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So I received the catalog in the mail today. I am a bit confused as to whether I should place my daughter in Little Hearts or Beyond Little Hearts for next year. Right now she is in kindergarten but she has learned a lot of what is described in Little Hearts. She hasn't had complete phonics yet but if I work with her the rest of this year and through the summer she would be where she needs to be for Beyond. As far as history goes, she hasn't had a complete run-down of the OT yet for bible but we are very involved in church, i.e. sunday school and awana. For math, she has learned the basics and then some this year. I don't want her to miss anything that is important or that she might really love in Little Hearts but I don't want to hold her back either. She will be 7 in November, so I think she falls at the tail end of Little Hearts and at the beginning of Beyond Little Hearts. If anyone has any advice for me in this I would be forever greatful! I want to make sure I place her in the right level. I have looked through the placement guide and I'm still just not sure.

Thanks,
Jodi

I would go with Little Hearts. I really think the attention span for the reading about history books (especially History Stories for Little Children) is much better suited to first grade. My daughter turned 7 in December and is enjoying Little Hearts very much. I did use it for kindergarten for her older brother and regretted it. I'm using Sonlight's PreK in between Little Hands and Little Hearts for my three youngest daughters.

You can do phonics in Beyond. Notice in the catalouge there is phonics OR the emerging readers. I am sure you can go along with the phonics and then just start the emerging readers when ready. (Well pretty sure. We are halfway through little hands here.)

I was going to suggest Beyond... but maybe you can tell us more about your daughter's listening skills and writing... it would help the more experienced HODdies place her.

I agree with the idea that attention span and handwriting abilities are some of the differences between these two guides. The history readings in LHFHG are really short, a couple of pages usually, with pictures. In Beyond they may listen to 4 or 5 pages with much fewer pictures. The Storytimes are also different in this aspect. LHFHG uses the Burgess books-very engaging stories where the animals "come to life" and really grab the kids' attention...they really become old friends by the end of the book. These do use some difficult language that isn't probably typical for most of our homes (ie more of an older-style I think) and that is challenging for some kids to get used to, but because of the characters in the stories and they way they are developed it really works to strengthen their listening skills. In Beyond you're introduced to different genres of literature. There are, again, very good books, but on a higher listening level than the Burgess books. My son in Beyond right now is really loving the storytimes.

Handwriting in LHFHG is a handwriting book used a couple of days a week, and another fun workbook used 3 times each week to strengthen fine motor skills-coloring, cutting, matching shapes, etc. It's really introducing them to writing, though. Beyond takes up from there and the child is copying their poems each week. Some kids do it directly from the printed page, and others do better if you write it down and they copy your handwriting a line at a time, so you can tailor it to meet your child's abilities, but it's a higher skill than LHFHG. Beyond also includes spelling lists where you write their words on index cards, and they write them down from those several times each week with different activities. Phonics can be used with either guide.

I can see why one poster suggested LHFHG-I used this for one son for 1st grade, and another son for K right now, and I think my 1st grader got more out of it. That said, by the time we got to the end of the guide he was definitely outgrowing it, and we were more than ready to get to Beyond. I have slowed it down for my K'er and we'll use it into 1st grade, as well. It really just depends on your child and her abilities. Girls are sometimes ready for more advanced materials sooner than boys are, so maybe your dd would be fine with Beyond in 1st grade? From your descriptions I'd almost say that Beyond might be a good placement, but again, it really depends on the listening and writing skills. What do you think?

You have two wonderful programs to choose from! The ladies have asked some great questions and given good thoughts to ponder here. In general, it is a good idea to place dc where they match the skills listed in the placement chart at the beginning of their year. This makes for a smoother placement for years to come as well. From that perspective, I'll try to focus on Little Hearts. Little Hearts is a one year sweep of history, so while it begins with Biblical history, it spans from Creation to the 1970's. The history begins with what is familiar, Biblical history, via the Family Time Bible or 101 Stories from the Bible. It then moves on to History Stories for Little Pilgrims, and then History Stories for Children. This progression is intentional, as there are fewer and fewer pictures in the books, as well as longer stories that have a higher reading comprehension level with more difficult vocabulary.

The Storytime read alouds teach beginning oral narration skills, as well as ask oral comprehension questions. One of the Storytime follow-ups each week has dc write words withing a prompt, usually around 3-6 words or so. Handwriting is either of letters or words/sentences, depending which level of handwriting book you choose. Science includes experiments and activities, as well as readings from a science text. Art activities, and history activities are part of the plans as well. There is a choice of K or first grade fine motor skills/critical thinking activities.

Children also memorize Bible verses and sing along with them using Hide 'em in Your Heart. The devotional Devotions for the Children's Hour is quite deep, has few pictures, quite a bit of text, and has discussion questions at the end of each reading.

I share this because LHFHG has quite at lot in it. Daily history, varied follow-ups, science twice each week with experiments, art, comprehension questions, beginning oral narration skills, a deeper devotional reading and discussion - if dc have not had this amount of school subjects and this level of skills taught prior to Beyond Little Hearts, it could be difficult to do Beyond Little Hearts.

Typically, dc can easily write all of the their letters, can write words very comfortably, and are probably writing at least a sentence quite easily too at the start of Beyond Little Hearts. They usually know all of their letter sounds and are either ready to start formal phonics, on to their second year of formal phonics, or are reading and ready to use the Emerging Reader's Set. Dc have also usually had a year of history and science, as well as a year of kindergarten math. Here is a list of the math skills dc would have already covered in math in LHFHG...
1 - counting and writing numbers ‘1’ - ‘5’
2 - counting and writing numbers ‘1’ - ‘5’, introduction of ‘6’ - ‘10’ 3 - counting and writing numbers ‘6’ - ‘10’
4 - counting sets with one more, same number, or one less
5 - comparing sets: greater than, less than, one to one
6 - comparing numbers, identifying characteristics of basic shapes 7 - sorting by attributes, finding common attributes, and patterns 8 - patterns, sizes: big, medium, small
9 - ordering by height, measuring and comparing lengths
10 - nonstandard measurement: estimating, measuring length & width 11 - comparing nonstandard measurements, estimating weights
12 - capacity: filling, emptying; graphing, one to one correspondance 13 - oral counting forward and backward, number words
14 - counting, matching, tracing number words and numbers ‘0’ - ‘10’ 15 - ordinal numbers, number words, introduction of ones and tens 16 - counting and reading numbers up to ‘20’, groups of ones and tens 17 - counting and writing numbers ‘11’ - ‘20’, number words ‘11’ - ‘20’ 18 - fractions: ‘one-half’, ‘one-quarter’
19 - left/right directionality, adding ‘1 ’- ‘10’ by counting on a number line 20 - combining two sets together to add
21 - combinations that make ‘6’ - ‘9’
22 - combinations that make ‘10’, number sentences, separating sets
23 - comparing sets, subtracting: counting back, taking away
24 - subtraction: crossing out, stories, separating one group into two 25 - separating one set into two, horizontal and vertical subtraction
26 - missing numbers, picture stories, comparing numbers
27 - addition and subtraction stories, introduction to the clock
28 - time: day/night, hour hand/minute hand, hour/half hour
29 - time: half past the hour, days of the week
30 - days of the week, introduction to seasons/months
31 - counting by ‘10’s to ‘100’, sets of tens and ones
32 - counting by ‘fives’ and ‘tens’, counting to ‘100’
33 - identifying coins and values: penny, nickel, dime; counting money 34 - introduction to quarters, solid shapes: cylinder, cube, rectangular
solid

Dc starting Beyond are ready for spelling words, inluding writing 3 sentences each week. They are ready for copywork of a poem, typically at least a 4-line stanza each week writing one line a day, or up to copying the entire poem within a week. They are also ready for grammar lessons, a gentle introduction to the basic parts of speech once each week that generally does not require writing. The history read aloud texts are 3rd grade levels and have few pictures and more words than those in LHFHG. First or second grade math are the options in Beyond.

I am hoping that some of these details may make clearer which guide would best fit your dd. If you get the chance to share your thoughts on any of this, that would be great! They are both great guides. Hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

I will try to give you an overview of where dd is at this point in her kindergarten year. In math, she has already learned or is learning the majority of the things that you listed for math. We haven't done a whole lot of history other than covering the creation section of Genesis. In phonics, we are using explode the code and she is doing what they consider 1st grade level, i.e. matching a word to a picture, writing simple words, putting short sentences in order and writing them. She knows that there has to be a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence as well as a name, period at end of sentences, etc. As far as science goes, we have a very nature based curriculum for that; learning about animals, plants, etc. She is reading simple books such as BOB books. We have been using d'nealian handwriting and so far she is doing ok there. We will probably repeat that next year. I don't know if this helps give you a good picture of where she is. I think LHFHG would be fine for her in most areas. She has been bored with our K curriculum this year so I have had to add things in for her. Thanks a bunch for all of your advice everyone. I just want to know I am making the right choice as far as placement goes. I don't want to order LHFHG and then realize once we start that she is "beyond" what she would learn there.

Thanks,
Jodi

What K program/items are you using now? Knowing that would help different ones to better compare that to Little Hands for you.

I am inclined to suggestion Beyond. My 7 yo is using this right now and it's a perfect fit for her age. If I had her in Little Hearts now, she would think it was for babies. With the skills you are mentioning, Beyond seems to be a better fit. You can always pace it to your dd's abilities, and take things slower at various times as it seems needed.

My 7 yo DS (7 in Dec. 2012) is "out growing" LHFHG. When we started it in Sept. placed on the line between LHFHG and Beyond. He has come along quickly and really beyond the line now and very ready for Beyond.

Thank you ladies! I am using My Father's World K program this year with dd. I used it with ds as well and he did great, but he wasn't as quick to pick up on certain things as dd is. Plus, it was my 1st shot at homeschooling and he was my 1st child, so I could have done things differently too. I really like MFW but it's to the point now in 2nd grade that ds is getting bored and dd is for sure bored with the K program. I don't want her to miss any of the cool things in LHFHG but I don't want to have another year where she is completely bored either.

Then the question arises, would I use LHFHG as a 1st grade curriculum for dd and then the following year use LHFHG as a K curriculum for my next ds? I know you can order a K package or a 1st grade package, but if the difference between the two is very small then I may as well start with Beyond for dd this year. Maybe I'm making it harder than it is...I don't know.

This is our first year using H.O.D. My daughter is in 1st grade and is 6 yro. She is a very good reader and an average writer. I definitely think that Beyond has been the best fit for her. I agree that LHFHG may of been not enough for her at 1st grade. Even though the history stories are at a higher reading level, she understands them and so does her 5 yro sister. They both sit and listen great! I think the fact that so the history is presented in a story format w/ children as some of the main characters helps quite a bit. The only part of Beyond that has been too much for her is the Copywork. Copying an entire poem- 5 stanzas or so long is too much for her 1st grade handwriting abilities. So instead of copying the poem- I print out the poem and they add pictures to the poem based on what they think would fit the meaning of the poem. I am fine with skipping the Copywork since we are picking this up in our IEW handwriting program. I think the Science is perfect for 1st grade and we have LOVED everything about H.O.D.! Such a God send in the midst of so many curriculum choices. Those are my thoughts... but I honestly don't think you can make a mistake- choose what you think works best, try it out- and if it seems too easy... move on to Beyond. My guess is that you will use LHFHG with younger siblings eventually anyway? I wish we started in K with my girls so we had a chance to go through LHFHG, but I do have a K and Pre-K this fall so we will be going through it then! Hope this helps~

Thank you so much for clarifying what she can do, as age is just one indicator and not always the best one, for placement! Hmmmm, I am thinking from what you shared that she is ready for Beyond Little Hearts. You could easily start off half-speed to ease into it and see how it goes, or you could school 4 days a week and take the fifth day off, or you could always spread Beyond Little Hearts and Bigger Hearts over 3 years instead of 2 years. With HOD, the pacing options are so flexible. I think I'd start Beyond Little Hearts half-speed for a few weeks and then move to full-speed if she's ready. Just so you know looking ahead though, Bigger Hearts has a fair amount of writing, and it's very important dc can do it or they will struggle with that aspect all the way through. So, keep your little honey writing, and work toward her being able to copy all of Beyond's poems each week by the end of Beyond. That being said though, half-speed Bigger Hearts is always an option to let dc grow into this skill as well. I do think Beyond sounds like her placement though. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie