How would you use LHTH for a little girl like this?

[Candice]

Referring to my little girl who is approx. 3.5 years old, she will be 4 next April.

I would like to finally begin LHTH with her this coming January. I intended to begin with her in the past but felt that most/all my attention needed to be given to my older dd as far as school goes. Reading was our big focus at the time for my older dd.

Anyway, her skills are all over the place and I think that LHTH won't work as written for this little one. But, I'd like opinions, if you don't mind.
Here is where she is:

Knows all letter sounds and can read very simple words...cat, hat, and so on. She is able to spell those words as well.
She is able to handwrite most, if not all, letters-although they aren't the prettiest! She can write her own name.
She has good number sense. If asked what 5 plus 1 more is, or 10 plus 1 more, she can answer correctly.
As far as bible lessons go, we have hardly touched on that. I know LHTH would be perfect in teaching her about God and the bible. Also, I know she would love the activities in it.
So, I know that she is a little ahead in some academic areas but, I wonder if at this young age whether or not I should be doing "formal" lessons with her in those academic areas. Or, do I just do LHTH as written and not worry about LA and math with her now?
I always struggle between just "letting her be" and moving forward with her as far as her abilities. If I moved forward, I imagine I would do the suggestions for math and LA found in LHFHG...Singapore Earlybird and TRL, for instance.

I'm just looking for opinions, thoughts if you are willing.

Candice

[Kathleen]

Hi Candice!

I'd just use it as is. I'm doing exactly that with Garret this year, and he is very similar to your daughter in several of the areas you mentioned. We are LOVING it! I love that I get to spend that "school time" with him, but that it's quick enough that I have the time to spend with the other kids, too. Garret can also sound out and spell short words, and has great number sense. He did the hands-on math from LHFHG with Allison last year (not the workbook part), and he totally gets that. But, knowing that the difficulty in Singapore ramps up quickly I'm holding off on starting him with that now.

If I were you, I'd start LHTH with her and add in phonics when you're ready for it. We're thinking of adding phonics in sometime this year. Enjoy!

Kathleen

[jenntracy]

i think Kathleen's advice is good. Just add the phonics when she is ready. My son is ahead in reading for the guide we are in and a about a half a guide ahead in math. those subjects are easy to adjust to your kids level. Have fun with the Bible stories and the stuff that goes with it. You can always read more books. That is so fun at that age.

Jenn D.

[my3sons]

I'd use LHTH with "The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes", and either "Big Thoughts for Little People" or "Teach them to Your Children". I think starting with that and all of the LHTH lessons will be wonderful! "The New Bible..." has really helped to slowly teach my little one to answer simple comprehension questions about what I've read to him, and the letter activities have helped him fill in any sounds he didn't know. I think if you start LHTH this way, you will soon see if you want to begin phonics in a low key way. You could easily do 2 years of phonics, and have the first year be very low key. My ds knew all of his letters at 2 yo before we even started LHTH, and he could also count to 20 - not sure what happened there, but I just chalk it up to learning by being around 2 older brothers doing school at home. We started LHTH about when he was 3 yo or so, and added in some Kumon books (cutting, coloring, folding, gluing skills) here and there for fun. He is now 3 1/2 yo, and we have just started phonics with him very slowly. He loves it! We plan on doing 2 years of phonics instruction, probably spread over 2 1/2 to 3 years by the time it's all said and done. I don't want to push him, but when he read "MUG" on my root beer can at the restaurant, I figured we may as well start slowly enjoying progressing through phonics. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Candice]

Thanks so much, all of you! I appreciate the wisdom.
I like the idea of pretty much doing LHTH as is and having some "school time" (as you mentioned, Kathleen) but, not over doing it at this age and leaving time for me to keep up with my other daughter. And Jenn you are right about reading more books, it is such a wonderful age for that.
Thanks, Julie, I totally think starting with The New Bible...would be perfect with the simple comprehension questions, good point. I'll play it by ear as far as phonics goes. As bright as she is I'm not quite sure she is ready for formal phonics lessons. We will see what the new year brings.
Thanks again for helping me to think it through, I appreciate it.

Candice

[Mommamo]

Knowing what I know now, I wish I had waited to begin phonics, and I'm holding back with my 4 yo until he's a little older. C (now 7) was reading CVC words and a bunch of really simple sight words at not quite 3, and reading them well. So when she was almost 4, I think, it's really hard to remember any more, I started her with phonics thinking she needed it to finish learning how to read (even though she was doing just fine on her own at that point). Well, that was a mistake. No matter what I used with her, we just couldn't really progress! Finally she just hit where SHE was ready to learn, and is now absolutely FLYING through the ERs. Honestly, they're way too easy for her at this point. She's reading American Girl books on her own. Anyway, my point is that I would probably wait until she was either 5 or actually asking you to work with her on reading. You could even do something informal, using some of Ruth Beechick's ideas or something more gentle like that until you were ready to start TRL or RME or whatever phonics you're using. Not that that experience would happen with you (I now know that C likes to be in control of things) but I think it just taught me that early isn't necessarily better, that they'll still do it on their level, so I guess for me I learned that it was better to wait a little longer than to try to go too early.

Now with my almost 5 yo and almost 3 yo I'm only doing what is in LHTH along with some extra reading of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, those kinds of things. It's been PERFECT! Even though my little guy is probably ready to start phonics, he hasn't asked yet so I'm going to wait until next fall when he would actually be in K. (We'll still be doing LHTH too as we're taking it over 2 years.)

Plus, LHTH is such a great way to introduce these Bible stories, and the activities really get them thinking about things. My 7 yo does it with us, and even she still enjoys the activities even though she clearly is WAY past that academically. I hope that helps some!

[Candice]

Mommamo,

I totally get what you are saying, thank you for sharing that!
My initial instincts were telling me to just go with LHTH as is and just enjoy the value and simplicity of it that way.
All the replies here have essentially backed that up and I still think it would be best.
Plus, in doing LHTH she IS getting some gentle math and LA with the lesson plans so, I think we are good to go.

Thank you!