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Can you tell me about HOD?


fourcatmom
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From looking at the website, I am very interested in this for my 6th grader next year.

 

Would you care to share your experiences with me?

 

I haven't quite figured out yet what is included in the program and what I would still need to buy for?

 

Thanks:001_smile:

 

These are pretty open-ended questions. As each guide builds on skills from the previous guides and such...My first question is which guide are you talking about for your 6th grader and have you looked at the placement chart?

Are you going to be using all of HOD's recommendations or are you only wanting it for certain subjects: ex.:history, science, Bible...use your own language arts and math.

:lurk5:

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My experience with my 6th grader has been pretty good, but we are only 6 units into CTC right now. I have done HOD's LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, some of BHFHG, and now some of CTC.

LHFHG and BLHFHG are different than Bigger and on up. All of HOD is very strong in Bible history. Some guides more than others b/c of the time period they cover. LHFHG has huge sections for the history that come from the Family Time Bible. Beyond is pretty much the Pilgrims and their pursuit to worship freely and come to the Americas. You are studying the Pilgrims for a long, long time in Beyond. LHFHG and BLHFHG use Christian Liberty Press history texts as spines. Bigger is American history from a biographical point of view. IMO Bigger is the most teacher intensive b/c the spines are harder and the parent is still reading everything. There is a big jump in the writing and skills needed by the student in Bigger. Preparing is world history-I have not done it so I can't sum it up.

Since you have a 6th grader and my 6th grader uses CTC, I will give you a more in-depth review of it so far for us.

CTC is really led by Bible history for the majority. Story of the Ancient World is a lot of Bible retelling. The Streams of Civilization books are more history seeming. It seems like more fact telling history than history based on religion. The last 8 or so units are directly from the Bible. Your child will be reading through John and Acts in the New Testament for those units for the reading about history boxes. I am adding Houghton Mifflin's A Message of Ancient Days to round out our ancients study from a non-religious perspective and to go more in-depth on some civilizations. I am basing my summations of CTC on reading the key ideas from reading about history boxes through the entire guide while comparing chapters in A Message of Ancient Days.

My dd's are enjoying CTC and love the history projects. There is research weekly. The watercolor from the poetry is something they really enjoy. I am very pleased with HOD so far for my children. I am not fussed about adding in a different text to round out things though.

These are the guides that I have used and our experiences so far.

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These are pretty open-ended questions. As each guide builds on skills from the previous guides and such...My first question is which guide are you talking about for your 6th grader and have you looked at the placement chart?

Are you going to be using all of HOD's recommendations or are you only wanting it for certain subjects: ex.:history, science, Bible...use your own language arts and math.

:lurk5:

 

 

I believe it was the CTC one. I am not sure what I want as far as using it for just History, etc or using it as a complete curriculum. I wanted feedback from others to see how people have used the program. I have never purchased one curriculum for all their subjects so this makes me a little nervous. I do like the examples and information that I have seen on the website but wanted real life experience with it.

 

I did not see a placement chart online?

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My experience with my 6th grader has been pretty good, but we are only 6 units into CTC right now. I have done HOD's LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, some of BHFHG, and now some of CTC.

LHFHG and BLHFHG are different than Bigger and on up. All of HOD is very strong in Bible history. Some guides more than others b/c of the time period they cover. LHFHG has huge sections for the history that come from the Family Time Bible. Beyond is pretty much the Pilgrims and their pursuit to worship freely and come to the Americas. You are studying the Pilgrims for a long, long time in Beyond. LHFHG and BLHFHG use Christian Liberty Press history texts as spines. Bigger is American history from a biographical point of view. IMO Bigger is the most teacher intensive b/c the spines are harder and the parent is still reading everything. There is a big jump in the writing and skills needed by the student in Bigger. Preparing is world history-I have not done it so I can't sum it up.

Since you have a 6th grader and my 6th grader uses CTC, I will give you a more in-depth review of it so far for us.

CTC is really led by Bible history for the majority. Story of the Ancient World is a lot of Bible retelling. The Streams of Civilization books are more history seeming. It seems like more fact telling history than history based on religion. The last 8 or so units are directly from the Bible. Your child will be reading through John and Acts in the New Testament for those units for the reading about history boxes. I am adding Houghton Mifflin's A Message of Ancient Days to round out our ancients study from a non-religious perspective and to go more in-depth on some civilizations. I am basing my summations of CTC on reading the key ideas from reading about history boxes through the entire guide while comparing chapters in A Message of Ancient Days.

My dd's are enjoying CTC and love the history projects. There is research weekly. The watercolor from the poetry is something they really enjoy. I am very pleased with HOD so far for my children. I am not fussed about adding in a different text to round out things though.

These are the guides that I have used and our experiences so far.

 

Thank you for the feedback. (Sorry I don't know how to double quote in one reply):tongue_smilie:

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Thank you for the link. I think the CTC is where I would start.

 

I am most drawn towards the History component of HOD. The other parts to the program I would probably continue with some of what we are currently using.

 

So that being said, if you use HOD for History (especially CTC) can you give me some feedback on whether you and your child have enjoyed the program.

 

Thanks!

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I have to add that the best part of the history is the notebooking pages. My children enjoy doing them and they turn out beautiful. You have a great keepsake and a complete record of history for the year.

Also, I didn't go searching for a text to add to CTC. My 6th grader started out in Calvert's 6th grade this year and I really liked this text that Calvert uses and it works well to add to CTC and round out some of the Bible history with secular history.

Edited by OpenMinded
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My children do seem to enjoy (or at least tolerate ;) ) the History portion of HOD. It is the ONLY History program that consistently has gotten done in our house. I was going to add that you might want to check out and reconsider starting with Preparing. The skills in HOD really do build on one another and the skill set in CtC is a HUGE jump from Preparing. Preparing sort of "sets the stage" if you will for the higher level skills used in CtC as well as for the greater level of independence expected of the student. My older boys started with Preparing (they were 9, 11 and 12 or 4th, 5th and 7th gr) when they used Preparing and I found that the material was plenty for my 7th grader and a bit much for my 4th grader...even though they were all w/in the age range. Does that make sense? Even if your ds places squarely in CtC I would consider starting in Preparing for those reasons. AND, Preparing is such a fabulous year...I just adore the read-alouds and other books used. :) I think you would both have such a wonderful year with Preparing and the skills your son learns would set him up for a very successful year with CtC. Good luck! We are sold on HOD here.

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I have a 4th grade DD and a 5th grade ds who are both using CTC right now, and we all LOOOOVVVEEE it. The history portion is quite heavy on Biblical history in the beginning, so if that is not the path you want to take maybe it is not for you. But IMO the program it is excellent. The history projects are simple and fun, my kiddos LOVE drawing things like a Spartan warrior and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon in their notebooks and don't balk at writing a written narration about what they are learning. They really enjoy the Diana Waring CD's that go along with the history. The history RA's are wonderful (except for Jashub's Journal which no one us liked at all. ugh.)

This is the first year that I have really, truly enjoyed hs'ing. We are on week 20 and I can say I love it now as much or more than I did when I started.

 

We use the entire thing as written with the exception of using Teaching Textbooks for math instead of Singapore. We are all very peaceful and happy. :) HTH!

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I have a 4th grade DD and a 5th grade ds who are both using CTC right now, and we all LOOOOVVVEEE it. The history portion is quite heavy on Biblical history in the beginning, so if that is not the path you want to take maybe it is not for you. But IMO the program it is excellent. The history projects are simple and fun, my kiddos LOVE drawing things like a Spartan warrior and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon in their notebooks and don't balk at writing a written narration about what they are learning. They really enjoy the Diana Waring CD's that go along with the history. The history RA's are wonderful (except for Jashub's Journal which no one us liked at all. ugh.)

This is the first year that I have really, truly enjoyed hs'ing. We are on week 20 and I can say I love it now as much or more than I did when I started.

 

We use the entire thing as written with the exception of using Teaching Textbooks for math instead of Singapore. We are all very peaceful and happy. :) HTH!

 

This is great to hear! Especially that you have a 4th grader using this program. Any issues for her (have you had to adjust any assignments, slow things down, etc.?) Do you follow the guide as written or "tweak"?

 

Also, just curious, why didn't you like Jashub's Journal?

 

:bigear:

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My children do seem to enjoy (or at least tolerate ;) ) the History portion of HOD. It is the ONLY History program that consistently has gotten done in our house. I was going to add that you might want to check out and reconsider starting with Preparing. The skills in HOD really do build on one another and the skill set in CtC is a HUGE jump from Preparing. Preparing sort of "sets the stage" if you will for the higher level skills used in CtC as well as for the greater level of independence expected of the student. My older boys started with Preparing (they were 9, 11 and 12 or 4th, 5th and 7th gr) when they used Preparing and I found that the material was plenty for my 7th grader and a bit much for my 4th grader...even though they were all w/in the age range. Does that make sense? Even if your ds places squarely in CtC I would consider starting in Preparing for those reasons. AND, Preparing is such a fabulous year...I just adore the read-alouds and other books used. :) I think you would both have such a wonderful year with Preparing and the skills your son learns would set him up for a very successful year with CtC. Good luck! We are sold on HOD here.

 

I have heard the bolded part before and I need some clarifying on this. We will be using HOD for the first time starting in August. My youngest Ds will be using Bigger. My oldest Ds will (I think) be using RtR. What are these "skills"? Is it just being able to work independent? My Ds already has this skill and therefore would be ready to step in at this point in HOD. His writing is not up to what is on the placement chart, but I will be using a different LA with him, so I don't think that is a concern. I based his placement on age (will be 11 and 6th grade in August) and the fact that we are doing Ancients in history this year and it is not his favorite and I wouldn't make him do it again next year by using CtC.

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I have heard the bolded part before and I need some clarifying on this. We will be using HOD for the first time starting in August. My youngest Ds will be using Bigger. My oldest Ds will (I think) be using RtR. What are these "skills"? Is it just being able to work independent? My Ds already has this skill and therefore would be ready to step in at this point in HOD. His writing is not up to what is on the placement chart, but I will be using a different LA with him, so I don't think that is a concern. I based his placement on age (will be 11 and 6th grade in August) and the fact that we are doing Ancients in history this year and it is not his favorite and I wouldn't make him do it again next year by using CtC.

 

I do see the jump from Preparing to CTC mainly b/c I had heard this too and purchased Preparing for my dd10 at the beginning of this year. It was not enough for her as a 5th grader. We went through a week that was really fun but really that was it. She wasn't gaining any new skills. She could do the whole Preparing guide without me and do it well. So I boxed it up, sent it back, and exchanged it for CTC. We also do not use the recommended language arts.

If I would not have already had CTC (and been short on funds) when we stopped Calvert 6 with my dd11, then I would have purchased Rev to Rev for her. I will probably jump her after this year up a few guides b/c CTC is really super easy for her to finish without any real skill growth.

So while I do agree that it is skill based...I also think if you have an on grade level 6th grade 11 year old that they should be able to jump into the higher guides fairly easy.

I do think the main thing is your child being ready for independent work and able to read their own instructions and follow them carefully. If you have already done ancients and your child has worked independently, then I think RTR sounds fine. There is a learning curve if your child has never done notebooking or narration.

In CTC, there is guided written narration. There is a prompt sentence for them to copy to jump start their written narration. I think in RTR they aren't given that prompt sentence.

Overall though, I can not imagine putting my 6th grade 11 year old in Preparing. I would suggest downloading the sample week of RTR and reading through it carefully. Imagine your 11 yr old doing the work. Ask yourself, does this seem too easy, too hard, or about right...really think about whether the independent boxes would truly be independent with your child.

Edited by OpenMinded
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This is such a helpful thread for me. May I ask what those of you have have now found your perfect curriculum in HOD have used before for history? Did anyone use the years 2-5 MFW before? I think my 3 older kids could all handle CTC but had been leaning towards MFW, but MFW seems so dry compared to this!

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This is such a helpful thread for me. May I ask what those of you have have now found your perfect curriculum in HOD have used before for history? Did anyone use the years 2-5 MFW before? I think my 3 older kids could all handle CTC but had been leaning towards MFW, but MFW seems so dry compared to this!

 

HOD does not combine well over even a few years age span. I have tried it before with my oldest 3 kids. IF I were to combine my 3 oldest who are only a year apart each and 27 months between the oldest of the 3 and the youngest, there is no way they would all fit into any one HOD guide without major tweaking and losing the independence gained as they get older.

IF I was set on combining them, I would choose MFW.

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We love HOD but it's not a perfect curriculum. ;) Does such a thing exist? :001_huh: I own and have used some MFW guides and never, ever felt it was dry as a whole. The Book Basket selections added huge depth to MFW.

 

The HOD history texts alone would also be dry without the additional Drawing through History, Projects, Read Alouds, etc. In other words, if I were to use HOD for the history reading alone, it would not be an exciting year. The Notebooking Pages are a beautiful keepsake of narrations, dictations, and drawings from CtC on up but that alone would not lead me to choose HOD over something like MFW.

 

I find it easier to use HOD because it adds in projects that my children enjoy (drawing) and schedules the books that MFW would utilize Book Basket time for. Our library in our county is terrible and I'd have to purchase the Book Basket books adding a large sum to my homeschool budget. MFW Book Basket does include more picture rich books that younger children prefer and allows for a more interest-led education, as opposed to HOD's guided & scheduled reading choices.

 

I'm looking to combine for next year and feel very torn with what to do as well. The gap is too big for HOD and maybe even too big for MFW. So, as of now, I'll "combine" HOD RtR with SOTW Vol 2. The combining part will be the history projects alone, I believe.

Edited by Dassah
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I do see the jump from Preparing to CTC mainly b/c I had heard this too and purchased Preparing for my dd10 at the beginning of this year. It was not enough for her as a 5th grader. We went through a week that was really fun but really that was it. She wasn't gaining any new skills. She could do the whole Preparing guide without me and do it well. So I boxed it up, sent it back, and exchanged it for CTC. We also do not use the recommended language arts.

If I would not have already had CTC (and been short on funds) when we stopped Calvert 6 with my dd11, then I would have purchased Rev to Rev for her. I will probably jump her after this year up a few guides b/c CTC is really super easy for her to finish without any real skill growth.

So while I do agree that it is skill based...I also think if you have an on grade level 6th grade 11 year old that they should be able to jump into the higher guides fairly easy.

I do think the main thing is your child being ready for independent work and able to read their own instructions and follow them carefully. If you have already done ancients and your child has worked independently, then I think RTR sounds fine. There is a learning curve if your child has never done notebooking or narration.

In CTC, there is guided written narration. There is a prompt sentence for them to copy to jump start their written narration. I think in RTR they aren't given that prompt sentence.

Overall though, I can not imagine putting my 6th grade 11 year old in Preparing. I would suggest downloading the sample week of RTR and reading through it carefully. Imagine your 11 yr old doing the work. Ask yourself, does this seem too easy, too hard, or about right...really think about whether the independent boxes would truly be independent with your child.

 

Thank you! This was very helpful. Right now my Ds can do a written narration with help. My writing goal this year is to get him to RtR writing placement. I am not sure if we will get there are not, but should be very close. We are not big on notebooking and this has been a concern for me with using HOD. I would love to do notebooking, but I have reluctent writers. We are working on this and making progress! :tongue_smilie: I really need to print out the sample week and study it hard. Thanks again!

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