Weekly Update: September 10-14

Grace-Filled Writer

First of all…don’t forget about my All About Spelling giveaway! If you haven’t entered you still have plenty of time! Heart of Dakota uses dictation as the primary learning tool for spelling and we have chosen to add in All About Spelling because of the rule oriented nature of my oldest daughter. The balance of the two has improved her spelling on so many levels!

You can read my review and enter here! (And spread the word!)

Now on to our week in review…

Deerstream Learning Center

This week we got down back to our regular, full-time schedule including Deerstream Learning Center. I teach Junior Division English which includes literature and writing. I started teaching at Deerstream before we were homeschooling and it feels like my dream job! The picture is from 2 years ago, but that’s me teaching my wonderful students on the left! The video is a promo for my class. I’ve been a little shy to share it, but here it is!


Rose is in the 6/7 year-old class with Mrs. Smith this year. She has so much fun and is excited to see her friends again! Her favorite activity of the week wasShe also made a poster this week all about the things she loves and I learned even more about my daughter. I am so grateful for Deerstream. It feels like the last piece of our homeschool puzzle which makes everything else just fit right!



Little Hands to Heaven
This week didn’t go quite as planned. I found it very hard to keep all the plates balanced, so school didn’t happen exactly as planned for little Grace! But we did do some fun things together, like sorting colored frogs I found in the dollar bin at Target a couple of months ago!

She enjoyed reading books with her sisters and we made it to story time at the library for the first time in months! She chose three books and Beth read them all to her as soon as they got home!

I used another fun Target dollar bin find for a little game! Every year they have pocket charts of various colors. They are a mini version, but great for manipulatives! I have a set of matching alphabet cards (Thanks Grammy and Grampy!) I’ve used with all three girls. I put one set in the pockets and Grace matched up what was left. She had a lot of fun with this!

Little Hearts for His Glory
We finished unit 6 this week! Beth also had her yearly check-up at the doctor this week. Ouch for shots! But she was brave and did really well!

Unit 6 was a lot of fun filled with a lot of fun! The poem was a hit as always. She snuck into Jericho, climbed up the wall, and walked around to make the walls fall down all to the tune of Row, Row, Your Boat. She loved all the weekly activities and did very well with Daddy taking over the teaching on Monday. One thing I love about Heart of Dakota. My husband can take over the teaching while I go and teach once a week. It truly is open-and-go in its best form!

She also practiced putting letters into ABC order for spelling lessons. She loves this! The only trouble was when I mixed up the letters and some got upside down. I was very seriously informed I should know better!

Something new I started 2 weeks ago was having her write words on her own word wall. A retired teacher friend was cleaning out her teacher stuff and gave me these great word wall folders! We’ve been finding words each week for a specific letter. She chooses all the words to put on her word wall, and Beth really enjoys going on a word hunt in her books. Sometimes she gets so caught up reading the book she forgets to look for words!

Lastly is a little teaser for a fun giveaway coming in about two weeks. It’s great and my girl had a blast playing this sight word game! I love she sees learning as fun!

I know you can’t wait for this giveaway!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 5
Full speed is beautiful! Even with our added co-op full speed is definitely where Rose is at! The only part of the day she really doesn’t like is cursive practice. It isn’t that she dislikes it, she just likes everything to be perfect and she’s still learning this skill, so it sometimes frustrates her.

Heart of Dakota follows a Charlotte Mason style of learning which incorporates living books and teaches students how to narrate. This has been a new way or learning for both of us, but I think we’re finally getting the hang of it. This week she also did very well with her vocabulary assignment! This is another area she has complained some and it was good to see her complete the activity and have a little fun at the same time!

Science is always Rose’s favorite. I considered not doing extra science this year because it is covered so very well at Deerstream, but she loves it so much we went ahead! This week she was learning about vertebrates at the beginning of the week. Then we moved on to science which centers around life in colonial America. She learned about the spreading of germs and why it’s important to wash our hands!

We finally got around to doing some art projects this week. (Don’t judge!) Scroll down to see that post! Overall it has been a great week!

Friday Art Projects: September 14

Grace-Filled Writer

I’ve already confessed I’m not really into art projects with the girls, but I also know art is a necessary part of their education, so I’m really trying hard to be better at this! Our week is packed full and I try to keep Fridays lighter, which now is including our art projects. No matter what day the project is scheduled in our Heart of Dakota Guide, we all do them together on Friday.

There are a few reasons for this. First of all it’s one big mess, but it happens all at once and it just takes one good clean-up. Secondly the projects are very much skill-level friendly and although I know my younger daughter would enjoy some of the things my oldest is doing, they won’t really get a lot out of it. If we do it all together they are each working on their own unique project. Last, I think it’s good for them to see different skills and for them to have an opportunity to discuss what they are doing differently.

So her we are…many weeks now into homeschooling…and I’m finally getting to the art projects. Tell me what you think!

Grace: Little Hands to Heaven Unit 3
Abraham’s tent and a starry sky

Grace loved loved loved counting the stars in the Bible picture about Abraham’s decedents! The art project for the week was making a starry sky and Abraham’s tent. We had to modify…I didn’t have the supplies I needed (note to self: CHECK YOUR SUPPLIES!!!!) so she used a white crayon to make starry circles and    then painted over them with blue. She liked it. We made Abraham’s tent with a folded index card which she drew stripes on and we taped it to the starry sky. She did get a little distracted by her sisters’ projects and was slightly perturbed that she wasn’t allowed to participate in what they were doing, but she was incredibly proud of her art project and couldn’t wait to show it off to Daddy when he got home from the office!

Beth: Little Hearts for His Glory Unit 6 
Jericho brick wall with mortar and Rahab’s cord
(Pardon the hair-do. Someone gave her self a trim in the center of her bangs.)
Beth likes to do things her own way. She doesn’t typically like to follow prescribed directions, but today she did fabulous. I once again didn’t have the right supplies, but we modified and had a lot of fun! She colored all the bricks I outlined herself, then filled in the “mortar” (made of toothpaste and glue). I used an icing bag which ended up being a great choice! It took some time for her to learn to control how it came out, but it was really nice! She also liked that it smelled minty. She did not, however, remember anything about Rahab from our week’s lessons. The spies? Total recall. Rahab? Who is Rahab? So it was also a great time to review since that portion didn’t click!

                 
Rose: Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 5 
Native American Sand Art

Rose is the real art love of the my three girls and just enjoys any way she can be creative. She very much enjoyed making sand art this week. We first colored the sand (actually salt) with colored chalk instead of food coloring as recommended (Thanks Pinterest!). Rose then made her design on a paper plate, then traced  it with watered down glue. She did a section with glue, we put the colored salt on, shook off the extra, then she did another section with a different color. Such beautiful creativity!

Conclusion: Art is a must!
I learned several things today as a result of of our art lesson. 
1. The mess isn’t so painful to clean up
2. The skills they are learning aren’t just glorified cut and paste projects
3. There is an added dimension to our learning when art is incorporated
4. We’ve really been missing out on some fun stuff!
Will the projects always go as planned? 
Of course not!
Will we have fun and learn something along the way? 
You better believe we will!

All About Spelling Review…And GIVEAWAY!!!

Grace-Filled Writer

When we brought my daughter home mid-year from 1stgrade to begin homeschooling one of the areas she seemed to be struggling with was spelling. We realized later that the words she was being taught were high 2ndand 3rd grade level words which explained her struggle, but I didn’t know that at first. So I sought to figure out how to teach spelling. I was a horrible speller because I do not memorize well and that was the strategy I was taught in school. I was given a list of 10 words, tried to memorize them by Friday, only miss two or three, but struggled with retention.
I had seen All About Spelling mentioned on several blogs and websites, so I discussed the situation with a veteran homeschooling mom and asked about the curriculum. She told me a lot of parents she knew used it and that it was very rule oriented. Bingo! I knew it would be perfect from my rule-oriented daughter!
I received the box after just a couple of days and was thrilled to get started! The brightly colored tiles intrigued my daughter and she eagerly asked when we could start. It is suggested that you start at the very beginning in level 1 to make sure their foundation is laid strongly. Because she was already devouring books on a 3rd grade level the beginning seemed too easy, but after having been through half of the second level I am extremely glad I followed the advice to start in Level 1. There are somany things which are built on from that level which seem insignificant at the time but are truly stepping stones to upcoming levels.
We have a beautiful white board hanging on the wall. We also have a young preschooler! Add in brightly colored letter tiles and you have an enormous mess and the possibility of some missing letters! I opted to purchase 2 cookie sheets and 2 small platters from the Dollar Tree. One cookie sheet holds the basic phonemes which I use with both girls. The second sheet holds the letter combinations I use with Rose. we use the small platters for the girls to do their tile work. This has worked really well for us so far. One day we may switch to the white board, but for now this is a better solution!
**Confession**
I didn’t buy the box that you can purchase from the website. In hindsight I wished I had! I have one that is working, but it definitely won’t continue to hold all the cards!
Because the beginning lessons were basically review I did about 1 lesson a day until we reached something new to her, about lesson 14. To be honest, my daughter was done with the tiles after about a week. So I tweaked. We use the tiles to learn a new concept, but everything else is done on paper. This has worked well for her. Once we reached the “new concept” point we now take about 1 lesson a week.
Although spelling is not her favorite part of the day, it is certainly more enjoyable now that she is learning rules and succeeding.
I have once again started with level 1 with my next daughter. She just started kindergarten, but has completed her phonics program and is reading on a 2nd grade level. I would highly recommend waiting to begin spelling until after finishing a year of phonics. From my experience it seems to work best if done in this order.
Since she was younger at the start I took the whole program slower. She took about 2 weeks to memorize the initial yellow phonograms. She didn’t have any trouble with the consonants and already memorized the basic long and shorts sounds of each vowel, but remembering the new sounds for those was harder for her to remember. She mastered them this past week and was able to quickly review all the sounds. I accidentally included sounds taught later in the book like /th/ and /sh/, but she breezed through those without a second thought! Beth has currently been working on segmenting the words and she really likes sliding the colorful circles!
  
The only portion of the program I have not used as much are the green index cards with words on them. It is a good way to keep track of which rules and words she has mastered, but I think I would prefer a checklist that I could look at easier.
I didn’t quite get the need for so many colored letters, but now that I’m well into the second book I appreciate the various colored tiles for different phonograms. This is a huge bonus for visual learners and my daughter quickly recognizes letter patterns because of them.
**Secret Bonus**
I finally figured out why I wasn’t a good speller…I never learned the rules. Why oh why wasn’t I taught these very clear and helpful rules when I was in school? I had no idea there was actually a rule for when c says /s/ and when it says /k/ or how to know whether to use c, k, or ck to make the /k/ sound. Now that we are learning the rules we are all spelling better! 
To find out more about All About Spelling click on this link!

And NOW for the giveaway! There are a few ways to enter, but nothing too painful! Our giveaway will run until September 24th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I received Level 4 for this review

Weekly Update: September 3-7

Grace-Filled Writer

After 3 weeks of being off our routine because of vacation and sickness it was good to be back to our normal days. I took lots of pictures and thankfully the girls were in a mood to be photographed!

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 4
Sweet little Grace loves her daily work so much she begs for more every day! She loves everything we do and is just sad when it’s over for the day!

One of her favorite activities was “meeting” and greeting her favorite stuffed animal, Hoppy. She had so much fun asking Hoppy questions and answering Hoppy’s questions to her.

She also loves her workbooks! They are a set from Rod and Staff called About Three. She loves these and they are teaching her to draw straight lines, matching, and same and different. They will become progressively difficult as she goes through all four books. She wants to do them all right now and it has been hard for her to hear that she has to wait!

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 5
Beth is already growing more mature as we move into a more regular routine. She works so studiously and seems to enjoy all that we do! I do have to remember to give her more breaks because it’s easy for me to just forge ahead without them! Reading anything and everything is her favorite thing to do! Here she is reading one of our favorite stories: The Best Nest.
She is progressing well with spelling too! Beth has mastered all of the basic phonemes in All About Spelling and we have moved on to segmenting words by each sound. She caught on so quickly! She once again loved her poem! She learned about the 10 plagues and 10 Commandments. She wasn’t so interested in actually learning about the specifics of those things, but she REALLY loved poem! Math is still a favorite subject and it’s been very hard to tell her we have to stop for the day! I’m basically letting her go at her own speed and we’ll just move on to 1st grade math a little early and maybe go half speed with that for a while. Over all I am just so pleased to see how grown up Beth has become!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory

Rose studied the poem, “The Arrow,” by Richard Henry Stoddard this week. I was pleasantly surprised by her insights into the poem. She is still very young and needs help guiding her thinking about what the poems we study mean, but this week she was able to catch the message more than before. Just for fun she practiced her archery skills after we worked on the poem the first day.

Creating the Pocahontas acrostic was a highlight of the week for both of us. Rose really enjoyed Pocahontas and understood now why we had chosen not to watch the cartoon version. She agreed that she wanted to learn the true story about her and was so excited to know that one day she’ll get to meet Pocahontas in heaven!

I’m learning more to use the white board for teaching. It was good for her to be able to brainstorm her ideas and then write them on paper rather than trying to do both at the same time.

We also tried out full speed this week. Everything went so beautifully! We started our schooling around 7:30, took a 30 minute break at 9:00 and was finished by 10:00 most of the days. She loves learning and doesn’t need a lot of breaks so for now this schedule is working for us!

Overall our week was great for school! Our only snags came with getting along when we weren’t schooling. It would be nice if our kids got along all the time, but then I remember my days as a full time teacher and how the kids rarely all got along. I try to give them each some attention from me individually as well as some time alone. They don’t always like the idea of alone time, but it really is good for them to be apart from one another.

Next week start Deerstream Learning Center and our full school-year schedule will be in place. It will be busy, but good!

Benefits of an Early Start: Wiggle Room

Grace-Filled Writer

Since I started the year in July so when I caught my daughter’s summer cold over the weekend I decided to make this week a little bit lighter. We’re already ahead of where I expected to be with our curriculum so Beth and Grace had the whole week off.

Rose had a lighter week with only grammar and math so we can keep on track with those subjects. She took her first test in grammar on Friday and did exceptionally well! The best part about grammar is I am seeing improvement in her everyday writing. She is more aware of sentence structure and thinks carefully about where to place her words. Rod and Staff grammar has me sold!

In other news, our road was repaved this week.
Talk about excited! Not only was the process completely fascinating to my three girls, they thoroughly enjoyed the new surface for bike riding!

The road workers were so kind! They all waved at the girls when they came by and seemed to enjoy their audience. Not to mention the fact that they were all Redskins fans. This made my husband happy and the men enjoyed chatting about football with him for a while.

Just for fun…

Grace-Filled Writer

I’m not one known for doing a lot of “kids” crafts. I’m good with grown up crafts but the whole mess factor really gets to me when it come to the kids. I’m really trying to work on this though! I know the girls need a creative outlet and now that we are homeschooling it’s my job to make it happen!

Do-a-Dot markers are really neat marker stamps. I use them with Grace to practice outlined letters since she is too little to write. Rose and Beth have been begging to have a chance at using them, but I wanted to give them something a little more fun than just tracing or filing in a picture. So we made tye-dyed circles. This is a fun little idea I picked up online somewhere. I have no idea where, but it’s been in the back of my mind for a couple of months.

Materials:
Do-a-Dot Markers
Coffee Filters
Something to cover the table (If you’re not into messes like me…these are washable though!)
Directions:
1. Fold a filter in half to make a half circle
2. Fold in half again to make a triangle
3. Fold in half one more time (it should still be a triangle)
4. Start dotting!
I showed Beth and Rose how to start in the middle and they started with this, but then the ink didn’t go all the way through quite like I expected, so they finished by opening it up. Grace just did her own thing!
Overall this was a HUGE hit! Do take note of the mats underneath the girls’ projects. I told you I don’t like messes! On the mess meter this probably hit about at a 3…and the markers were washable so that may even be a little bit high!

Weekly Update: August 20-24

Grace-Filled Writer

Well…life happens, right? My girls got to spend the previous week in Florida with their grandparents and two of them came back with colds. Then they graciously shared those germs with me! So needless to say, I wasn’t at the top of my teaching game! We got through the week and the girls learned, it was just a little less exciting than normal.

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 3

We completed three days of unit three and will finish the unit this week. I’m still trying to tweak how we do this program. I’m not trying to rush through it, but our schedule makes it easier to only teach it three days a week. I’ve tried squeezing all 5 days into 3, which was doable, but not as much fun. This week was much better, so we’ll see how it goes.

Grace is really enjoying the rhymes which teach about our Bible story as well as reinforce letter sounds. Her other favorite thing is the Bible story. She enjoyed counting the stars on the page with Abraham over and over again!

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 4
Beth did not ask one time this week why she couldn’t go to school for kindergarten and I’m so happy! I hate for her to feel like she is missing out on something, but we know this is the right thing for all of us during this season. Next year she’ll get to be in a class at Deerstream Learning Center where her big sister attends and which is something to look forward to.

She continues to amaze me with how quickly she picks up on reading. We are working with a 1st grade phonics curriculum now and she is breezing through. Even though it is easy, I feel the reinforcement is necesessary to cement some of this in her mind. Her favorite part is still reading Dick and Jane. I would love to get her some more of these, but they are so expensive because of their value.

Math is also an easy subject for her, probably from listening in on her sister’s math lesson last year, but we have finally reached something new in her math book! Place Values. I was all prepared with our manipulatives, but forgot to snap a picture. I picked up some little erasers from the dollar bin at Target which were perfect for sorting. groups of 10. This picture is from an earlier lesson when she was counting. I’m also excited to see how nicely her handwriting is coming along!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 3
This week was a lot of fun for Rose. She really loves science and it was our week to work on science! I’m going to try full speed next week for her because we are finishing so fast. I’m glad we started at half speed, but now that she is back into school mode she is working quickly now.

One of her many talents is drawing and she is really enjoying the notebooking assignments. This week she drew pictures of two animals from different areas near the shore. She enjoyed picking them out from the book and worked hard to make them look like the pictures.

The highlight of the week for me came from highlighters! I decided to try something new with poetry to help her see rhyming patterns and it worked! We highlighted the words that rhymed at the ends of the lines with the same colors. I ran out of colors, so I know now to use the same colors from stanza to stanza. This helped her see the pattern easier. Since I’m also a junior high literature teacher I introduced her to rhyme scheme using the alphabet which she caught on to very quickly. This idea is DEFINITELY a keeper!

Little Hearts for His Glory

Grace-Filled Writer

We use Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota Publishing as our Kindergarten curriculum. The first time I completed this as a K-4 program to prepare my un-preschooled daughter for public school kindergarten.  It definitely suited my needs at the, but after using it for kindergarten I enjoy this program even more.
One of the nice aspects of the entire Heart of Dakota curriculum line is they can be used for various grade levels. You simply choose the options which best suit your needs. This also allows students to be combined for history and science while still working at their own level for math, handwriting, and reading. I prefer not to combine my girls within guides, but I like knowing I have the option one day if I ever choose to.
P1020257
Grace often draws while I read her history aloud.

I love that the curriculum is all-in-one and very cohesive. History readings are the core of the program going along with the Charlotte Mason idea of education.  All other subjects are connected to this core with the exception of handwriting, reading, and math. Each week activities for science, history, rhymes, and Scripture memory are completed. Showing my children how all the subjects relate seems to bring a deeper understanding to what they are learning.

P1010919
Heart of Dakota activities get my girl excited!

I appreciate that the history spines are biblically grounded and we even read quite a bit of Scripture as part of history. Teaching my girls history and science from a biblical worldview is something I will never take for granted. As we were studying creation during the first week I was thinking of how much I had prepared my older daughter, thinking we would be sending her to public school, that she would be taught things that were different from what we believe the Bible teaches. Knowing I don’t have to tell my children anymore that they may be taught fallacy is an added benefit to homeschool I had not considered before.

Two of our favorite parts are the weekly rhymes and read alouds. Each week we learn a new rhyme which emphasizes a concept learned from history. The read alouds are classic American folk tales which involve characters from Thorton Burgess, Uncle Wiggly, and Beatrix Potter. These classic stories are enhanced with questions to get little minds thinking about right and wrong choices as well as predicting what will happen next in the story.
As with the entire Heart of Dakota line, math, handwriting, and thinking skills have suggested items, but are not required to make the program work. The recommended programs are Earlybird Singapore, A Reason for Handwriting K, and Rod and Staff books D and F or 1st grade Thinking Skills.
We are using the Singapore math, but will switch over to Rod and Staff for 1st grade. I also am using A Reason for Handwriting, but will also begin using Rod and Staff for this when we finish the book.

**Update 2015**

For my third time through this guide we are using Math Mammoth (Our final settling ground for math!) and a combination of Fundanoodle and A Reason for Handwriting for the handwriting. 

P1010893

Finally we have chosen to use the 1st grade Thinking Skills because she completed the Rod and Staff D and F options in K-4. I really love the ABC series from Rod and Staff and have allowed her to continue with G,H, and I for this year as well. It is only a couple of extra pages and provides extra critical thinking activities.

**Update 2015**

The 1st Grade Thinking Skills book is no longer in print and so we have stuck strictly to the Rod and Staff ABC series. 

Because we complete Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons prior to Kindergarten we use Abeka’s K-5 and 1st grade reading really cement her phonics solidly. We also use All About Spelling, level 1 as it is a phonics based spelling program. In addition to these allow my girls devour any books they want. I am thrilled to have avid readers who can’t get enough reading to satisfy them!

**Update 2015**

With Grace after finishing the Abeka Phonics we moved into the Emerging Readers used in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and Bigger Hearts for His Glory. She was ready and has loved reading all of these classic stories included. 

P1020695
Already learning geography in Kindergarten!

I have found a home in Heart of Dakota Publishing. I feel so very confident teaching my daughters because of the easy open-and-go setup, unit cohesiveness, and overall simplicity of the activities. I could not ask for a more well rounded and balanced curriculum. 

Bigger Hearts for His Glory

Grace-Filled Writer

I use Bigger Hearts for His Glory for our 2ndgrade program. As with all of the Heart of Dakota curriculum guides all other subjects are tied to the history spines. For this guide we are focusing on the period of explorations to the early 1900’s.
One of the nice aspects of the entire Heart of Dakota curriculum line is they can be used for various grade levels. You simply choose the options which best suit your needs. This also allows students to be combined for history and science while still working at their own level for math, handwriting, and reading. I prefer not to combine my girls within guides, but I like knowing I have the options one day if I ever choose to.
Studies of history include weekly entries on a timeline, narration, vocabulary work and notebooking entries. This is the first guide in the series where narration is formally used. This concept took some getting used to as I had never experienced narration before Heart of Dakota. It is briefly touched on in the previous guide, Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, but I felt like I was floundering a little bit at the beginning. The biggest help I found in this area was searching for YouTube videos for examples of narration.
In addition to history read alouds there are weekly activities which explore geography, historical life, and more. These are always hands on and very engaging. I try to always take pictures of these activities because my girls have so much fun!
Science always relates to what we are learning in history and includes weekly narration, experiments, and notebooking entries. The experiments are very hands on and include written record of a question we are answering, a hypothesis, a picture showing the experiment, and finally a conclusion statement. This seemed like a lot at first, but I do appreciate that my children are being exposed to a formal scientific process even before they realize that is what they are doing.
A weekly poem is studied as well as introduction to some of the more formal aspects of poetry like rhyme scheme and symbolic meaning. With my background in literature I truly appreciate this gentle approach to teaching poetry at a young age.
Bible study focuses on a passage to memorize (1-2 verses) from Proverbs and daily discussion about the verse. These verses have brought out some great discussions, but more importantly I see the principles learned showing up outside of our school time. I am so encouraged when I see my daughters begin to follow after Christ on their own. The Scripture also always relates to something learned about in history that week.
Spelling is learned through a Charlotte Mason method called dictation. The students study a short passage (usually 2 sentences and several extra words) then try to write the passage without any punctuation or spelling errors as it is dictated to them. This was another part that is new with this particular guide. I like the way it is taught, but also wanted to give my daughters more formal rules and so I have added All About Spelling in addition to the dictation. We work this out by doing alternating days of dictation and All About Spelling.
Finally is something near and dear to my heart…grammar! I know that sounds a little crazy, but my background is teaching junior high English. I cannot begin to tell you the struggle I had with grammar when I was teaching full time before the kids came along. I am so pleased with the grammar choice from Heart of Dakota which is Rod and Staff. There are no frills or fancy gimmicks, but it is very strong even in the earliest level which is taught along with this guide.
I believe my favorite part about the grammar is that it is very biblically based, which honestly surprised me. The very first lesson teaches that God created language, that He is a God of order, and that our language reflects this order. That is just so beautiful to me!
As with the entire Heart of Dakota line, math, handwriting, and reading/literature have suggested items, but are not required to make the program work. The recommended programs are Singapore, Cheerful Cursive, and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. We have chosen different programs for each. For math we are using Rod and Staff grade 2, for handwriting we are using A Reason for Handwriting T and C for cursive, and for literature I am using a more informal approach. We are reading the recommended books from Drawn Into the Heart of Reading for the 2/3 level, but are simply discussing the book as it is read. You can click on the various links to read reviews about these differentiations in our program.
We have found our education home with Heart of Dakota. Without these guides my girls would still learn all they needed to, but it certainly wouldn’t be as much fun!

Math: Rod and Staff VS Singapore

Grace-Filled Writer

As far as math programs go you could not get two on such different ends of the spectrum. Singapore is recommended by Heart of Dakota Publishing (Our homeschool curriculum) but this program was a real struggle for us. I used the now retired Earlybird Kindergarten books which we enjoyed immensely. I was very surprised that we struggled. I’m not certain if our struggle came from my difficulty teaching the concepts or the abstract thinking processes or a little bit of both, but for us Singapore just didn’t work. I read both rave reviews and incredibly negative reviews. I tried all of the suggestions. I followed the prescribed manipulatives in our guides, but it just didn’t click with me or my daughter.
After several weeks of frustration I sent her to my husband with her workbook and asked that he give it a try. He willingly set to work, but within minutes came to me asking what in the world he was supposed to be teaching her. My husband is really good at math…I mean really good. When he took the AP test for calculus in high school he received a 5, the highest score possible. He placed into college calculus his freshman year as his original course was to become a math teacher. God called him into the ministry instead…but I digress.
I had to spend about 20 minutes teaching my very skeptical, and very mathematically oriented, man the concepts behind Singapore’s method. After some incredulous looks he finally went back to try and teach it to my daughter. Needless to say, this did notgo very well. After that didn’t work he approached me with looking for another curriculum. I told him my biggest concern was that I didn’t even know what to look for! He said to just look around to see what I could find and that he would take a look at it with me.
The next day I wandered over to homeschool reviews and started browsing various curriculum choices for math. The reviews were all over the place some saying one curriculum was amazing while another said the same curriculum just didn’t work for their family. Another raved about the manipulatives in one curriculum while another person felt they got in the way. One curriculum was too hands on while another reviewer said the same curriculum wasn’t hands on enough. It didn’t take long for me to become very frustrated.
Then I found reviews for Rod and Staff math. I was already familiar with their company because I use their preschool books grammar series. Every…every…reviewer said the same thing. It was simple. It was direct. It taught concepts logically and in small steps. The only downsides listed were the number of problems practicing a concept (More practice? I’m okay with that!) and that all of the illustrations were in black and white. (No colors? We’ll get over it.) I reviewed samples for several grade levels and became very excited about what I was seeing. Not only that, the price was about half that of any other I had seen.
I approached my husband with the curriculum and he said, “I knew you could find one that would work!” So we ordered. I anxiously awaited the box eager to see what it was like. The reviewers were right…no frills, no color, no gimmicks…and I loved it! We all did actually. My husband was very impressed with the progression and my daughter begged to start using it that night.
The workbooks which were reviewed basic math facts (addition then subtraction) for the first month or so, which I thought may be too easy for my daughter even though she was struggling with this very thing earlier in the year. I approached my daughter a couple of weeks in and asked her what she thought. She said, “It’s a lot of writing, but I like it. I’m just glad I understand it.” I was sold. My girl feels confident again in an area where she struggled and is still working on grade level.
We intend to stick with Rod and Staff and progress at our daughters’ pace. One of the things I love about homeschooling is I’m not restricted to force them into a specific grade level. I can give them higher level or lower level as their individual learning needs dictate. Of course our goal is to get them to their grade levels or above, but if they are struggling I can back up or slow down or re-teach or whatever to help them succeed. So far, I was frequently re-teaching Singapore…Rod and Staff, no re-teaching necessary.