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Hi everyone,

I lurk here all the time and have gotten a lot of great insight by regularly checking into threads here. My DD6 is currently finishing up LHFHG with first grade options. She used LHTH for preschool and we loved that as well. We used something else for K but made out way to HOD and we're in it for the long haul.

Anyhow, on to my son DS4. He is bright and knows all his letters, sounds, shapes, etc. However, he struggles with listening. I haven't started him in LHTH for this very reason. I have been using the bible from LHTH for his evening devotion time and he really struggles to answer any of the questions after the reading. However, I think it is partly a disciplinary issue as well. Afterall, he can sit and listen attentively to a Thomas the Train book or a Berenstain Bears book with no problem, but as soon as I read one paragraph from a children's bible, he completely zones out. Basically, I'm not sure what to do with him in terms of preschool. He has certainly already mastered the "knowledge" aspect of preschool, so I'd like to get him startedin LHTH before he completely outgrows it in that respect. However, I'm concerned about his (lack of) listening and comprehension. I'm hoping you ladies can give me some sound advice!

Thank you so much,
Sarah

Just some ideas...perhaps he simply isn't quite ready for "formal school" and it may be better to give him some more growing time: keep reading stories to him, let him run and play a lot to get out all that "boy" energy, train him to follow directions in helping around the house, let him express himself with messy art...you know what I mean. Or, if you feel your goals for him would be best met by starting Little Hands now, how about doing it at half-speed, only about 15 minutes a day-or spead the activities out throughout the day rather than having them all in one 30 minute sitting?

Lourdes has some good thoughts to consider already - sometimes waiting is the answer, and sometimes starting is the answer. In our case, we found my ds actually needed the matching activities in LHTH to help him better comprehend the Biblical stories. We read the Bible at night (not the LHTH's one), usually a children's storybook Bible, and he wasn't getting those stories either. It wasn't until we started LHTH half-speed that he was able to comprehend the stories well. The actions of the Fingerplays, the follow-up Bible activities where we often acted out the story we'd read, the art projects, the coordinating math/fine motor/devotional pages, the music that retold the stories - all worked together to help him fully understand what we had read. It was only then that he began to be able to correctly answer the questions in the story Bible. I like the idea of starting LHTH half-speed - I think the activities would draw him in and put him on the road to better comprehending the history. HTH - and welcome to the HOD Board officially!

In Christ,
Julie

The ladies are doing such a good job of helping you talk through your options! I just want to encourage you that it isn't uncommon for young boys to struggle a bit with listening to Bible stories at first. This is because Bible stories have a harder vocabulary, have a much less predictable storyline, and do not have as many repetitive words or characters as stories like Thomas the Tank Engine do. So, listening to a Bible story is actually an exercise in higher level listening for a little child.

How well a child comprehends a Bible story reading will also differ depending on what time of day the little one is asked to listen to the story. By bedtime, little ones are often weary, both physically and mentally. So, trying to process something new at that time is more work. This doesn't mean you shouldn't read aloud Bible stories at bedtime. It just means that we can expect less comprehension at that time of day as opposed to when the child is fresher, earlier in the day.

Listening to more difficult read alouds, like Bible stories, is a skill that takes time to develop. The beauty of Little Hands to Heaven is that you will actually be able to see this skill develop as you travel through the guide. Since your son is 4, I'd lean toward starting him in with LHTH, doing it 4 days a week. At age 4, he would likely be able to handle a day of LHTH in a day, since it takes 30 min. or less.

You can expect that he will struggle to answer the questions from the Bible stories for awhile (and this is not exclusive to little boys)! My sisters and I were talking awhile back about how surprising it was when our little ones finally began to answer some of the Bible questions in LHTH (and my older sister has a little girl). Until your little one is able to answer the questions, after asking the question if no answer is forthcoming, you could reread the line of the story with the answer in it to help prod your little one. Then, if the answer still isn't coming just tell the answer in a questioning type way. For example, if the question is, "Who did Abraham marry?", and if your little one doesn't know, reread the line of the story that says the answer. If your little one still can't answer, then say, "Did Abraham marry Sarah?" In this way, the child can still answer, "Yes" at least (giving the guise of answering the question).

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you ladies for your thoughtful responses. I appreciate each one of you offering your insight! I think I will plan on starting LHTH with him soon and just lowering my expectations as far as him answering the questions correctly following each bible story. I'm sure that, in time, he will develop that skill!