*LHFHG for 5 and 7 y.o.??

[Mamochka5]

Hi!

I'm considering CTC for my oldest child. I posted those questions separately.

I am still undecided about what to do with my 5 and 7 y.o. daughters. I've posted before that my 5 y.o. is just starting formal phonics/reading. My 7 y.o. has done the first 3 Explode the Code books and is working through #4 right now. She has had some gentle formal grammar through the beginning part of FLL. We did not even get through the whole 1st grade section, though. She does some copywork and dictation, which FLL offers and I want to continue, so I may just keep going with that. Not sure. She is currently about 3/4 of the way through Singapore 1A. She is an "emerging" reader. She's beyond short vowels and is working on blends, compound words, etc. The 5 y.o. will start the year with Singapore EB 2 Kindergarten book.

I was originally leaning toward pulling them both through Beyond b/c that is a better fit for my 7 y.o. Now I'm thinking (if they do HOD) they may do LHFHG instead. I will just sub the LA and Math for my 7 y.o. with ETC, HWOT, and her Singapore. It may make our day go more smoothly and shorter than doing Beyond with CTC and LHTH (w/my 4 and 2 y.o.) We are in Classical Conversations, too, and I need our days to not drag into the afternoon very much. If we do CTC with the older, we will likely (hopefully?) do some of the History activities and Science together, which will add a little to our day. (This is my hope. I'm looking at MFW CtG, too, b/c I want to combine for some things. hmm...) And.....is LHFHG too "babyish" for a 7 y.o.?? Please don't take that question as an insult. I see a lot of 4, 5, and 6 y.o. using it on this board, so I'm just wondering.

So, I'm looking for opinions on this plan. Also, if I do ETC with my 5 and 7 y.o. as I'm planning to do, is there any advantage/reason to also use one of the recommended reading programs (Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy)? Or are those both phonics programs, too. And, if I should get one of those, which do you all recommend??? I need to keep this year as simple and free of stress as possible.

Thank you!!
Liz

[WigglesMom]

The Reading Lesson is simple, short and you can adjust it to use with both kids if the 7 yr old is still doing phonics. You just do less pages with the younger child. Like beginning reader reads 1 page, whereas a 6-7 year old does 3 pages a day.
Val

[my3sons]

Liz - I agree The Reading Lesson would be a good fit, and Val did a good job of describing it. As far as LHFHG or Beyond - I just keep coming back to Beyond because of what you've shared in this post and previous ones. While LHFHG and Beyond would both be good fits for your dc, it seems like Beyond might be the better one for the goals I'm seeing in your posts. If you'd be concerned that LHFHG is not challenging enough for your somewhat advanced 7 yo, and that little voice in your head (you know we women all have that little voice whispering CONSTANTLY ) is whispering it's not going to be enough - then that little voice will probably be whispering that to you all year. If I'm just "hearing voices" and have missed the mark here totally, then we're back to the "either one would work well" thought. I think if I were you, I'd print the first week of plans for both LHFHG and BLHFHG and look the first week over really thoroughly to see which you think would fit your 5 and 7 yo dc best.

In Christ,
Julie

[Mamochka5]

Thank you, Julie. I will print out both lessons and compare them. If I do Beyond, my 5 y.o. could still do all the fun hand motion stuff with LHTH. My 7 y.o. is less "into" that portion of things.

Both you and Val mentioned The Reading Lesson. What does it teach that our Explode the Code workbooks would not?? What's the difference btwn. Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy?

Thanks,
Liz

[Carrie]

Mamachocka5,

In trying to listen to your goals for your family, I'm leaning in the Beyond direction for you too, based on what you've shared with us in the past. When doing Beyond, you could always slow down if needed (or even begin at half-speed) to allow your younger one to catch up and could definitely do a 4-day plan if desire, stretching Beyond 9 weeks into the next year quite easily. Doing Beyond, would allow more wiggle room and would make it less necessary to move forward on a steady 5 day week plan (which would definitely be a needed pace if you did LHFHG with a 7 year old).

As far as the Reading Lesson goes, it provides actual stories for the child to read within the guide, which is a whole different component than ETC has (which has kiddos reading sentences and words and doing the written portion, but doesn't really provide stories of any length to be read daily). There are quite a few posts about both The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy if you get a chance to search the board.

Blessings,
Carrie