When to start LHTH?

[ltatum]

Hello! I am new here and new to the homeschooling journey, but I am so excited, especially about using Heart of Dakota curriculums! I have truly been encouraged through the HOURS I have spent reading about all the curriculums and 'eavesdropping' on various topics on this forum. I have told my husband many times how I want to cry with excitement.

I would love some seasoned homeschool momma's help with figuring out timing for using the LHTH guide.

My oldest daughter Anna just turned three and will be four in September 2012.
I also have a 17-month-old daughter Noelle who will be two in July 2012.
I am also currently expecting our third daughter Cate, due late March/early April 2012.

Now that the first trimester sickness is out of the way, I am seeing how much we need structure to our mornings everyday! I am also seeing how I need a plan to follow or no type of "schooling" -- no matter how relaxed -- will happen.

I know I want to use Little Hands to Heaven with my oldest, but I am struggling with WHEN to begin it!

Initially I felt it was best to stall LHTH until August 2012 for two reasons: 1) it seemed logical to start in August, when my oldest will be a month away from turning four, to coincide with a 'typical' school year; 2) I am having a baby early April -- so I thought I would be better able to handle/adjust/get my feet wet to homeschooling four months after she was born... hopefully I will be getting a little more sleep by then!

In the meantime, to satisfy our need for structure/learning time, I was going to use a different preschool curriculum that seems simple & Christ-centered from January 2012 until we being LHTH in August 2012. I was planning on taking a month off after little Cate's arrival and just being really, really, really flexible with this alternate curriculum.

However, I am doubting myself after I read on HoD's FAQ's that many Mom's use LHTH at 1/2 speed and only do it 3-4 times a week... so now I am wondering if I should begin LHTH January 2012, take however much time I need off when baby #3 comes, and then continue on during the normal 'school' year (still doing 3-4 days a week) and use it as an extra-long "pre-K" year. My only concern is wondering how beneficial it would be for my daughter to take a month (or more--trying to be realistic!) off LHTH only three months after we would begin it.

Whew! Sorry so long! I would love any advice or input! I want to do what is best for our family, and I'm worried my excitement to use LHTH might cause me to "rush" into doing it in January when it would be better to wait until August.
Thanks!
-Lacy

[Mercy]

Hi Lacy,
Welcome!! You will love HOD! Wish I would have started from beginning w my oldest. I just wanted to chime in w my opinion. HOD is so flexible and you can taylor it to your circumstance...so it really is up to you when you start and however you want to go about doing it. Heres what I am doing w my 3yo. In my case he is my baby and all the other kids in the house are schooling, so...for him...it works to have him doing "school" even now. LHTH is PERFECT to have some one on one time. Its especially nice because this special mommy and me time is ministering to his heart!! We are just going slowly, at our own pace. Sometimes he is doing 4 days, sometimes 1. Sometimes we are doing it only a few times a month. Thats ok with me, because it is there when we need it. He LOVES his school!!!! And he remembers a lot amazingly! I say, go for it! Take it at your own pace. Maybe explain (if you feel necessary) that you are just going to be doing it when mommy decides its a good time. Later you will be having school everyday, but for now it will only be occasionally. Or, only on tues and thurs...whatever u decide. Once you feel ots time to introduce phonics, etc. - go for it. Just enjoy the journey! It really does work out. If you feel like you are going too fast at some point you can just do a couple boxes ea school day.

Hope that puts your heart at ease a lil bit.

[MelInKansas]

I echo what Mercy said, it is really up to how you feel about it. If it were me, it may be a little easier to get started with it before your baby is born and then you'll already be familiar with it and used to it, and you can have the flexibility of only needing to do 3 days a week since you've already covered some. It will help you figure out what your 2nd born can do during school time also, if she will want to just listen in and join the activities and things, or if you can set up other things for her to do that will allow your oldest to do the things at her speed. I did LHTH when my oldest was 4 1/2 and my 2nd was 2 1/2 and they both participated and that was really fun. Of course I didn't expect the 2nd born to do as much of it or retain it as well, but they enjoyed doing it together.

I liked doing preschool 3 days a week. It was fun that way. There's probably no real rush either, you won't necessarily want to jump into LHFHG right after your DD is 5, or if you do you may want to go 1/2 speed with that as well.

[my3sons]

HI Lacy! I'd go ahead and start LHTH. We took off the entire summer in the middle of doing LHTH half-speed, and my ds picked it up like he'd never stopped it. We have so many wonderful memories of doing LHTH with each of our 3 sons - I'm excited for you and your dd to begin!

In Christ,
Julie

[mmschool]

I started LHTH with a not quite three year old. She needed some positive attention since she was also having some discipline issues. We are planning to go through it once with the 2/3 devotional and our prefered story Bible. Then we will repeat it when she is four and her brother is two with our own Bible and the 4/5 devotional and all the older student options. She really benefits from repetitions. That being said, it is easy enough to do that we have done about four days worth of open and go preschool when her new brother was two weeks old! She asked for preschool time and I could do it with the baby in his wrap.

Lena

dd3 - LHTH
ds1
ds 3wks.

[ltatum]

Thank you ladies for your helpful reply!

I am going to go ahead and start LHTH in January - I am so excited about this! I know I was just "settling" when I was planning on doing the other curriculum because I was worried about 'messing up' a perfect schedule... which shows what a beginning homeschooler I am!

How do most Momma's do LHTH at half-speed? Do they do 4 days a week, alternating right side/left side for each day? (I just worry that that will cut down 'school' time to only 15 minutes a day, when it would probably be best to do at least 30 minutes.) Or is there a different way? I had considered covering one unit in 2 weeks -- doing 3 days a week MWF the first week, and TR the second week, and filling in the non-LHTH days with library books, errands, etc. I'm just curious what 'half-speed' looks like.

Again, thank you so much!
Lacy

[runnermama]

I have a feeling that half speed looks alittle different for everyone, but here is what we are doing for LHTH. We started just after my dd turned 3 in May, and now we are on Unit 15. We usually do "school" about 3 days a week, but sometimes more and sometimes less. I've also got a 1 y/o ds, so sometimes school just doesn't happen The nice thing about this program, is that even if you take a month off, you can pick it back up without any problems. I figure we will probably finish up around May 2012 when she is turning 4. We don't worry about doing 1 unit exactly every 2 weeks, or anything else too formal. I see this as just fun, quality time to spend with my daughter. It is fun to see how she is growing, though. When we first started, I would read the Bible section to her and then ask the questions at the end. I would always get a somewhat blank look and a "I don't know" for an answer! Now she knows the answer right away, and usually has more to add. We're still in the OT, so it's usually something along the lines of "this person didn't obey God, so now He's punishing them!"
My dd already knows all of her letters and sounds, but this program is still worth it's weight in gold to me. I love the time we spend together, and I love how she is learning more about God every day. Hope this helps some! Oh yeah, this usually takes us around 15 - 20 minutes, but you can always add coloring, cutting, "project" stuff if you want to make it longer.