, but they really are nice to have... very motivating for my son.

[Donna T.]

Donna, I'd like to know what spelling you used. We use BJU spelling, minus doing "spelling tests" and just using the dictation sentences, but the sentences in BJU aren't something she studies first. So I'm still thinking of using BJU Spelling simply for working with words and using the HOD dictation. Every year I battle this. My dd reads well, narrates well, but then she'll not know a lot of simple words (odd) which is why I have her do the word work in BJU spelling. So I'm really leary of chucking that. But it adds to our day and I don't like that. I guess I can't wrap my brain around that dictation only works, without syllables and meanings and all that jazz.

 

 

My oldest son has used Rod & Staff for five years. My youngest son used Rod & Staff 2 and 3. We have also tried Spelling Power. We really liked SP but I wanted a curriculum that taught the rules in a more explicit manner and I also love the word study that R&S includes. My oldest son has done well with it though it is very tedious. My youngest son always made 100% on his spelling words but could not spell a lick in his own writing. He was not transferring his knowledge to his own writing AT ALL. Long story short... I have learned he is a global thinker, definately not a parts to whole thinker. He is an excellent reader but he was convinced he could not learn to spell. We have only been doing the studied dictation for one week but he is already feeling much more confident!! He LOVES studying a passage and he is able to catch mispellings before "turning in" the completed work. Twice today he spelled a word wrong and I could hear him talking to himself about how it didn't look right. He was able to make the corrections and turn in perfect work. He was so proud, he literally beamed and told me that he thought maybe he could learn to spell afterall. I think studied dictation is going to work great for him. And, I'm comfortable with dropping R&S for my oldest. I want to take that time to add Latin, which we have attempted in the past but kept running out of time to cover. He is already studying Greek and has plenty of tedious work with that!!

 

I figure we will try this for all of this year and then decide what to do for next year after that. So far, I am thinking studied dictation is all we need. You may want to do a search for "dictation" on the HOD board, there are many glowing reports of how it has helped children who have previously struggled with spelling.

[silliness7]

We start Monday!!

 

I finally got my Revival to Revolutions manual in the mail TODAY!!! I'm soooo excited. I just spent a big chunk of time reading through the introductory notes and seeing how all the boxes will fit into our time slots. It just looks amazing. I can't wait to do the state study and the music study and the Bible study, of course the history will be great...that goes without saying. ;) My ds will make a stack of cards for the signers of the declaration. Very fun!! The poetry looks fabulous, different than CtC, which I don't like the looks of. I wasn't even planning on doing the science portion but I really think I'm going to work in the readings on the inventors. Ack!! It just all looks so great! Of course the notebook pages are beautiful. Is anyone else using Rev to Rev this year?

 

I've had CtC mapped out for a while and just waiting for school to start but I was soooooo anxious to get a look at the new guide. Can't wait!! Just can't wait!!

[MrsMe]

Thanks Donna...I'm just having a hard time letting go of spelling. :001_huh:

 

Silliness....how is the poetry different? That sounds intriguing.

[Evergreen Academy]

 

I briefly used Intermediate Language Lessons several years ago. I think it would be overkill. I know it would be for us. I really love HOD's LA. It was a big factor in us coming back to it this year. It is simple and yet very effective.

 

I wouldn't want to do CTC without the notebooking pages. My son loves them. It's not just pages for writing narrations but also maps and charts. They are gorgeous and well worth the money. You could probably get by without them, but they really are nice to have... very motivating for my son.

 

 

Thanks so much for the great input! I guess maybe I will spring for the notebooking pages...my other option was to buy these neat, black, hardbound books I found that had blank pages on the right, for drawing, and lines on the left, and use those as the notebooks. But that wouldn't take care of maps.

 

For clarification on the LA - and maybe you already knew I meant this - if I used ILL, I would use HOD's dictation, we would do copywork as written and oral narration with one written per week, and skip the R & S and WWTB. Would it still be overkill? Guess I'm just having pangs over leaving ILL, we love it so.

Thanks!

[Donna T.]

Thanks so much for the great input! I guess maybe I will spring for the notebooking pages...my other option was to buy these neat, black, hardbound books I found that had blank pages on the right, for drawing, and lines on the left, and use those as the notebooks. But that wouldn't take care of maps.

 

For clarification on the LA - and maybe you already knew I meant this - if I used ILL, I would use HOD's dictation, we would do copywork as written and oral narration with one written per week, and skip the R & S and WWTB. Would it still be overkill? Guess I'm just having pangs over leaving ILL, we love it so.

Thanks!

 

 

The notebooking pages are used for History but there are also notebooking assignments for the Geography study. You can print "journal" pages off of the CD that comes with the Geography book or you can make your own "journal" pages. The printable pages on the CD are pretty basic, having blank boxes to draw in and lines to write on. The idea is that you are creating a travel log of the places that you "visit" while completing the assignments in the Geography Box. You could use the hardback books that you have found as you build your travel log and still use the notebooking pages for the History study portions of the guide. The CD has maps that you can print off (the instructions say to skip the printables and just draw your own maps if you would prefer) and you could glue those into the book.

 

I think if you really love ILL that you should try sticking with it. If your child can keep up with the dictation and copywork that is already scheduled in HOD then it will probably be fine to keep using ILL, especially if you like the way that ILL covers grammar and writing skills. If you try it for a couple of weeks you will know if that's the best route to go. R&S and WWTB give focused instruction in grammar and writing that complement the copywork, dictation and narrations that are already scheduled in HOD. You may find that you can skip some lessons in ILL if your child has recently done the same type of work with the HOD assignments. No harm in trying it, especially since you really like it.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Donna T.

[Edwena]

We started Bigger on the 15th and absolutely love it!!!

[blessed2five]

We started HOD Preparing and RTR last week and are loving it. My dd 9 in Preparing is moving a little slower but that is okay because I want her to learn how to complete each box correctly.

 

My 13 y/o dd loves RTR and has done almost everything independently.

 

I am a little nervous about using just dictation for spelling but we will try it and see how it goes. I bought R&S spelling just in case. I am also a bit worried that the vocabulary won't be enough for either of them. Preparing only has them learning 3 new words per week. I hate to add more to the program like Wordly Wise though because they both have full days. Maybe I will just work on the Latin and Greek roots as a game on Fridays? But then we have co-op from 9-12 and that doesn't leave much time.

 

Anyways, HOD is almost everything I could dream of in one curriculum which is really just open and go!

[silliness7]

Silliness....how is the poetry different? That sounds intriguing.

 

Well in CtC all of the poems are by Robert Frost and the activities, as far as I saw were watercolor interpretations.

 

In Rev2Rev there are a variety of authors. It looks like, at my quick glance, that the poems were chosen to go along with the history. Super cool! There is background information about the author or poem. There are comprehension questions & discussion questions that help the student draw out the meaning of the poem or make a connection to the history being studied.

 

 

:party: This smilie about sums up my feelings. :001_smile:

[Holly]

We are on Unit 3 of Beyond. I have 3rd grader and 1st grader combined for most of it. And my 3 year old even tags along on the crafts etc. We are loving it. So simple, yet so thorough! It has been so freeing for me not to worry about whether or not we have done "enough" every day. We have a lot of sleep deprivation and toddler tantrums at our house...making it difficult for me to keep all of my mental plates spinning. :)

 

Love HOD! Hope we can stick with it for the long haul!!

 

Your DC are the same ages mine were when we did Beyond last year! :001_smile: We had a wonderful year (and even had an unexpected move several states away). We are finishing our last few units and hoping to move onto Bigger soon!

[silliness7]

We started HOD Preparing and RTR last week and are loving it. My dd 9 in Preparing is moving a little slower but that is okay because I want her to learn how to complete each box correctly.

 

My 13 y/o dd loves RTR and has done almost everything independently.

 

I am a little nervous about using just dictation for spelling but we will try it and see how it goes. I bought R&S spelling just in case. I am also a bit worried that the vocabulary won't be enough for either of them. Preparing only has them learning 3 new words per week. I hate to add more to the program like Wordly Wise though because they both have full days. Maybe I will just work on the Latin and Greek roots as a game on Fridays? But then we have co-op from 9-12 and that doesn't leave much time.

 

Anyways, HOD is almost everything I could dream of in one curriculum which is really just open and go!

 

 

I am planning to supplement with Rod & Staff spelling (without the weekly spelling test) and Wordly Wise Vocabulary (I use the original series) I fell in love with these 2 programs before we started with HOD and I am not ready to give them up. It does add to the day but I think it'll be worth it. Neither takes very long, about 10 min. each.

[MrsMe]

Well in CtC all of the poems are by Robert Frost and the activities, as far as I saw were watercolor interpretations.

 

In Rev2Rev there are a variety of authors. It looks like, at my quick glance, that the poems were chosen to go along with the history. Super cool! There is background information about the author or poem. There are comprehension questions & discussion questions that help the student draw out the meaning of the poem or make a connection to the history being studied.

 

 

:party: This smilie about sums up my feelings. :001_smile:

 

Good. I'm sort of sick of Robert Frost and I don't really like some of his poetry, but we do love the watercolor that goes with them. It'll be nice to see someone other than Robert Frost.:)

[Evergreen Academy]

Good. I'm sort of sick of Robert Frost and I don't really like some of his poetry, but we do love the watercolor that goes with them. It'll be nice to see someone other than Robert Frost.:)

 

A suggestion? What we've done in the past with poetry (and I think I learned of it here), is to have Tuesday Poet-Teas, where we each chooose a poem or two, and meet over a boy-baked treat and grandmother's dishes at snacktime, and we share our poems in turn as we eat our snacks. It's been fun to hear the older enjoy Tolkien poems from Stories and Poems for Highly Intelligent Children of All Ages, the middles share poetry from Favorite Poems Old and New (our all-time favorite poetry book), and youngest proudly read poems from When We Were Very Young, or Child's Garden of Verses. It takes all of 15-20 minutes once a week, we don't analyze but do discuss if they choose, and it keeps learning poetry fun and light. And they don't know that four boys sitting around the table drinking tea and reading poetry with their mother would be considered highly uncool at school, LOL. I'm thinking we'll continue that even though we're doing CTC with the two ds11, as we'd miss it too much. Your thoughts on the Robert Frost poetry lessons reinforce that idea...

[Evergreen Academy]

 

I think if you really love ILL that you should try sticking with it. If your child can keep up with the dictation and copywork that is already scheduled in HOD then it will probably be fine to keep using ILL, especially if you like the way that ILL covers grammar and writing skills. If you try it for a couple of weeks you will know if that's the best route to go. R&S and WWTB give focused instruction in grammar and writing that complement the copywork, dictation and narrations that are already scheduled in HOD. You may find that you can skip some lessons in ILL if your child has recently done the same type of work with the HOD assignments. No harm in trying it, especially since you really like it.

 

Thanks, Donna, for your input on both the notebooking and ILL. I had a R&S 4 set in my cart last night, ready to buy, but I just couldn't do it! Instead I sat nearby with ILL until 11pm, reading through it, trying to make up my mind. I really do like the way ILL covers skills, even if it's not a traditional (school) scope and sequence, and I do like the varied poetry and artwork. I will give it a go, and if it really doesn't mesh well, we can order the materials scheduled in CTC for LA - I do see they are very carefully planned to work together, and are likely wonderful parts of the program

Thanks again.

[silliness7]

Good. I'm sort of sick of Robert Frost and I don't really like some of his poetry, but we do love the watercolor that goes with them. It'll be nice to see someone other than Robert Frost.:)

 

A suggestion? What we've done in the past with poetry (and I think I learned of it here), is to have Tuesday Poet-Teas, where we each chooose a poem or two, and meet over a boy-baked treat and grandmother's dishes at snacktime, and we share our poems in turn as we eat our snacks. It's been fun to hear the older enjoy Tolkien poems from Stories and Poems for Highly Intelligent Children of All Ages, the middles share poetry from Favorite Poems Old and New (our all-time favorite poetry book), and youngest proudly read poems from When We Were Very Young, or Child's Garden of Verses. It takes all of 15-20 minutes once a week, we don't analyze but do discuss if they choose, and it keeps learning poetry fun and light. And they don't know that four boys sitting around the table drinking tea and reading poetry with their mother would be considered highly uncool at school, LOL. I'm thinking we'll continue that even though we're doing CTC with the two ds11, as we'd miss it too much. Your thoughts on the Robert Frost poetry lessons reinforce that idea...

 

That sounds like a lot of fun!!

[MrsMe]

And they don't know that four boys sitting around the table drinking tea and reading poetry with their mother would be considered highly uncool at school, LOL.

 

:hurray: That is so uncool and so awesome! Great idea!:)

[kwickimom]

We started Preparing and LHFHG and we love it. I am doing the guides as written with R&S and Math Mammoth. We add Apologia Zoo1, nature study, and artist study for fun. :)

 

It is going wonderful...the book selections in Preparing are awesome and we love the poetry. No complaints so far!

[Mommyfaithe]

We start Preparing Hearts on Monday...IF I finish painting the schoolroom...sigh. DD and ds will be starting classes at heir respective colleges Monday...so, moving them out all this week too....

 

I can't wait to start school this year! I am looking forward to everything I purchased and gathered...

 

DD is using Sonlight Core W which goes along so nicely with the boys schoolwork. I am going to try to be as tweak free as possible! The only tweak I see is ditching CHOW for dd and using a Prentice Hall Text that is more on her level. Can I say I am PSYCHED! and I have been so burnt out! I am actually LOOKING FORWARD to school! YAY!

 

Faithe

[Mommyfaithe]

We started Preparing and LHFHG and we love it. I am doing the guides as written with R&S and Math Mammoth. We add Apologia Zoo1, nature study, and artist study for fun. :)

 

It is going wonderful...the book selections in Preparing are awesome and we love the poetry. No complaints so far!

 

YAY!! I am so glad this is working for you. We are using CLE math and LA...and we always do an artist study...just part of my routine ala Ambleside Online...forever.

 

I hope I am still excited come February.....

 

Faithe

[Holly]

Good. I'm sort of sick of Robert Frost and I don't really like some of his poetry, but we do love the watercolor that goes with them. It'll be nice to see someone other than Robert Frost.:)

 

A suggestion? What we've done in the past with poetry (and I think I learned of it here), is to have Tuesday Poet-Teas, where we each chooose a poem or two, and meet over a boy-baked treat and grandmother's dishes at snacktime, and we share our poems in turn as we eat our snacks. It's been fun to hear the older enjoy Tolkien poems from Stories and Poems for Highly Intelligent Children of All Ages, the middles share poetry from Favorite Poems Old and New (our all-time favorite poetry book), and youngest proudly read poems from When We Were Very Young, or Child's Garden of Verses. It takes all of 15-20 minutes once a week, we don't analyze but do discuss if they choose, and it keeps learning poetry fun and light. And they don't know that four boys sitting around the table drinking tea and reading poetry with their mother would be considered highly uncool at school, LOL. I'm thinking we'll continue that even though we're doing CTC with the two ds11, as we'd miss it too much. Your thoughts on the Robert Frost poetry lessons reinforce that idea...

 

We have poetry tea times too! :D Ambleside Online has some amazing poems organized by month...quite a few are HOD poems too.

[naturalhomestead]

We're starting on Tuesday. YAY! Preparing, Beyond and maybe little hearts.