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Hi all,

I am new to homeschooling and my oldest will be starting kindergarten in the fall but I also have an almost three year old and an eight month old. I am trying to decide between Little hands to heaven and little hearts for His glory for my oldest. Would anybody be able to give me some advice on this? Whichever I choose for my oldest I am going to do little hands to heaven for my second. I just can't decide if it would be best to do the same book for them or if doing different books would benefit them more. Thanks for any advice!!

Tabitha

Hi Tabitha! Welcome to homeschooling and HOD! We're not much further ahead than you. We did Little Hands to Heaven (LHTH) with my oldest last year and he's now in Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG), and my soon to be three year old may be starting LHTH later this summer. Still debating that as he's rather energetic and I'm not sure he's really interested in school yet...might wait until he's a bit older or maybe go half speed...haven't decided yet.

As to your oldest, if it were me I'd just look at the placement chart and put him where it's the best fit. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php I think my DS5 would have been bored with LHTH this year as he loves longer stories and would have wanted more science and history and such, but every kid is different. If you decide to do the two guides you can always start half speed until you get the feel for things or delay starting LHTH with your middle kid until you are in the groove with LHFHG.

That being said, though, if two guides with a baby just feels like too much or if LHTH is a better fit for your 5 yr old, I know others have used LHTH as a K curriculum by adding the K options for phonics, math, and handwriting/fine motor skills from LHFHG. Then, for 1st grade, they did LHFHG using the 1st grade options. Either way would work well...and I'm sure others will chime in with ideas/advice too. Whatever you choose, I hope you have fun...HOD is great!!!

Welcome to homeschooling!! I'm in the same situation here with my 3 and 5 year olds (both on the very young side of their age) . After checking the placement chart, I was still unsure so I called HOD and they helped me with the decision to separate my girls.

I agree with the previous poster. Check the placement chart for your kindergartener if you haven't had a chance to yet. My 5 year old would've been bored with LHTH so I decided to put her 3 year old sister in LHTH alone. We went with LHFHG for our 5 year old. There is often a big difference in the skill level of a 3 and 5 year old so depending on the placement chart, you might have to do 2 guides. The good thing is LHTH only takes about 30 minutes and can be done in 5 minute increments or done half-speed and spread over a year and a half or so.

My kids are 5.5, almost 4, and 2. We are doing LHTH right now with my middle son. My oldest just completed MFW K and will be starting LHFHG in August.

My oldest loves to sit in on LHTH with his little brother. It's too easy for him, but it makes a great Bible time for both boys. (We do it while the 2 yr old is napping.) The oldest is doing Rod and Staff preschool book E as good fine motor skill/thinking skill practice for the summer.

If your oldest is just barely 5, I'd suggest doing LHTH with both, adding in math/handwriting/phonics for the older one. If your oldest is an older five year old, then I'd go with LHFHG.

LHTH only takes about 20 minutes for my middle son most days, and then he does a page or two in the Rod & Staff 3 yr old preschool books. Unless there's a painting project, it takes about 30 minutes total to "do school" with him.

If you did opt to do both LHTH and LHGHG, it could be done in 2 hours total. I think that is "doable" with an infant, especially if you can work with the oldest during naptime...or have the oldest do handwriting or other tasks at the same time your middle is doing LHTH.

I am completely in agreement with Dawn. It depends on how mature of a 5 year old you have. (Hi Dawn! It's Stef!)
It is often times easier to appropriately place your child rather than beef up a guide. That's what I hear from the experts at least.

One other thing to consider is what you want to do further on down the road. Do you think these two children might be close enough in skills to combine someday? As a 3 and 5 year old, they won't be, and probably as a 4 and 6 year old, 5 and 7 year old, they may not be, but if you do end up wanting to have them in the same guide then you may want to hold off on LHFHG and try to find some ways to make LHTH work for your oldest for a year. Personally, I am glad I went ahead and moved my oldest on in the guides and I think my first two are in separate guides for the forseeable future. It gives each of them something that is their own and special time with me in doing their school work.

After reading the other comments, I would suggest buying both curriculums and just trying them out. You will want the math and phonics from LHFHG, so you might as well buy everything for that. Then you can see where your oldest actually is. Maybe start with LHTH with the older two and then once your oldest gets used to you being the teacher, start branching dc off into LHFHG. He(?) could still sit in for the Bible study and stories from LHTH if desired. And if LHTH is perfect, then just save LHFHG for next year.