Beoynd or LHFHG?

[miracleone]

I know HOD is skill based and the placement chart tells us that Beyond is for 6 and up. My daughter turns 6 in December. She knows most of the letter sounds and can write most of the letters. She is still learning to blend words. She can sit through long read-alouds and have a good attention span. I think that's because she has an older sister who is just finishing CtC and she is riding along on some of the read alouds, plus we read A LOT at our house. I know she can handle some parts of Beyond and then she'll slowly build up her skills. Is anyone using it with a 5-soon to be 6 year old? Do you do it at half-speed or full speed? If you do not recommend Beyond for an older K, is LHFHG too easy though? (I checked the placement guide and it I think some will be too easy and babyish for her, that's why I asked. But I could be wrong too.) I was thinking if I use Beyond, I'll be working it slow (even if I have to use it for 2 years) while teaching her how to read at the same time. Any advise? Thank you.

[miracleone]

bumping it up Could use some good advice

[bethelmommy]

Hi miracleone! We are in the last few weeks of LHFHG and will be starting Beyond this fall with an almost 6 and 7 1/2 year old. LHFHG was a great fit for both of them this past year with my oldest doing math, spelling and ER's from Beyond. If your dd is not ready to write full sentences, then I think Beyond will really be a stretch. I would recommend doing LHFHG and you can choose to do 1st grade handwriting and FMS if you feel she is more ready for that. The daily spelling and copy work in Beyond, as well as weekly timeline entries and grammer work can really frustrate little ones that are not already comfortable forming letters/words. We read aloud a lot here too and just do stories for fun on our own outside school time. We have done several from the Beyond story time sets that are not set aside to do with the guide. HTH

[pjdobro]

When we first started, I was all set to use Beyond with my 6 year old twins. I really thought LHFHG would be too babyish with the rhymes and Thorton Burgess stories. They still struggled in writing. They could write full sentences, but didn't like to write. After lots of discussion here and at Carrie's advice, we started with LHFHG. They absolutely loved the rhymes and stories! The writing was perfect for them and in the other areas of reading and math, we did the options from Beyond. That has put them starting all the guides right in the middle age range and that has worked out really well. We are on target to be in the new Geography guide in 9th grade.

I think sometimes we think more about the academics and don't consider the developmental stage that our dc are in. Just because they can sit still and listen doesn't mean that they don't like to be up jumping around, and they might just learn better through that movement at that age. That was one thing that I didn't understand when I started and have really come to appreciate with the HOD guides. Carrie really understands how children develop and caters their learning to it both in activities and the time that the activities take.

You would probably do fine to start your dd in either guide especially if you take Beyond really slowly, however I think you will both find LHFHG a lot of fun. There are great activities in there and the overview of world history is fantastic. The day is short and sweet which is perfect for this age as well. There is plenty of time leftover for play or listening in on the older siblings read alouds. You may find your older dc want to sit in on your younger dds too though. I know I would love to go back and do the Thorton Burgess books again. It's such a fun year!

[StephanieU]

I am struggling with the same thing - but with my oldest. She will turn 6 in December too, and she has finished K phonics and math (Horizons). They have recommended either for her, and she sounds like your daughter in terms of skill overall - a little behind on the read a longs because she is the oldest but a little ahead on the reading alone (I would say she is an emerging reader). I don't know which one I am going to do. Some times I wonder if I am pushing her too hard, and that we should just do LHFHG, and other times I think she would do great with Beyond. Here is the link to my post with there comments:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13814

[MomtoJGJE]

I can give you perspective on both ends

I started Beyond with my oldest at 6... maybe even 5? I can't really remember when we started. Anyway, she was at the same level your dd was, but she really didn't like to sit for long stories. However, I didn't feel Beyond's stories were that long. As the year went on I was cutting out more and more of the guide due to frustrations. I decided to go through it again when we got finished (she was 6 at that point I know... turning 7 in the middle of the repeat) It was LIGHT YEARS easier for her! And she was learning SO MUCH MORE! She didn't remember a single thing from ANY of it. She is now in CTC at just turning 10 (so middle of the age range) and it's a PERFECT fit.

My third just turned 6 in October (so not really far from your child's age) and is finishing up LHFHG. We started out full speed, backed off to half speed, and have been going full speed since she turned 6. It is PERFECT!! She is well advanced in all areas... is capable of reading and understanding her history even! (History Stories for Children.... she wanted to, I was trying to show her she couldn't, and she did I then told her that I wanted to read her history to her) She's doing ERs, could be doing spelling if I ever remembered it... so I decided to just wait until she starts Beyond and do spelling list two. She's almost done with Singapore 1A and Italics whatever the letter of the first grade book is. But even still LHFHG is the PERFECT guide for her and she's learning SO MUCH and making SO MANY connections. She also isn't really the type to like "silly" things, but she LOVES the rhymes in motion!! All the little activites and experiments are wonderful because they make the connections so much better for her. Oh, and for science I use the K book because I like it better, but it's STILL perfect! She JUST GETS IT!

I wish I could go back and start over with my oldest and do LHFHG. Even though she fit in the placement chart for Beyond. It just would have made our school start off so much better.