When you say half speed ,what do you mean?/ My 1st day w/HOD

[exodus4]

I see this often mentioned and I'm not sure what it means . I guess , maybe taking two days for one lesson ? Maybe we need to do that too .

Today I just started LHFHG with my 5 yo and 7 yo ( will turn 7 in Oct) and I love it ! However, although the program does not take much time to do , I feel so overwhelmed ; the 3Rs take us soooooooooooooo long ! We do focus on LA with my 7yo speech delayed child . He decodes words well beyond his age ( can read almost anything ) but his comprehension is not even at K level yet . He and his "typical" sister-who is also a great reader - did not like and/or did not seem to listen AT ALL to Reddy Fox or History for Little Pilgrims. I did get them the corresponding workbook and they liked to color after we read the book... Of course , he is unable to retell anything from the story ... so should I keep reading or give up for now until he will mature more ? If asked questions like who did what or where , etc he might be able to recall ; It's putting words in sentences by himself he has trouble with ( especially in correct grammar & syntax -but I don't do that myself since English is my 3rd language ) However , all my four kids don't have a problem with English and they are 100% fluent as my husband is American and we speak mostly English at home .

Since at this time ( after buying the LHFHG package ) , I am not able to buy Beyond guide for spelling , I am using FLL which I like . Also he likes to do copywork and today he nicely copied the memory verse .His spelling is excellent so I won't waste my time with that this year. For comprehension, we use Pathways Readers w/ the workbooks which takes us forever !!! But he needs it , as I said , his comprehension is minimal .

For math we use CLE & Singapore and he is weak in this area too . It takes us about 45-50 min to do both only because he is so slow ... He might have some auditory processing as well , we are in the process of testing.

I also have a 2 & a 8 yo. Of course I hardly have time to spend with them . I wanted to do Preparing w/my 8yo but I can see there is NO time for anything else ... I do the 3Rs with him , then he listens to the LHFHG storytime & Bible . He reads science and lots of chapter books by himself . Very high level of comprehension. He also writes in his journal and stories on his own. When we have time ( which is rare) we do one lesson from IEW SWI. He likes that.

So what should I do ? Keep my 8yo in LHFHG until next year when I am planning to buy Preparing? As I mentioned , he does a lot of extra things on his own.
Or buy Preparing now and work with him and leave the 5&7 yo grow up until next year ? They don't listen to the books now and I feel I waste my time . Or should I drop Pathways Readers since it does not seem to help with his comprehension anyway and the program takes about 20-30 min ( a lot of writing) .

So confused ! I love LHFHG but it seems too much for my younger ones and too little for my older

[MomtoJGJE]

For your 8yo, would he fit in Preparing or Bigger better? Can he read instructions and follow them on his own? If he can, then I might get Bigger for him, as it is a bit less work and he could do a good portion of it on his own even though it doesn't say for things to be independent. My 8yo is currently doing Bigger and we have about 10 weeks to go. She does the notebooking, timeline, copywork, vocabulary, art, cursive, math, studying dictation, her part of DITHOR, and sometimes the Bible lesson on her own. Pretty much I have to read the lessons to her. She can read and comprehend fine, it just takes her a long time and after doing all the other by herself I feel she needs that connection time. Basically our part together is 30-45 minutes depending on how long the reading takes each day.

For the others... half speed, for most people, means if you are looking at a one day spread of pages, so both pages for one day in one unit, then you do the left side one day and the right side the next day... so you take 2 days to do all the boxes.

I have to question why you are doing two maths? and what level singapore math are you doing with your 7yo? If you are doing 1A, then I wouldn't really stress over it. Maybe do the teaching and explaining and do the problems with manipulatives without writing the answers one day and then do the same lesson with manipulatives and writing the answers the next day. I don't know what kind of problems he has with the math, but my dd1 would, and still does, seem to not get it when something is first introduced... I'll work and work and work to get her to understand it... she just won't. Then when it comes back to it in a few weeks, she absolutely gets it with no issues whatsoever. And I think the manipulatives are awesome for someone with auditory processing disorder. It really helps them SEE what you are doing.

My DD2 absolutely hates all the Burgess books. She now, with about 10 weeks left, understands that she has to listen so she can answer the questions or I"ll read it again but that took about 20 weeks to get to that point. She also doesn't like sitting to listen period. But I figure over the next 3 years we'll hit pretty much all the areas she's going over this year, so I make her repeat key words, but other than that not stress over it.

Hope some of this helps. If it doesn't make any sense at all then just ignore it I've been interrupted several times during writing this.

[netpea]

Ok, just some thoughts, maybe something here will be helpful.
I let my kids color the history coloring book while I am reading the lesson, it helped them listen better because they were still and their hands were busy. Sometimes I read Reddy Fox right afterwards while they were still coloring. It does take a little while to learn how to listen and answer questions. These are new skills. It also helped if I reminded them before I read that I would ask them a couple of questions so they needed to listen carefully. I only did the reminding for a couple of weeks. It also took a couple of weeks before they learned the characters in Reddy Fox, after that they listened better. By the second book in the series, they enjoyed the stories more.

I think it helps too to not add too much extra to the program. I know you said the 7yo has difficulty with comprehension, but perhaps the pathway readers are too much on top of LHFHG work. I do not know as I have never used them but I am not sure you need them. Are you using the rod and staff workbooks or the Thinking skills workbook? I have found both to be wonderful and I did both with my children.

I really think you should be using one math. Doing two math programs would overwhelm either of my kids. Carrie's activities are wonderful for helping to cement a lesson. I really like using the Textbook as well. What level of Singapore are you using? You do not need to worry if your son is not on the same page of the lesson plans for math as he is for the rest. My kids never are. We just mark the page we are on for math with one tab and the page we are on for everything else with another tab.
hope something in there is helpful.

[exodus4]

Mom to JGJE , I see your dc are about the same ages as my dc ! I have an 8yo, almost 7 ( will turn 7 in Oct - he is the one who struggles) , a 5yo and 2 yo . I don't know how you find time to do 3 programs when I hardly have time for one !

Well, we do use two math programs , actually even 4 if you count math-u see ( videos only) and IXL math . This dc needs it . He struggles with math. I mean , he is at the level but only because we work so much . It takes him a long time to get a concept .We do use manips and what not. LHFHG is useless for math as he is in Singapore 1B. I know Beyond has the lesson plans for math but as I said at this time I cannot afford it. We do use the IG though. He loves CLE and it's easier for him than SIngapore which requires a lot of thinking . We did use R&S preschool books with both of my kids last year before I heard about HOD.

I guess I will have to give up with some things, including math . I want to follow through with LHFHG no matter what . They will have to listen to Burgess books because I really like the character building and the questions.

I have tried in the past to let them color in the books, but noticed there was NO retention at all because they concentrate in coloring . If they listen , at least they will remember something (hopefully)

I am very stressed out because last year when my 7yo was in K , the teacher said he is not able to tell the main idea of a story . I've worked for months with him and don't know what else to do. I have different books and materials and that's what takes us all day too . Not only we do a few maths every day , but we also do a few reading programs everyday . With no much result The speech therapist also works with him every week . If someone can recommend anything , I would be grateful .

Does Beyond guide schedule readers w/comprehension questions for each of the readers? Would that help ?

Another question : should I lower my expectations ? We are both very frustrated . Maybe I should just go back and let him be at the level he is comfortable doing his work . Which is back in Singapore 1A.

[MomtoJGJE]

If it helps you to remember, Singapore math is written to start 1A when they turn 7. So if he's comfortable in 1A he's ahead of the game

Since he struggles so much, have you thought about "holding him back" in math? What if you were to do the Earlybird maths that are scheduled in LHFHG and do the hands on stuff with it. Especially if he's considered starting 1st grade this fall, and not 2nd grade. But even if you do want to start back with 1A or even continue where you are, you can always use manipulatives, even if you don't use the hands on exercises written in the book. Just get some blocks or crayons or cereal pieces or raisins or whatever and have him work out the math problems with them. You might also see improvement if you do less and let his mind sit with it. You would be more at peace anyway

I have time to do 3 guides for several reasons. 1.) I've been using HOD for 3 years now. 2.) I have my children properly placed (makes a HUGE difference) and 3.) I do the guides exactly as written and do not add in anything. It's also easier now, because like I said, I know what they'll be learning later on. So if they don't totally get it in LHFHG, they'll have the chance again in Beyond and Bigger, and maybe even after that.... I'm not up there yet

Would it help you if you considered Singapore 1A as second half of first grade? What if you started him out with Earlybird 2B, did the hands on things from LHFHG, and then went back to Singapore 1A after he got finished with that?

I also don't push the reading stuff. So far I've had 3 learn how to read in spite of me I do the emerging readers starting in Beyond and just let them read for fun before that. Now that DD1 is in DITHOR and is reading at a higher level than the ERs, it's much easier.... but we still do it slower than normal because she still struggles somewhat. Like this summer I took a break from DITHOR and have just been having her read Magic Treehouse books and answer the questions online at the website. It's helping her read higher level reading books and comprehend things from them.

Hmm... another thing is that you have boys. I have all girls. Boys are generally "behind" (right on target for individuals though) girls in reading and math. It makes it hard when you see other kids doing well to remember that one of the beauties of homeschooling is individualized teaching.

[Robbi]

Does Beyond guide schedule readers w/comprehension questions for each of the readers? Would that help ?

Another question : should I lower my expectations ? We are both very frustrated . Maybe I should just go back and let him be at the level he is comfortable doing his work . Which is back in Singapore 1A.

I tried quoting, we'll see if it works. Yes, in the appendix of the Beyond guide it has comprehension questions for the Emerging Readers books. I'm not positive but the Bigger guide might have these questions too. My DD is an advanced reader, reading chapter books etc & we started at the begining of the Emerging Readers list. For one thing, she didn't like reading out loud to me & I can really tell how the comprehension questions are making her THINK!!!

In regards to math, my example is I gave my DD the singapore placement test and she got about halfway thru 1A & halfway thru 1B. She was in public school kind last year, I don't think they learned things in same order. I know they had not done number bonds same way. Anyway, we just started at the begining of 1A. I don't think dc needs to be challenged & pushed in everything all the time!! Slow & steady wins the race. But that's just my opinion, you know what ur dc need!! I do like pp idea of going back to earlybird2 so you could use LHFHG activities. Just a thought. Hope something here helps. Prayers!!

[moedertje]

My prayers go out to you as you try to figure out what to do with your kiddo's especially your 7 yr old.
Just something to remember: We are to teach the children, NOT the subject. So, if one child takes a little longer or needs more hand-holding, because of speech delays or whatever reason, just relax and go slower with that child. Sometimes it gets stressful when we are teaching them and think they have to get it right away, (or soon after) but that is not always the case
I liked the idea of dropping to 1 math program and doing Carrie's hands-on activities with this child with Singapore, since it does teach the WHY behind math. Perhaps reading just the "Thornton Burgess" stories and allowing your children to grow into the skills of listening and comprehending. I think both Carrie and Julie have mentioned it taking a few units for most kiddo's to get used to this. Just follow the guide and be their guide.
Maybe dropping all of the extra stuff may help your dc's brain relax and take some of the confusion away. Carrie uses every day manipulatives for her hands on activities. As for your child who has some speech delays, if it takes them longer, just take a deep breathe, say a prayer and help them out, you may have to sit with them for a few years while they do math and that is no problem, I read on this board . When you are stressed it stresses them out as well (spoken from experience).
For your 8 year old, I would also say Bigger Hearts might be great and could be done more independent;y as you get through it. Just make sure you take the time to instruct them for the first couple of units, than they may run with it! This will help you focus more on the younger ones, who are learning the basics.
Success and hope you may find the peace of Christ as you weed through the answers on the board, and also pray and seek the Lord on behalf of your children. He will guide you.