LHTH for 4 yr old, then MFW K for 5 yr?

[Heart_Mom]

I'm not familiar with MFW K, but another option would be to do LHTH at age 4, then use LHFHG at half speed for ages 5 and 6.

[raindrops]

I was actually toying with the same idea.

I have a 2.5 year old daughter that is "doing" LHTH. We're leaving some parts out that I think are too difficult and adding in other things. I will do LHTH again... maybe next year or when she is 4.5.

But... that still leaves a year. So I could just do LHTH really slowly or add another age appropriate curriculum. MFW k doesn't look that fun to me, really. So I don't know... I might just use some free printables offline. ? There are actually a lot of cute free preschool ideas. (Part of board post by moderator per board rules)

[lissiejo]

First of all, I HATE giving grade levels to my girls, BUT for the purposes of explanation I'm going to

We opted to do LHTH for a 3-K program because all of my girls really wanted "school" by then. For 4-K they were ready to learn to read and I did the Rod and Staff books suggested in Little Hearts which they loved. We also did the Singapore 1A and 1B books. This is the level before what is written in Little Hearts. Since we are part of Awana I used the Cubbies book for Bible and just added in whatever for fun. This worked really well for us and I still felt like I was sticking to the HOD plan. Little Hearts has been a great fit so far for Kindergarten for my girls, but I know not every child is ready for the history and science at that point. You could do the kindergarten options for that age, then come back for 1st grade with the 1st grade options and then do the history. It would also save you from buying another curriculum

[lissiejo]

That's basically it. My daughter is enjoying the history. I think it really depends on the kid. Some days she seems to be wandering more, but she still seems to retain a lot more than I think!

If you want more to fill the time I really like the other Rod and Staff books in the series that Carrie uses too. My daughter is doing the last three (G, H, and I) this year as well.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I know it can be interesting to know how to handle your little ones preschool years, and I understand that there are many preschool and kindergarten programs out there than you can consider using. For the purposes of the HOD Board, we do try not to spend time talking about products not related to HOD. So, from our perspective, you can explore several options as far as HOD goes.

You can ponder stretching LHTH out over 2 years doing it 3 times a week. You could do LHTH half-speed over a year and then go full-speed the following year 4 days a week. Both of these options will stretch LHTH out over 2 years.

If you happen to have a child who is older but is not quite ready for LHFHG, you could instead do LHTH at full-speed and add in any of the 3R's from LHFHG that your little one seems ready to tackle. This could mean doing the Rod and Staff workbooks, the handwriting K, the phonics, and possibly even the K math. You could actually pick and choose which of the 3R's your child seems ready to add.

Then, the following year, you could just head into LHFHG and pick the correct level of K and 1st grade options for the 3R's to meet your child's needs.

Another option is to do LHFHG over 2 years. This can be as easy as doing the left side of LHFHG one day and the right side the next for a season. Then, the following year, you'd be ready for full-speed 4-5 days a week.

With any combination of these options, you'll often find that your kiddos will arrive at full-speed eventually and do very well. I honestly did a myriad of programs with my oldest son during his preschool years, so I know what you are pondering.

But with my next 3 boys, I've only done the HOD route, in many of the different scenarios that I've outlined above, and we've found it to work very well and be very good preparation for the regular HOD path.

You'll know best what route will work well for your kiddos, and I fully realize you may choose to deviate from the HOD path. I just wanted to pop-on and give you some HOD scenarios to ponder rather than sending you somewhere else.

Blessings,
Carrie

[KristinBeth]

I would wait and see how your child is doing after LHTH. You may not need to add anything else. We did LHTH at 4 and LHFHG at 5, no problem. You could slow down if you see it is too much, but it may not be.

[mom23]

We did LHTH slowly to begin with, increasing to full speed as ds was needing more. Now we're at the end of LHTH, already adding in some of the writing and math suggestions from LHFHG. I'm about ready to begin LHFHG (probably slowly at first) for our Kind. year. It does seem like a big jump between the two, but it's working for us and I'm planning to stick with HOD all the way!

I think that it would be a bigger issue if you began LHTH too early (around 2 or so). But, if you're asking about beginning LHTH for your 4 yo, I really don't see any reason that you couldn't move into LHFHG at 5.

[my3sons]

We moved into half-speed LHFHG after doing LHTH with our dc at 5 yo and found it to be a good fit. On a side note, one thing that has been wonderful for my little guy's listening capabilities and comprehension has been to do the "101 Favorite Stories from the Bible" readings and questions (one a day) this summer. We did the first 5 units of LHFHG half-speed at the close of our school year since he had finished LHTH, and then we took our summer break. I didn't want to be away from the Bible this summer with my little guy, so I got the "101.." Bible that we were not using with LHFHG (as we were using the other Bible choice), and his answers to the questions have improved SO MUCH! I just thought I'd mention this, as I'm super excited to pick up LHFHG where we left off and see him understanding more and more. I'd not worry about it! If full-speed LHTH is going well, I'd go full-speed. One of the many beautiful things about HOD is the flexible pacing. If full-speed LHFHG shows itself to be too much later, just go half-speed as long as you need to. That's what we have done with all of the guides, and though the pacing has not been exactly the same for each of our sons, it has been just right for each of them. HTH - I'm excited for you to start with your little guy!

In Christ,
Julie