I can't make a decision!

[eandg81]

I am having such a hard time deciding what to do with my 4 year old. He turned 4 in April and my older son turned 6 in May. My oldest is doing LHFHG, Math Mammoth 1, the Emerging Readers and a few other things he finds interesting. It is so easy with him because he is working at the level he should be for his age and he really loves LHFHG. Now on to my 4 yeear old. I bought LHTH to use with him but we stopped for a while and just let him tag along with us in LHFHG. He has really liked it but now we are starting back up and I was planning to try LHTH again but I am just not sure that I want to separate them. He is so far advanced for his age and he is learning to read and doing Horizons Math K. I am now wondering of I should do LHTH at all or just keep them together. Please help!!! I just don't know where to go from here. DS4 fits in the placement chart for LHTH but I really like doing the Bible and History together. I've asked so many questions and really felt like we were on track until we took a few weeks off and now I'm all over the place again. Thank you all so much for the help.

[blessedmomof4]

My only concern would be your 4 year old hitting the higher guides too young, at a time when he would not be ready in maturity or fine motor skills for all the work required in the future. I would try Little Hands spread out over the day, using the 4/5 options, and if he wants to listen in on some of what his older sibling is doing, that's ok. By the time he is done with LHTH he will be prepared to do the required work in Little Hearts that will build his skills for future guides. You could always add the emerging readers and/or grade 1 options to Little Hearts if he has mastered phonics by the end of this year with LHTH. Besides this, you said he places in LHTH in the placement chart, which is the best indicator for success. Perhaps the timing is better now than it was before for him to do his "own" school.
FWIW, my dear 18 year old son was a very bright 4 year old, having learned to read a age 3.5 on his own. I pushed him really hard academically. If I had it to do over, I would have let him enjoy being a little boy more and pushed less. As it turned out, because of maturity and fine motor skills (the fact his ability to read was far beyond his maturity and fine motor skills) he was miserable, and so was I I had to do a second year of kindergarten with him because of it. I wish I would have known about Little Hands then, it would have been perfect-I would have used that and added as much reading as he wanted to do. Just my $.02

[mom23]

I can see your temptation-I'd also want to keep them together if that's working. That said, I think you're generally better off not to push a child too hard beyond his years. He may handle LHFHG as a 4 yr. old, but will he handle Bigger as easily in just a couple of years? My sister-in-law teaches at a Christian school, and she's advised me not to push my 4 yr. old ahead, even though he seems ready right now because often those kids who started early handle things great until around 5th grade when they just hit a big roadblock. You'll probably save yourself frustration down the road if you lay a solid foundation, and take your time doing it.

[my3sons]

This is a tough one. Your dc are only 2 years apart, but If a child places in LHTH, I'd not do full-speed LHFHG with him. That stretching too far too fast business doesn't get any easier down the road. However, your dc really are only 2 years apart, almost exactly, and that means combining could very well work in the long run. I am not sure what the answer is here, but I know it's not the answer to have a younger child "tagging along" and unable to do all of a guide well from year to year, as the gap widens and widens until the younger child falls further behind and usually ends up backtracking and uncombining with older sibling anyway. If your 6 yo took 2 years to do LHFHG, it may be possible to combine them successfully for all the years to come. This is really worth pondering. You could do LHFHG half-speed, but have your older ds do daily LA and math. You could use the supplemental titles in the Appendix of LHFHG to extend further for him if you wanted. Your 4 yo ds could do everything half-speed, and possibly just wait on the fine motor skills until the second year of half-speed, and do them full-speed then. I'm not sure if all of this is worth it, but if you are thinking you are going to start LHTH with 4 yo, and LHFHG with 6 yo, and then just stop doing LHTH and combine them eventually anyway, going half-speed right away would be better for your 4 yo, and probably make combining very successful in the long run. HTH as you consider what is best for your family!

In Christ,
Julie