Does LHFHG develop listening skills?

[VAmomto4]

HI all! I posted a few weeks ago about doing LHFHG with child #2 (older dd is doing Bigger). He places squarely in LHFHG (already reading, math, can write his letters, 5.5 y/o). The only thing holding me back is that the child does NOT LISTEN when I read. He zones out! This could just be a learning style issue as he seems to be an independent learner. I also haven't really done anything formal with him. The Burgess books would be an exercise in frustration for us both, but this is an area that he absolutely needs to develop and grow in. So I guess my question is, should he already have this skill going into LHFHG or would working through the read-alouds build this skill? He is fine if I read him a book with pictures, but the zoning out happens when I read chapter books or devotionals without pictures (for example, Leading Little Ones to God). What do you think?

[krismoose]

I think that the Storytime books are perfect for building listening skills, because they are divided into very short reading selections. Knowing that this this is an area of weakness for your ds, I would start out with some visual aids. Some Moms have printed out pictures of the characters from the internet, and some even made stick puppets . I found a coloring book on Amazon called Meet Peter Cottontail that I have used to refer to the pictures. To start with even shorter selections, you can also look ahead at the questions in the guide and stop reading right after the first question is answered, then ask it, and if he doesn't remember, reread the sentence or two and rephrase if needed to lead him to the answer. The language is an older style as well, so that alone takes a few days/weeks for everyone to adjust to, IMO Just go through the books patiently with the goal to be able to answer the questions with less visuals by the end of the guide The history book History Stories for Children is used mainly in the latter half of the program, and it also helps build listening skills in the same way, as the stories are short, but with few or no pictures. The devotional also has few pictures, but it's generally used only once a week. HTH

[raceNzanesmom]

I agree with Kristen. Go at his pace and allow him to develop the skill. I found with my ds it helped to really engage him in the reading- use exciting voices, reply with an "oh no, what's going to happen?", repeat a part if he acted like he missed it, etc. By the end of the first book he was begging for me to read more than the assigned 2-3 pages. If it turns out to truly be too long then I'd divide it up even more.

[my2guys]

My ds was the same way when we started LHFHG. I was questioning whether or not he was ready, but we kept going with the Burgess books and saw a huge change by the end of the year. He really grew into it. He is definitely a visual learner, with little auditory skills. I think the storytime helped him improve in one of his weaker areas. And to this day he loves Burgess! Right now we're in the middle of reading The Burgess Bird Book and he is completely enjoying it.

[MomtoJGJE]

NONE of my kids like to sit and listen to stories... But my older two will do it now, and will comprehend it. DD2 has REALLY grown in her like for the Burgess books. I just pushed through. She HATED them at the beginning, and would cry if I brought out the Burgess book. But now she will ask questions during the reading She still says she doesn't like it, but I'm catching her paying attention more and more. We are a little more than halfway through LHFHG.

If I would have started LHFHG with my oldest she'd probably be better off than she is now.

[VAmomto4]

Thank you! I love the idea of making puppets when we start out! I'm glad to hear that all of your children have done so well in this area. We'll give it a go!

[sw1ssm1ss]

It definitely will develop listening skills over time, but it may start out with frustration, like you envision. I strongly recommend getting the coloring book that was made to go History for Little Pilgrims. There won't be a picture for every day, but it will give you one "active listening" resource. I think if I had a flannel board and Biblical flannel figures I would have let my daughter play with that during the Bible readings.

I also had a thought--I wish I'd done it, but didn't get around to it--of collecting little figurines of the animals described in the Burgess books and letting her play with those. Even though there are a number of different books, there's sort of a "cast" of characters, so you could get a fox, squirrel, mouse, bear, owl, beaver, and a few others and have something he could play with all year while listening.

Good luck!

[Tracee]

I really wanted to chime in here, because this was such a problem for us. My son is a very visual learner. He has even been diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder/dyslexia and LHFHG has been great for us. I did wait until ds was 6, but that was because we had a lot of other things going on also. The progress in this area has amazed me. Ds went from not being able to follow the Burgess stories, to begging for more. What is so great about LHFHG is you have the storytime bible which has some pictures. We would read that at breakfast and he could see the picture. This kind of eased him in to stories with less pictures. We would practice our bible verses which helped increase his auditory memory and then later do storytime. My challenge was finding the right time to read to him. I tried it in the middle of our school work day, it didn't seem to work. I tried it at night, that didn't seem to work. I tried it at lunch time, and that worked for awhile. Now, we have a pretty good schedule. Storytime ends our school day. I read a picture book at lunch time for my two little ones, and then after lunch, ds knows that him and I go sit on the couch and read a chapter. What once seemed like so much for him to sit and listened to, now seems so short that he usually asks me to keep going. I believe the progress is a combination of practice and maturity. So, if he places in LHFHG, I think you could start. Just be patient. He will eventually get it.


Tracy

[kzacarkim]

I agree with Kristen. Go at his pace and allow him to develop the skill. I found with my ds it helped to really engage him in the reading- use exciting voices, reply with an "oh no, what's going to happen?", repeat a part if he acted like he missed it, etc. By the end of the first book he was begging for me to read more than the assigned 2-3 pages. If it turns out to truly be too long then I'd divide it up even more.

I do that too I also found out that my son listens better if he is busy coloring or having a snack.... if his hands are busy somehow. We are on unit 8 now and he has already shown an improvement on his listening skills.