bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

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LivinNandByHim
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:49 pm

bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by LivinNandByHim » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:06 pm

Any particular options for cutting costs on these programs?? payment options. Or perhaps families who have materials they want to pass on for less than the new ordering prices???? I have fallen in love with the materials; however, for our family the thought of chunking out $1,000 for my ds and dd is overwhelming. Thank you for your understanding. Ihave so very much enjoyed reading the posts here. :D

LivinNandByHim
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:49 pm

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by LivinNandByHim » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:10 pm

OOps... I'm sorry if I just did a no - no. Only now read the main post about not buying selling etc. Forgive me. Budget ideas, timing of purchases at intervals...... any ideas. God bless. thank you.

Kathleen
Posts: 1980
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:23 pm
Location: NE Kansas

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by Kathleen » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:20 pm

Which programs are you looking at purchasing? I'm guessing it's older ones since they're more costly with more books.

I know that many of the genre-based storytime books are easy to find at a library (and there are many good choices listed for you in the appendix). This would be an option in Beyond, Bigger, and CTC. That could help cut costs if you have a decent library close by. I'm guessing that would be harder with the specific books reccommended for storytime like in Preparing. You could also do this for Drawn Into the Heart of Reading, and since it truly works with any book, it should be easy to find one for each genre. Carrie has a book list of ideas for $5 that you can get with the guide. Just one idea.

We do REALLY love HOD at our house. We have one more year of purcahsing 2 guides. My oldest will need CTC this fall...and then mid-year I'll need Beyond for my daughter. But, we're not planning on using anything else in our house, so when I need to reuse a program with a younger child, all I need are the math workbooks - $18 (and in the younger grades maybe a handwriting book). Now that's a deal!! I guess it helps me to be able to see it that way. I know that it does cost significantly more if you're starting out purchasing more that one program though.

Welcome to HOD!
:D Kathleen
Homeschooling mom to 6:
Grant - 19 Kansas State University
Allison - 15 World Geography
Garret - 13 Res2Ref
Asa - 8 Bigger
Quinn - 7 Bigger

Halle - 4 LHTH

pamh
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:16 am

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by pamh » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:29 pm

I sent you an email but $1000.00 just seems to high for HOD. I thought most programs were around 300.00 but I'm sure it does depend on what level. I agree with Kathleen and using it with the other kiddos if that is possible. Also, I too have heard of other moms getting the read alouds thru their library to save money. Email me back when you have a chance.

Blessings,
Pam

4froggies
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:02 am

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by 4froggies » Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:58 am

Just a couple of thoughts...

Combining storytime if you are using two guides.

Use readers that you already have for DITHOR (maybe books your older one has read, but not your younger.) This is one great advantage to HOD- the reading choices are flexible- YOU choose the books in each genre.

HTH! :D
Beth

Mom to 5 great kiddos (15,11,8,5,2) and one due in October!

crlacey
Posts: 630
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: NC

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by crlacey » Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:18 am

I've been able to get some of the storytime books from places like paperbackswap.com or our library's used book sale.
Crystal
DD 20 married college graduate
DS 17 college student
DD 11 CTC

Finished: LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, BHFHG, PHFHG, CTC, Res to Ref, Rev to Rev, MTMM, parts of WG and WH

smithdonnajo
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:42 am
Location: Alabama

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by smithdonnajo » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:08 am

Here's an idea, to break up the purchases. Maybe this would help. This is what I'm doing.

Buy only what you will need for the first quarter of the school year, say the first 9-10 units from the teacher's guides. Around unit 8, buy only what you will need for the 2nd 9 units, and so forth.

To know what you will need when, you could go ahead and buy the teacher's guides, look through the first 9-10 weeks, then, check the library to see what you can get there, then make your shopping list for the rest.
Donna Jo

annaz
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:47 pm

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by annaz » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:58 am

I agree that you could utilize the library for storytime/read-alouds. Also combine where you can. Just because you can buy it, doesn't mean you really need to. There's many people on the yahoo site as well that sell it used, complete. So there are several options. Another idea is if you really want to buy, buy as you go, so it's not a bit wallet hit. You don't need Unit 30's book until you get there. KWIM? Just a few ideas. HOD is one of the most inexpensive programs out there.
Married 1994
One DD 6/2000
One DH :)
One cat
One dog
Three horses :shock:

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by my3sons » Mon May 03, 2010 9:23 am

I'm so glad you are thrilled with HOD! :D You've already gotten some great ideas here from these wise ladies. Budget is a constant topic of talk at our house, so I understand what you are saying. Could you share with us which HOD programs you are looking at? We can give more detailed answers then and will be able to help you to be on the happy road to using HOD. :D My dh and I sat down a few years into our homeschooling and realized that if our dc's education was that important to us, we'd need to budget ahead to be able to do it right, since we didn't have the money for it just all of a sudden. I explained to my dh how me not having what I need to homeschool our dc well in the day to day would result in them having an inferior education over time. Thought my dh watches our money we spend on things very carefully, this made an impression on him, and he agreed he did not want that for our dc.

So, we started putting money aside for each child of schooling age each month. Then, the next year when we needed it, we had it. The first year, when we found ourselves in that "pickle", we skipped spending money on other things, trimmed our budget down to the very basics, and spent our money on our kid's education instead. But, we learned from that and decided that we didn't believe that idea that "you don't have to spend money to have a good education" - as tempting as that sounds, we found out all educational materials (like the free ones and the ones you have to pay for) are NOT created equal. :? Plus, once we'd decided the amount of money to put away each month, we just did it and didn't have to talk about it anymore - what a relief. The amount of money we set aside has gone up each year, and that is because as our dc get older, they need more educational materials as the educational standards they must meet go up with their age. (Luckily, HOD writes with those standards in mind, so that's one less thing I have to worry about. :D )

HOD is really one of the most inexpensive programs out there, so with a little planning, I think you'd be set. The first year or two years are the toughest, but after that, we're usually just buying a program for the oldest, and filling in the consumables (which in HOD number very few) to be able to homeschool. Please do share the programs you'd need, or we can help you talk through that if you're still needing to look at the placement chart to decide that - in case you are, here's that link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

We'd love to help you with this - so please come back and share your thoughts! I do think you'd be thrilled with HOD, and I do think you can afford it with some fine tuning now, and some planning ahead for the future. :D HTH! :)

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

LivinNandByHim
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:49 pm

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by LivinNandByHim » Sun May 09, 2010 12:39 pm

Considering Preparing for 9yo (completed 3rd at public school) and LHFHG fo 5yo (had late b-day and will start K this fall). Love the materials in Preparing, not sure if it may be too arduous for my 9 yo boy. Smart, but wiggly and easily distracted. Good reader, but poor writer. probably needs cursive from the ground up. Also, 5 yo dd knows letters, sounds, beginning 3 letter word reading. Can recognize colors, shapes; writes with effort letters and numbers.

Thank you to everyone for ideas. And thank you, Julie for your thoughts. Definitely worth budgeting for - HOD's godly emphasis and rave reviews.

Tansy
Posts: 1029
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:11 am
Location: Texas

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by Tansy » Sun May 09, 2010 4:02 pm

I know a few of Carries book choices are located here
http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displaya ... le=feature

I'ts not as much fun you can't snuggle up to a computer as well as a book. But they are free to read on line I think the "purchase book" button is so you can buy the books from them. It wouldn't be my first choice but i just thought I'd let you know it is out there...
I just did a quick search and found these :-)

from bigger
A First Book in American History American History
1895 Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans Collective Biography
see here you can navigate the whole book form the left side titles
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?a ... story=rice

LHFHG
Some Thorton Burgess
Beyond
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey Boys and Girls of Colonial Days (in progress)
J. H. Stickney Aesop's Fables
CTC
Arabella Buckley Birds of the Air & Plant Life in Field and Garden Nature
♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫
Dyslexics of the world Untie!
Adoptive Mom to 2 girls
http://gardenforsara.blogspot.com/
♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫•*¨*•.¸❤¸.•*¨*•♪♫

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: bdget vs. thrilled w/ HOD

Post by my3sons » Tue May 11, 2010 5:57 pm

I'm wondering if maybe Bigger Hearts may be a better fit for your ds? You'll know best, but I've always found the placement chart to helpful in placing my dc. It's short and accurate - you could just focus on the first page of it mainly and probably be able to choose whether you think Bigger Hearts or PHFHG would be a better fit. Here's a link to the placement chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

After you decide on a placement, we can help you out by ranking in order what's most needed for the program to be used to its fullest, and then you can make choices with your budget in mind. HTH! :D :D :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

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