Son Not Ready for LHTH?

[mrsrandolph]

This is my 4th, so you'd think I'd have it down...(sigh)

My son turned 4 on November 20th. He knows his letter names and sounds. He knows his numbers and how to count to 20. So I thought it was time to start him in LHTH.

OH MY WORD!

He *might* listen for 2 seconds, and believe me, I present it as enthusiastically as possible!! Then he is up and running or pretending to blow up the Bible.

He sits in big church quietly looking at books. He sits quietly during family worship.

So, should I be training him in focused attention at this point or just leave him be?

Thanks!

[Robbi]

I feel for you! I also have a DS whose 4 with a Nov bday, (nov 6) and when we started LHTH he really wanted nothing to do with it. Outside of school time, he would not color, at all! Not even in Sunday school or anything. We started LHTH at half speed, being we only did 2 of the boxes a day, and we didn't start his until we had a few weeks done with HOD for my DD7. We also didn't do it everyday butI kept at it and he's doing great now. I remember being frustrated because he would listen to other books being read just not LHTH!! So actually, I really have no new advice for you, keep going or stop for awhile. I don't think either one will hurt. I just wanted to let you know you are not alone!!

[Molly]

One thing I read the other day on HOD's Facebook page, was about sitting on the couch with the child tucked under your arm. I have been doing it since and my boy is starting to really listen, and this is one of those boys who would rather do anything but listen to a story.

[mrsrandolph]

Thanks for those posts. Keep them coming!

[my3sons]

I think you could do LHTH half-speed with him, doing just a few boxes each day. You could read the Bible and do something active as a follow-up, like the Fingerplay or Bible activity. We did half-speed LHTH with Emmett, and I just read the Bible story twice. I like Mollly's idea about being cuddled up on the couch tucked under mom's arm for the readings. We do this too, and it really helps those little active sweeties settle down. If you did half of the boxes from LHTH, each box would take about 5 minutes, and this would amount to about 15 minutes at most. I think training ds to be able to do 15 minutes of LHTH each day is reasonable for what you've shared about him. He probably is not ready for full-speed LHTH right now, but I do think he could do half-speed and ease into it. It would be a good idea to begin half-speed LHTH with him, as it will slowly train him in many areas such as sitting to listen to a short reading, sitting to work at a table for a short amount of time, following short directions cheerfully, etc. - all things we needed to work on with our little wiggly boys too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[mrsrandolph]

Thanks Julie,

That helps a lot. Those boys are hard to wrangle sometimes, but if he can sit for church, he can sit for mommy!

[lissiejo]

One thing about LHTH is that it is the first "formal" instruction for a lot of kids, but even then it isn't so formal. It is a wonderful way to introduce what school is. There is a lot of training involved that has nothing to do with textbook learning. It took me some time to understand and accept that, but once I did things wen much more smoothly with my girls. I'll be starting it one more time this fall with my third girl and I think I will enjoy it so much more with her because of my perspective. Enjoy your boy! He'll get the hang of it in time

[my3sons]

...Those boys are hard to wrangle sometimes, but if he can sit for church, he can sit for mommy!

So true, and kuddos BTW, for getting him to sit in church! We just did that, and Emmett actually fell asleep today. We are finally reaching the stage where I can truly listen and enjoy all our pastor has to say as our boys get older. I am loving that, as not all that long ago, Emmett was so wiggly I had a hard time catching any of it - have a good weekend, Shannon!

In Christ,
Julie