I took a look at the HOD catalog . . .

[kandty]

I like what I saw!!! :lol:

I have had the Heart of Dakota catalog, I think, since June. It caught my eye since a homeschool mom I admire uses it with her children. Once I got it in the mail I didn't look because there was a lot of writing and few pictures. I am very visual person! I see lots of post on this forum with HOD in the subject line (which I usually don't read) got me thinking maybe I should just take a look. I really liked what I saw! I usually struggle with the all-in-a-box curriculum. I love the idea, but I end up doing too much tweaking so that it usually wasn't worth buying in the end. Case in point is I bought MFW CtG for this year and I am only using SOME of the history. I bought the basic package, so I have a lot of unused new books sitting around. Don't tell my Dh! :tongue_smilie: My oldest is hard to teach and I really pay attention to what I use with him, but my youngest is so easy going that I can use anything. I think he would be the one I would like to try to use HOD. He will be 8 & third grade for the 2012/2013 school year and I am looking at Bigger Hearts For His Glory, but Preparing Hearts For His Glory could work too. Bigger Hearts goes with the history I planned for him to do next school year anyway. And it keeps both my boys in the same time period and I want to at least do that if we don't use the same program for them.

 

Long story, but please share your thoughts on this program. Your favortie parts or things you don't like. Maybe some more information on their spelling, dictation and narration and poetry. I would be using a different math than what they use, but I like that as I read the catalog it says to use one of our choices or your own. I am undecided if I would use R&S, but otherwise I could use all their choices and take good advantage of the program. I will be adding up how much this program cost, writing it down in my "future school plans" book and forgetting about it till next spring. At least that is the plan. :lol:

[Tree House Academy]

This is our 3rd year using HOD and we have used Little Hearts, Beyond Little Hearts, Bigger Hearts, Creation to Christ, and Resurrection to Reformation. :) We ADORE HOD. We use every part of it as suggested.

 

I am a recovering curriculum junkie, so finding HOD was just a God-sent for me. My kids enjoy the work and the projects. There isn't really anything I don't like about HOD. My youngest son is a Science buff and we do add in some extra Science for him (only because he wants it and not because I feel it is necessary). We also add in Rosetta Stone French for my older son.

[raceNzanesmom]

We love it too! No tweaking, no planning, no stress. Best thing ever for our homeschool!

 

I do add Bible Study Guide for All Ages when the history isn't Bible related. We started BSGFAA before we found HOD and our ds loves studying it so much. I don't think it's necessary to add to HOD, but hated to drop something my ds really enjoys. We only use the worksheets from BSGFAA, one side per day, 4 days a week.

[dsmama]

I loved Little Hearts and found it just perfect for our first year of homeschooling. This year we are doing Bigger and I am not as much of a fan, but perhaps that's because my DD doesn't fit on the page -- she's ahead in LA but behind in math. Involves more tweaking than I'd like. But I think that's more my situation than the guide.

[SorrelZG]

This is my first year with HOD. I use a different math and add in LA due DS being advanced in that area but not mature enough for the guide that would meet him at his level in LA. LHfHG meets him right where he's at in all other areas. I am enjoying pre-scheduled short lessons that are building upon one another. It is really helping me to be consistent with Bible memory and in helping DS actually remember. My (our) favorite part is Story-time with narration. I'm still learning about their spelling and such to come in later guides so nothing helpful to add but looking forward to hearing about that from others.

[tuzor]

Was up all night looking at the HOD catalog and I ordered LHFHG from the site. I ordered LHTH earlier this week used. I am eagerly awaiting their arrival. I ordered because I need something that does not require so much planning on my part. I have no previous experience but am hopeful.

[kandty]

Loving the responses! :bigear:

[HollyM25]

We are in our first year of HOD, we are using Beyond and LHTH.

 

For Beyond, we do the history, poetry, bible, story time, emerging readers, science as suggested. I use a different math, spelling, I added Easy Grammar, Begining Geography, logic workbook, and don't use the music. But we do love it, the science is light and fun, love the history books, emerging readers, story time books, etc. Its all planned out and easy to do, ds gets all the work done in 2.5 hrs even with all the extras we do.

 

For LHTH, we add in R&S workbooks, Kumon workbooks, and Get ready for the Code. But we love the easy simple manual for this level. My dd loves the songs, hand plays, her bible readings, and the fun activities.

 

We will definitely use HOD again, even with our tweaking, we love it!

[AngelBee]

Was up all night looking at the HOD catalog and I ordered LHFHG from the site. I ordered LHTH earlier this week used. I am eagerly awaiting their arrival. I ordered because I need something that does not require so much planning on my part. I have no previous experience but am hopeful.

 

We are using and enjoying both :)

 

Good luck! :D

[mytwomonkeys]

we are using bigger hearts (with the extension pack for my oldest). i tweak it of course, but we love it! i use a different math & language arts program, but HOD really lends itself for those curricula to be substituted, so it doesn't effect us at all. we also don't incorporate their bible, music, or poetry. in that regard, we probably aren't getting the full richness of the program, but i'm okay with that, as we cover those subjects in other ways. we love the science, history, geography, and hands-on art, experiments, projects, and notebooking.:) i have no regrets with HOD and love that i can use it with both kids!:)

[NatashainDFW]

How would you switch over to HOD after a year of ancients. Would you just pick the appropriate age without regards to the four year history plan? I really really like SOTW but am drawn to HOD also. Is there a good way to integrate SOTW into HOD? Age wise ds could start Beyond next year and would be on SOTW 2 next year. Could I do SOTW 2 as an add on to Beyond? We are doing LHTH with dd this year and I already love it and we haven't even started.

[AngelBee]

How would you switch over to HOD after a year of ancients. Would you just pick the appropriate age without regards to the four year history plan? I really really like SOTW but am drawn to HOD also. Is there a good way to integrate SOTW into HOD? Age wise ds could start Beyond next year and would be on SOTW 2 next year. Could I do SOTW 2 as an add on to Beyond? We are doing LHTH with dd this year and I already love it and we haven't even started.

 

I am actually working on this right now. :)

 

Will update....

[NatashainDFW]

OK I will sit and wait lol

[jewel7123]

Even after selling all my HOD manuals I still find myself drooling over their catalog, lol. It's the book choices.....I love and want to use a majority of the things they use, but I just hated the way the manuals are set up with the daily schedule instead of a weekly grid. I also don't like the fact that everyone is on a different time period, so I'm currently using TOG instead. (Well, barely. It is a booklist at this point. :001_smile:) I find myself wishing I could put the two together......the family cohesiveness of TOG and the 4 year history cycle but the HOD books. Oh, to dream. :D

[AngelBee]

Even after selling all my HOD manuals I still find myself drooling over their catalog, lol. It's the book choices.....I love and want to use a majority of the things they use, but I just hated the way the manuals are set up with the daily schedule instead of a weekly grid. I also don't like the fact that everyone is on a different time period, so I'm currently using TOG instead. (Well, barely. It is a booklist at this point. :001_smile:) I find myself wishing I could put the two together......the family cohesiveness of TOG and the 4 year history cycle but the HOD books. Oh, to dream. :D

 

I actually like the daily part, but HATE the fact that it doesn't follow the 4 year cycle. :(

 

I LOVE what it has, but find myself DAILY trying to rework the history part.

 

SO...I have a few options. Trying to write it out to make sense. :tongue_smilie:

[jewel7123]

I actually like the daily part, but HATE the fact that it doesn't follow the 4 year cycle. :(

 

I LOVE what it has, but find myself DAILY trying to rework the history part.

 

SO...I have a few options. Trying to write it out to make sense. :tongue_smilie:

 

Are you still using TOG or HOD only?

[AngelBee]

Are you still using TOG or HOD only?

 

TOG and HOD :001_huh:

 

I have lost my mind! :lol::lol:

[jewel7123]

TOG and HOD :001_huh:

 

I have lost my mind! :lol::lol:

 

Well I'd love to hear more about how you incorporate the two. Really! :bigear:

[AngelBee]

Well I'd love to hear more about how you incorporate the two. Really! :bigear:

 

SO far....got the PreK/K/1st doing both

 

Dd9 and Ds11 want to also but I am dragging my feet. Even looked at MFW.

 

I "think" they think TOG isn't as clear or as interactive.....just reading. But I KNOW that is me implamenting it. :glare: :confused:

 

So I brought in task cards, but they are still confused.

 

Little 3 are LOVING what they are doing.

 

Let me think of what to say... :D

[AngelBee]

Well I'd love to hear more about how you incorporate the two. Really! :bigear:

Gets you started! :D

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303525

 

I am crazy. :001_huh:

[jewel7123]

 

I am crazy. :001_huh:

 

 

Uh. Yeah. Absolutely bezerk. :tongue_smilie: Right now I'm thinking there's NO way I'm going to be able to fit all of TOG into a 4 year cycle, let alone adding HOD books to it. I don't see HOW you are doing it in 3 years.....that's lunacy. :D

[AngelBee]

Uh. Yeah. Absolutely bezerk. :tongue_smilie: Right now I'm thinking there's NO way I'm going to be able to fit all of TOG into a 4 year cycle, let alone adding HOD books to it. I don't see HOW you are doing it in 3 years.....that's lunacy. :D

 

Honestly.....it made me relax because they could do less if wanted as we would hit the 4 yr cycle more times. :001_huh:

 

No...yeah...you're right.....completely bezerk! :tongue_smilie:

[raceNzanesmom]

I loved Little Hearts and found it just perfect for our first year of homeschooling. This year we are doing Bigger and I am not as much of a fan, but perhaps that's because my DD doesn't fit on the page -- she's ahead in LA but behind in math. Involves more tweaking than I'd like. But I think that's more my situation than the guide.

 

Do her level. That's what I love about HOD. I can use a different level/publisher math or LA/reading and it still works. Just do her level when you get to that box.

[kandty]

Even after selling all my HOD manuals I still find myself drooling over their catalog, lol. It's the book choices.....I love and want to use a majority of the things they use, but I just hated the way the manuals are set up with the daily schedule instead of a weekly grid. I also don't like the fact that everyone is on a different time period, so I'm currently using TOG instead. (Well, barely. It is a booklist at this point. :001_smile:) I find myself wishing I could put the two together......the family cohesiveness of TOG and the 4 year history cycle but the HOD books. Oh, to dream. :D

 

The lack of a weekly grid worries me as I am use to a weekly grid and enjoy seeing everything we are doing during the week. But, I can see myself looking ahead more to make sure I know what we are doing. I have been working on that a lot this year since I feel like I am not prepared. I look at the next day when we are done for the day and on Friday I go through next week lesson plans and make changes and prepare. After doing this for this year maybe I will be ready for a daily schedule next year in HOD. ;)

[i.love.lucy]

I think I'm going to go back to HOD next year. I have been trying to just beef up our Classical Conversations work at home, and with 2 kids that's doable. But next year dd will go off to Challenge so that will leave just ds to work with as far as picking curriculum. I think he'd fit right in with Beyond. What I hate though is that he's doing American History this year with CC, next year in Beyond is American, and so is the following year in Bigger. B-O-R-I-N-G. Not sure what to do about that. He'd get other history material with CC sentences, but I would like to have the HOD guides to simplify my life. I'm looking at taking on some part time work next year too, so I need to simplify.

 

I used Bigger and Preparing for my dd and I loved them. I will now fall in to that category of "Homeschoolers Who Sell and then Re-buy Curriculum".:lol:

[mytwomonkeys]

The lack of a weekly grid worries me as I am use to a weekly grid and enjoy seeing everything we are doing during the week. But, I can see myself looking ahead more to make sure I know what we are doing. I have been working on that a lot this year since I feel like I am not prepared. I look at the next day when we are done for the day and on Friday I go through next week lesson plans and make changes and prepare. After doing this for this year maybe I will be ready for a daily schedule next year in HOD. ;)

 

to prepare each week, i use the free resources from the HOD yahoo group. for example, we're using bigger this year & there is a document in the yahoo group file that breaks every lesson into materials needed, books used, etc. so i can just glance at that for the week to know what things i'll need to have on hand for upcoming projects, books used, etc. i keep all of our current curriculum in a basket in the den & as we complete one of the books scheduled, i just exchange it out for the next one we'll be reading. each day, i just glance at the manual and it's very open & go... but the free resource another mom made really helps me to feel prepared for upcoming projects and such.

[Donna T.]

I love HOD's catalog. It gives such a good description of just about everything. I have never seen another catalog that included such a clearly defined and laid out scope and sequence, and it includes a picture of almost every single item that they sell.

 

It hasn't bothered me to not have a grid to follow. We have used Little Hearts and Preparing in the past, and we are now using CtC and Bigger Hearts... ten minutes over the week-end, or on Monday morning, is all that is needed to get a good grasp of what we will be doing the next week and to make a quick list of any supplies needed. Really, you are just doing or reading the "next thing" in the books that are scheduled. The assignments are very specific. It literally takes only a few seconds to read through the instructions in each box and know just what to do. The HOD yahoo group does have alot of extra helps in the files section.

[Momma4Boys]

WHY OH WHY am I reading this post?!? I currently use TOG and love it for my older kids but I am soooooo intrigued by HOD for my younger 2...still contemplating purchasing it for my 2nd grader and k'er...deep sigh...:001_huh:

[silliness7]

Today was our first day of school.

I did Little Hands with my 4yo and absolutely loved it!! It was just perfect. Short and sweet but a lot of fun. She went around the rest of the day doing her A a a Adam face. I did add in some storybook reading time. I had been doing AAR a bit this summer and had gotten into the 20min. reading habit after the lesson was over. I'm kind of surprised that isn't part of HOD's guide. Maybe it's suggested in the intro but I maybe didn't read through it, which is a testimony to it's open & go ability. Although I'm quite fortunate to already have a well-stocked craft cabinet because we needed black tempera paint first thing today. Whoops!! Luckily, I had some. I guess I should have at least skimmed the first few units.

 

My 7yo is doing Bigger. We started this summer but didn't get very far. Lazy summer days are just too enticing. :) So we re-started today and had a very good time with it. We do our own math and we do Rod & Staff English but at our own pace.

 

First day for my middles doing CtC. They loved it. I loved it. Our storytime book didn't come in from the library so we started on the 2nd one and will just read the 1st book when we're finished with the 2nd one. No big deal. I printed off a weekly grid from Donna Young's site and use that for our assignment list, not the guide. Much of it says see Unit 1 Day 1 but when I wanted to tweak or rearrange or add something else, having my own weekly print-out just makes that so easy and un-stressful. Storytime was our favorite part of the day (even with the last minute book switch) My kids really got into the follow-up activity. They both also reported that the Diana Waring Cd's were very cool. Again, we do our own math and R&S at our own pace. I also do something completely different for poetry. I do not like that box.

 

My 8th grader started Rev2Rev today. Brand-new, hot off the press!!! I haven't had a chance to debrief him because he had an afternoon activity that forced him to miss our check-in time and didn't get home til after 9. So I don't know how it went for him. I certainly had a blast putting it altogether. I did tweak it and rearrange some things. But if memory serves we're doing everything except the Science exploration box. There is a LOT of stuff in that guide. I am very impressed. We do our own math of course and R&S at our own pace. One of the things I seriously tweaked was the State Study. The text is a consumable worktext and is pricey, imo, for a consumable. And the book is 85% text. It's just a waste to write in it. So I printed off some generic notebooking pages and we're doing the assignments on those instead of in the book. We're using a children's atlas with color pictures that I got off paperbackswap for the art work. I will say that the book is not a HOD product. I've been super impressed with HOD's consumable pages. SUPER impressed!!

 

I wasn't planning on doing the inventor study in Rev2Rev because we aren't doing the science but it looked so neat once I got the guide that I decided to squeeze it into the schedule. Luckily all the books are available at the library. I am bummed that I didn't order the notebooking pages. Oh well! We will live. There is quite a bit of notebooking in Rev2Rev without it so if we just read and orally narrate I'm good with that.

 

Anyway, if day 1 is any indication I am loving it!! We'll see how things go long-term. I have high hopes. 7 years ago I did a 6-week stint with Sonlight. I thought I would love it and was so disappointed I swore off box curricula. But even with the few things in HOD that I *don't* like there is still soooo much to love. I feel like I'm getting a great value. I did not feel like that after Sonlight. After I tweaked it to get it how I wanted it there wasn't much to it. :tongue_smilie:

[kandty]

Thanks for the review, Rebecca! I have decided that I am using HOD in 2012/2013 school year for my (will be) 8 DS. I did so much planning this year that something has to change and this looks like something I can do. I am undecided about my oldest. I think I will wait to revisit that idea again in a few months. After everything I have heard, the great catalog, and looking at the website, it might be a good fit for him too.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing!

[kwickimom]

I started a thread a little bit ago: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303263

 

We love, love, love it :D

 

I am already excited about using it next year! I love the daily layout. I simply printed a checklist form the Yahoo group for Preparing so we can track where we are and I don't have to use stickies or anything. Works well. We get done so fast because my daughter loves it and goes right on through with no complaints. We even have time for extras. I am super pleased with how its going.

[AngelBee]

I started a thread a little bit ago: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303263

 

We love, love, love it :D

 

I am already excited about using it next year! I love the daily layout. I simply printed a checklist form the Yahoo group for Preparing so we can track where we are and I don't have to use stickies or anything. Works well. We get done so fast because my daughter loves it and goes right on through with no complaints. We even have time for extras. I am super pleased with how its going.

 

I always forget to look at yahoo files. :)