Heart of Dakota

Heart of Dakota is a highly-prescriptive Christian curriculum built around detailed daily guidance, not just materials.

Last updated: 2026-04-20 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Charlotte Mason-influenced / literature-rich / highly-scheduled
Worldview	Christian-evangelical, broadly Protestant
Grades	PreK-12
Formats	Print teacher's guides + physical books
Cost tier	Premium
Parent intensity	4
ESA-common	Yes
Accredited	No
Website	heartofdakota.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Solid literature diet; strong writing integration
Ease of teaching	4	Daily boxed schedule removes planning burden
Content quality	4	Well-curated books; activities are thoughtful
Flexibility	2	Scheduled to the day; deviation breaks the system
Value for money	3	Expensive; reusable books offset cost across siblings
Worldview scope	2	Christian-evangelical; culturally traditional
Visual/design	3	Clean, readable; not visually distinctive
Support resources	3	Community forums, customer service

Who the publisher is

The curriculum scope includes guide sets from preschool through twelfth grade, organized by roughly age/ability level rather than strict grade. Guide names include "Little Hearts for His Glory" (PreK-K), "Beyond Little Hearts" (first grade), "Bigger Hearts" (2-3), "Preparing Hearts" (4-5), "Creation to Christ" (5-7), "Rev to Rev" (Revolution to Reconstruction, 6-8), "Missions to Modern Marvels" (7-9), and the "Resurrection to Reformation," "World History," and high school American history programs.

The core pedagogy

Heart of Dakota's pedagogy is Charlotte Mason-influenced with a strong emphasis on scheduled daily practice. The teacher's guides are written as a daily "box" format, each day has a box for history, literature, science, Bible, language arts, and math, with specific assignments inside each box.

Scope and sequence is broadly chronological through history and literature. The elementary levels emphasize read-alouds, Bible stories, and simple narration. Middle school levels deepen literature and add structured writing and geography. High school levels tighten into discrete subject-area courses.

Signature mechanics: (1) Boxed daily schedule, in our assessment the most distinctive feature. A parent opens the teacher's guide to "Day 14" and sees exactly what to read, what to discuss, what activity to do, and what to assign. This removes planning burden at the cost of flexibility. (2) Scheduled literature, books are not just assigned; they're scheduled chapter-by-chapter across the year, with specific discussion questions and narration prompts for each session. (3) Writing integration. HOD integrates writing (narration, copywork, dictation, formal composition) into daily subjects rather than treating writing as a separate subject. (4) Charlotte Mason methods at accessible depth, the guides explain narration and picture study in enough depth for a parent new to CM to actually use them.

What they do exceptionally well

Daily scheduled structure. For parents who want a curriculum that removes the burden of daily planning, HOD is, in our assessment, among the most prescriptive Christian homeschool curricula.

Literature curation. In our assessment, HOD's book selections are thoughtful and genuinely good, and the literature diet across a full HOD education is substantial and well-sequenced chronologically.

Accessible Charlotte Mason methods. In our assessment, HOD explains CM methods, narration, copywork, dictation, picture study, in a way that a parent with no prior CM exposure can actually implement.

What they do poorly

Rigidity. The boxed-daily-schedule format is HOD's strongest feature and its biggest constraint. Families who deviate from the schedule, a sick child, a family trip, a bad day, struggle to catch up because the schedule is tightly-knit across subjects. Families who prefer to ebb and flow with their days will chafe.

Cost. A full HOD year for one student runs $500-$900 for the guide and books, plus additional math and non-HOD-published components. Multi-year commitment is substantial. Reusable books help across siblings but initial outlay is high.

Culturally traditional voice. In our assessment, HOD's editorial voice is culturally traditional. Families outside this cultural framework may find HOD's tone doesn't fit.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Heart of Dakota if: you want a daily-scheduled curriculum that removes planning burden; you value literature-rich learning and Charlotte Mason methods; you are a conservative Protestant family comfortable with traditional-evangelical framing; you have children close in age who can benefit from HOD's progression; you want writing integrated into subjects.

• Skip Heart of Dakota if: you value flexibility and want to adjust the weekly schedule; you are secular, Catholic, or culturally progressive; you need the cheapest option; your child is bright and will finish the day's work in half the scheduled time, making the schedule feel slow; you want a complete single-publisher program without supplements.

Cost honest assessment

A full HOD year for one student, teacher's guide, books, and subject-area workbooks, runs approximately $500-$900 for the core components. Math from an outside publisher adds $80-$200. For three children at different HOD levels, assuming minimal book sharing, annual costs run $1,500-$2,500.

Compared to Sonlight ($1,000-$1,500 per child), HOD is roughly similar in price. Compared to MFW ($600-$1,000 per child), HOD is more expensive but more tightly-scheduled.

In our assessment, the HOD value proposition is the daily schedule.

ESA eligibility notes

Heart of Dakota is approved on most state ESA marketplaces including Arizona ClassWallet, Florida Step Up For Students, Iowa Student First, Utah Fits All, and Arkansas LEARNS. HOD's website has a dedicated ESA ordering page. Because HOD packages include many individual books sourced from various publishers alongside HOD's own teacher's guides, ESA families should confirm marketplace acceptance of bundled orders.

Alternatives

• Sonlight, a family would choose Sonlight over HOD because Sonlight has broader-evangelical tone, deeper literature catalog, and more flexibility in weekly scheduling.
• My Father's World, a family would choose MFW over HOD because MFW has stronger family-combined-learning support and a more missions-oriented emphasis.
• Master Books, which a family that prefers to buy by subject could compare, sells courses individually (for example, Adventures in the World Around Me: Level K) and as full-grade sets from $151.16 (Grade K set, selling price retrieved October 2026).

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed Heart of Dakota's catalog at heartofdakota.com, sample teacher's guides from Bigger Hearts for His Glory and Preparing Hearts for His Glory, and HOD's scope-and-sequence documents. We cross-referenced against Cathy Duffy's review, HSLDA's publisher profile, and community feedback from current HOD families.