heartofdakota.com

Hi all! I will be starting Little Hearts with my oldest in July. She will be 5 1/2 at the time. We used another program as a 4k this year.

First question
I bought some of my curriculum used and just realized that I have the 1St grade option for science. Do you think this will work okay for her? We will likely addin astronomy for fun, but I still want to use what Carrie has scheduled.

Second
My daughter will be done with Math U See Primer in about 10 more lessons. She does very well with it. I have been on the fence about whether to go ahead with Essentials K or not. I sat down and evaluated what I really want to accomplish this year. My main focus is truly to advance her reading. I want her to be reading pretty fluently this time next year (or as close as we can get there). I own Singapore 1a/1b already and after looking through it I feel she would be fine in 1A now. I'm worried about 1B though a little. I also don't want to lose incorporating the hands on lessons from the guide. A friend of mine has gone through Essentials K and matched up most of the activities in the guides to the lessons. Decisions, decisions!

I'm just looking for friendly advice I guess! I'm excited to start Little Hearts. It all seems so perfect. My 3 year old is going through LHTH and is having a blast, so I really can't wait.

You should be fine with either science book. They are very similar. As far as the math I think I would just go with Essentials. Book A will be pretty easy but at this age that is perfectly fine. I wouldn't want to push a child too quickly through SM unless they were pretty advanced. SM advances pretty quickly. After trying to push my oldest two in K I learned my lesson now I just enjoy the K year and have fun.

As far as math goes, we have used MUS Primer, Alpha, and Beta. My oldest daughter is getting ready to begin Gamma in a few weeks. Another option for your daughter would be to continue in MUS. We have been very happy with it and feel it's an excellent math program. My oldest daughter has struggled a bit in math, and MUS has really boosted her skills and confidence.

As far as science goes, I agree that either option is fine. They're fairly similar in content. I could be wrong, but something makes me think that the kindergarten text better matches up with the activities in the science box listed in the guide. I'm not sure what makes me think that. It's been a while since we've used Little Hearts. Maybe someone else could chime in on that.

Best of luck to you!

Hi Snorris2, and welcome to the HOD Board! We are doing LHFHG for the third time with our third ds, and you are sure in for a terrific year! I can't wait for you to start! I would do Essentials Math first, as it covers an excellent balance of math skills prior to beginning 1A/1B. We have enjoyed Singapore Math so much, all the way from K through 6B, and I think you would too. Starting with it from the beginning is a bonus. I did love the hands-on math activities in Beyond for 1A/1B, enough I'd get that guide for them when you reach that point. I see no reason that you could not move more quickly through Essentials Math if dd is doing well with it, and then upon completion, whenever that is, getting the Beyond guide and starting 1A. The first grade science will be just fine! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie