We are entering our 2nd year and 3rd journey into the "Heart of Dakota". Last year we used Little Hands to Heaven as the spine of our preschool curriculum, and we used Beyond Little Hearts for 2nd grade (and the preschooler tagged along for the great reads in this one as well :) I plan to do a full review of each at some point soon, but let me just say for now that I am hooked! Carrie Austin has picked fabulous resource books and literature to really teach children in an enjoyable, memorable way. If you're not familiar with HOD, it is a unit study curriculum based on the teaching methods of Charlotte Mason. I like to say that it is a perfect blend of Konos, Sonlight, and Thomas Jefferson Education. You have the integrated, character rich unit study approach without all the planning. You have whole books to reinforce the concepts being studied, and it's designed to be very flexible and interesting to keep the children actively participating regardless of learning style. Plus, it's designed for age ranges rather than grades, so you can use it with multiple children at once. Love that!
If we had followed the program selection chart, our next book to use would be Bigger Hearts For His Glory. However, right when I was getting all set up for that (in fact, I had just placed my order!) I realized that if we skipped the older two to Preparing Hearts for this year, I can go back and teach Bigger Hearts next year to all three kids with the extension pack for my then-4th graders! (Side note: The Austins graciously refunded my order immediately :) Besides, after studying American history so in-depth this past year, I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a break and journey through some World History before going back to studying more American History next year.
As for my Kindergartener, I decided not to do a formal curriculum package with her. We had actually arranged to borrow the entire Little Hearts package from my friend, but then as I prayed about the year ahead, I felt led to really focus hard on character building with my feisty rebel, rather than academics. While HOD has scripture intertwined throughout each subject, I really want to spend a lot more time just trying to reach her heart through lots of time in Bible memory and cuddly reading sessions. I will be teaching her the 3R's, but leaving the rest open to where the Lord leads. Following my past experience with Five In A Row, we will probably integrate some basic geography and culture into whichever books she chooses, and maybe throw in some lapbooking along the way. As I have looked over the reading material for her siblings this year, I am pretty confident she will tag along and 'bus stop' (get off when not age appropriate) with them; pretty much like she did this year! lol
So come along with us as we post our weekly (the goal!) updates along our journey with Heart of Dakota!
