Placement Advice for 6 yo turning 7 yo in Oct

[mommybelle]

Hi everyone,

I am greatly struggling with placement for next year. We started using LHFHG with my 6 yo daughter during this past year for her Kindergarten year. She will turn 7 yo in October. I have not been great at all about getting school accomplished on a daily basis with our full schedule as I booked us solid not really knowing any better. I had scheduled everything out a few months ago where we could complete LHFHG by the end of November if we stuck with it through the summer. Then morning sickness set in, and we haven't accomplished anything in 9 weeks!

We are currently on Unit 12 in LHFHG. Reading is definitely not her strength. We are on Lesson 10 in The Reading Lesson, but I wouldn't consider her reading fluent by any means. As for handwriting, we have been working through A Reason for Handwriting K. She can form all of her uppercase and lowercase letters properly, but she does not like doing the handwriting lessons at all. Though she will sit down and copy sentences from books on her own if she desires. She just does not like to have to sit down and do the handwriting lessons when she is instructed. Maybe I have been too critical with her letter formation? It takes us the 10-15 minutes to get through the handwriting pages in the K workbook.

As for grammar/spelling, I don't know exactly what is covered in Beyond, but I do have her think through how to spell words when she comes to me asking how to spell something that she wants to write down. And she does a fairly good job at this when she really takes the time to think through it.

She has always done well in math, though we haven't finished the activities in LHFHG. We are ahead in the guide on math...around Unit 20.

As for her reading comprehension, she amazes me! She LOVES the Thorton Burgess books, and she remembers what happened in the last book we started reading though we haven't picked it up in 9 weeks! But she did retell the first three chapters to me when I told her I could not remember what happened so we would probably just reread those stories from that particular book we were on. Apparently, I am the only one who needs to reread those chapters! LOL!

So, I am trying to decide between just continuing with LHFHG or moving her up to Beyond for her 1st grade year. The baby is due around Thanksgiving, so I know that is going to slow our progress down as well. That and the younger sister who is 3 yo. And, we are currently in the process of looking for another home. So a move could also be in our near future.

Thanks for any advice you may have!

[jahall2000]

I would stick with what you are doing. There is nothing wrong with taking more time to finish a curriculum. Sometimes life events keep us from getting as many "lessons" done as we think we should, but fear not. Our children are sometimes learning the greatest lessons when we think they aren't learning at all. As long as your daughter is progressing and the things you are doing now don't seem too easy for her, continue on. Whenever, you finish, then move on.

[bethelmommy]

I agree with jahall2000. Your dd will need the skills from LHFHG to be successful in future guides. On rough pregnancy days, just concentrate on the fine motor skills box, math and reading. You can always move up to the next level in those areas even though you are still doing LHFHG for everything else. FWIW, we started LHFHG In February of last year and will finish this summer. It has been a great year and a half despite extended breaks for pregnancy and a new baby. I just kept moving along with the 3R's for my oldest and did the rest as able. Relax and do what you can. You'll be able to do more when you feel better.

[my3sons]

I sure understand difficulties with pregnancies, morning sickness, bedrest - you name it, I've had it! So first, here's a hug - it will get better! I agree with the ladies' wise advice here, I'd definitely finish LHFHG before moving on to Beyond. Consistency at this young age in the LA area especially is huge! Phonics and fine motor skills have to be done daily or those little ones just forget what they've learned and we have to backtrack, backtrack, backtrack. DD will also need to get used to doing school each day with LHFHG and all its subject areas in order to be prepared for Beyond's longer school day and longer work in subject areas.

You'd mentioned your days are very full and that you'd filled your time accidentally early on. So many of us have BTDT. I'd suggest dropping things back enough that you can get in the 1 1/2 hours of LHFHG each day. It is so important! I made the switch to thinking of homeschooling as my first priority now, and it has helped me say 'no' to doing other things with conviction. I try to 'x' time off for my homeschooling thinking of it as my 'job.' It helps me prioritize and not feel guilty saying 'no' to other things outside of schooling (which is something I really struggled with early on ).

Even on bad days of bedrest and nausea, I made it my goal to do phonics daily, and do at least half a day of the plans, finishing the other half a day of plans the next day. It didn't seem all that much easier to homeschool with a newborn, and it definitely isn't any easier with a toddler, so planning to homeschool each day pregnant is probably a good goal. "The Reading Lesson" especially should be done daily no matter what. Even after you finish TRL, I'd still do something daily Monday through Friday with phonics review or early reading. Phonics is like a rolling ball that picks up speed - if you stop it, it's tough to keep it going and it often rolls back to where it began.

So, my best advice would be to finish out "LHFHG" strong, doing it daily at least half-speed and hopefully full-speed some of the time. Drop whatever you can from your day that is not school related, and enjoy the consistency of seeing your dd's skills begin to grow and thrive under that constant attention! Give yourself permission to say 'no' to too many deterrents to homeschooling. You'll find an hour and a half to do LHFHG in your day rather quickly then! For handwriting, you can give her little stickers for each good letter written - even cheer her on! This has helped our dc somewhat, but handwriting in general for little ones is a struggle, so just keep a positive attitude and keep making her do it. She'll improve and so will her attitude. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[mommybelle]

Thank you everyone! This was very helpful!

Julie - We had VBS last week, but on Monday of this week, I did go ahead and charge ahead with working with her everyday on Phonics, FMS and Math. I already decided for next year to drop almost all of the extracurricular activities we had scheduled. And I made that decision pre-pregnancy! It is a tough decision to make when other people close to you feel that these activities are especially needed for homeschooled children. Fortunately, my husband is very supportive. But, I know it will make all the difference in our schooling. That and to say no to playdates unless school is finished for the day.

Next week she has Music Camp at the church, but the following week I was planning to move ahead at full-speed with the left side as well. For the FMS, based on the planned schedule, she should move into the 1st grade FMS books for handwriting and FMS around the 1st of Sept to start her "1st grade" year. As for the left side, we are on Unit 12. For Storytime on the right side, we are on Unit 16. She loves Storytime so much that we got a little ahead of the left side.

So I have one more question for you ladies if you get a chance. Since we are ahead with Storytime, what should I do when we finish Storytime 4 weeks early compared to the left side of the guide? Should I just read some of the other Thorton Burgess books? Or should I read one of the books from Beyond's Storytime that we would not pick to go with the Storytime lesson in Beyond since there are many books to choose from? Or am I thinking too far ahead of myself? I just thought I had read somewhere to be consistent with narration as well.

Also, Julie, I tried the sticker idea with the handwriting awhile ago after reading your recommendation on another post. She does love when I pull out the stickers!

Now if only I can speed her up a little bit! Part of our problem with accomplishing school is her tendency to drag projects out...not because she doesn't get it, but because she enjoys the activities so much. And then she wants to expand on them.

[agstefko]

I just wanted to encourage you too. My dd will turn 7 in Dec, so just a little younger than yours and we are going a little slower through LHFHG because my ds did Beyond for 2nd grade and for him it was an amazing fit. Don't feel like you have to do Beyond when you start 1st but enjoy the learning process. If you finish early you could start some of the Beyond story time books that you wont read with Beyond. We have read some of them apart from school time and the selection is great

[raindrops]

So right now, are you still bringing her to art, dance and was is Wed. Bible study? But you'l drop that the coming year? We do co-op once a week, 4H once a month plus parties and field trips and it really does take up a LOT of time! We started little hands back in July and we still have 8 units left. LOL. BUT it is okay because I wanted and planned to do "year-around". Things will be SO much easier once you drop the outside activities, at least until you establish a good solid hs routine.

You could use LHFHG as your 1st grade too... just continue on with the phonics and switch into the 1st grade math when she finishes the K material. Get the Beyond guide and just use it for math. And of course the fine motor skills and whatever else you finish early.

I like the idea of using Beyond storytime material too.

I hope you can work this out- I miss your blog, I enjoyed your updates.

[mommybelle]

agstefko - Thank you! That is very encouraging! I do just need to enjoy the ride. I have learned a lot about comparing myself and my children to others this year. I have made a very conscious effort to just accept her where she is and forge ahead. I think I probably set my expectations too high from the beginning.

raindrops - Oddly enough, I intended to post a blog entry last night re: an activity we did in math that I wanted to share with the folks on here. I just posted it for you! Thanks for encouraging me with my blog! And thanks for your comment on my blog a few months ago. I intended to pm you then to thank you! We are only scheduled to do our Bible Study and choir on Wednesdays, so that will leave 4 days completely free in the fall. And I intend to say no to playdates during school hours. I already feel like a weight is lifted. I just don't think we had the consistency down with having ballet on Mondays, Bible Study on Wednesdays and then art class on Friday mornings. And then the baby is due around Thanksgiving, so I'm planning to take off from then through the new year. I do plan to continue the Phonics and Handwriting during that month though. Also, I have the 1st grade FMS book that I bought last year and the A Reason for Handwriting Book A. We should start those around Sept 1st. And I was planning to just buy the Beyond guide when she moves up in the math even though we'll still be using LHFHG for the left side. I have everything marked with those clear post-it tabs now, so it should be easy enough to skip around.

[raindrops]

Cute idea. I save peanut butter jar lids (they make the perfect peep dish for newly hatched chicks, something they can't drown in! Eh!), I will try that idea. In the Reading Lesson book I noticed we will will be covering number words soon (we are on chapter 9), so we'll do it then!

A 4 day schedule will be so more "doable". We can't get anything done if we leave the house early, either. The evenings are my busiest time.