I'm new to Heart of Dakota

[GinainMD]

Hi everyone! My name is Gina. I have four daughters ages 8, 6, 3, and 20 months. I learned about Heart of Dakota from a cousin of mine who uses it for her daughter and decided to try Little Hands to Heaven for my 3 year old. She, and I, absolutely loves it! I'm looking to switch my older 2 daughters in the late summer or early fall. I'm not sure wether to do Beyond or Bigger. Any advice would be appreciated. My 8 yr. old will turn 9 in December, however, she prefers to work at a slower pace. My 6 yr old will be seven in August but is already reading fluently. So I'm not sure which program would be the right mix of being challanging enough but not too much pressure. Tia, and I look forward to sharing this homeschooling journey with all of you.

[Mom2Monkeys]

Hi! Welcome to HOD! I just know you'll love the other guides as much as you love LHTH! Have you checked the placement chart yet to help place the older two? If you'll pop back in with some input from that, we'll all be able to help you consider your options much better http://www.heartofdakota.com/place-your-child.php

[crlacey]

Welcome!
Once you look at the placement chart, you should be able to more easily place your children in a guide together. I am planning to use Bigger next fall with my DD who will be & in May and a 2nd grader in the fall, so it is doable. But my DD has already been through all the previous guides (we're finishing Beyond this spring).

[happy@home]

Welcome to HOD, Gina! The ladies on this board are sooo helpful! I have gotten so much awesome advice and tips from them!

[water2wine]

Welcome to HOD. I have a whole pack of girls too! You will love HOD. I just wanted to say that if you find Bigger is the best placement you could slow it down and maybe go 4 days a week or half paced whichever works best for you. It works very well with that program to go at your child's pace. Beyond is a great program too. I am doing it with my almost 6 year old and my just turned 8 year old this year. I did Bigger last year with my older children. I'd try to go with the placement chart as much as possible pon the skills. That will give you the best fit and then if you need to slow something down that is really easy to do. Welcome to HOD! You're going to love it!

[inHistiming]

Welcome Gina! As the other ladies have already said, the placement chart should give you a good idea of where your kids would fit in HOD. I personally would probably combine them in Beyond...simply because Bigger may be a bit much for my 6 year old. However, many families use HOD in many different ways...Once you take a peek at the placement chart, maybe you could pop back in and let us know what it shows. It will be much easier to 'help' you then. I'm looking forward to 'seeing' you on the board!

[LeAnna]

Hi Gina!

Welcome to HOD!!! I know you are going to love it!! It has really blessed our family!! We have used LHTH and LHFHG, and now in Beyond! So much fun! I agree with InHistiming... I too have a 6 and 7 1/2 year old. We are working through Beyond this year, and plan to carry it over a little bit into next year. I think Bigger would be too much right now for my 6 year old. One idea is to do Beyond with both girls and if one places a little bit older, you could just bump her to the next math, 2nd spelling list, English, or cursive if you needed too. Next year, we will be doing Bigger with my 8 year old, and just turned 7 year old. We will leave things as they are, but I will not do cursive with my younger, and do the spelling list 2 with her.
But, it's all up to you. Take a look at the placement chart, and go from there. There are lots of possiblities and Carrie has made all the books very adaptable to mom's who are placing more than one child in a manual.

LeAnna

[pollo_la]

I think you could really go with either guide, Beyond or Bigger. But again, as the pp have mentioned, check out the placement chart to get a better idea. One thing to consider - if you decide to go with BIgger you could slow the pace down and just go at half speed for a couple months and then work up to full speed. That would help ease you into the guide. If you decide to go with Beyond, that would also likely be a nice gentle way to start out with HOD. It might be a tad on the easy side for your oldest dd, BUT the following years she would be able to do the extension packages in all the other guides. I think if I were you, I would lean toward putting them in Beyond, BUT again, look at the placement chart. Oh, and I wouldn't go by reading level alone to know where to place your kids in the guide. My 5 year old reads at an upper 4th grade level, BUT LHFHG is a PERFECT fit for her in all other aspects. Instead of doing phonics, we read books.

[GinainMD]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and advice. I did consult the placement chart and I think that I've decided to go with beyond. It looks like so much fun that I actually don't want my oldest daughter to miss out on it. My oldest is what I would consider a "young 8," so I think this will be a perfect fit. We are coming from a classical background that was much too rigorous for my first daughter and my second daughter is very adaptable. I like that the next levels have extensions so I won't feel as if my first daughter is falling behind. My older girls are even enjoying lhth with their 3 year old sister so I know that they will love beyond. Thanks again.

[my3sons]

Well, hooray Gina! You already checked out the placement chart and figured out what's best for your dc, so now, I guess I just get to say 'Welcome to the HOD Board', and I look forward to getting to know you! I'll also say we've done Beyond twice, and we're on our third time through LHTH - it just gets more and more fun to do. I know you'll love Beyond as much as you love LHTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Kathleen]

Welcome, Gina!

I just wanted to pop in and welcome you, too...and share that I came upon all the wonderful HOD curriculum in almost exactly the same way you did! I found LHTH and started using it with my little 3 yo. We loved it so much (and weren't loving school with my 2nd grader nearly as much) that I had to check out the website and found all the other wonderful levels! Woo-hoo! And, just so you know, they have been just as wonderful as LHTH - and even more so because of the rich content that comes for the older kids. We're absolutely loving school for the chance to be in God's Word together and to enjoy the FUN activities and to see my kids growing in their academic skills. We LOVE the balance of our days and the memories we're making! HOD really makes me love to homeschool!

Kathleen

[MistyP]

Hi Gina! We have 4 girls too 6 1/2 yrs to 23 mths.

This has been our first year homeschooling and using Heart of Dakota. IT has been such a blessing to us! The ladies here are wonderful to help out with any questions too!

[MomtoJGJE]

We also have 4 girls! At the end of April we'll be 7, 5, 3, 1... We are doing Beyond for my oldest right now and we love it! Welcome!

[Mom4Him]

Welcome Gina!
Hooray for having 4 girls! We do too- although one little boy is also in the mix...
It would be fun if we all lived closer together & could get all our children together.
Have a great day!

[GinainMD]

Thanks again to everyone for making me feel so welcome. And yes, it would be great to be able to get together irl. We had three different neighbors who also had little girls but they have all had to move away within the last year due to foreclosures .