BLHFHG - Supplementing?

slavila · Post by **slavila** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:12 pm

Hi - I am new here and I'm strongly considering using BLHFHG next fall. I was just wondering if any of you here supplement in any subject, and if so, which subject and why. I'm mainly wondering about the subjects of art, music, health, geography and grammar. This will be my first year having to report to the state (NY) so I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered. And if I might need to add some supplementing, I just want to be prepared.

I hope this makes sense! TIA

Sarah

blessedmomof4 · Post by **blessedmomof4** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:47 pm

Hi Sarah! I am a former New Yorker, so I know what you mean about reaporting

In the introduction to Beyond there is a good overview of what is covered-start on page 10 of the PDF file and read through to the end-incidentaly, this might make a good "plan of instruction" to send to your local district.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/beyond ... -intro.pdf
Really, the only area you might supplement is health, if you really need a course for that. Rod and Staff publishes a simple health text for 2nd graders
http://www.lovetolearn.net/catalog/product/0553901
and Steck-Vaughn publishes a simple workbook series
http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist ... egory=3274
You will find Heart of Dakota very complete and easy to use in all subject areas! I wish it had been around when my big kids were younger

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:49 pm

I'm in NY, too. I don't think the manuals include health, so you would need to add that. I'll be doing that next year. I think all of the other subjects are covered. Maybe some of the other moms will add their thoughts.

Tansy · Post by **Tansy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:57 pm

I don't remember any Health in Beyond. We are supplementing Bigger with a health book right now. The Music is supplemented at our house (but with a piano teaching DH he does it not me... I can't carry a tune in a bucket!) But if you get the cd your kids learn to sing most verses, so they will have music exposure. In many cases this is way more than they would get in a P.S. setting.

But with all the requirements NY has, maybe an outside music class (piano lesson) could eat up some of the school time.

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:00 pm

We are finishing up some things more than supplementing. But we do have a Spanish program we use and we were doing a chronological study of the Bible before we started Bigger that we will continue to do. And I am doing a Home Ec and Responsibility study with my kids.

Everything except the Spanish really though to me is more life training stuff that I would not expect any unit study to cover. The great news is adding is easy if you want and you can customize to whatever your family cares about most.

Post by **Carrie** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:31 pm

Sarah,

I just wanted to pop in and welcome you! The ladies are doing a great job of answering your questions. They are so helpful!

As far as supplementing in the areas that you listed, it would make a difference on how old your child is as to whether there would need to be any supplementing to "Beyond...". If you get a chance to let us know your child's age that would help!

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:50 pm

Sarah,

I forgot to say welcome!

Candice · Post by **Candice** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:30 pm

Hi Sarah,

Just wanted to say welcome to the HOD board!

Candice

slavila · Post by **slavila** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:51 pm

Thank you to everyone for the replies and welcomes. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that my son is 5 and will be 6 at the beginning of September. We are doing K this year, so next year we will be reporting to the school district that he is first grade. I'm mostly just anxious about having to start reporting to the district this fall. I do have a great manual that helps understand all of NY's regulations which has helped ease my mind a bit, but after seeing the list of required subjects, it got me frazzled a bit since it was such a long list (English Language, Math, Science, U.S. History, Geopraphy, Spelling, Reading, Writing, Health, P.E., Visual Arts, Music)and I just wanted to make sure I had everything covered.
After reading over the HOD website and comparing it to the required subjects, it seems that everything is pretty much covered, but I just wanted to double check. And since my son is at the younger end of the age range for BLHFHG, I wouldn't think I would need much supplementing.

I'm so excited about using this curriculum! I had bought LHTH when my son was 2 or 3, and thought it was such a great curriculum. At the time, I think the only other books were LHFHG and DITHOR (sorry if I'm wrong Carrie, but those are the only other ones I remember), so I didn't even think of HOD for next year until an acquintance of mine told me she was using it. Our God is an awesome God because he led me back here, and at a time that I was really struggling with thoughts about what to do for next year. When I checked out the HOD website again, it was an answer to prayers. I really think this is going to be a great fit for our family. And I was so excited to see that the curriculum goes all the way up to PHFHG now!! I'm looking forward to an exciting fall with BLHFHG and looking forward to using LHTH again with my preschooler.

God Bless!

inHistiming - I was reading other posts and noticed you must live in the Finger Lakes area; where abouts? We are building a house in Farmington and will be moving in in April sometime.

Post by **Carrie** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:12 pm

Sarah,

As far as "Beyond..." goes, for reading you will need to either use a phonics program or the Emerging Reader Set.

For your state it appears you will need to add something in the area of health, whether you want to use real books or an actual health text or just have a weekly health goal that you talk about and cover.

For P.E. we do cover some calisthenics in our Bible verse practice time, but you will probably need to log additional time. This can usually easily be accomplished by having your child doing a certain number of various calisthenics in the morning (push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, running in place, etc.)

You also can opt for using an exercise video 2 times a week or so which covers various conditioning, agility, strength-training exercises. We have gotten some from collage video, but you do have to watch the clips to see if they are too worldly. Here's the link to one page, if you put "children" in the search you'll get more:
http://www.collagevideo.com/searchresul ... n&type=all

We do cover art and some music with the Hide Em in Your Heart CD, but you may need to look further into what those two requirements entail for your state. It is easy to add a Smart About Art book for visual arts (such as Renoir or Cassatte) and just study a painting a week. Here's a link to that:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-About-Art-P ... 379&sr=8-1

It is also easy to add a music appreciation CD such as Classical Cats to learn about the orchestra or Bernstein's Peter and the Wolf and Carnival.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.p ... 66-1511483

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl. ... &id=005410

Otherwise, all areas on your list are covered in "Beyond...". Feel free to ask other questions if you have them!

Blessings,
Carrie

silly · Post by **silly** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:47 am

Wow, each state is so different! I don't believe we have to do any reporting at all. Subjects like PE and health seem to be fairly easy to cover, though, considering what my pe and health classes were like in ps. They have a lot of neat kid's exercise videos out on the market now, I've got some nice stretching and relaxing ones that my kids and I have done together for a little while now (to help calm down, heehee). Good luck!