Friday, August 8, 2014

Curriculum Change

We have made a change in our curriculum. For the past few years we used Heart of Dakota for our curriculum. While I like many things about HOD there were a few things that made me prayerfully decide to change to Queen Homeschool Supplies

HOD basic history package on the left and Queen history book on the right
  1. burn out- I love reading. There is a bookshelf in every room of my home. HOD requires reading 1 chapter of a short story, 1 chapter of history, 1 chapter of science, a poem, and a chapter of a reading book daily. By the end of the day, none of us wanted to read anything else. We did not read our bibles or a bed time story. When we went to the library, we all picked out games and movies. I don't want them to associate reading with work. I want them to enjoy it. 
  2. cost- The basic history package for HOD is $115 but there is a $100 self study package that I also have to purchase AND an extension package that is $85 for Skittles. That is $300 in history books. After adding the science, English, and daily reading selections, HOD would cost me $500 for the year. I paid half that price for Queen. 
  3. age/academic gap- Skittles and Twizzler have been pulling farther apart academically. I have been using only one guide to teach both boys all year and I admit that by the end of last year it was a real stretch. I love LOVE love that with Queen, I am able to cater more to their grade levels. Her history books are set up to work with all grades from 1-12. HOD is only set up to span a 2-3 year grade gap. There are a lot of extra research projects and activities for Skittles that do not cost me extra like they do with HOD. 
  4. independence- HOD is very teacher involved. The guide we were going into is supposed to start self study for one subject per day but everything else is taught by mom. My boys are getting older and I think they are ready for more independence. They need it really. Queen's books are very student-lead and they are able to work in them on their own. Each day they will have their list of what they need to accomplish and they can just move through it all one subject at a time at their own pace. 
  5. short lessons- This blog is about our HAPPY experiences so I did not write about the hour long grumbling and whining and complaining that went along with each of our English lessons last year. I will say this, Rod and Staff English is very thorough, maybe too thorough. Yes, They certainly mastered all the skills taught in the book but it was excruciating. I LOVE English. It was always my favorite subject in school. <-I'm a nerd. Even I hated doing English last year. It was sooooo boring and bland. Queen's Language Lessons are BEAUTIFUL, short, and every bit as thorough. History and Science lessons are also brief. Their is 1 chapter to read per week and then a journal for them to work on to expand the lesson. 
  6. notebooking- HOD and Queen use notebooking to record information learned but with HOD your choices are to create your own notebook pages (which is a lot of work) or to print off parent made pages from the internet. Queen has the notebooking pages IN the science book and IN the history journal so you don't have to spend all your time creating your own pages OR spend even more money on ink printing pages off the internet. 
I am looking forward to the coming school year. I hope that once the kids see how much more relaxed our lessons are, they will be just as excited. WORLD HISTORY!!! YAY!!!

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