Recommendations for starting hs with 3 yod and 4.5 yod

[cjkennelly]

I am trying to decide whether to use HOD or another curriculum as we start hs this fall. My 4.5 yod knows letters, some sounds, numbers 1-10, wants to learn math (simple addition), knows shapes, colors, and wants to learn to read (is currently turning all books into "wordless books" and pretending to read them to her younger sister and/or their dolls). My 3 yod wants to "do school" since big sister is doing it. She is just starting to learn shapes, letters, numbers (can say ABC's and count 1-10, but not identify the written letters & numbers), and knows colors. We've been "trying" school with both of them this year (all year with 4.5 yod and second half of the year with 3 yod)...sitting down for 45 mins, 3 days/week with Pre-K curriculum books from Sam's Club to see if I/we can even do this. 4.5 yod loves it...asks to do it and sits really well through it. 3 yod loves it when SHE wants to do it, can sit through it when SHE wants to do it, (usually wants to quit after 25-30 mins, while 4.5 yod wants to keep going), but she also asks to "do school" regularly. Since they are only 18 mths apart, they are really good buddies...play really well together and both seem lost without the other one around. Overall, I would say 3 yod is slightly more advanced than 4.5 yod was at her age. My questions is, how would you recommend schooling them this fall...together? Separately? Many hs moms have recommended that I teach them together, but not sure how I would do that with this curriculum...long term as well as for this fall. Although they enjoy the workbook curriculums we've been doing, I know that they would love doing a unit based curriculum. After looking through HOD, I know that both of them would enjoy doing school daily, and would easily be able to sit for 1-1.5 hrs since it's lots of interactive and hands-on activities rather than just sitting doing workbooks (they sit for 1-1.5 hrs for church every Sunday). My husband is wonderfully supportive in all of this...has looked at both curriculums we're considering online. We've been praying about it, but can't seem to make a decision. Thought maybe posting this question on both curriculum forums would help us decide. I appreciate any recommendations/advice that you seasoned hs parents can give me.

[crlacey]

You could easily use Little Hands to Heaven with both children and add phonics or math when needed. Which is probably what most people will tell you if you want to combine the kids.

My DD sounds like your oldest and is enjoying Little Hearts For His Glory. She's learning to read and the simple math like you talked about. And she's enjoying the Bible. So if you didn't want to combine the kids, then you could probably start LHFHG even if it's only at half speed for the first few weeks. Though if they are already sitting for longer stretches, you might be able to do it as written.

The placement chart really is helpful when placing the kids. And if you are looking to combine, they always say to tailor to the younger and then beef it up where needed for the older.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD boards, Charissa! You will find this a great place to be! Your daughters sound precious, and they sound ready and raring to start school. You gave some great information about them. I think that you could do them both together in Little Hands to Heaven, and you could begin phonics with your oldest in addition to this. You could also add in A Reason for Handwriting, Level K for your older daughter, and if you wanted the R & S Workbooks too. Your 3 yo would be able to join in on this quite easily, and your 4.5 year old could be challenged more with these additions.

With these additions, when you go to do Little Hearts for His Glory then, you would just either continue to finish phonics, do the next level of handwriting - which would be Level A, and do the Thinking Skills Gr. 1 workbook.

I am really wanting your opinion after you look at the placement chart though, because another option is zipping around in my head here too. I don't want to go into that yet, but, could you please look at the placement chart and let me know where your 4.5 yo seems to fit best? It's easy to use and will only take you a minute... I promise! Here's that link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

A lot of the ladies here will be chiming in after you place any more thoughts you have after checking out the placement chart. No matter what HOD programs you'd use, I just want to assure you that you will LOVE HOD! We've done all of their programs now and are thoroughly pleased with the results. Homeschooling is a happy, productive, educational thing at our house, and it's all due to HOD! I'm so glad you are here, Charissa, and I can't wait to get to know you here more at the boards!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Crystal -
We were typing the same time and thinking exactly the same thing... I feel like I should shout "jinx"! We're thinking along the same lines here. Thanks for chiming in - I love how all of us bounce ideas off each other here.

In Christ,
Julie

[cjkennelly]

I would say my 4.5 yod is ready for math and writing in LHFHG, but not sure if she's ready for grammer instruction and I question if she's ready for phonics instruction just because she doesn't know all her letter sounds yet. She's loved doing the cutting/pasting activities we've done and asked if she could begin learning to write, so we've been working on that as well. She's also enjoyed using the Cuisenaire rods my MIL gave us last month...just getting familiar with them and doing some fun activities with them. I thought about focusing on teaching the letter sounds this summer and then starting her in LHFHG this fall, but I don't want to push her too much. If I start both of them in LHTH this fall, adding in phonics, math and writing as needed for 4.5 yod, would she then be bored with LHFHG next year? And would I then move my 3 yod on to LHFHG (assuming she does really well with LHTH) even though she'll only be 4? How strictly do you follow the age guidelines on the chart? If I start her (my 3 yod) now, and continue doing the next program each year, will she be "too ahead" for her age/maturity level as she'd be one year younger than the recommended ages for each program? Any advice on the pro's/con's of teaching the together? We're concerned about the long-term implications of teaching them side-by-side (pushing one and/or holding the other one back a bit). Thanks for your time, encouragment, and advice!

[mom2boys030507]

I would suggest getting Little Hands and looking through the whole book. I don't think your 4.5 year old would get bored - however it does sound like she is ready for Little Hearts. By having Little Hands you will have school for your 3 year old. Even if she can sit I would think the history and Read Alouds would be hard for her. If she is ready at 4 I think you will be okay as long as you continue to remember that she started early and it is okay to slow down and not group them together any more.

Karen

[Mommamo]

Your little girl sounds a lot like mine. I went ahead and started with LHFHG and we're loving it. My little boy is 28 months younger than my daughter, so I knew we probably wouldn't be combining at any point, so that's part of what went into my decision making. However, although she's definitely ready for LHFHG, I do sort of wish we'd done LHTH and maybe done it at a faster speed. I've finally gotten to actually look at it in person and I think DD would have enjoyed it a lot. I would have had to add in handwriting, math, phonics, etc, yes, but I think it would have been fine. I'm not disappointed that we went the route we're going at all. I'm just saying that I think either way would have worked out fine.

[Jessi]

Hi Charissa!!

My daughter is 4.2 months old. She is very much like your daughter. She knows all letters (capital and lowercase) and all letter sounds. She can even tell you what letter begins a certain word. She can count to 20 and recognize the same. She knows all shapes and colors. She can do simple addition and wants to learn to read. She writes her own name and knows her phone number. She is like a sponge...soak up anything you throw at her. Sounds very much like your own precious daughter.

So I thought, perhaps I should just start her with LHFHG, but then I decided to go ahead and do LHTH and supplement. I am doing a handwriting program. She is a southpaw so handwriting is always going to be her weak point. Plus I plan on teaching her to read this summer and fall with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Our kids grow up so fast anyway. I figured I'd let her enjoy her "childhood" free time for a little bit longer. But I have decided that if she is absorbing everything in LHTH quickly, then I am going to double up 2 units a week, as was suggested by some ladies here. Then after finishing early, I will immediately move her into LHFHG.

Goodness I ramble. Sorry.

HTH!

Jessi

[my3sons]

Charissa,
There's no grammar instruction in LHFHG, so don't worry about that yet. (Grammar instruction begins formally in Beyond...). No, I don't think your dd would be bored with LHFHG - there's just nothing boring about it! It is great fun to teach and to do. The changes I suggested would make it challenging enough for her in a year's time as well.


However, after reading your second post, I'm wondering if maybe you could go through LHTH double-time, just to fill in any gaps your oldest may have with letters and letter sounds, etc.. You could do one LHTH day's plan in the morning, and another LHTH day's plan in the afternoon. Then, in about 4 months, you'd be done with LHTH and could start LHFHG with your oldest. You could see how your youngest does with this. I'd guess you may want to have your youngest do LHTH again, but you never know, maybe she'd be ready for LHFHG too.


We've done both LHTH and LHFHG twice now, and we've done them all different ways. With my first son, we were on the very young side of each of the programs. With my second son, we did LHTH slowly, taking more than a year to do it, and they we did LHFHG at half-speed with him for the first 4-5 months, then began doing all of LHFHG each day - thus, LHFHG will take us about 1 1/2 years to do. All of these different paces have worked well for us. HOD is very flexible that way.

You are wise to think about how the 2 of them will work together, and whether there may be too much stretching for the youngest, or too much competition between the 2. I think if you begin with LHTH with both of them, you'll be able to see how that goes, and it will become clearer what to do at the end of that program. HTH! Keep asking away though with any other questions you may have!

In Christ,
Julie