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I messed my first thread up so much that I thought I would start a new one.

I just don't know where to place my 4 yr. This is a little bit about him and where he might fall on the the charts. He is beyond LHTH except for learning his letters. He "knows" them and then doesn't, or sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't so I don't think he is ready for phonics. As far as math goes, he is the same with numbers. He does know how to count and knows one to one correspondence. He wants to write and is "writing" all the time. He carries pads of paper and a pen around with him to "take notes." He is ready for LHFHG as far as listening to the stories and answering questions and will be joining right in with big brother on the left side of LHFHG and storytime (because he wants to), so... I just don't know what to do for him. Any help and input would be great.

Don't worry about the other thread. Hopefully you'll get things lined up with this one. I'm sure others can guide you better than I, but I will try to give you something to go on. We did not do LHTH, so I don't know what is actually in that guide. But, I would think that it would have some skills included that you may want to use. If your 4yo is not ready for the right side of LHFHG, other than storytime, then maybe you could use LHTH to learn those things. As each guide builds on the previous one, then LHTH should include skills that would ready the child for LHFHG. Honestly, it sounds to me like he would probably be ready for Earlybird Math and the K fine motor books. If he is already doing some writing, you may want to gently begin A Reason for Handwriting. He will learn formation of his letters with that. That would also help him learn the names of all the letters as well. If you don't think he is ready for phonics, just work on these other things and start him when you think he is ready. You can use phonics in Beyond next year if he doesn't get it done this year. You could also do the 1st grade Thinking Skills book next year with Beyond. You don't have to rush through to get it all done this year if it seems like a lot. Work at a pace that he can handle. He'll do fine. I'm sure others will step in to help.

Thanks Pam,

I not as concerned with him being able to do LHFHG this year as I am concerned about him not being ready for Beyond the next year. So, if we do LHFHG this year and he isn't ready for Beyond, then what do you do?

If you are concerned about Beyond, then maybe it would be a good idea to take LHFHG at half speed or three days a week. I am doing 3 days with Bigger this fall, because I feel full speed would be a lot for my daughter. She's weak in her 3 Rs. If you do LHFHG a a slower speed, he won't be in Beyond for at least a year and a half. Just take your time with him. It may mean not keeping both boys combined, but you don't want to rush him.

I guess I would be hesitant to move beyond LHTH at this point. Knowing letters and numbers is important before learning math and writing. I would do LHTH again with a different bible/devotional, but add in the R&S workbooks from LHFHG, and get the rest from that set. There are actually 6 workbooks in the set and R&S just came out with a new one. play with him, do mathy activities, but I would wait on LHFHG until he is actually ready.

psreit wrote:Don't worry about the other thread. Hopefully you'll get things lined up with this one.

I agree

netpea wrote:I guess I would be hesitant to move beyond LHTH at this point. Knowing letters and numbers is important before learning math and writing. I would do LHTH again with a different bible/devotional, but add in the R&S workbooks from LHFHG, and get the rest from that set. There are actually 6 workbooks in the set and R&S just came out with a new one. play with him, do mathy activities, but I would wait on LHFHG until he is actually ready.

Agree again I know that when you're looking through some of these guides they can seem to be too simple, and less than they really are when you get into them. I really see learning/solidifying letters and numbers to be a huge part of what LHTH is. It is simple and short and fun, but that doesn't mean they're not learning necessary skills to move onto LHFHG. I think it probably would be a good idea to add in some fun K level workbooks from R&S if he's needing more. We're also doing Earlybird Math with LHTH for my 5yo right now, and I'll probably look at adding in handwriting pretty soon.

I understand what you're saying with him wanting to listen in to the stories his big brother is doing. My son would do that once in a while, but then sometimes be content to just play in the corner, only running over to peek at the pictures now and then. Is it possible he'd be content with that type of set up if he's getting his own stories during his own school time?

If he is still learning his letters and numbers, he belongs in LHTH, in my opinion. If he likes to write, you could always let him do a handwriting program. There are a lot of fun, foundational bible stories in LHTH. The math exploration activities are fun, and they teach number identification, introduce money, teach ordinal numbers, and others.

We used LHTH when my daughter turned 4, even though she already knew all her letters and their sounds, and could count and identify numbers. It was still worthwhile and fun for her. We added The Reading Lesson for phonics because she was ready.

You could always add something like a workbook and extra read-alouds.

I agree wit pp, when my dd turned 4 she knew her letters, could write some of them, write some numbers and was able to listen in on family book readings, especially TB books with older brother. She also used to constantly write and she still does, she is much more confident now and loves to spell. She did LHTH anyway and we also added in TRL halfway through.

I think your ds will greatly benefit from the structure and the teaching in LHTH. I did add some workbooks for her at preschool level, so she could continue to develop her skills and feel more accomplished as she looked enjoyed doing seat work.

It was my 3rd time teaching LHTH and she loved it! I loved it even more and it set a great foundation for starting LHFHG! Being in Preparing with my oldest has really shown me the beauty of the earlier programs, doing them as written and only adding in as kiddo' s show they are ready, to Prepare kiddo's for the higher level of thinking required in the upper guides

Success and I pray you find the right balance for your ds.

Thanks for all your help and input ladies. It has been a huge blessing. I am going to do LHTH with my 4 yo and LHFHG with my 6yr. So, now that that is settled, please check out my new thread, "Decided, Now What?" Thanks again for the help.

I definitely wouldn't place a 4 year old in LHFHG. LHTH should serve him well. My 4 year old son loves it, and he knows all letters, their sounds, and some basic sight words. I will Start LHFHG with him when he is 6.