When to start?

[TammyTE]

Thinking ahead here.

My just-turned-3yo girlie Evelyn is doing bits and pieces of LHTH right now. Mainly just the first part of the rhyme and a simple bible story. One day we did an activity. It makes her feel included.

Next year she would be perfect for LHTH. But I also have a 1yog (Sadie) following her.

Since we are fairly new to HOD it worked out well that my 7yob and 5yog could both do LHFHG. How do I know when to start Evelyn in LHFHG? Obviously if she is ready at age 5 we could start. I guess what I am asking is how do I know if I should start her a little late and do it half speed so her little sister could jump in with her the next year and finish up with her at half speed?

Am I over complicating this? (I tend to do that.) Would I be better off just doing LHFHG with her when she is ready and then once Sadie is 5yo have her do LHFHG. If Evelyn happened to still be in LHFHG then combine them. Then at that point assess the situation and maybe slow Evelyn down in Beyond if I feel like Sadie could join her?

I can see that Evelyn will not combine with the 5yo (Avrie). She is 2.5 years younger than her and Avrie is right on target if not a little advanced for her age. Avrie combines well with her older brother.

Who knows, maybe by then I'll have another one that Sadie could combine with!

So what do most people do in situations like this?

[raceNzanesmom]

I don't know what most do as I only have one left that's still hs'ing. I, however, wouldn't worry about it right now. Take each year as it comes and place each child where they fit best at that time.

[Larissa]

I don't think there is a "what most people" do. Every family and the dynamics are so different.

I have 4 children that are all about 2 years a part in age. I have not found a way to combine any of my children in a way that is satisfactory to me. So, I have each child in their own guide. I actually use LHFHG in some way for 2 years. I developed my own K program using the LHFHG guide with all the K options and added in my own read alouds/Science/History/and Bible. I use the guide as written for 1st grade with 1st grade options minus the rhymes in motion that I use for K. (I have found that those work better with my 5 year olds.)

There are many people here who do combine. However, it's tricky when you are just starting a child in K ... because a 3 year old is definitely not ready to be doing K.

[TammyTE]

Larissa-

That way you use LHFHG for two years sounds fascinating!

[MelInKansas]

I had a similar quandry to you. First of all I would say, it's not necessary to start LHFHG right after you do LHTH, in fact I don't think I will be doing that with my 2 YO. I did LHTH when my oldest two were 4 and 2. LHFHG with my oldest when she was 5.5, 3.5 YO tagged along. This year Beyond with my 6.5 YO, 4.5 YO tags along and does her own phonics and a little K workbook that I found that she really likes. I wanted to try and combine my oldest 2, because I think my 2nd will be a little advanced in grade level, but in looking through everything I found that I don't think I will be able to do it this early. I would really be holding my 6YO back until her sister can develop the reading and fine-motor skills to be able to do the later guides. That seems like a disservice to both of them. My 6YO places well and is doing great in Beyond this year, so I am really glad I didn't try to do something else.

I ideally would like to combine them whenever I can, and I will be looking for ways to do it on down the road. But for these early guides, their skill levels are so different I just found I really can't. Hopefully in a couple more years.... I really like when they have the togetherness of working on the same projects, discussing the same books (which I'm sure we could combine storytimes pretty easily from here on out), doing History lessons together. The progression of the history and other things is so great between all the guides too... it's really tough to know how to either skip ahead or have one child wait until their sib can join in.

Also it may be that, like my kids, your youngest can "join in" LHFHG even without being officially "in" it. My 2nd was 3.5 when we started, of course I didn't have her doing phonics (well she listened in and did pick up on some of it), handwriting, or math. But she basically did everything else with us, not really comprehending the storytimes all that well, but she memorized the verses, and did the crafts and activities. She loved that! But she will repeat LHFHG next school year, when it will really be on her level and she can do all of it.

I hope this helps and hope you can figure out what will work for you!

[TammyTE]

Good food for thought everyone!

[my3sons]

Tammy - I think you are wise to consider combining your 3 and 1 yo down the road, as you have 2 other guides going already with your other dc. I also think that the Lord begins to make clear how dc are going to develop, and that this starts to make clear whether combining will work or not. So, balancing those 2 things is the goal, I guess. Your 1 yo wouldn't be able to start LHFHG for another 4 years though. Maybe they could meet up though? What about something like this...

2011-2012: 4 yo does half-speed LHTH, 2 yo just hanging out
2012-2013: 5 yo does other half-speed of LHTH, 3 yo doing half-speed LHTH
2013-2014: 6 yo does half-speed LHFHG (could do full-speed LA/math in LHFHG), 4 yo doing half-speed LHTH
2014-2015: 7 yo does half-speed LHFHG (could do full-speed LA/math in Beyond), 5 yo doing full-speed LHFHG
2015-2016: 8 yo does full-speed Beyond (could do full-speed LA/math in Bigger if this is fitting), 6 yo does full-speed Beyond with your 8yo

This is just an idea though - and there are so many options with HOD! I hope something here helps! I think it will become obvious if it is just easier to keep them separate or combine them as time goes on, but they are close enough in age to probably be combined - you'll know best here.

In Christ,
Julie

[TammyTE]

Thanks Julie! These are the types of things I want to have in my mind as we go along. Of course I have no idea about my 1yo's development other than she is not an early talker like my oldest. I do know that my 3yo is a late talker and exhibits a lot of similar traits to my 7yob. I just combined him with his 5yo sister in LHFHG.

The 3yo and 7yo BOTH were:

late talker
tend to stuff food in their mouth at meal time
can't chew raw carrots unless cut very thin
seem to have some sensory type issues (nothing major but we notice)

There's more, but that gives you the idea. So if my 1yo doesn't do these types of things then I will probably be watching for a way to combine them. At least that's my thought for now.

[MomtoJGJE]

Here's a way to have them combined in Bigger if the younger one is capable and the older is ok with going slower.
LHTH with the younger options right now (3 and 1),
older options next year (4 and 2),
LHFHG half speed with 5yo with full speed K options (5 and 3),
LHFHG half speed with 5yo with full speed 1st options, LHTH with 4yo (6 and 4)
Beyond half speed, LHFHG full speed with K options (7 and 5)
Beyond half speed, Beyond full speed as 1st (8 and 6)

At the end of that year they would both be starting Bigger. They would be 9 and 7.... the 7yo would use it as 2nd grade and the 9 would use it as 3rd or 4th depending on if you did half speed math or full speed math during Beyond.

I have 4 all roughly 2 years apart... I cannot combine any of them yet anyway. They are just far enough apart in abilities that it's just not possible. But since they are all placed appropriately it really flows quite smoothly.

[TammyTE]

Thanks for typing that out. That is helpful to see it lined up that way.