Dear Carrie
Can you help me make a change of plans in the middle of the year?
I LOVE the look of Heart of Dakota (HOD)!! It seems to incorporate all that I was wishing to do this year in our homeschool, being our first Charlotte Mason attempt. We’ve kind of lost our way trying another simpler Charlotte Mason program. I am hoping that maybe HOD can get us back on track  I don’t know if it will be completely possible, as I have a 12 year-old son in 7th grade, as well as a 10 year-old son in 5th grade. We are up to the year 1700 in our studies and in our 22nd week. Revival to Revolution looks like it could work for us. But, is that even advisable? Any advice about how to make a change of plans moving into HOD mid-year would be greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help Me Make a Change of Plans in the Middle of the Year”
Dear “Ms. Please Help Me Make a Change of Plans in the Middle of the Year,”
As you think through what change would be the best fit for your two kiddos, I’ll encourage you to do a few things that will really help make it clearer as to where they fit best. First, put aside any thoughts of which history cycle your students have covered. Next, set aside any ponderings about which science texts your students may have already used. Last, place your students as individuals, putting aside any thoughts of combining. Use the first page only of the placement chart to place each student. If you do these things, you will truly see where each child fits best and in which program.
Correct placement is based on the skills listed on the first page of the placement chart.
Correct placement in HOD is based on the skills shown on the first page of the placement chart. This is because those skills are required to complete all areas of the guide. So, if you make a change and place a child based on the history cycle or on the science program, you may have an inaccurate placement, making all of the rest of the guide a poor fit. This would be compounded in the years to come, as one guide prepares a child very well for the next guide in line! So with that in mind, click here for a link to the placement chart.
To make the best change possible, use the first page of the placement chart as a guideline.
If you get a chance to pop back and share where each of your students fit as individuals on the first page only of the chart, then we can help you fine-tune their placement and make the best change possible! I know this will feel different than the approach used for placement found in other homeschool companies, but you’ll find the reason for this to be that at HOD the skills are very important in placement. This is because Charlotte Mason (CM) type skills build from guide to guide (as well as the difficulty of the material and how the skills are applied).
The change you make need not be based on whether you’d be reusing a history or science text.
Even if you end up reusing a science text or a history text that you may have already read, you’ll find that when the text is done in the CM style used in our guides (and likely is read independently by the student), making this change will still feel completely different! We have had this experience ourselves with our own oldest son, as have other moms who have repeated a text. My oldest son even had to repeat a history cycle he’d just done when we switched to a more CM-style curriculum. It still worked well, and he gained so much! We look forward to hearing back from you when you get a chance.
Blessings,
Carrie
Reply from “Ms. Please Help Me Make a Change of Plans in the Middle of the Year”
Actually, I had a few moments before hubby gets home, so I looked at the first placement grid. Honestly I could put both boys in CTC level skills, with the exception of my older son’s math (he’s advanced in this one area). He’s not a “language-oriented” person, but my 10 year-old son is a natural with language. My oldest has a great deal of intelligence inside his head, but without oral or written language skills it’s difficult to get it out of him! I think he feels that if he can’t do it “right,” he doesn’t want to do it at all. He’s put up this wall, with writing especially. This is exactly the change we need. I’m so excited about this and am off to order it from your website now! Thank you again so very much for your help with this! What a wonderful testimony you all are!
