How can I help my high school daughters return to HOD successfully?
We have homeschooled with Heart of Dakota from the beginning and enjoyed it very much. Last fall, however, I put my oldest three in public high school. I needed to spend time with my younger children. It’s been a good year overall. My daughters are doing well in their classes. I’ve enjoyed one-on-one time with my younger children. However, my complaint is that I am not satisfied with the education they are receiving. They don’t do as much work as they did when they were in HOD. Aside from their English class, which is a semester, they don’t do much writing. I don’t want them to lose this skill because we’ve worked so hard to develop it. The goal is to bring them home and continue with HOD through graduation.
I know the design of HOD is to master the skills in one guide before starting the next. My oldest did World Geography (WG) for her freshman year. World History (WH) is required for the freshman year at their high school. So, all three have credit for that. However, I did buy the HOD WH guide, the read-alouds, and the English literature books – couldn’t resist. Just wanted to mention I own those. Would it be recommended for my oldest to do the United States 1 (US1) guide her junior year? Or, would that be too big of jump from WG? Would it be recommended that she do the WH literature before the US1 literature? Since my younger high school daughters haven’t done any of the HOD high school guides yet, would they start with WG? I’ll ask questions about math and science later. Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help My High School Daughters Return to HOD Successfully”
Dear “Ms. Please Help My High School Daughters Return to HOD Successfully,”
For your oldest daughter, who has done WG, and who has also done WH at the high school, I would be inclined to move that daughter into US1. I would also allow your oldest to choose between doing the literature in WH or the literature in US1 for next year. Either would work. However, the following year, your oldest daughter would need to do US1 literature for her final year of high school (as American Literature is an entrance requirement for most colleges). Another option would be to do the literature in US1 this year and then choose between the literature in US2 or the literature in WH for her final year of high school.
In Regard to Your Younger Daughters
For your other two daughters, I would begin with WG. Then, I would likely jump over WH in a similar fashion as to what your oldest daughter is doing. I hate for them to miss WH, but if they have taken it at the high school level already we have to be mindful of earning needed credits by graduation. I wouldn’t put your other high school daughters in US1 to begin with though. WG will be needed as a foundation for high school work with HOD for them. I would do the writing that is scheduled in the core HOD guide each student is using. So, your oldest daughter would do the writing scheduled in US1 and your younger daughters would do the writing scheduled within WG.
You are doing a great job of weighing your options and pondering what is best for your daughters. It is obvious you care deeply about them, their education, and their faith. It can be difficult to know what to do at times. If you need encouragement from someone who did something similar, you may want to search under ‘LynnH’ on our message board. She brought her daughter home midway through high school and has such wisdom in this area. Her posts may have some encouragement for you, as I know it ended up being a positive situation. Her son has also now graduated from doing HOD through high school.
Blessings,
Carrie
