Does this sound right?

[Starla]

Am wanting to put my 5 yo dd in LHFHG starting in August. Her brother will be beginning Preparing. I want to keep her to a four day schedule as well...and want her to be able to complete LHFHG and Beyond in 3 years, not two. Yet I would like her to have the advantage of working through both the kindergarten books and the first grade books BEFORE she starts Beyond.

So am thinking of doing the lesson plans as written EXCEPT:
Math: Start her with Rod and Staff, but have her do at least one extra day of work per week than what is written so she gets through it quicker. Then I could start her on "Thinking Skills Grade 1" and do the same thing with that. If I need to, could have her work on Thinking Skills during our break between years, so she will be ready to go in Singapore 1A when she's ready for Beyond.

Science: Am thinking of reading a short section of "The World God made" straight through how it's written, but only do it on the "non science" days from the guide. When it is science in the guide, still go to that page, read it and do the activity as the guide says. Then I could continue the same way through "My Father's World" so as to be ready for "God's Wonderful Works come time for Beyond.

Bible: Do as is written, BUT once we start Beyond, I would like to go ahead and read her one Bible Story out of "101 Favorite Stories from the Bible" each day just as part of our day, so she can get another overview of the Bible but in a little "upped" up language.

For those of you who have done Little Hearts and Beyond, does this sound feasible? She's been going to the public school's pre-K class here, (only 3 days a week for a few hours on those days) but am planning on pulling her out for kindergarten. Will most likely still be taking her down to the public school twice a week for speech therapy, but am excited to be able to teach her at home. I'm a planner of sorts though and just want to know whether this is a workable plan or not... Thanks ahead of time for your input!

[MomtoJGJE]

Your plan sounds good... I'll throw in my comments though

Bible... I really don't know what you mean... I'd just do the Bible as written.

Science... it's not necessary to do both of the science readings (K and 1st) but you can if you want to... It wouldn't take much time to add in the other one.

Math... This is where I"m really unsure about what you are meaning? There is a fine motor skills section in LHFHG that includes R&S books and Thinking Skills along with handwriting, and there's a math section that has Earlybird K math scheduled in it. I would just follow the schedule in LHFHG for the K level fine motor skills, and then if you think it's necessary to do more with Beyond, then just follow the schedule in LHFHG for the 1st grade level.

[countrymom]

A couple of thoughts: between my two sons I have used both of the science books and there is really no need to do them both. I wouldn't worry about that unless you really want to do both.
Keep in mind Singapore 1A is produced to be done at age 7. If you began 1A in the 3rd year you are working on those two guides, that would still be fine.
The Rod and Staff books are basic skill books and Earlybird singapore is done for kindergarten math. You could choose to do one book the 1st year and one the 2nd year of your program while stretching earlybird math out for two years. Or you could do both basic skills book in the first year, but I would still stretch the Earlybird math out. I am out of time but those are my thoughts for now.

[Larissa]

Here is another idea for you that may be a lot easier and will keep you on a 4 day schedule. (which I LOVE) I will be doing this schedule with my 2 younger children. Instead of trying to do LHFHG and Beyond in 3 years, you could do LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger on a 4 day schedule. This will add 25 (four day) weeks to your schedule which is very close to a full school year. This would get your daughter to Preparing a little earlier than her official 4th grade year - but taking the other guides slowly should prepare her very well for it. It could also be (potentially) much less confusing. You will be able to just go from one guide to the next without having to add in extra books at different times. Doing it this way will also keep you on a 4 day schedule all the way up! We love our 4 day schedule!

[Tidbits of Learning]

I am taking my ds5 through LHFHG right now. The only 1st grade books that I want to make sure he goes through is the fine motor skills books-Thinking Skills 1st grade and ARFH A. I plan to take LHFHG, BLHFHG, and BHFHG at a 4-day week pace. When we get to Beyond, I will add in Thinking Skills and ARFH A (if he isn't ready for copywork). I did buy the 2nd Bible, "101 Favorite Stories" and I think we may read it aloud together but I am not adding it to his work in Beyond. I don't think it is necessary as Beyond has you read directly from the Bible. The 101 Favorite Stories in LHFHG is actually for the History section not the Bible section. With the science, I would just pick one for doing with LHFHG and if you want read it through as written as well. I would not try to get through both k and 1st. They are very similar. We are going with the kindergarten science in LHFHG and will use the 2nd grade science for BLHFHG. The math as another poster pointed out is Singapore Earlybird K and Singapore 1a/1b for Beyond. I would just go at the pace written and do the activities written. So here is our plan broke down-
LHFHG (kindergarten 4 day week)-
Fine Motor Skills-R&S and ARFHK
Science-Kindergarten option
Math-Singapore Earlybird K
Bible-is actually read from the Bible (the children's Bibles used in LHFHG are for the read about history section)

BLHFHG (1st grade 4 day week)-
Fine Motor Skills-Thinking Skills 1 and ARFH A (only if not ready for copywork) will use schedule from LHFHG
Science-2nd grade book
Math-Singapore 1a/1b
Bible-is actually read from the Bible

I will tell you the more you change HOD in the younger years the more you lose the gentleness of the program, the short times, and the CM feel of it. It really builds on skills and does so in a way not to burn out young children. Since my child is starting on the younger end, I want to make sure and really cement the skills before moving ahead to the next skill. It isn't the way texbooks are set up where you have to finish the k materials and 1st grade materials to go to the 2nd grade materials. If your child finishes LHFHG with kindergarten options, then they will be ready for BLHFHG in 1st grade.

[Starla]

Thank you for all your replies... I just want my little one to SLOWLY progress and not too quickly as she has some special needs. I had really wanted to incorporate both the Rod and Staff workbooks and the Thinking skills but first go through the one and then the other. Think she needs them both. Guess I can do that the following year even if I am following the Beyond schedule. Same with wanting to do the simplified Bible Reading with her first, then go to the 101 Favorite Bible Stories just as extra reading during Beyond to help her further along. Think I'll leave the extra science out of it.

Maybe I worry too much about her as even at 5 years old, her fine motor skills aren't what they need to be, and she writes many of her letters backwards. She even says some words backwards especially if they have two syllables or more. (Like "sometimes" might be said "timesome") So am worried about her being a little dyslexic on top of everything else she faces and really want to take things nice and gentle.

Yes, as one of you mentioned and as Julie mentioned in a different post of mine, I think to take Little Hearts, Beyond and Bigger in 4 years instead of 3 might be good for her. Just making her school days 4 days a week instead of 5. I do want her to enjoy school - don't want it to be too hard. Part of her school day will be just jumping on our indoor trampoline, playing on the exercise ball, or swinging on the swing in the tree outside. All of that extra motion actually helps her to concentrate and do better work. She also needs sensory for her fingers...playing in shaving cream, running her fingers through dried lentils, playing with her toys in ice cubes etc. seem to be therapeutic and something the OT recommends for her. So there will be a lot of other things that I have to work in her day as well as teaching her older brother with Preparing.

Again, I appreciate each of you helping me to think through this!

[Tidbits of Learning]

Thank you for all your replies... I just want my little one to SLOWLY progress and not too quickly as she has some special needs. ...
...Part of her school day will be just jumping on our indoor trampoline, playing on the exercise ball, or swinging on the swing in the tree outside. All of that extra motion actually helps her to concentrate and do better work. She also needs sensory for her fingers...playing in shaving cream, running her fingers through dried lentils, playing with her toys in ice cubes etc. seem to be therapeutic and something the OT recommends for her. So there will be a lot of other things that I have to work in her day as well as teaching her older brother with Preparing.

Again, I appreciate each of you helping me to think through this!

I was just thinking after reading your last post....does she place in LHFHG on the placement chart? LHTH is for ages 2-5 and many use it for kindergarten while adding on phonics from LHFHG. There is a lot of those type things in LHTH. The shaving cream for letters, pasta for letter or lentils, using ice cubes as well. It might be worth a look to see if LHTH might be better for kindergarten with some of LHFHG right side (phonics, handwriting, and math) and then move to LHFHG for 1st grade? I haven't read all of your previous posts so you may have already ruled out LHTH, but after reading this last post of yours on this thread...it just sounds like LHTH would be great for your little one to work on fine motor skills and get the sensory integration she needs.
Just a thought.

ETA-My ds9 had sensory issues as well and thrived with Montessori before we started homeschooling. Have you thought about purchasing sandpaper letters and numbers. It really helped my ds with his reversals in writing. Another thing is a reading guide strip may help with focusing and word reversals. They have like a strip of translucent blue, yellow, clear, pink, orange, or green in the middle that you line up where you are reading. The yellow seems to work best for us. They help to strengthen visual tracking skills. I don't know if you have a school aids or the like but they are only like $.99 at school aids. Therapro.com has a lot of these items as well. Thinking Putty is also great for them to work their fingers with while you are reading history or science aloud. It has made a big difference for us to use these items with our ds.

[Starla]

Actually, we're still working through LHTH right now - only about 1/2 way. She knows all the sounds that the letters make, but she's loving the fingerplays, the acting out Bible stories, the hands on stuff.... Am also just starting "The Reading Lesson" because she wants to read so bad - seems to be going okay so far. (just two pages and sometimes one page a day) I'm planning on working through all of LHTH before I would start LHFHG....

[Starla]

O! Thanks for the tip about the reading guide strip. I'll have to try and look it up next time I'm at Mardels - an educational store I frequently go to. They should carry something like that I would think.