HOD Does it stay this good or am I dreaming?

[joyfulhomeschooler]

We started HOD Bigger on Thursday and though we only did two days. WE ARE LOVING IT! It is the first time ever that my kids have been excited for school. I don't know if it is the curriculum or what, but I hope it stays this way. We have used MFW for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I liked it, but the kids never were excited. Sorry MFW users :( I dont' mean any disrespect. I had to add to it so much that I thought we would give HOD a try this year, and boy am I glad we did! All those extra's I had to add in to MFW are already planned in HOD and even though it does kind of box you in with the daily grid and all. I have to say it has made life much easier for me. Now all that being said we are only two days in so we will see if I still feel the same in the middle of the year. :) I had complete intentions of going back to MFW, now I am not so sure. Anyone else feel like this when starting HOD? Did it last? :) I sure hope it does. Even on the first day when I was feeling frazzled the kids said it was a good day and they thought it went well. I guess they didn't notice the crying baby and screaming toddler as much as I did lol

[Guest]

Yay! My son is also doing Bigger and he LOVES it. Hope your year goes great. :)

[walkermamaof4]

I really like that the extras are getting done! I had purchased Beyond for ds7 but just listed it to sell as he is able to do so much of Preparing with the others and was begging to join them on theirs! He kept asking to go join in on their fun science experiments and on their Draw and Write. So I have him doing the 2nd level of dictation in Preparing and copy work for their poetry and scriptures and I ordered him a copy of Draw and Write. I think I will really enjoy having them all together! So far my kids like it. One commented that she really likes the hands-on that was missing in MFW and SL. (We've done both before.) As much as I tried to add in my own hands-on to those, I never kept at it. I love having it and poetry scheduled for us!!!

[Guest]

Oh! And make sure you join the HOD yahoo group - there are so many great time-saving resources! Lots of notebooking pages that have just been a great time saver. :)

[edeemarie]

I'm so happy for you that you have found a curriculum that fits- and will work with a new baby and a toddler too! Best wishes on continued success with HOD and a fantastic year:)

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Yay! My son is also doing Bigger and he LOVES it. Hope your year goes great. :)

 

Do you have a blog? What week are you on? How old is your son? Is this your first year with HOD? Enough questions lol sorry

[joyfulhomeschooler]

I really like that the extras are getting done! I had purchased Beyond for ds7 but just listed it to sell as he is able to do so much of Preparing with the others and was begging to join them on theirs! He kept asking to go join in on their fun science experiments and on their Draw and Write. So I have him doing the 2nd level of dictation in Preparing and copy work for their poetry and scriptures and I ordered him a copy of Draw and Write. I think I will really enjoy having them all together! So far my kids like it. One commented that she really likes the hands-on that was missing in MFW and SL. (We've done both before.) As much as I tried to add in my own hands-on to those, I never kept at it. I love having it and poetry scheduled for us!!!

 

Glad you are having a good year with HOD too :) We almost went with preparing but I am kind of glad that we didnt' now since I might end up staying with HOD. I don't want to start my daughter too far ahead.

[Guest]

Do you have a blog? What week are you on? How old is your son? Is this your first year with HOD? Enough questions lol sorry

 

I'm not blogging right now, sorry! There is a HOD blogroll, though...

 

My son is 7 and we are beginning unit 8 this week. We did about half of Beyond last year and my daughter is doing Little Hearts for His Glory for K. If you ever have questions, you can PM me, too. I have gotten a lot of help from the HOD message board, also.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

I'm not blogging right now, sorry! There is a HOD blogroll, though...

 

My son is 7 and we are beginning unit 8 this week. We did about half of Beyond last year and my daughter is doing Little Hearts for His Glory for K. If you ever have questions, you can PM me, too. I have gotten a lot of help from the HOD message board, also.

 

I should have just looked at your siggy line... oops. I need to take a look at the blogroll, but when I looked before it didn't seem there were too many bigger users on there.

[twoxcell]

We started are 3rd year of HOD last week and I still love it. Of course there are always some rough school days but not because of HOD.;)

[sbgrace]

We're doing Bigger this year too. We did LHTH and the 1st half of LHFHG. Then I did my own lesson planning until this year. I needed open and go at this point in our lives so we're back to HOD. OP, I'm glad you feel you've found "home" for your family!

Edited September 16, 2012 by sbgrace

[joyfulhomeschooler]

We're doing Bigger this year too. We did LHTH and the 1st half of LHFHG. Then I did my own lesson planning until this year. I needed open and go at this point in our lives so we're back to HOD. OP, I'm glad you feel you've found "home" for your family!

 

Glad to know another Bigger family :) I hope I am not putting the cart before the horse by saying we really love it lol since we are only two days in. We started slowly and did two days this past week and will do three this coming week. I am afraid that it is only going so well because it's new.

[raceNzanesmom]

We love HOD!! We've finished LHFHG, BLHFHG and 4 weeks of Bigger. Love it more each day. :D

[woolybear]

We're doing Bigger too. Trying to just start slowly and I am NOT organized yet.

 

I have a blog, but don't post much and have no HOD posts as of yet.

 

Here is a great HOD (using Bigger) blog. She is also on these boards.

 

http://www.monarchroom.com/

[skeeterbug]

I'm so tempted by HOD but the samples are all about American history and that has been the one thing that has kept from trying it. I'd love to look at it for K- actually to combine my nearly 3yo and my 5yo. Do any of them cover world history? Ancient History? Is there a scope & sequence for their program somewhere on their site?

 

:bigear:

[Momof2littles]

I've only used 6 weeks of lhfhg before dumping it.

 

I've heard the guides get better and better, but lhfhg was too hard and too light for my 5.5 year old. The textbooks were too much for her and the science was too light. I think hod needs a program between LHTH and lhfhg that is more of a kinder program.

 

I was going to wait to use lhfhg when she is 6.5 (first grade in the fall) but I think the activites would be too babyish by then for her.

 

She and I both liked the guide but it wasn't a good fit this year.

[Soror]

I don't have any experience with it. I have a friend who used it and loved it at first and the idea but it didn't end up working with her kids. That is the only person I know of irl to use it.

[kagmypts]

I'm so tempted by HOD but the samples are all about American history and that has been the one thing that has kept from trying it. I'd love to look at it for K- actually to combine my nearly 3yo and my 5yo. Do any of them cover world history? Ancient History? Is there a scope & sequence for their program somewhere on their site?

 

:bigear:

 

http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php

[Chelli]

I finished about half of Bigger last year with my dd for second grade. I wish I had planned to finish the other half this year for third, but I promised a friend of mine she could use our Bigger stuff with her dd this year, so we are doing world geography this year.

 

Anyway, I blogged about using Bigger. Here is my blog: http://theplantedtrees.blogspot.com/

 

Bigger stuff (and Little Hands to Heaven) will be under the Heart of Dakota label.

[lotsofpumpkins]

HOD does get better and better; unfortunately, the price gets way to expensive for me the higher you go. That fact, along with a desire to keep everyone K-6 somewhat combined for content subjects, made dh and I decide to go in another direction this year. We did Beyond, Little Hands, and Preparing last year and loved just about all the books. We tried Little Hearts a couple of years ago and dropped it; we just couldn't ever get into it.

 

So, to answer your question, yes, it does stay that good. I just wish the pricetag didn't get so $$$$ later on. But I guess that's to be expected with literature-based programs!

[joyfulhomeschooler]

We love HOD!! We've finished LHFHG, BLHFHG and 4 weeks of Bigger. Love it more each day. :D

 

Yay! So glad to know this. Are you blogging about it?

We're doing Bigger too. Trying to just start slowly and I am NOT organized yet.

 

I have a blog, but don't post much and have no HOD posts as of yet.

 

Here is a great HOD (using Bigger) blog. She is also on these boards.

 

http://www.monarchroom.com/

She does have a great blog doesn't she! She has been a HUGE help to me in getting started and organized for our HOD year.

 

I'm so tempted by HOD but the samples are all about American history and that has been the one thing that has kept from trying it. I'd love to look at it for K- actually to combine my nearly 3yo and my 5yo. Do any of them cover world history? Ancient History? Is there a scope & sequence for their program somewhere on their site?

 

:bigear:

They start covering world history in the preparing guide (which looks awesome, I own it too lol and can't wait to try it next year). Then they go in more depth from there. The preparing guide can be started in 4th grade I believe. Or maybe even sooner depending on your child's skill level. We will be doing it with a 3rd, and 5th grader next year.

 

I've only used 6 weeks of lhfhg before dumping it.

 

I've heard the guides get better and better, but lhfhg was too hard and too light for my 5.5 year old. The textbooks were too much for her and the science was too light. I think hod needs a program between LHTH and lhfhg that is more of a kinder program.

 

I was going to wait to use lhfhg when she is 6.5 (first grade in the fall) but I think the activites would be too babyish by then for her.

 

She and I both liked the guide but it wasn't a good fit this year.

I have heard the guides are much better starting with Bigger. I thought the activities in Bigger would be too young and silly for my 9yr old, but he is LOVING them.

 

I finished about half of Bigger last year with my dd for second grade. I wish I had planned to finish the other half this year for third, but I promised a friend of mine she could use our Bigger stuff with her dd this year, so we are doing world geography this year.

 

Anyway, I blogged about using Bigger. Here is my blog: http://theplantedtrees.blogspot.com/

 

Bigger stuff (and Little Hands to Heaven) will be under the Heart of Dakota label.

Thanks! I think I have your blog on my favorites :) I have your book basket list all printed out. Thanks for that!!! Are you going to go back to HOD?

 

HOD does get better and better; unfortunately, the price gets way to expensive for me the higher you go. That fact, along with a desire to keep everyone K-6 somewhat combined for content subjects, made dh and I decide to go in another direction this year. We did Beyond, Little Hands, and Preparing last year and loved just about all the books. We tried Little Hearts a couple of years ago and dropped it; we just couldn't ever get into it.

 

So, to answer your question, yes, it does stay that good. I just wish the pricetag didn't get so $$$$ later on. But I guess that's to be expected with literature-based programs!

 

Is this true even if you were to just buy the guides and use the library or used book stores for the books? That is what I am partly doing this year. I still have a few of the science books to find used at a good price.. if I don't find them I will use our library.

 

I understand the keeping them together thing though. Not sure if I will have that issue as my littles get older or not.

[raceNzanesmom]

Yay! So glad to know this. Are you blogging about it?

 

Not a blogger, sorry. Maybe someday.

 

 

 

 

I have heard the guides are much better starting with Bigger. I thought the activities in Bigger would be too young and silly for my 9yr old, but he is LOVING them.

 

I thought that too when we started LHFHG mid-way thru 1st. But he loved it and contines to love it. And, even what was a tiny bit young for him he has learned from, so that's a win in my book.

 

 

Is this true even if you were to just buy the guides and use the library or used book stores for the books? That is what I am partly doing this year. I still have a few of the science books to find used at a good price.. if I don't find them I will use our library.

 

For us, the new price is pretty steep at the higher levels. However, I buy used when possible (haven't bought anything new for 3 guides now). A lit based approach can be more $$, but, for us, it's worth it.

[4kids13971]

I almost went with HOD this year, but decided not too because my budget wouldn't allow for the price, but it is nice to see that people really love it. I can plan for it next year.

[Chelli]

Thanks! I think I have your blog on my favorites :) I have your book basket list all printed out. Thanks for that!!! Are you going to go back to HOD?

 

Yes...next year for my oldest's fourth grade year. We will be doing Preparing. I'm not starting any of my kids in HOD until we get to Bigger, though. Except for Little Hands for Preschool. There are just too many other things I want to do for K and 1st. :001_smile:

[SarahPotter]

We are doing Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and Little Hands to Heaven! I have a 6 year old, 4 year old and 2 1/2 year old participating. (Then you have the 1 year old and baby growing in my belly as well). We are starting Unit 5 in each tomorrow. Loving it! I have a blog started (1 post from our first day) but it's still a work in progress. Maybe someday it'll be one of those real blogs!

[ChicoryChick]

I used HOD for 4 years and loved it. I am now no longer using it but it is not because I was not happy or successful with it. My childrens needs have changed as well as the cost of the packages going up. I do believe has given me the confidence and scheduling skills (by example) that help me with my new curriculum choices.

[lotsofpumpkins]

Is this true even if you were to just buy the guides and use the library or used book stores for the books? That is what I am partly doing this year. I still have a few of the science books to find used at a good price.. if I don't find them I will use our library.

 

 

My library is very small (we live in a very rural area, so visiting a larger library somewhere else isn't possible), so I haven't been able to find very many HOD books there. The classic storytime type books they've had, but they don't have the history/science books. As you get further up in HOD, there are so many more books that I know my library just doesn't have. I've looked for used books, but it seems like a lot of the HOD titles are almost as expensive as new, and by the time you factor in shipping and all the time spent searching for them, you save very little.

 

That being said, in a few years when I'm planning high school for my oldest, I have not ruled out HOD. Carrie is supposed to be writing high school guides, so I'll take a look at them then and see if finances will permit our using them.

[tiffanieh]

If you are liking Bigger, just WAIT until you've gotten to Preparing...WOZERS!!! It makes the history in Bigger look like burnt toast! LOL In all seriousness...Preparing is SUCH AN AWESOME GUIDE! We've done all the guides starting in LHFHG and by far Preparing is my very favorite! It is soooo good and my boys are so loving the books Carrie has chosen.

 

I no longer buy any of the stuff brand new anymore. Our budget doesn't allow for it. There are so many places where you can buy the complete set used so you can really still afford it that way!

 

I'll be selling all of my Preparing at the end of this school year! LOL

[mohsmom23]

We are also doing Bigger this year. We just finished up our 9th week. We do like it a lot, but I will admit that I subbed out the science. We started off doing it as scheduled, but then opted to go back to Apologia because the HOD science wasn't enough for us. I do have dd still read the science books and do some of the experiments as scheduled, but I don't have her do the notebooking pages.

[Holly]

I think it can stay that good, but it didn't for us. :blushing: We used it for a few years, but I went another route this year.

 

HOD does get better and better; unfortunately, the price gets way to expensive for me the higher you go. That fact, along with a desire to keep everyone K-6 somewhat combined for content subjects, made dh and I decide to go in another direction this year.

 

 

This was my main concern. We'd used several of their levels, but I just didn't see it working out in the long run. I'd combined my older two successfully, but I also wanted to combine my younger two in eventually. Since it wasn't going to work in the long-run, it seemed wise to look elsewhere. I still love her book choices though, and my DC loved the program!

 

 

I do believe has given me the confidence and scheduling skills (by example) that help me with my new curriculum choices.

 

This is the biggest value I got from our HOD years! Curriculum planning made so much more sense after using HOD. It's given me confidence to come up with my own plans. We are now using a more traditional Charlotte Mason schedule and I absolutely love picking out our own books!

[Homeschooling6]

We just completed or almost completed, (still need to do science) a day of Bigger and it was great! I can't wait for tomorrow =) We started using HOD in Jan. and so far love it. Most of my children, 5 out of 6 will use HOD this year.

 

Last year we completed 75% of Beyond and Preparing. Both were very good and I look forward to using them again when the time comes.

 

Blessings,

Linda<><

[Lab1]

My kids loved Bigger! If you go to the yahoo group, someone made notebooking pages for Bigger. I'm using her Preparing pages and they are fantastic! We are loving Preparing this yr so far. Bigger is quite teacher involved. Preparing is more independent as they were taught well in Bigger for this step. As we went along in Bigger my girls started asking to do their Science by themselves.

[Dustybug]

I'm in my 4th year of using HOD (I've gone through LHTH twice) and we love it!

 

I host the blogroll over at my blog here. There are several who listed BHFHG as one of the guides that they are using this year.

 

There are also HOD facebook groups

 

The main one

Then there are ones for the individual guides. Here is the one for Bigger.

[miracleone]

This is our first year using HOD CtC. We've done 8 units so far. We pray we'll continue to like it.

[Lovedtodeath]

Here's the thing: I chose TWTM because LA skills are a priority, it is mostly reading and there is a lot of flexibility. With HOD you lose that flexibility, and not everyone can use the CM style LA.

 

For history and literature with TWTM, for example, the child reads 3 books of their choosing and then does one creative notebook page... with HOD they read 3 pages someone else chose and do a notebook page that is scripted for them.

 

We also wanted way more out of our science and will always choose to spend more time on science than history/literature, which makes it harder to use a scripted history program.

 

I do plan to do Preparing soon, and R to R eventually, but will choose only half of the history books that are scheduled to save time and money.

[Lovedtodeath]

I can never keep up with yahoo groups, but here is our social group on here:

Heart of Dakota HOD

 

and facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FansofHoD/

 

You are invited!

[joyfulhomeschooler]

Yes...next year for my oldest's fourth grade year. We will be doing Preparing. I'm not starting any of my kids in HOD until we get to Bigger, though. Except for Little Hands for Preschool. There are just too many other things I want to do for K and 1st. :001_smile:

Yay! :) We will be doing preparing at the same time then. Fun!

 

We are doing Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and Little Hands to Heaven! I have a 6 year old, 4 year old and 2 1/2 year old participating. (Then you have the 1 year old and baby growing in my belly as well). We are starting Unit 5 in each tomorrow. Loving it! I have a blog started (1 post from our first day) but it's still a work in progress. Maybe someday it'll be one of those real blogs!

 

You are one busy mama :) Congrats on the growing belly! I hear you on the blog. I started one last year but didn't get many posts on it. If anyone is interested it is here http://joyful-homeschooler.blogspot.com/'>http://joyful-homeschooler.blogspot.com/ Haven't gotten any HOD posts up yet since we are still in the first week, but hope to soon. Once I do I will add it to the blogroll.

 

I used HOD for 4 years and loved it. I am now no longer using it but it is not because I was not happy or successful with it. My childrens needs have changed as well as the cost of the packages going up. I do believe has given me the confidence and scheduling skills (by example) that help me with my new curriculum choices.

 

That is great to hear! Maybe someday I will have that confidence as well.

 

My library is very small (we live in a very rural area, so visiting a larger library somewhere else isn't possible), so I haven't been able to find very many HOD books there. The classic storytime type books they've had, but they don't have the history/science books. As you get further up in HOD, there are so many more books that I know my library just doesn't have. I've looked for used books, but it seems like a lot of the HOD titles are almost as expensive as new, and by the time you factor in shipping and all the time spent searching for them, you save very little.

 

That being said, in a few years when I'm planning high school for my oldest, I have not ruled out HOD. Carrie is supposed to be writing high school guides, so I'll take a look at them then and see if finances will permit our using them.

 

Sorry to hear :( It's great that you live in such a rural area though. It's so good for kids to grow up as country bumpkins :)

 

If you are liking Bigger, just WAIT until you've gotten to Preparing...WOZERS!!! It makes the history in Bigger look like burnt toast! LOL In all seriousness...Preparing is SUCH AN AWESOME GUIDE! We've done all the guides starting in LHFHG and by far Preparing is my very favorite! It is soooo good and my boys are so loving the books Carrie has chosen.

 

I no longer buy any of the stuff brand new anymore. Our budget doesn't allow for it. There are so many places where you can buy the complete set used so you can really still afford it that way!

 

I'll be selling all of my Preparing at the end of this school year! LOL

 

Woohoo! This is exciting! I was so tempted to start preparing this year instead of Bigger lol but my daughter just wouldn't be ready.

 

We just completed or almost completed, (still need to do science) a day of Bigger and it was great! I can't wait for tomorrow =) We started using HOD in Jan. and so far love it. Most of my children, 5 out of 6 will use HOD this year.

 

Last year we completed 75% of Beyond and Preparing. Both were very good and I look forward to using them again when the time comes.

 

Blessings,

Linda<><

 

Yay! Glad you are enjoying your start in Bigger too. Do you have a blog? If so have you added yourself to the blogroll mentioned in this thread?

 

My kids loved Bigger! If you go to the yahoo group, someone made notebooking pages for Bigger. I'm using her Preparing pages and they are fantastic! We are loving Preparing this yr so far. Bigger is quite teacher involved. Preparing is more independent as they were taught well in Bigger for this step. As we went along in Bigger my girls started asking to do their Science by themselves.

 

Thanks! I think I did use some of the notebooking pages.

 

I'm in my 4th year of using HOD (I've gone through LHTH twice) and we love it!

 

I host the blogroll over at my blog here. There are several who listed BHFHG as one of the guides that they are using this year.

 

There are also HOD facebook groups

 

The main one

Then there are ones for the individual guides. Here is the one for Bigger.

 

Thanks! I didn't know about the fb pages.

 

This is our first year using HOD CtC. We've done 8 units so far. We pray we'll continue to like it.

 

I pray you do as well. I suppose any curriculum can work if it is prayerfully considered.

 

Here's the thing: I chose TWTM because LA skills are a priority, it is mostly reading and there is a lot of flexibility. With HOD you lose that flexibility, and not everyone can use the CM style LA.

 

For history and literature with TWTM, for example, the child reads 3 books of their choosing and then does one creative notebook page... with HOD they read 3 pages someone else chose and do a notebook page that is scripted for them.

 

We also wanted way more out of our science and will always choose to spend more time on science than history/literature, which makes it harder to use a scripted history program.

 

I do plan to do Preparing soon, and R to R eventually, but will choose only half of the history books that are scheduled to save time and money.

 

Really? I haven't seen the scripted notebooking pages... or maybe I am doign something wrong? hmmm... I guess I can see this if I think about how she asks them to draw certain pictures and the writing is copywork... yup, I can see how that would bug some people... I however find my kids are still being creative and adding touches of their own. Once I get my blog up and running I'll have pics of it on there. http://joyful-homeschooler.blogspot.com/ right now it is only MFW posts from last year.

I can never keep up with yahoo groups, but here is our social group on here:

Heart of Dakota HOD

 

and facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FansofHoD/

 

You are invited!

 

Thanks for the invite! :)

[tjneary99]

HI all,

We are currently doing Preparing and LHTH. We did Bigger last year with my older two. It has been a blessing for us. The books are really great--they enjoy all of them. The projects, draw and write, literature, and history are fun. The Bible memorization has blessed our family over and over. The DITHOR character traits and skills emphasized with each genre has been great for my kids to learn and discuss. This year my kiddos are also really enjoying the poetry. Someone in the HOD yahoo group made pages for poetry which simplified things a bit for us also. Of course, there are Preparing pages for history and science this year in the files also. Someone else made prayer cards which are wonderful for Wednesdays when the kids are learning to apply the verses and have quiet time. I used to feel frazzled all the time, not it is a relief to know they are enjoying learning and getting a lot of good work done at a reasonable rate. I no longer feel like I might be missing something and trust where we are headed. It has been a blessing for us in many ways.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

HI all,

We are currently doing Preparing and LHTH. We did Bigger last year with my older two. It has been a blessing for us. The books are really great--they enjoy all of them. The projects, draw and write, literature, and history are fun. The Bible memorization has blessed our family over and over. The DITHOR character traits and skills emphasized with each genre has been great for my kids to learn and discuss. This year my kiddos are also really enjoying the poetry. Someone in the HOD yahoo group made pages for poetry which simplified things a bit for us also. Of course, there are Preparing pages for history and science this year in the files also. Someone else made prayer cards which are wonderful for Wednesdays when the kids are learning to apply the verses and have quiet time. I used to feel frazzled all the time, not it is a relief to know they are enjoying learning and getting a lot of good work done at a reasonable rate. I no longer feel like I might be missing something and trust where we are headed. It has been a blessing for us in many ways.

:) Great to hear! We are on unit 3 and I woke up sick this morning. The kids actually protested when I said we wouldn't be doing school today. So about 10am I gave in and we did just the 'fun' stuff. Which of course is our HOD stuff :)