Reflections on this past year with Heart of Dakota C to C, and changes for the coming 2013-14 school session

So, my thoughts are a bit scattered lately and that is just mostly due to the outside distractions going on.  Namely the baseball season.  Our son is the first of our four kiddos to actually play in an organized league for sports and wow-talk about a commitment of time and energy. Whew.  Almost to the end of the season and looking forward to it.  Anyway-on top of that, summer is here (well we keep telling ourselves that b/cuz the weather apparently missed that memo) so there is much outside work to do as well.  I frankly haven't been much into blogging/FBing or anything lately either.  So my long promised post on the HOD program and other thoughts sit idle in my brain.  I want to change that tho and start blogging a bit more frequently and after bball season, I may be able to truly start thinking and planning out the coming school year.

That said...I have decided to do just a basic pros/cons ditty on the HOD program.  Since everyone's experience and tastes/likes are so vast and probably unlike mine-it only makes sense to just note those bullet points instead of launching into some long post about it.

So here we go:

Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ Program thoughts:

image from HOD site

Heart of Dakota website

Pros:

*Nicely laid out and easy to follow. Little or no prep outside of the arts/poetry sections.

*Covers Bible, history, science, math (if you want to follow the suggested program), writing, geography, poetry, literature/reading, lang. arts (to an extent, as I am not 100% sure on that since I didn't do their suggested program). [I may have missed a subject as I don't have my guide anymore-so check the website for all that].

*4 day program allowing for 'catch-up' on 5th day or family activities/fun (or whatever) on non-scheduled day.

*Non-overdrawn assignments that are adequate and not overwhelming (esp. for younger/struggling students) with extension options for those kiddos who want more to do.

*Not extremely expensive compared to other lit/larger 'all in one' programs.

*Many of the books they suggest are easily found via the library for those on very tight budgets.

*Charlotte Mason inspired. offers good supply of literature (well for all the reading/history so yah) to satisfy most literature loving families. (You can always supplement with more for the veracious readers).

*My son enjoyed learning about these eras and he walked away with a new knowledge of it-which means he learned something-and believe me when I say this: that doesn't always happen when you use a program.

*Great appendices that list all the info needed for suggested books, supplemental work for older students, etc.  Very helpful and easy to use.

*Loved the Bible choice!

*Copywork and diction, very CMy.

Cons:

*Art lessons for Poetry are very redundant.  Would have liked to see different mediums/styles taught (not that one cannot do that, it is just when not all are artsy and can figure that out/do it).  I understand the need to keep supplies limited but more techniques and mediums should be taught.

*No personal study of the actual poet (Robert Frost) is included.  What?  That defies CM methods and needs to be added (see my post about adding extras into the program) to get a better feel for who he was and why he chose those type of subjects to write about.  I added it but I am used to finding that stuff and teaching it-to those new to CM or not having ever done an Artist study it could prove to be too much to pull together and therefore,  discarded.  :(

*No musician study.  Again-another "WHAT?" There are plenty of choices and should have been included at least one dude. Since Robert Frost was studied and he is totally not in the era of creation to Christ (which is to be expected since we really don't have that data on poets or musicians from that era) then a composer or musician from his time frame could have and should have been included.  

*No artist studied either but there are drawing/crafting activities that pertain to the eras so that is OK here for this time frame.  There is enough to give examples of what art was like/used to express in those cultures.  Could there have been more-yes.  Necessary-eh, probably not.  Like the poetry and musician concerns, you can always add in more to your liking.  The point here is that when you buy an 'all inclusive" (well for the most part) program, you expect to see it there.  I knew this going in (say for no personal study on Frost) so it didn't surprise me.  If you read the descriptions you can see it isn't there. But boy would it be nice for future printings.  :)

*Like many programs-I feel the age range is not correct, meaning I would suggest this particular one for kids in 6-8th grade for most families.  The suggested 9-11 seems -well WOW, I don't know many 9 yr olds that could handle this.  I have my thoughts on aging a program and it usually is below what the author/publisher suggests..but that is another post for another day.

Some of the stuff (like the study of the History of Medicine) was kinda deep and heavy.  Younger kiddos may have a lot of that stuff fly over their head.  For HOD, I wanted to actually get the guide below this one but it had too much stuff we had already done-and we really needed to do C to C-so I went in knowing it may be too much at times since my son is dyslexic and struggles with reading.  I suggest you know your kid and make your decision (for any program) based on their skill level.  My son had no problem understanding the material-he just could not do a lot of on his own or we had to tweak/drop some things b/cuz he simply was not ready for it. 

*Didn't like the geography choice. Dry, boring and so we actually dropped it mid-way.  I couldn't do it.  There are other great programs out there and I am not the only one to say this about it.  

And that is that.  As with anything-it all depends on your family, your kids and their personalities/learning styles and skill level.  It was a good fit for what I needed this year, my son learned and I didn't have to 'think' too much.  Which with all we have swirling around us was the point for purchasing it in the first place.  For this coming year, I am going back to what I know works super swell for us and the things we missed.  There is a reason my shelves are stocked with this particular program and I am happy to report we're going back 'home' to it.  

SO what is on tap for the coming year?

I am glad you asked (well if you didn't, you're gonna read about it unless you click off this post now...).

Ah-well I am excited to report that we are going back to our old fav:  Beautiful Feet Books history guides! WHEW!  I guess I am more of a control freak than I thought as I like to 'cut and paste' different things together to create a program for our year that is tailor made to us.  We're going back to workboxing too!  With a program like HOD you kinda don't have the option (without a ton of unnecessary work) to workbox.    My son spent a lot of time 'wandering and wondering' and I just got sorta checked out this past year b/cuz I was a passenger not the driver.  Not gonna happen again unless we are knee-deep in the adoption process or something....

Here is what we're gonna do this 

coming 2013-14 school year:

Beautiful Feet Website

images from BFB site

*Beautiful Feet:  California History and Westward Expansion

(I just need to get the W.E. guide cuz it is relatively new and gasp! I don't own it-yet)

This is a fun one-takes us from Europe when exploration was just getting revved up, to seeking out different continents/peoples and faster ways to the Orient.  Then we'll move on to the expansion of the US to the west coast.  Think gold rushes, transcontinental railways and pioneers with steely souls searching for their little paradise. Literature based and notebooking and timelining and all that fun stuff.  

image from BFBooks site

*Beautiful Feet:  Geography study using Hollings C. Hollings books.  We're done one map so far but I saved the other 3 (due to difficulty and the subject matter) for now.  [I have the older guide, not sure what improvements have been made but since he is our last student (at this point) I am not repurchasing. I am satisfied with the one I have.] 

Apologia Website

images from Apologia site

*Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 and 2 plus the notebooks.  

We've done the Astronomy and Zoology 3 already. Looking forward to these two this year.

Getty-Dubay Website

image from their website

*Italic Handwriting by Getty-Dubay.

Simply moving along to last two books.  Love these. 

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading

image from Scholar Pub. site

*Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading Level 2.

This is a continuation to the first level that has been working for him. Dyslexia sucks people-just sucks. There I said it.  We started with it a few weeks ago and so far, it's working great. I am holding off starting the Little House study til September. 

Common Sense Press website (LLATL)

image from Common Sense website

*LLATL Purple level.

I am going to cherry pick thru this because he get a lot from the Phonics Road study but it will give us a few more literature options and cover grammar, copywork and dictation. I think I could put him in the Tan level but we haven't done much with grammar and this one highlights Farmer Boy-so we're keeping with the Little House theme with this level.

*Math-well here is where I am stymied.  We've been using Abeka but I have Saxon and when I get a moment I will go thru the Saxon 54 or 65 to see where he'd fit best. Otherwise, I will get the next level of Abeka and go from there.

*Artist/Musician study: TBD  (working on selections and will post once I have them)

*Nature Study: TBD on the focus 

Memoria Press website

images from MP website

*Latin:  Prima Latina and then quickly move to Latina Christiana 1

I have held off on this due to the reading issues but want him to start on it.  He should be able to handle the switcheroo to Latin back to English (esp. since much of our language is Latin based) so we're gonna try it. This will also help with our nature study and science lessons.

Apologia Site

image from Apologia website

*Bible:  Apologia Who Am I? and scripture study

We did book one already and will just continue on with the series.  We'll also do verses and prayer study like we did this year.

And of course we'll get back to our workboxing to pull this all off!  We missed it and altho it is more work for me, the organization and his knowing what to expect are so worth it! 

So that in a nutshell is our experience this past year and what we're looking forward to exploring this year. Now to get some energy to start planning, get the final products I need and come up with some fun works and projects too.  

Couponing Tips

So for those who coupon, you know the difficulty that occur in regard to the storage of said useful pieces of paper. So how does one solve those pesky issues of properly storing them or more plainly-keeping them safe and snug in the binder? Fear not-I have some quick fixes to help you out.

The Issue:

The 3-Ring holes are torn and my pages fall out!

Well I have mentioned keeping them in a binder (zippered) in the lovely plastic sheets usually used for photos or sports cards.  But these were not designed to be flipped, stuffed and handled so frequently.  The 3-ring holes tear quickly from the constant flipping of the pages. Now what good are a bunch of pages that fall out of the binder every time you go to look for your coupons?

Enter duct tape. Yes-and now thanks to some very creative person or persons-we now have duct tape that is hip, stylish and/or all snazzy with designs for your taping needs.  I bought (of course with a 40% off coupon at Joanns) a Hawaiian style one to secure up my ripped up pages.  I had already had these pages, so they were somewhat stressed to begin with, and then from the wad of coupons and my use they were tearing at an alarming rate!  I needed something very strong and durable-the duct tape was the perfect solution.

yes, I had to fuzz out all the bar codes

So I grabbed my binder, the tape, scissors, and a hole punch and went to work.  All you need to do is simply tear or cut the length needed and tape onto the hole side of the page.  Do not cover over too far on the side that that has the openings or you'll cut down the size with which to stuff those coupons in it. Then simply feel for the area that you need to punch the hole out and whallah!  Pop back into your binder and they are good to go. Mind you-this is tape so they may not swoosh over the rings as nicely, so you have to take a bit of 'not-so-cool it kind catches/sticks' with the keeping them in the binder part. Give it time, as I have found that with frequent use they don't stick as much and I can flip 'em a lot easier now.

What about those printed coupons I have-they are huge and 

I don't want to mix them with the insert coupons?

Since I began seriously couponing-the printed [via online] coupons have always been kept separate.  I put them in envelopes labeled by general categories.  These expire a lot quicker than most insert coupons and they are generally a lot larger too-so it just made sense.  But that got old real fast....flipping thru those trying to see what I had.  I finally found a lovely solution at Michaels and only because the clerk was slow.  For once it was a good thing.  As I patiently waited-I looked about and saw behind me on the scrapbook end cap [the shelves at the end of the isle] a display of smaller-sized scrapbook supplies [insert stars, music and glassy eyes] where this two-pocket, clear-paged doodad beckoned me.  Mind you these are not full size like the sports page inserts but are  8.5"  x 6.5" (not including the 3-ring part).  Problem?  I didn't have a binder for 'em.  Or did I? 

OK so it hangs out over the edge. 

Not pretty but efficient.

I do not pay full price unless absolutely necessary (oh and yes-I used a 40% off coupon I hadn't used to buy the pages)...so I didn't want to purchase a binder right now since it is not Back-to-School time. Those babies are full price right this time of year, and man do they over charge for those! I also wasn't too sure they would work since I didn't have any coupons on me to visually see if they would fit. I bought one packet. I wanted to be cautiously optimistic they would work before even thinking of going on a binder purchase spree. Of which I have yet to do.  Waiting for August to do that.

  

I thought I took a pic of the pages, but cannot

find it right now. Will get the name brand for ya soon.

When I got home, I found that yes, they would fit if I clipped them very close to the edge of the coupon (or just stuff those puppies in) and lo-and behold they have a lovely home til I pull them to save money!  I had a smaller 3-ring binder from my Stampin'Up! days.  Well almost-it isn't as 'fat' as it needs to be. I am not picky and it will work for now.  So I typed up a cute label, put my duct tape on and punched out the holes.  I also cut up some old, and kinda ugly in color card stock to provide double side storage too.  Ah.  I have solved my problem.  I was near the Michael's store a week later and used yet another coupon to get another pack.  I may need more but prob'ly not since those coupons are less reliable and I can have sections with nothing in it or have it over flowing, depending on what is available at the time.

Pre-paperclipped

The first two pages are where I put those store catalinas.  Now those kinda want to jump ship so I have just put a paper clip at the top to help hold em in.  It works.  

What was that about inserts in the sections?

I cannot recall where I saw this, I believe on one of the sites where a lady who sells kits for coupon binders but it is really quite elementary.  I have copy paper [actually from the scraps from printing coupons] in my main binder to separate the pockets giving me two sides to use, instead of one without them.  Problem is the paper tends to slide out a lot when I pull coupons.  I will be switching those out with card stock soon.  The printed coupon binder has them already.  They seem to stick better when I am pulling coupons which is a huge blessing.  I do have a nice paper cutter so making them was a snap-if I had to cut them with scissors-well gosh I dunno.  If you don't have a paper cutter, use one of the Joann or Michael coupons to get one or better yet ask a pal who does have one if you can borrow it.  I just eye balled the size and went with it when I found it fit.  I have been scrapping long enough to do this but you may need to properly measure to be sure.  

Yes the dividers are too small-on my 'to get' list.

And there you go.  Nice and tidy ways to keep those precious coupons safe.  And even tho my printed coupon binder is not zipped, I find it works well for this application.  I wouldn't suggest it for one with tons of coupons because as the pages get more stuffed they tend to want to pour out the contents a lot more too. 

Look for another post soon about what kinda coupon gal I am...a flipper or a clipper (as the Krazy Coupon Lady gals labeled it).  Love that site! 

Introducing our two new Prayer Warrior babes: Thomas and Bobby

We're very excited to be the Prayer Warriors for these two precious boys.  We will not only be in prayer over their health, well-being and safety, but also for their Forever Families to find and adopt them.  We are currently offering the full sale amount [$10 each] on the Tooth Fairy pillows to go toward the boys' grants.  When we get  at least $40 sold [in those increments until they are sold out], we'll write a check (since it saves on PP fees) to Reece's Rainbow for them [splitting the amount between them].  Shipping obviously will go toward the actual cost of shipping. 

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to their individual accounts via Reece's Rainbow.  These funds are used to help the family complete the adoption process (which can be around $30 grand for their country), so having a big grant available is an awesome way to help alleviate the family's worry over the funds. 

Introducing our PW boys:

Thomas (Asia)

(mind you this is the name the agency/RR gave him

to protect his identity)

This handsome boy was born in October of 2008.

He is listed as having Cerebral Palsy.  It appears

that it mainly affects is upper left arm/side. 

You can find out more and donate here:

Thomas

Bobby (Asia)

(again-this is the alias name the agency/RR 

uses to protect his identity)

This is one boy who looks like a real ham!  This sweetie

was born in April 2009. He is listed as having Down Syndrome

with no apparent heart issues.

You can find out more and donate here:

Bobby

Take a look on our Tooth Fairy Pillow Page-

there are about 50 different ones to choose from!

Well it's been busy that is for sure

Busy, busy, busy.

With baseball practice and games 3x per week there isn't much time for anything else. Plus, I have been sewing and sewing to try to finish up the tooth fairy pillows. I also baked for a bake/craft sale (there was a sub-wide garage sale here this week).  I am spent.

Problem is we didn't do so swell and I figured we probably wouldn't since it truly was not the right venue.  I thought tho-why not try?  I did make back what I spent in ingredients, but still have quite a bit sitting here.  It is just so hard to guess what you'll need. I did sell 2 pillows and that made me happy!  I guess the baseball team will be blessed with the cookies and brownies, as I decided to not even try today (Friday) cuz the weather is ugly and the traffic in the sub is minimal at best.  In years past, the sub was so crowded with folks out 'sale-ing' (yes that is not a word but didn't want to type 'sailing' cuz that implies being in a boat-this is what the FL snowbirds call it-'sale' plus 'ing'...lol)...anyhoo, where was I?  Oh yeah, years past it was so crowded that the school bus drivers complained they couldn't get down the streets to drop off their charges...well-not so much in the last couple years.  I took the gamble tho to break even plus a wee bit over.  I did manage to meet a new pal who has a child with special needs and I have a feeling (Hi Sydney) that she'll be a total blessing once we get our boy home.  So all is good.

I am going to continue to sell the homeschool books and I see a sorta-local place is having a big used book sale in July, so I guess I will do that too.  I am also going to try making a couple of those I-Spy bags-not sure how that will go but again-I can try.  So maybe the good Lord will give me an "A" for effort, cuz that is how I am grading myself-LOL.  I am trying people, I truly am.  I know that because we don't have the specific child chosen yet, that folks are probably not as apt to shop my wares and such. Maybe once we get to that point-all this work will pay off down the road when I am super busy trying to wade thru all the documents we'll need to get completed to finalize the adoption.

So anyway-that is what I have been doing.  Haven't had much time to write posts...and I know I keep promising about the HOD Creation to Christ one-and do so hope I can get that penned soon.  But for now-thought I would share some pics that showcase my life...and the ones so near and dear to me who bless me....

Our boy-(thankfully the team has an awesome photographer that gets these shots!), cannot wait to scrap this stuff!

*since I don't know the third baseman and do not

have his parent's consent-I blurred his face/uniform name

to protect his privacy

We are very excited to see the wild Mallard, Gracie (and her counterpart George) have decided to nest at our place again this year.  She chose the backside of the house (better in the evening cuz it is shaded, prior she would bake in the front and I was sprinkling her with water to keep her cool)...by the sandbox (good thing the Boy isn't using it this year) but it is a tad more exposed.  Last year, the 5 ducklings hatched, grew a bit and then she panicked [they simply were not ready to swim yet] and moved them from the nest too soon-a feral cat was stalking them. Sadly, they all became bad cat's meal for that day.  I was so upset!!! So I dunno-maybe we'll put up a fence or something to help protect them til they are bigger and harder to eat?  Not sure.  We were concerned she abandoned this nest as she left it for almost 2 days!  I did go count and found 4 eggs and yes, I took a wood chip and rotated them like she is suppose to do..she didn't seem to notice.  Maybe they'll hatch, maybe not.  I was about to call Protective Duck Services on her but I see she came to her senses and this is what I found this morning....

talk about a risky spot! But she blends in nicely.

This was last year's location-much more coverage...

And here is the set up from the sale (actually the first area-we moved it to a busier area but it lacked the shade we needed...oh wellers)...and the wind!!! Goodness-in our second location I finally gave up and put the sign on the ground-which meant no once could really read it....:/

And here are the tooth fairy pillows 

that are available,

at $10 each plus shipping

Supplementing Heart of Dakota-Creation to Christ Poetry unit and Human Body unit

If you are a follower or if you just pop by to read up on the Heart of Dakota [HOD] program we have been using this year, you are probably familiar with my feelings on it by now, but I wanted to highlight a couple things we have done that has taken outside the box.

I found we (personally-as this may not be for every family so keep that in mind) needed to do something different regarding one recommend book for science; and that one area definitely needed a more in-depth investigation-the poet Robert Frost.


I have the Considering God's Creation [CGC] curricula (which I have been plucking units from for about a year and 1/2 now) that has a section on the body. After we read the book Exploring the History of Medicine (very good book!) we simply have moved into this study.  I ditched the An Illustrated Adventure in Human Anatomy book that was scheduled (I had received it via the library inter-loan prior to the Exploring History one...and it needed to be returned before we came to this section-I didn't feel it was worth trying to re-hold/check out again as I have enough human body books on our shelf that are very similar to this one) and that is why I chose not to follow that part. Plus, being we are lapbooking/notebooking sorta folk-the CGC fit the bill perfectly. So we have been working our way through this unit and are just about done.  I am very satisfied with it and find it is just the right amount of info/work for our boy.  Again-this stresses the need for the instructor to look at what does and does not fit the student or situation when using an all-encompassing type of guide such as HOD.  Just because it is listed and recommended does not mean it must be used.  Esp. when you are at the mercy of library loan books, and other circumstances that require tweaking. [image from eagleswingsed.com]

As for the lack of any biographical data/study on the poet Robert Frost...well here is where I was sadly disappointed with this section.  It is very Charlotte Masony to study the person and not just their work.  So being that I am versed in scrounging up data-I found a few things to offer the boy as a backdrop into who this dude was. The one I got via the library is older-so not everyone will be able to find it.  It is Robert Frost: America's Poet by Doris Faber. I have to say it was a very nicely written book that hits all the key points a book should when following the CM method for choosing books-it was twaddle free. :)  Anyhoo-I saw the other listed book below via Amazon, but was not able to get a hold of it...so not sure how great it is but looks to be written for children and looks lovely.  If I do get my hands on it-I will come back and update my thoughts on it.

Robert Frost: America's Poet by Doris Faber

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie Bober

image from Amazon.com

I also downloaded these free notebooking pages from 

The Notebooking Fairy

to give him some opportunities to jot down 

some essential data and such.

image from notebookingfairy.com

I have also pulled those noted human body books from the shelf and we refer to them when needed. Again-I am using what I have to wrap up this unit and it is all good.  Just not what was originally outlined in the study.

And now for one of my favorite projects the Boy has done so far...and yes, it is a fav because he put some personality into it.  Our floating-head skeleton boy with a Barber of Seville curly mustache and a rocker dude goatee. [I say-if you do this study-dry place the pieces prior to the child gluing unlike us. Otherwise, you too will end up with a lovely floating, non-connected skull]

And that my blogger peeps is how we tweaked our HOD study to fit us and our current needs.  

Final thoughts on this year's schooling and more

I am in the process of writing it but my head is not liking this front that is moving in and is causing me to have one nasty headache.  So I had to stop and will do my best to finish it soon.

We're also into the beginnings of my son's baseball season.  It is our first with the Little League and due to a very rainy April, the team wasn't able to get much practice in before they started their games this week.  Let's just say-it reminds us of the Bad News Bears and then some-it is fun to watch. It is the experience not the winning that counts.  The only thing that is no fun, well that is the 3x of running a week and this week we get an extra day added b/cuz of picture day on Sunday. Yippeee. Not.  So my weeks are sorta consumed of late. :/

So once I get a free, non-headachy moment in the next few days-I will get that post on HOD and our year done soon.

til then......

Tooth Fairy Pillows -so far- for our fund raising efforts

Here are the ones I have done-I will take orders after I have the next batch complete, but wanted to share these with you.  They'll be $10 each plus shipping.

Made them to hang on a door knob, 

bed post or shelf with pegs.  

They are 4 1/2" L x 5 " W