A Snapshot of History

Little Hearts for His Glory provides a broad overview of history, spanning from Creation to present day. In this overview, Bible stories are integrated with history stories, giving your child the opportunity to see God’s sovereign hand working through the ages. With a unique blend of living books, hands-on activities, and a biblical perspective, Little Hearts for His Glory tells world history through the stories of those who lived it.

• See God’s plan for mankind through the beautifully-illustrated Bible stories in either the Family-Time Bible (for ages 5-6) or 101 Favorites Stories from the Bible (for ages 6-7). These beloved stories from Scripture are followed by thought-provoking questions to encourage discussion, so you can help your child better understand and remember each story.
• Join a pair of little pilgrims traveling through time as you read History for Little Pilgrims.  This lively, biblical overview of world and American history teaches children about Creation and the nations, the history of God’s kingdom, early explorers and cultures, the discovery of the Americas, and the growth of the United States. 
• Hear wholesome stories about famous events and people in History Stories for Children. This well-loved book helps children relive history as they hear stories about Alexander the Great, Miles Standish, the Boston Tea Party, and many other characters and events from history.
• Bring history to life with dramatic play activities like folding clothes to load onto your camel, hearing the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, acting out the parable of the prodigal son with stuffed toys, creating a Roman road with blocks, building Wartburg Castle from tinfoil, drawing and cutting out a five-point star, looking up words in Webster’s dictionary, and more!
• Build artistic skills with history-themed art projects like crafting a paper collage of the cross, decorating an Egyptian collar, constructing (and eating) golden calves out of edible playdough, painting a picture of Zacchaeus’ tree, creating a heart-shaped valentine, marking the 13 colonies with playdough, designing a homemade flag, making George Washington’s 3-sided hat, and more!
• Develop thinking skills with game-like activities linked to the history stories. Act out the animals in the Garden of Eden, search for baby Moses hidden in a basket, build Jericho’s wall, play “King, May I” with Queen Esther, dig up archaeological treasures in a pan of rice, follow a trail with Lewis and Clark, dig for gold in California, discover modern inventions around the house, and more!

A Picture of the Past

Picture the past with Little Hearts for His Glory’s “Visual History” set! The “Visual History” section includes engaging books that provide a gorgeous visualization of the people, places, and events students are learning about!

• Enjoy beautiful read-alouds matched week by week to Little Hearts for His Glory’s history themes. As you to share these picturesque living books with your children, you’ll get to see world history come to life like never before!
• Explore the Garden of Eden, watch over baby Moses in the Nile, witness Jericho’s fall, share in the first Christmas, spread the gospel with the apostles, preach reform with Luther, guide Lewis and Clark with Sacajawea, change farming with George Washington Carver, illuminate the world with Edison, and create America’s first parks with Teddy Roosevelt – all just a sampling of what awaits you and your children!
• Bring history vividly to life! This set works alongside the history spines to give children a view of history that will be remembered as a cherished learning time together for parents and children alike.

A Collection of Read-Alouds

In Little Hearts for His Glory, you’ll “cuddle-up-and-read” classic stories with gorgeous illustrations that have stood the test of time! Since many of the same characters appear throughout each series, your children will get to know the characters well and eagerly anticipate what might happen next. These delightful tales are sure to charm young listeners!

• Enjoy classic storybook fables, listen to cherished stories from Brambly Hedge, imagine joyful tales from country vet James Herriot, relate to character-building farm stories from Helga Moser, hear pioneer accounts from Laura Ingalls Wilder, and experience a brand-new children’s version of Little Pilgrim’s Progress – all just a sampling of what awaits you!
• Use guided questioning keyed to storybook illustrations to help students recognize story elements like character, setting, mood, theme and more! Foster comprehension through discussion using “Picture Walks” and “Picture Talks” to ease the transition between picture books and chapter books. 

A Foundation of Scripture

The Bible study in Little Hearts for His Glory is meant to instill Biblical values in children by training them to hear God’s Word and hide it in their hearts.  In coordination with the history stories, students will read and discuss key Bible verses, complete Scripture memorization exercises, sing catchy songs, and enjoy heartfelt devotionals that point them to Christ.

• Study new Bible verses each week and discuss their meaning using provided questions with your child. Each memory verse has a practical meaning for young students and also reinforces the history theme. 
• Memorize verses using repetition, hand motions, exercises, fun activities, Scripture cards, and catchy songs from Hide ‘Em in Your Heart Volume I by Steve Green.  Students are also encouraged to share these verses with someone special.
• Explore 37 memorable names of Jesus with The Magnificent Names of Jesus! This unique, colorfully-illustrated devotional and prayer guide corresponds weekly with Little Hearts for His Glory’s history readings. It spotlights one name of Jesus, and offers a conversational explanation, related Scripture, and name-focused prayer that shows the breadth and depth of Christ. As children learn to pray to Jesus their Shepherd, Jesus their Friend, and dozens more, we pray the experience will bring deep heartfelt change both for the children and for the loving adults who read with them.

A Round of Rhymes

Little Hearts for His Glory includes engaging “rhymes in motion” to teach left-right brain integration along with large motor skills in a fun and imaginative way. As students learn a new rhyme each week, they will perform accompanying movements at the same time. 

• Act out rhymes in motion that coordinate with the history theme in Little Hearts for His Glory. As students sing or say the rhymes, they will practice movements like hopping, skipping, galloping, kneeling, squatting, leaping, tiptoeing, touching toes, walking heel-to-toe, alternating left and right actions, jumping backward, clapping in rhythm, spinning, arm circles, hand movements, and more!
• Enjoy a sampling of the fun skills that your children will build as they perform our rhymes in motion! These includes skills such as learning the names of the continents while mimicking animal movements, practicing left and right motions while praising the Lord, counting and holding up fingers in quick succession while counting the ten plagues, alternating backward and forward motions while marching around Jericho, performing movements in quick succession while acting out Jesus’ miracles, and more! 

A Look at Language Arts

Little Hearts for His Glory uses a Charlotte-Mason approach to “Language Arts,”  combining seven classic Thornton Burgess books with a compilation of stories by Beatrix Potter. Both beloved series provide a wonderful exposure to higher-level vocabulary in the context of short chapters spanning 5 minutes or less. Our living language arts approach teaches your child important skills through engaging read-alouds. 

• Instill valuable lessons about animals, nature, and the environment as you focus on language arts skills through Burgess stories featuring favorite characters like Reddy Fox, Jerry Muskrat, Peter Cottontail, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Grandfather Frog, Buster Bear, Danny Meadow Mouse, and more!
• Treasure 12 of Beatrix Potter’s most popular stories including tales about Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-duck, the Flopsy Bunnies, and more.  These charming tales about creatures of the field and forest are sure to delight young listeners!
• Enjoy oral and written follow-up activities that make “Language Arts” so much more than just worksheets. Your children will gain needed language skills by discussing provided questions, retelling parts of the story, practicing early writing skills, making moral connections, and relating personally to the characters.
• Warn Reddy Fox to watch out for Bowser the Hound, guess whether Peter Rabbit will really change his name, and use sound effects to act out how Danny Meadow Mouse outsmarted Mr. Blacksnake – all just a sampling of the activities that await your child in Little Hearts for His Glory.

A Journey into Reading

Little Hearts for His Glory offers a choice of four options for reading, based on the ability and reading level of your child. You can choose one of our hand-picked phonics programs to introduce your child to reading, or use your own phonics resource instead. You can add Miss Rhonda’s Readers to enhance your phonics program, or you can use Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia to help your struggling reader build essential skills.

Phonics Programs for Beginning Readers

• Get started right with the Learn to Read program! This beginning phonics program for ages 3-5 contains 101 phonics lessons, each on a two-page spread. Brief daily scripts help you know what to say, while mazes, word searches, and other activities keep your child motivated! Little ones recognize letters, sound them out, and put them together in words and simple sentences. The gentle pace and short lessons make this an ideal first phonics program. After Learn to Read, students can do Book 1 of Real Phonics.
• Cement core concepts with Real Phonics, a no-prep beginning phonics program designed around full-color, vibrantly illustrated stories! Children ages 4-7 (who know their alphabet) read stories that slowly increase in complexity as new letter sounds are added. Lessons are only one page a day, with a new 4-panel colorful story on each page. Flash cards sets, writing practices, and short teacher directions round out this delightful program! After Real Phonics, students can jump into Lesson 9 of The Reading Lesson.
• Curl up with your child and enjoy short, clear phonics lessons in an open-and-go format with The Reading Lesson. This user-friendly program includes 20 simple lessons that are approximately 20 pages each. For children 5 and under, cover two pages per day. For children 6 and over, cover three or more pages a day. No more than 5-7 minutes should be spent on a page, and lessons are under fifteen minutes in length.
• Teach the basics of phonics through 108 fully-scripted lessons in Reading Made Easy.  Author Valerie Bendt recommends covering three 30-minute lessons each week with review between lessons. This allows your child to finish this program in a typical school year; however, the author firmly emphasizes pacing the program as needed to help your child be successful.  Coordinating workbooks add a written component to the lessons.

Miss Rhonda’s Readers

• Help young children take joy in successfully reading right from the start! Miss Rhonda’s Readers provide 16 colorful short stories and 2 delightful chapter books for beginning readers! Written by a certified, Montessori teacher, Miss Rhonda’s Readers feature phonetically correct words and fun, child-friendly plots. Children find joy and see themselves as ‘readers’ by reading first one book, and then another, and another! You can add Miss Rhonda’s Readers onto any phonics program. We’ve scheduled Miss Rhonda’s Readers for use with both Real Phonics and The Reading Lesson. These sets even come with lovely full-color progress charts – made right here at Heart of Dakota!

Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia

• Help kids ages 6-9 begin to overcome dyslexia with Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia, a program stuffed with fun-filled games and activities that build skills and confidence! Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia: Volumes 1-2 uses a targeted approach to skill development with exercises focused on phonemic awareness, dysgraphia, and auditory processing disorder. 6 different learning methods give kids a chance to see what works for them, while phonics games, mazes, and word association, matching, coloring, and listening activities make reading fun! Add these books to any reading program – just do 1 short activity a day!

A Help for Handwriting

Heart of Dakota teaches handwriting skills by offering you a choice of two different handwriting approaches. A Reason for Handwriting features the traditional Palmer method of forming letters, while the Getty-Dubay Italic series features an italic style of letter formation. You can use one of these time-tested handwriting selections as planned in Little Hearts for His Glory, or you can use your own handwriting resource.

• Learn basic letter formation with one of the following handwriting options for kindergarten:  A Reason for Handwriting Book ‘K’ or Getty & Dubay Italic Book ‘A.’  Short daily practice sessions guide students to form letters correctly as they copy from a model.  A Reason for Handwriting Book ‘K’ also includes a full-page picture to color that corresponds with each letter. Children who are already proficient at writing their letters should use one of the first grade options instead.
• Practice copying words and sentences with one of the following handwriting options for first grade:  A Reason for Handwriting Book ‘A’ or Getty & Dubay Italic Book ‘B.’  Short daily practice sessions guide students to write words and sentences correctly as they copy from a model.  A  Reason for Handwriting Book ‘A’ also includes decorative pages on which to copy key Bible verses to give to someone special, thus providing “a reason for writing.” Children who are still learning to write letters should use one of the kindergarten options instead.

A Core for Critical Thinking

Heart of Dakota teaches critical thinking and fine motor skills by offering you a choice of two different sets of workbooks from the Rod and Staff early learners series. Pages emphasize thinking skills and following directions along with cutting, coloring, copying, and pasting. No matter which option you choose, both sets of workbooks are scheduled for you in Little Hearts for His Glory.

• Learn kindergarten-level thinking and fine motor skills with the following two workbooks: Do It Carefully and Finding the Answers. These tried-and-true workbooks cover a variety of necessary skills. Do It Carefully practices shapes, letters, and words and helps students utilize thinking skills as they color, cut, and paste.  Finding the Answers emphasizes rhyming words, identifying sequences, making comparisons and associations, following directions, and more advanced cutting and pasting. Children who are already proficient at cutting, coloring, copying, and pasting should use the first grade option instead. 

• Learn first grade-level thinking and fine motor skills with the following two workbooks: Going On Eagerly and Just Thinking and Choosing. These tried-and-true workbooks build necessary skills through a variety of exercises that require tracing, cutting, completing pictures, using visual discrimination, following directions, coloring by number, duplicating shapes, drawing missing parts, patterning, sequencing, categorizing, classifying, predicting, making inferences and word associations, and much more. Children who are not proficient at cutting, coloring, copying, and pasting should use the kindergarten option instead.

A Structure for Mathematics

Little Hearts for His Glory allows you to choose a level from the well-known Singapore Primary Math Series, use Math with Confidence, or pick Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Mathematics. Or, you can use your own math. For your convenience, daily schedules for Singapore Math are available. Math with Confidence and Apologia Math each have their own daily schedule, four-days a week, in their instructor guides.

Singapore Primary Math Series

• A choice of two Singapore levels is recommended in Little Hearts for His Glory: Essentials Kindergarten Level A/B or Primary Mathematics Level 1A/1B. Each level provides a full year of math, with the ‘A’ and ‘B’ books each equaling a semester.

• Utilize Singapore’s concise math texts to build number sense, mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and essential math skills. By featuring an approach that moves from concrete to pictorial to abstract, Singapore math teaches concepts in a way that leaves children feeling math can be understood.
• Enjoy our easy hands-on activities that coordinate with the lessons in Essentials Kindergarten Level A/B. These activities use concrete objects to illustrate mathematical concepts. The daily plans with activities are available for purchase along with Essentials Kindergarten Level A/B (daily plans also available for Primary Mathematics Level 1A/1B).
• Visualize and solve problems quickly and efficiently by following the methods modeled in the text. Speech and thought bubbles appear throughout the text to demonstrate the thought process of problem solving.
• Learn new mathematical concepts through a spiral progression that builds on concepts already taught.  If a child doesn’t get a concept the first time around, rest easy knowing the concept will come around again in later levels.
• Use the placement tests available at www.singaporemath.com/placement-tests to find the right placement for your child.  Be sure to select the Primary Mathematics edition of the placement test to match the Primary Math U.S. edition used in the Little Hearts for His Glory guide. There is no placement test for Essentials Kindergarten Level A/B. It helps to note that Singapore Math is considered advanced as children move through the program.

Math with Confidence Series

• Enjoy Math with Confidence! This easy-to-use program features short, daily lessons 4 days each week. Scripted, open-and-go lessons are both friendly and approachable with hands-on games, activities, real-life context, and helpful tips. Straightforward, colorful worksheets help students practice new concepts and review previously-learned material.
• Focus on one concept at a time for several weeks to build deep, connected knowledge (known as the mastery approach). Math with Confidence also provides continual, ongoing review so your child fully grasps core grade-level skills by the end of the year (known as the spiral approach). Optional enrichment lessons are included along with suggestions for math picture books to enjoy together.
• Teach each level of Math with Confidence using an Instructor Guide, a Student Workbook, and common household materials (like coins, a ruler, crayons, a clock, small toys/stuffed animals, etc). Math with Confidence is currently available for grades K-4 with a new level planned to release each year through grade 6.

Apologia Math Series

• Enjoy Apologia’s hands-on, interactive approach to math, filled with activities, projects, and games that help students comprehend new concepts. See connections between math, our world, and our Creator as students dive deep into the beauty of mathematics.
• Introduce concepts through a similar format as each lesson is presented in a 4-step progression: hands-on activity, pictorial presentation, abstract presentation, and application. Practice sections reinforce learning, while hands-on projects make learning stick! Mastery is encouraged with built-in review.
• Follow a weekly schedule, 4 days a week, that reflects a systematic progression from one skill to the next. Each level requires the Teaching Guide and an All-in-One Student Text (as well as a selection of household objects). Colorful and age-appropriate lesson layouts make learning exciting!
• Use the placement tests available at www.apologia.com to find the right placement for your child.

An Exploration of Science

Little Hearts for His Glory features a unique, hands-on approach to science that integrates a Bible-based science text with topics from the history stories. As students delve into life science, physical science, and earth science, they will complete fun activities and discover what they learn matches up with the Bible.

• Explore the heavens and the earth, light and darkness, the firmament, oceans and fresh water, seeds and plants, the four seasons, the creatures of the earth, and man in The World God Made. As students learn about the exciting world around them, they will become familiar with science-related vocabulary and make biblical connections.
• Conduct quick, hands-on activities related to the science readings. Make an edible model of the soil layers, smell and sort different spices, use a flashlight to experiment with light and shadows, learn about soundwaves by tapping glasses of water, and experiment with condensation. 
• Record your unique fingerprint with pencil dust, illustrate primary and secondary colors with food coloring, explain the digestive system with crackers and a plastic bag, experiment with reflection, discover how friction generates warmth, and learn about the different states of water.
• Draw connections between science and history as topics overlap between the two subjects. For example, as students read about Noah’s ark, they will test different boat shapes with aluminum. While reading about Peter the fisherman, they will learn about fish scales and gills. As they read about Columbus, they will learn how the Earth is round. When students read about the Liberty Bell, they will learn about pendulums. Tying history and science together in this way encourages students to make memorable connections.