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Hi, thanks for adding me! I'm a mom of many titles: Catholic, Canadian, Special Needs etc... lol. I just purchased LHFHG to use with my 6 year old son starting in September for grade 1. I am feeling so blessed to be able to start using this curriculum. We'll be tweaking a bit - since we're Catholic we'll be adding in Faith & Life once a week, and we already had a science purchased that I will use instead of Our Father's World (though the science we have covers similar topics: plants, animals and the human body).

I am so excited to be starting this. This will be our second official year of homeschooling (we started two years ago with PreK, then did K last year and now grade 1). Up until now we've been using bits and pieces of this and that, trial and error, lots of crashing and burning, and I'm tired of that. Our life is kinda hectic (under the "Special Needs" hat, my son has Sensory Processing Disorder, and then my 3 year old daughter has ASD and possible sleep disorder), so... I am so drawn to how planned out, open and go this curriculum is.

If anyone has any advice for getting started, please share.

Sounds like you have a good plan! Even though you have your own science curriculum, you might want to at least look at the science in the boxes each unit. Some of the experiments/activities are fun and super easy! We just started LHFHG two weeks ago (we have completed Unit 1), and my daughter is loving it. We are going to go full speed starting next week. It is such a fun, easy curriculum!

I hope you are as blessed by it as I have been. Welcome, enjoy your year with LHFHG! As far as advice getting started, I like having a bit of a schedule plan, for when we do things and in what order, and especially since you have a younger child, what that child can do during the time also (though a 3 year old could join in with some of it). Other than that, it is very easy, open and go.

Hi mshanson3121, and welcome to the HOD Board! The ladies here are terrific - I bet you'll enjoy coming here as much as I do! LHFHG is such a great way to homeschool little ones like your ds. We just did it last year with our 6 yo and enjoyed it so much. The best advice I can give for getting started is to try to do the guide as it is written and not add a bunch to it or skip things. Then, it is truly open and go, and you can fully enjoy your teaching each day. The next bit of advice would be to make a schedule or routine to follow, for at least the start of the year, including planning what your little 3 yo dd. Those little ones are often the ones that need the most planning for school to go well!

In case you are interested here, are a few links that may be helpful...
LHFHG time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4244&p=31219#p31219

What to do with little ones while schooling:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=198&p=33557
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4987&p=36744#p36744
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9569&p=69865#p69865

Best tips for peace, sanity, or really helpful stuff!
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4929

Why do you “heart” HOD?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8268&p=60839#p60839

HOD is such a super way to homeschool! I am excited for you to begin!

In Christ,
Julie