Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

Tagged: HOD, new to homeschooling

This topic has 11 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 10 months ago by Heather.

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

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July 29, 2011 at 9:19 pm
srmorris
Member
I am fairly new to homeschooling this year. We attempted 1st grade (dd just turned 7), but finished almost nothing because she was treated for leukemia and was in the hospital quite a lot. We began with Susan Wise Bauer’s SOTW Vol 1 (Ancients), which she enjoyed, but only got about halfway through. Almost finished Saxon 1. Emerging reader. Starting fresh this fall…and I love everything I read about the CM method here and elsewhere on the web. DD loves to be read to, loves to draw, and has excellent oral narration skills. I think the short lessons and living books prescribed by a CM education are just what we are looking for. However, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed about plannning my own curriculum, and am drawn to HOD for some reason. Looking for ease with scheduling, something that I can add to if need be, something that is CM in method but will challenge and inspire my daughter. I also have a 3 year old. Has anyone used HOD? Is it rigorous enough? Is it truly CM? Are the history spines engaging?
Thanks for any input!

July 29, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Heather
Participant
I have experience with HOD. What guide are you thinking of using?
July 29, 2011 at 10:19 pm
srmorris
Member
I was thinking of using Beyond since my dd’s skill level seems to fit better…although Bigger is also tempting.
July 30, 2011 at 12:46 am
Heather
Participant
First of all, I am sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she is doing better now.
I was thinking that Beyond seems to be where you are at. Bigger is more demanding, and Beyond prepares them well for it. We enjoyed the history spines very much in Beyond, not so much in Bigger. In Beyond, they were very engaging and the stories were easily remembered, but in Beyond they lost the energy and became somewhat stale. As far as open and go with little or no prep, it definitely delivers! It is definitely open and go and very full, but with short gentle lessons. There are gentle grammar lessons built in each week, from the guide, not a text. So, if your daughter has already had grammar instruction (if not, the guide will be perfect by itself), you may want to go ahead and get the next level Rod and Staff book, or go with something else. Had I known what I know now, I would have used Serl’s from the beginning of our grammar instruction. If she is doing well with Saxon, I would definitely not switch her over to Singapore though you may be tempted.
Depending on your 3 year old, you might choose Little Hands to Heaven, but personally I wouldn’t bother with it. You can do well enough saving the money and just reading to her! It is basically Bible stories, some acting out activities and letter learning, which you might like since it is in one place and you wouldn’t need any prep…again, it is open and go with exception for a quick glance to see if you need to purchase any materials for the next week.
Have you checked out the HOD placement chart on their site? It may help you definitely narrow it down more, plus Carrie responds to emails if you want to talk directly with her.
I hope this helps some, if you have any more questions let me know!

July 30, 2011 at 1:13 am
srmorris
Member
Thanks so much for your reply. My daughter is doing amazingly well, thank you. Successful bone marrow transplant from her sister. Every day is a gift!
Are you still using HOD? Do you have any reservations about it? Would you recommend supplementing with World History alongside the American history (I have seen both taught simultaneously in CM curricula)?
What is Serl’s grammar?
Planning to just read with my 3 year old for sure…
Thanks again!
July 30, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Heather
Participant
I am happy to hear that she is doing well!
I used Beyond and half of Bigger with my oldest. I used some of Little Hands to heaven with my two youngest, but it was really “hokey” and neither of them liked it. The next year I began to use Little Hearts for His Glory with my middle and it was just not a good fit, over his head in areas and bored him in other areas. My best experience by far was Beyond. I cannot recommend it more highly if you are wanting something open and go, CM based and Christ centered. We got lost in the middle of Bigger with my oldest. The reads were boring to her and she lost interest in most subjects. I was frustrated that I had spent so much on a curriculum and it was causing my daughter to dread school. That’s when I found this website and used the free curriculum guide to plan our own thing having all of my children together then ages 4,6 and 8. Combining would never have been possible if I had continued with HOD due to the differing levels of ability with my children. HOD did give me confidence that I could do it though, so I am thankful for that!
So, no I have no reservations about recommending Beyond to you at all, having experience in 4 of the levels it was our favorite. I don’t want to deter you from HOD by saying it was the only level we liked because we are just one family. Many families start HOD at the beginning and love using it all the way through, it just didn’t work that way for us.
I can encourage you of this though, you are only choosing curriculum for your needs for this year. When next year comes your needs may change, you may be ready to plan some more, or you may decide Bigger would be perfect at that time, so please don’t let my critique of Bigger deter you from going with HOD!
Serl’s Language Lessons (Primary Language lessons and Intermediate Language lessons) is a gentle CM way of teaching grammar and very inexpensive (I bought both of mine on http://www.homeschoolclassifieds for $15 total – brand new)! Each book lasts two years and there is dictation, copywork, memorization, picture study all woven in.
You can view both PLL and ILL at Amazon here :
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=serl+language+lessons&x=14&y=20
As far as adding in world history, I wouldn’t do it. Beyond is fine as it is.
I hope this helps some! Let me know if you have any more questions. Choosing curriculum is a tough job and I am glad to help!
btw: There is another HODish curriculum out there that I have never used but have heard good things about called My Father’s World. Have you heard of it?

July 30, 2011 at 8:27 pm
srmorris
Member
I think I am attracted to HOD mostly for the way it integrates skills across the disciplines, plus the open and go format. I am not great at scheduling and consistency. However, I am concerned about the possible hokeyness aspect and also the CLP slant on early American history (too preachy and overly Christian). My daugher is asking to continue SOTW ancients. Torn. I have heard of My Father’s World but not attracted to it for some reason. Right now I am definitely in the futile searching for a perfect curriculum vortex.
Why do you love Serl’s language lessons?
Thanks again for your help.
July 30, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Heather
Participant
Remember, there is no perfect curriculum. I have to repeat that to myself 17.5 times a day when I am doing my yearly planning!
Yes, HOD uses very Christian resources, so if that is not agreeable to you, than I definitely wouldn’t shell out the money for the curriculum because you’ll be doing alot of editing and such and you’ll end up with a tweaked curriculum that is not very open and go at all! Which, would defeat the whole purpose. Here’s my suggestion:
Since your dd wants to sontinue SOTW, why not do it? In my opinion, one of the biggest battles is their interest level. If she likes it, I would stay with it. You would need to add math, which you are currently using, Language, geography unless SOTW includes it, and science (living books/nature study). Then if you like, composer, artist, poetry. I also add Scripture Memory, Bible and Worldview study. I may be leaving something out, but you get the idea…
Now, I love to plan…but if you don’t, an easy suggestion is to simply figure out which subject you want to do each day. That would be the only “schedule” you need. From there, keep bookmarks in your lesson books and work on it when the subject comes up on that day. If you want to keep a record, write a quick daily journal of what you did that day.
I love Serl’s! We’d done Rod and Staff for a couple of years and my daughter felt like it was too much repetition, so we did much of it orally, which with her meant no retention. IMO it was repetitious and I was glad for a change. Some families love R & S. It is good curriculum, but it wasn’t for us.
In Serl’s you are doing something different everyday. One day it’s the picture study, the next day it’s homophones, the next day it’s dictation, the next it’s memorization, etc. Now, we skip the memorization, dictation and copywork because I do those from another source, and I have a goal of getting through this book quicker than scheduled so my dd can enter more analytical grammar in 7th grade, but it is really thorough and you don’t realize how thorough because it is so gentle!
Keep the questions coming! I think we’re beginning to get this sorted out!
July 30, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Polly
Participant
I have really enjoyed using HOD. The nice thing is that it is easy to tweek. I have used MFW too. I like both. In fact, I usually go back and forth between the two. IMO, one is not more Biblical than the other. They just have a different focus. What I like about HOD is the literature choices are usually what I would pick myself (I’ve been homeschooling since ’95). My pull for MFW is that I really like how they do Bible/character. MFW’s literature choices leave a lot to be desired, IMO. However, they do work well together. MFW takes a lot less time. One thing I’ve learned over the years is less IS more. That is another reason why SCM appeals to me. It’s really a CM concept. Short lessons with quality literature equals the best learning experience. 🙂
July 31, 2011 at 3:44 am
srmorris
Member
Heather, thank you for your helpful input. My fuzzy mind is clearing a bit…yes, I think we should stick with SOTW because my dd really does like it. It includes geography in the sense that each chapter includes map work. I think the literary selections in HOD are wonderful (I agree that the literature choices in MFW are not as wonderful), as are many of the suggestions on this site, so I will need to do some pulling together for a book list of read-alouds. I think I can handle the kind of scheduling you suggest, just picking subjects for each day.
What source do you use for memorization, dictation and copywork? I really love the CM emphasis on these skills, but I am not sure how to integrate them myself into our curriculum. Do you or have you ever used any of the SCM curriculum?
One major goal for this year for my dd needs to be progression in her reading skills. She is not an independent reader yet…so we need to keep plugging away at phonics. Any suggestions for me in that department?
Do you use the Scripture memory system from SCM?
I would love to hear from other HOD users out there if you care to jump in. Or anyone else who uses SOTW in a CM education. Thanks!
July 31, 2011 at 4:14 am
momof PBSandK
Member
First, thank God that your daughter is doing so well. Next, I think PLL will cover memorization, dictation, and copywork. For phonics look into All About Spelling. It is not CM, but it gets great reviews. This would cover spelling and phonics. For history SOTW. You’ve got math covered.

Good Luck
July 31, 2011 at 9:28 am
Heather
Participant
Yes, PLL would cover your dictation, copywork and memorization if you want to keep it simple. I do like to keep it simple, but I just decided to follow the advice of some wise ladies on here and have her skip those lessons in the PLL book because we do scripture for memory (not using Sonya method yet), Spelling Wisdom for dictation and I make up our own copywork from something my dd needs to know since she learns best by writing. You won’t need dictation yet since it is not recommended until 4 th grade, so you could skip the dictation lessons anyway.
As for phonics, does your daughter know all the sounds? My two youngers are using The Reading Lesson right now, but as soon as they learn all of the sounds and get blending down pat I am going to pull out the first readers. I am just one mom, but my oldest got bored with the phonics stuff after she knew the sounds and had a little experience with blending. I pulled out the first readers and had her read out loud to me until she was easily able and then turned her loose to read on her own. She loved the Rod and Staff Pathway readers. Someone said before that phonics was a rung on the ladder, not the goal so when they know sounds, blending, there’s no reason to keep doing phonics programs. They learn best by reading.
I am so glad things are getting clearer for you! Let me know if you have any more questions!