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I have two kiddos that will be doing HOD next year. My daughter will be in 4th grade and places well into Preparing. I have looked over the guide and books and think that she will love it and thrive! I'm really excited to see how she does with it! My son, on the other hand, is 6 (birthday in December) and will be in first grade. He places well into Beyond, but after looking over the guide, I'm a little concerned that it's going to be too much work for him. He's reading at about a second grade level - he loves the Magic Tree House and the Cam Jansen series. Most of the books on the emerging readers list he's already read. It's the writing I'm more concerned about. He does know all his letters and can write words and short sentences, but it's painstakingly slow. I timed him today to see how long it would take him to copy the spelling list in unit 1 of Beyond and it took just over 8 minutes for the ten words. Then I quizzed him and had him write the spelling words that I dictated to him without looking. He was able to spell four out of five correctly, but it took him about 40 seconds to write each short word. Then I had him copy a short sentence. He did it beautifully, but it took him seven minutes to copy the six words. I'm concerned about the daily work in the guide dragging out for much longer than my six year old's attention span, do mostly to the copy work. I'm so confused! On the one hand, I have the Beyond guide already and most of the books. Maybe I should try it and see how it goes. On the other hand, I don't want to set my son up for stress and tears. Maybe I should go with Little Hearts instead next year and add to it as necessary if he finds it not challenging enough. Thoughts anyone?

Well there are options here. First you could do Beyond at half speed until he gets used to it, anywhere from a couple weeks to half a year or more. Second, the only real copywork I remember from Beyond was the poetry and that is flexible. The instructions say to taylor it to your child, one line written correctly is better than four or five lines written in frustration. I can't remember any other big copywork unless I am mistaken. I'm sure others will have more advice for you...

I LOVED Beyond for our first grade year this year. She was a young six and it took some time to get used to coming off of a traditional Christian school, but we got there Half speed is a great idea to begin with. Also for copywork, I learned the hard way just to have a set time and have her copy as much as she could. She gradually increased her ability. There are also some really good worksheet makers out there and if you think tracing might be easier for him you could do that. My girl is a perfectionist and we had to work through some you-don't-have-to-be-perfect issues so copywork was a big deal in our house.

As far as everything else, it was a perfect fit. She's reading on a high level too and I think that was key to our year being so successful. We've ended up switching math curriculums for next year because Singapore was just getting frustrating for her. She needed something a little more concrete and repetitive.

I'm happy to answer any other questions you have since we are just finishing up our year! I'm really glad I chose this guide for her and didn't go lower. We're starting Bigger half speed in July and she is SOOO excited!

I would do Beyond and he will grow into the writing. I think the timer idea is a great one. You don't want it to drag out and discourage him. My daughter was not a great writer (understatement) when starting Bigger. I was just glancing back through her science notebook last night. Wow! What an improvement. At the beginning she only did one vocab word and I would write some of her science experiment stuff. She now does all 3 vocab words and all of her own writing, copying the whole poem, etc. We are only on unit 12.

I don't think my son in Beyond is not writing much faster than that right now, but it's working out just fine. Like others have said, there's not that much for writing requirements-do set the timer for copywork, and then they get the daily practice with the spelling lists, but I don't think 10 mins or so is too much at this point.

Also, my son has already completed Little Hearts, and there really isn't much in there to prepare them to write any better/faster.

Thank you, ladies, for your responses. I'm encouraged that doing Beyond with my son IS doable this year! For those of you who did Beyond with a first grader, did you encounter any issues in the next couple of guides, with the guides being more advanced than your child was ready for? If I did a guide a year, my son would be in Preparing in 3rd grade. My daughter will be doing Preparing this year in 4th. I'm sure he'll mature a lot in the next few years, but I'm having a hard time seeing my wiggly boy thriving in that program at age 8. Some of you have mentioned doing guides half speed. For those of you who have done that, do you school year round and do the whole guide in a calender year or do you take two academic years to get through it?
Thanks for sharing your experiences!

We used LHFHG with 1st grade options for 1st. We just finished Beyond for 2nd. We loved them both! I'm glad we didn't skip LH. It was fun, a good intro to everything, great Scriptures, fun hands on projects, and just well, good. You can still do spelling list 1 from Beyond, and start the ERs wherever he's at. If he is beyond all of the ERs, Carrie gives other options including DITHoR. Beyond for 2nd with spelling list 2 and DITHoR at his level. Unless a child is really advanced academically and in maturity, I wouldn't consider skipping LH for 1st grade. My .02.

ETA: I wanted to add with the ER set, it is my understanding they should be able to read these fairly fluently before starting them. If he has read the ones listed there are others listed in the guide. Just make sure to ask similar questions. Using them teaches reading skills, not how to read. Also, even tho they're listed as unit x-y, you can start them anywhere. So if he's at the Nature Reader start there, or wherever, on unit 1. Lastly, if your ds hasn't read through the Bible I recommend it, even if the Beginner's Bible is easy for him. I'm amazed at how reading this everyday has made my ds hungry to read the Word. He even reads it on the weekends. It's forming that all important habit of getting in the Word each day. That's priceless.

Make sure to pray about it! And welcome to HOD.

Thank you, Angie, for your input. Using LHFHG is one of the options I am considering. Perhaps you can address one of my hang ups to using that program this year. It appears that the first 20 units cover only Bible stories. I love Bible stories, but here's the thing. My husband already systematically goes through the Bible with the children several times a year. They also are in Sunday School and Awana every week, getting more Bible stories. I'm concerned that doing Bible stories for history during the first half of the school year could create boredom and apathy for the things of the Word instead of drawing his heart closer to the Lord. Biblical history told along side other stories of the ancient world I think would be more appealing at this point in his life.

purpleshells wrote:Thank you, Angie, for your input. Using LHFHG is one of the options I am considering. Perhaps you can address one of my hang ups to using that program this year. It appears that the first 20 units cover only Bible stories. I love Bible stories, but here's the thing. My husband already systematically goes through the Bible with the children several times a year. They also are in Sunday School and Awana every week, getting more Bible stories. I'm concerned that doing Bible stories for history during the first half of the school year could create boredom and apathy for the things of the Word instead of drawing his heart closer to the Lord. Biblical history told along side other stories of the ancient world I think would be more appealing at this point in his life.

IDK. My ds knew all the events when we went thru LH, but we still loved it. I read from our Bible and we discussed it (sometimes very deeply). I, honestly, think it was a good intro because he felt successful with it. He also had (still has) church classes.

It might also be nice for you. You can focus on his 1st grade skills (math, reading, etc) and keep the other stuff light. That way you have time to get in the groove of Preparing.

Either way, Little Hearts of Beyond, it's a great program. If you find you need to slow down you can always do that.