Hi :-) New With Questions

[Lisa71887]

Hi! I have 4 kids (5, 3.5, 2, and 6 months). We are really enjoying LHTH with my 5 year old and 3.5 year old. It has been such a blessing! I'd LOVE to continue with your curriculum all through school so I have a few questions. My oldest daughter just turned 5 in October so she'll be starting K in Fall 2013 and my 2nd oldest will be 4 by the Fall so she'll get one more round of LHTH under her belt before she jumps into LHFHG the following year. I know that my oldest is definitely ready for LHFHG this September. I eventually want to combine my 2 older ones (both girls are 17 months apart) and then eventually my 2 boys (they're 19 months apart). What would be your suggestion on how to do this? Initially I thought I'd run my oldest through LHFHG twice: once at the K level and again at the 1st grade level. In my oldest's first grade year my other daughter would finally be joining in LHFHG for K and they would remain combined throughout their schooling years. The other option I thought of was keeping them separate until BLHFHG. So this is what the schedule would look like:

Sept. 2013: Oldest LHFHG and 2nd daughter, LHTH
Sept. 2014: Oldest Beyond (1st grade) and 2nd daughter, LHFHG
Sept. 2015 Oldest Beyond (2nd grade) and 2nd daughter, Beyond

I've read that Bigger and Preparing jump up in expectations so I'm just really confused and trying to figure out how to plan accordingly LOL. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the missing year for my 2nd child though. HELP!!! Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Also, in my state (WV) I'm required to test once a year or do a portfolio review. We plan to go with the portfolio option. Has anyone had any problems with no physical tests or quizzes being in the portfolio? I agree with your CM method of not doing real written tests and seeing them grow in knowledge first hand over the year and their work should reflect that. I'd think that should be sufficient but I just wanted to know if this was an issue for anyone. If so, how did you handle it? How would I make up a portfolio?

In the high school years, how would I provide proof of grades for a transcript if there isn't testing?

Thanks for helping this very new, over-planning home schooling mama out!

[psreit]

Welcome! I am only homeschooling one, so I'm sure you will probably get some good advice from someone who has had the experience with multiple children. If you are wanting to have your dds in the same guide, I'd say have dd#1 do Little Hearts twice. You have more choices in that guide to give her some different things to do the second year. (K & 1st grade) A few boxes will be the same both years. The only other thing would be to do those boxes half speed, but then it wouldn't be until the end of the second year that they would be together. Just my thoughts.

In PA there is no problem with no tests, as long as I have book lists and/or written work/notebooks/projects to show in my portfolio. All you can do is find out what the high school guidelines are, but don't let that worry you. Just enjoy HOD as it is right now.

[lissiejo]

I would agree that doing Beyond 2 years in a row might be a bit much. American History is covered in Beyond and Bigger extensively, so doing it for 3 years may burn you and your daughter out! You might want to wait to do Little Hearts until 1st grade and K if you really want them in the same guide. You can use the Little Hands guide for Kindergarten and add in kindergarten math and reading instruction as well as adding in the other K options from Little Hearts like the Rod and Staff books. I think you would find this a good balance for K.

[bethelmommy]

One suggestion is to hold off on LHFHG and just add K resources from the guide for your oldest along with LHTH for all. You can also add some fun read alouds. My kids really enjoyed Old Mother West Wind. We have a beautifully illustrated version which helped to prepare them for the other Thorton Burgess books in LHFHG this year. The next year you would do LHFHG with the two oldest with 1st and K resources accordingly.

Now, I can tell you what we have done with our two oldest who are 18 months apart. They were both ready to start LHFHG when they were 5.5 and just turned 4. However, we only do the guide 3-4 days a week and on the non-HOD days, my oldest still does math, reading, and writing. So, now that we are on week 20 of LHFHG, dd is still completing the guide as is, but ds has moved ahead to math, emerging readers, and spelling in the beyond guide. This has worked really well for us. HTH.

[Lisa71887]

Thank you all for your answers!! You've given me a lot to think over before I order which will hopefully be in April or May. When I mail in my notice of intent for my oldest DD this Fall for K I'm required to outline what will be covered. How would I go about creating an outline? If I were just to use LHFHG my plan was to just copy and print the student objectives and table of contents but since LHTH is pre-k, what would you suggest I do? If I end up choosing to go through LHFHG 2 times with my oldest, how would I show in my outline that even though she was doing the same material, she was doing 1st grade work? I read somewhere that there's a guide in LHFHG for the emerging readers so if I used LHFHG for K with my youngest DD I would do "The Reading Lesson" but for my oldest, if she's ready for the emerging readers, (which I think she will be) then I'd follow that plan of action. So it would look like this:

Oldest DD in LHFHG 1st grade I would buy the extra books needed for 1st grade PLUS the emerging readers set and 1st grade math.
Youngest DD in LHFHG: I'd do everything at K level using The Reading Lesson and K math.
I would then copy the student objectives for each child from the guide. I would add the emerging readers schedule for my 1st grader and proof of her 1st grade math. Does that sound right? What about the science books? Would I want to buy the 1st grade science book for my 1st grader too? I almost feel like combining is more trouble than NOT combining LOL!!

I really appreciate the answers! I've been bugging my DH with this and he's just as confused as I am LOL

[bethelmommy]

How detailed does your outline need to be? Can you just list the resources you'll be using?
For example, I just list Math - Singapore earlybird, Reading- The Reading Lesson, Handwriting - Getty Dubay Book A, etc...
If you need to list concepts, most of those are listed in the beginning of the guides. Even if you wait a year to start LHFHG in it's entirety, you will want it for the K math activities and then you could copy the math concepts listed in the front. I personally have not had any problem using the next guide up for the subjects I need for ds and then using the main guide for the rest. Even when dh has filled in for me, he easily teaches from both guides. I just use sticky tabs to mark the pages we are on.

For science, if you do LHFHG once, you can just use the K science. The activities are coordinated nicely with the K readings. If you do the guide twice, you might then want to add 1st grade science for variety.

Have you checked the placement chart for each of your dc? This may help you decide which way to go. And remember, children can mature a lot in a few months time, so what you decide now may not be the best fit come April/May.

[amysue277]

Hi,
I had meant to comment on this earlier, but have been having problems with my computer. My thoughts after reading your post are this:

Have you considered just doing the right side of LHFHG next year with your oldest? And then the following year you could do the first grade options and left side with both of your girls, of course adding the K options for the younger.

I suggest this because it sounds similar to what I'm doing this year. I too, really wanted to combine my kids but I was so torn and unsure of what to do since my oldest was more than ready to do LHFHG full speed. My oldest 2 are also 18 months apart. In August, my older son was 5.5 and younger just turned 4. We never did LHTH (although might have if we had it), but since I didn't and since I am a teacher and had a ton of other resources, this is what I decided: I currently am doing the right side with my older son (K options-although will soon be switching to 1st grade because it's too easy for him) and we DO do the Burgess books. I find them the perfect level for both my kids. Next year we will plan to read from the Beyond read aloud list. I also add in Explode the Code, tons of reading aloud and any other science/art resources that I find. I'm learning that this is more than enough for his K year. Next year (God willing) we will do the full LHFHG but do the right side of Beyond with the oldest, and the the LHFHG K options for the next one. I anticipate after going through the program a bit, that it will be a great year.

I can see after doing LHTH that it might be hard not to jump right in though. I struggled with that as I SO wanted to just begin homeschooling with LHFHG full-speed, all of it. But that would've meant not combining my kids, and now that #5 is due in 8 weeks, I am SO glad I did that. Some might disagree, but this is what has worked best for my family. Do I crave a little more? Well yes, at times I wish we were doing all of LHFHG, but I know I just have to be patient. You can find tons of other resources quite simply and just add in a few. For example, we read from 'Leading Little Ones to God" every day, and do calendar, weather, etc. It rounds out the program quite nicely although it doesn't all tie perfectly together.

I do NOT think however, you would want your oldest to do LHFHG twice. Just my opinion but it seems to me like it might be redundant for her. Just my opinion of course. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

[Lisa71887]

Thank you all for the time you put into your responses! I think for right now, after praying about it and hearing from my husband that he came to the same decision at work LOL, that I'll just take one year at a time. SOOO NOT easy for an over planner like myself LOL. I'll just focus on my oldest DD and I know without a doubt, after looking at the placement chart, that she'll be very ready for LHFHG this Fall (she'll be 6 in October). My younger DD turns 4 in March and I'll obviously be re-doing LHTH with her (she loves it so much!). That time around the focus will be primarily on her. She keeps up with my oldest fairly well but I need to wait till her own K year to decide if I should combine them. If I get to combine my kids at some point because it seems like the best placement for them then that's what I'll do. If not, 4 guides it is! I'm just nervous about potentially having to run 4 guides. ESPECIALLY Bigger and Preparing when I have so many other kids close in age that will be in the lower guides also needing lots of attention. I wish I could fast forward time and just see it all working out

[bethelmommy]

I'm glad you've come to a peaceful decision. Correct placement is so important in successfully implementing HOD. I know that is why combining has worked so well for my oldest two - they both clearly placed in LHFHG. I hope you have a wonderful K year with your oldest!

[farmfamily]

Hi - it seems you've already made a decision, but I'll add my $.02 anyway! I think you should re-evaluate your younger daughter this summer when she finishes LHTH. Kids change so fast at that age and she may be ready for LHFHG half-speed. I planned to repeat LHTH with my youngest child (he did it last year and turned 4 last February, so was in about the same position as your younger daughter is now). But in August it just seemed like he was ready for a gentle start to phonics & his listening skills were good. I ended up starting LHFHG with him half speed, and I haven't regretted it. He basically does the left side of the guide one day and the right the next (though I switched math to Day 1 and Bible Study to Day 2 to even out the "fun stuff"). He's only been doing it 4 days a week, so we have only now just finished Unit 5 - but he LOVES it and is doing great with it. I think you could do something like this with your younger child, while with your older daughter do the same except she would do the right side of the guide (the 3Rs) daily. You could add some of the supplemental literature from the appendix to read to your older one if you wanted to add more history to her week - they are good books.

Another option is to LHFHG full-speed with both but only do it 4 days a week (your oldest could still do her 3Rs on the 5th day). If you kept going at 4 days a week and went half speed whenever necessary your younger daughter would eventually be in the age range for the guides.

If you're serious about combining your older two (and I think it's a good idea), I think doing something like this is much better than planning for your oldest to repeat a guide later. My oldest has done some repeating to be with her sister, and while it was okay, I really did not think it was ideal for her - she did remember a lot of it from before and I kept having to tweak things to keep her interest. We only did this for 10 units and I was glad when it was over. I wouldn't want to repeat a whole guide with a child (except I think it would be all right to repeat LHTH since little ones don't remember as much). That said, I'm so glad she did go back and repeat those 10 units because combining has worked so well for my older two. They are in Beyond now and only combine for the left side of the guide - they do math and language arts at their own levels.

Anyway, I know many people on this board don't combine kids that are close in age and they love that too - so that may be the best plan for you. I just wanted to share some ideas I had. I hope I have helped and not made you needlessly second-guess yourself! I wish you all the best...

[Lisa71887]

You all are too kind to keep replying, thank you Ok, so if I combined my girls in LHTH next year with K "extensions" for my oldest, this is how I think it will look:

Oldest DD: LHTH Bible, any LHTH activities, The Reading Lesson, K math, K science, K handwriting, a different social studies book I come up with (so they both can go through the actual history in LHFHG next year together), some read alouds.
Youngest DD: All of LHTH

THEN when my oldest DD is in 1st grade and my youngest is in K:

Oldest DD: All of LHFHG at 1st grade level. If she's ready to move on to the emerging readers then I'll do that. Is there a schedule for that in the back of LHFHG or will I have to buy Beyond?
Youngest DD: All of LHFHG at K level

Oh my gosh, this may work! AND I'd be able to follow the same set up for my boys when they start school and only run 2 guides I welcome all suggestions LoL!

[Lisa71887]

Oooo and I just noticed something else LOL! I've been using the devotion "Big Thoughts for Little People" in LHTH. Well I had actually ordered "My ABC Bible Verses" but was sent the wrong book and thought it was no big deal. Now I'm SOOO glad I got the wrong book because now I can purchase "My ABC Bible Verses" since it's for older kids and use it for next year with my K student and it won't be repetitive haha!

[bethelmommy]

You all are too kind to keep replying, thank you Ok, so if I combined my girls in LHTH next year with K "extensions" for my oldest, this is how I think it will look:

Oldest DD: LHTH Bible, any LHTH activities, The Reading Lesson, K math, K science, K handwriting, a different social studies book I come up with (so they both can go through the actual history in LHFHG next year together), some read alouds.
Youngest DD: All of LHTH

THEN when my oldest DD is in 1st grade and my youngest is in K:

Oldest DD: All of LHFHG at 1st grade level. If she's ready to move on to the emerging readers then I'll do that. Is there a schedule for that in the back of LHFHG or will I have to buy Beyond?
Youngest DD: All of LHFHG at K level

Oh my gosh, this may work! AND I'd be able to follow the same set up for my boys when they start school and only run 2 guides I welcome all suggestions LoL!

I think this looks good, except I would save the K science for the guide. This is what I am doing for my 1st and pre-K'er and the activities just fit together so nicely with the k science text and the rest of the LHFHG guide. If you feel strongly about having a formal science, then maybe get the 1st grade science to read through first and save k for the guide. You can also use books from the library to read through for science/social studies or I can pm you with other suggestions.

My copy of LHFHG does not have the ER schedule, but it is listed in Beyond. Also, LHFHG has the 1a/1b level of math scheduled in the appendix, but does not have all of the great hands on activities that are written in the Beyond guide. So, I would recommend getting Beyond when your daughter becomes ready for the Emerging Readers and/or Math 1a/b.

[Lisa71887]

Ok so I'll definitely be buying Beyond next year since I'll be buying LHFHG in a few weeks, thank you! As for the science: I'm trying to keep everything straight in my mind so if I'm wrong just correct me but I thought I read somewhere that there's an appendix in the back of LHFHG for experiments in the 1st grade science book. Are they just not as fun? I read somewhere Carrie preferred the K choice too so I'm just curious to the differences between the 2 I'll probably buy the Abeka K social studies workbook for my oldest DD since we're waiting to start LHFHG history portion till they're both in the guide so nothing is repeated. As for the story time part of LHFHG: I'd rather save those books for when they're both in the guide together too but I read that in the back there's an appendix for different read alouds. I guess that's the only part I'm still trying to understand/figure out: what would I do with story time?

[bethelmommy]

Ok so I'll definitely be buying Beyond next year since I'll be buying LHFHG in a few weeks, thank you! As for the science: I'm trying to keep everything straight in my mind so if I'm wrong just correct me but I thought I read somewhere that there's an appendix in the back of LHFHG for experiments in the 1st grade science book. Are they just not as fun? I read somewhere Carrie preferred the K choice too so I'm just curious to the differences between the 2 I'll probably buy the Abeka K social studies workbook for my oldest DD since we're waiting to start LHFHG history portion till they're both in the guide so nothing is repeated. As for the story time part of LHFHG: I'd rather save those books for when they're both in the guide together too but I read that in the back there's an appendix for different read alouds. I guess that's the only part I'm still trying to understand/figure out: what would I do with story time?

I believe the appendix lists page numbers to coordinate 1st grade science with the science boxes in the guide. There are not separate experiments, just different readings. I haven't seen the 1st grade text, I have just read previous posts where some feel the K text coordinates with the activities better than the 1st grade text. We have been fine with K science this year.

The additional readings listed in the guide coordinate with the history portion, so they are not really for story time. Any good children's picture books would suffice for story time this year. You can find some children's book lists online. It is best to use the scheduled Burgess books with the guide. The questions and activities that coordinate with the stories are designed to develop specific skills students will need as they progress through the guides. However, there are more Burgess books than what are used with the guide, so it is possible to read some of them ahead of time. As I mentioned in a pp, we read Old Mother West Wind a few months prior to starting LHFHG, so when we started the Burgess books with the guides it was like meeting up with old friends.

If you feel strongly about a more structured story time, you could use the LHFHG storytime this year and then do the Beyond story time twice using different sets of books. They offer a classic set, boy interest set, and girl interest set for the Beyond story time. However, they are longer chapter books so you will have to decide if your kids will be ready for that and if they will be ready for fewer pictures with the Burgess books this fall. The readings in the Burgess books are short-about three pages, but most of the stories do not have pictures.