LHTH at 5 yo

[glperky]

Julie,

It sounds great!! My only concern is, with kind of "pushing" my little one in LHFHG, and with the big step between LHFHG and Beyond, will he more than likely be ready for Beyond this time next year? I am sure there is no way of knowing that. But when I look at the Beyond TG, I have one, I can't imagaine him being ready for it.

Thanks again. You are a huge help and blessing.

[mamayi]

I just wanted to pop in here and add my two cents if that's ok.
I was following this thread and as I was reading all of the great questions and advice I kept thinking that combining and going 1/2 pace might be a great long-term plan... if one of your goals is to combine. I have combined my oldest two this way - taking one and a half years to do LHFHG, one and a half years to do Beyond, and two years to do Bigger. Now we are in Preparing with both my dc fitting in the age range (8-10) and having solid HOD skills to tackle the guide as is. I will freely admit that there were many days along the way I felt I was holding my oldest child back or dragging the other one along but when I would look at the bigger picture I could see both of them doing quite well. (They of course do their own level of math and reading.) The only thing I need to adjust now for my younger one is the amount of writing she does. (funny that she never tires of drawing though! )
I just wanted to let you know what it might look like in the coming years if you combine and go 1/2 speed and to let you know that your feelings of holding back/pulling along are shared and an indication of the careful evaluation of your children's loving teacher.

[my3sons]

From what you've described, I don't think your almost 5 yo is that far off the mark for starting LHFHG. By taking 1 1/2 years to do LHFHG, I think you will be able to give him enough time to grow into it. You can easily begin Beyond half-speed at the start of it as well, taking 3 years to do LHFHG and Beyond. Then at that point, your younger would be almost 8 yo starting Bigger Hearts, and your older would be almost 10 yo and could do the extensions if you wanted. I didn't mean your younger had to know all his sounds and be able to be a wonderful little 'cutter' by the close of this August! I hope I didn't sound that way! I just meant that with a few weeks of focused time on those few skill areas, I think you'd see some surprising progress. However, another very viable option is to do LHTH with your little one, and do either LHFHG full-speed or Beyond half-speed with your older ds! It really comes down to how much you'd like to combine, and how close you feel your youngest ds is to being 'almost' ready for half-speed LHFHG. What you could do is start LHFHG half-speed, and a month in re-evaluate and see if you wanted to separate or not. I hope something here can help - just pray about it - and God will make clear the best decision!

In Christ,
Julie

P.S. Posting at same time as mamayi

[twoxcell]

If he isn't turning 5 until Nov. then he wouldn't be in K until fall 2013. It sounds like he is doing just fine for PreK age.

[glperky]

If he isn't turning 5 until Nov. then he wouldn't be in K until fall 2013. It sounds like he is doing just fine for PreK age.

Thanks for pointing this out. I often forget considering where we live if he was going to PS he would be starting Kinder this fall and my 6 yo would be going into 2nd grade and would be 6 until Dec. Praise the Lord for HSing.

[glperky]

I just wanted to pop in here and add my two cents if that's ok.

I just wanted to let you know what it might look like in the coming years if you combine and go 1/2 speed and to let you know that your feelings of holding back/pulling along are shared and an indication of the careful evaluation of your children's loving teacher.

Thanks for your "two cents," mamayi! And of course it's OK! I appreciate the insight of what it might look like in the coming years. That's one of the things I need to see. Thanks again.

[glperky]

From what you've described, I don't think your almost 5 yo is that far off the mark for starting LHFHG. By taking 1 1/2 years to do LHFHG, I think you will be able to give him enough time to grow into it. You can easily begin Beyond half-speed at the start of it as well, taking 3 years to do LHFHG and Beyond. Then at that point, your younger would be almost 8 yo starting Bigger Hearts, and your older would be almost 10 yo and could do the extensions if you wanted. I didn't mean your younger had to know all his sounds and be able to be a wonderful little 'cutter' by the close of this August! I hope I didn't sound that way! I just meant that with a few weeks of focused time on those few skill areas, I think you'd see some surprising progress. However, another very viable option is to do LHTH with your little one, and do either LHFHG full-speed or Beyond half-speed with your older ds! It really comes down to how much you'd like to combine, and how close you feel your youngest ds is to being 'almost' ready for half-speed LHFHG. What you could do is start LHFHG half-speed, and a month in re-evaluate and see if you wanted to separate or not. I hope something here can help - just pray about it - and God will make clear the best decision!

In Christ,
Julie

P.S. Posting at same time as mamayi

Julie,

You didn't make it sound like my youngest had to know all his sounds and be a wonderful cutter by the end of Aug.! I understood what you meant.

I do kind of like the idea of LHTH full speed and Beyond 1/2 speed. Knowing the following about my older you would recomend LHFHG or Beyond 1/2 speed IF he was the only one in the picture?

As far as the 6 yo will be 7 in Dec. on the charts he is half way through phonics, is writing upper and lower case words well, but not sentences. Spelling CVC words well, but that's all. He is "Ready for gentle introduction to the basic parts of speech." And he is flying in math, he loves it! I should probably add that he is pretty active and would rather just get done with school each day so he can start playing again, (don't get me wrong though, mom is in charge!) However, he will sit and listen to me read until the cows come home and then bring out more books for me to continue reading!

Wow, after all of this, it's hard to believe that I have graduated one and have one going into High School. Hard to believe, uh?

Thank you again!

[mommybelle]

I've been reading through these posts, and I wanted to give you something else to consider. I also struggled with where to place my 5 yo last year (who will be 6 yo this October). I finally decided on LHTH though she would have probably done just fine with LHFHG. I think God was actually helping me out a bit by having me start slower with LHTH for our preschool year. Like the other moms have said, please don't beat yourself up at all. I also think your son is placing just fine! And I also agree with some of the others that kids need time to be kids!

Links removed by board moderator per board rules.

I wish I could have worked all of this in for my 5 yo daughter, but I was too busy letting my perfectionism take over! But now we are just going with the flow of the days. We are currently using LHFHG. We have truly found a gem with HOD!

[my3sons]

I think 6 turning 7 yo could do Beyond half-speed. Phonics is one of the reading choices for Beyond. He is ready for gentle grammar, for the math in Beyond, listens to reading well, and could probably begin Spelling List 1, growing into the day he is to copy a few sentences. He can grow into writing sentences by starting with 1 line of poetry copywork a day. Going half-speed, he could do his poetry copywork daily if you wanted. Sooooo, after all this good discussion here, I am thinking that maybe LHTH for little one, and Beyond half-speed may be just the ticket - what do you think?

In Christ,
Julie

[glperky]

Oh Julie,

I just don't know what to think. I think you ladies have helped me figure it out and then something will happen at home or someone will give an other idea, or... and then I am back to wondering. My 6 yo told me last night that he doesn't like school. All we have done up to this point is pretty much math and Phonics. And I have tried to make them fun. We sat an talked about it this morning and he said it is because it takes away from his playing time (I knew that was what he would say.) I have a 20 yr. old that never liked school. He didn't like private school, public school, or HSing his last 4 yrs. I sooooo don't want that to happen with any of my other 3. I really looked over Beyond last night and I believe that 6 yo would be able to do it all, even at regular speed, except the Language box, however, some of it might be a little push and would take longer each day. I am thinking that since we we will be adding so much with HOD beyond what we have been doing, maybe I should just stick with LHFHG and try to just make it a really fun year. LHFHG might make a good transition year from just doing math and phonics to adding all the other. (Of course we have been reading everyday, Bible reading, and memorizing verses, daily up to this point.) What do you think?

As for the almost 5 yr. I know there is more to LHTH than learning letters and their sounds, I understand that. But I just can't see spending a week on each letter when I know he could have them down cold by the end of the summer. (I have seen Leap Frog Letter Factory work.)

I typed all of that to say, I think I am going to combine them in LHFHG or do LHTH and Beyond. Please tell me what you think (anyone that has an opinion!)

Do other people have this much trouble with placing children, or is it just me?

Thanks!

[Heart_Mom]

Do other people have this much trouble with placing children, or is it just me?

I just wanted to pop in to say that you are NOT the only person to have trouble placing their children. I tend to overthink every homeschooling decision ... just ask my husband!

Hugs to you! You are not alone!!!

[glperky]

Do other people have this much trouble with placing children, or is it just me?

I just wanted to pop in to say that you are NOT the only person to have trouble placing their children. I tend to overthink every homeschooling decision ... just ask my husband!

Hugs to you! You are not alone!!!

Thanks for popping in. My DH starts telling me, "A double minded man...!"

Hugs to you too!

[bethelmommy]

I am thinking that since we we will be adding so much with HOD beyond what we have been doing, maybe I should just stick with LHFHG and try to just make it a really fun year.

I typed all of that to say, I think I am going to combine them in LHFHG or do LHTH and Beyond. Please tell me what you think (anyone that has an opinion!)

Do other people have this much trouble with placing children, or is it just me?

Thanks!

Since you asked, I vote for giving combining a shot. If your oldest is not fond of school, doing all the fun activities in LHFHG with his sibling will definitely be great fun. My two LOVE doing school together and it has worked out great. My ds will be 7 next April and dd turns 5 in October. We have paced LHFHG to last a year and a half and will probably do the same with Beyond. Honestly, my ONLY frustration with homeschooling since starting HOD is keeping my 22 mo ds occupied Doing HOD with the older two is the easy part

I second getting the letter factory as a supplement for learning letters and sounds. My oldest two learned them quickly from that video. You could actually work with your older on his other subjects while the younger is reviewing the video. Then use the phonics box time for your younger as a chance to reinforce letter recognition/sounds. In a few months, or whenever he gets that down, you can start a formal reading program. I think the The Reading Lesson actually starts with introducing letter sounds, so your son is really not that far off. It is totally OK for your children to be at different levels in some of these skill subject areas. If you just try it out, I think you will find it all falls into place. I doubt you will feel the need to push your youngest and once your older ds matures and becomes ready for a longer school day, It is easy to move him forward at a faster pace in subjects where he excels or add extensions once you get to the Bigger guide.

I feel your pain over decision making, but truly, just taking the plunge and getting started is what made the difference for me. Just seeing it work brought an end to all the second guessing, and a lot of my concerns about combining and even using HOD in general ended up being non-issues.

[glperky]

Thank you so much, Alicia! I think God used you to answer my latest prayer! Thank you!

[raindrops]

Hehehehehe...

Just wanted to offer some encouragement when I read that your son says "school isn't fun because it takes away from his playtime" even though you tried to make it fun! LOL

That was us a few months ago..!

DS would gag when it was school time! I just had a few workbooks like math and phonics... a few minutes worth! He'd kick his feet and hiss. LOL!

Now, I am the one who wrote the post about "a 5 year old's thoughts on HOD".

I wasn't even dressed this morning... like stumbled out of my bedroom headed for the bathroom when met by an exuberant 5 yr old boy in the hallway who tackles me "morning!!!!!!!! I am ready to do my schoolwork!!!!!!!! Can we do my schoolwork"?!
....dude.... I. Have. Not. Even. Woke. Up. ....yet.

It is like this everyday, even the weekends.

So while I am not sure which guide to tell you to choose... I can tell you your kids are going to LOVE whatever you pick out. Because Carrie has the best ideas and balance.

It's goina be awesome!