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if so, how did it go? did you or your child get tired of something after 2 years with it? i know i'm always excited to do the next thing at the end of the year, but i'm sort of thinking it might work best for my son if give him 2 years of k.

annegirl,

I know more of the moms will weigh in here, but since I'm headed out to Des Moines tomorrow, I thought I'd pop-in and say that we are stretching LHFHG out with my 5 year old right now (over 2 years). We have the first year done and are taking our summer break, then we'll pick back up with it. We did the left side of the plans one day and the right the next.

It worked out great for his attention span and for my schedule of available time this year! He actually remembered much more over time than I thought he would. It took him a little while to hit his stride, but then he really made progress. The one area I proabably should have done daily was phonics, but even so he progressed in spite of me!

Blessings,
Carrie

thanks, carrie!

i was sort of debating whether i wanted to stretch out lhth or lhfhg. i think for the sake of time for me as well, i'd be glad to stretch lhfhg. i figure the second year i could always add some intensity with extras if we want them. we're starting lhth in less than a month. he's excited to be in preschool! but i can just tell that he's not going to be ready for 'hard core' kindergarten in a year. even his sister, who would listen to chapter books at the age of 3, wasn't ready for k right after she turned 5. (even though i thought she was, tried it, ditched it, and then went to lhth instead.)

ds turns 5 right before the k dead line here, and i've always wondered if i'd hold him back, and over time it looks like it would be in everyone's best interest to let him take a relaxed pace!

We are. Maybe more like 1 1/2 years but it could be two. We are playing it by ear and just seeing how much time my youngest needs. We do one sied one day and then the other the next. We improvise a little by doing phonics every day and adding books from the appendix.

I think LHFHG is really such a full program and the appendix allows for so much enrichment if desired I honestly can't see a child getting board with it. You could do as we are focusing more on Bible one year and history the next using the appendix for that. That is kind of how it is geared to me anyway so it could easily be a two year program to me.

Our plans are to stretch LHFHG over 2 years, but may get it done over 1 1/2 years depending on how it goes about halfway thru.

Will prob do as Carrie has done and do 1 side one day, the 2nd side the next day. There are plenty of extra books listed in the appendix, that will be easy to beef up for my son during the 2nd half of the manual.

Annegirl,
We are planning to do it over 2 years, but like pp are doing, we'll be playing it by ear. We're slightly ahead with phonics and math (we started them and got to a point where he wasn't ready and stopped) so I'm thinking we will alternate them and haven't figured out how we will do the rest yet.

If you are going to stretch one of the two programs out, I'd recommend LHFHG.

Laurie

I never thought of doing that. Bcause of my just turned 5 yr. olds attention span/wigglies, I was going to just do lhth and then lhfhg.

I originally bought LHFHG for my youngest and did two practice days of it. He just seemed a little immature(I have 4 older children who I've homeschooled.) But, now looking at LHTH that seems a little too young. Hmmm

Anyone ever combine the two?

coconuts wrote:I never thought of doing that. Bcause of my just turned 5 yr. olds attention span/wigglies, I was going to just do lhth and then lhfhg.

I originally bought LHFHG for my youngest and did two practice days of it. He just seemed a little immature(I have 4 older children who I've homeschooled.) But, now looking at LHTH that seems a little too young. Hmmm

Anyone ever combine the two?

It is really very flexible that way. We did just one side for a while then we started doing one side but still doing phonics every day. Now my 4 year old brings the phonics to me and lets me know if I am slacking. She already knew all her letter sounds so to me it made sense to try to combine her with her sister who just turned six. LHFHG is such a great program. There is just so much flexibility in how you can work it. I even sometimes hold off on the Rhymes in Motion until I know they need to wiggle. Usually they make me do those every day.

Also I think if you are talking about combining LHTH with LHFHG that would be way too much for your kiddo. I would just look at where your little one is on the chart and make the one that fits ability work around the wiggle to suit your child. I would say if you really think they need a year then go with LHTH but if you think they are just wigglers that need the challenge go with LHFHG and run it at a wigglers pace. I am saying this as a person that has just modified LHFHG and not as a person that did LHTH, so keep that in mind.

I was going to spread Little hearts over two years, and probably still will, but Grey likes to check off each box every day. I intended to do left side one day, right page next day, but he likes to keep going. I've also thought about doing it "basics" this year, and doing all the bells and whistles next year, so it's not exactly the same, kwim?

I wouldn't try to stretch Little Hands over two years, but I would repeat it if necessary (which is actually my plan with Gabe!) And as for it being too young for where he's at now, I thought that, too, when I first bought it, but it's deceptively meaty!! The key is the retention-they seem to remember the things they learned from Little Hands more then they did what I tried from other programs.