adjusting to History in LHFHG

[dschurma]

Today was our third day with Little Hearts. My son enjoyed almost everything, and we had a lot of fun! We're having a hard time with the history so far, though, as this intro section in the History For Little Pilgrims books just isn't holding his attention. I had to pause and ask questions quite often to make sure he was truly understanding.

For those who have completed LHFHG, did it start out this way as your child learned to listen to longer readings? Did it get better as the year went on? I think we just need a few weeks of adjusting to a new curriculum & learning to listen in a way he's never done before.

If it helps to know a few details, he will be 6 in December. He completed My Father's World Kindergarten, and he LOVED it! He has a good attention span for fiction books, and we've read other books - like Uncle Wiggly - before without problem. He can listen just fine; he just isn't enjoying Little Pilgrims because it's not entertaining him. Every single aspect of MFW K was fun to him; the books were mainly quality children's literature. I think he just needs to adapt to a new style of reading material, but I'm hoping that some of you wonderful & creative mamas have some suggestions to make this adjustment a bit smoother! I'm definitely open to suggestions!

THANK YOU!

[StephanieU]

We are done with Unit 1 (took 3 days off this week for VBS and will start again tomorrow). The history was fine for my daughter, but the storytime was the problems for us. I asked about that, and the response was that the beginning is often the hardest as it is a change from what they are used to. I think Day 4 and 5 are better in history too, as they are creation and the fall. My daughter wanted to keep going on those stories. So, maybe wait a couple of days and see if it gets better?

[dschurma]

That's what I am hoping! He loves Bible lessons, and he's upset that I let his brother (turning 4) answer all the questions for LHTH Bible time. Hopefully, once we are reading Bible stories more often, he will do better with the history box...and then later, when we are reading about important people in history, he'll find that exciting too!

I have no intentions of giving up on LHFHG. I'm just hoping we'll find ways to make the adjustment a little easier!

I hope your days continue to go better and better as time goes on, and that your daughter find Reddy Fox more interesting as she gets caught up in the adventures!

[StephanieU]

I didn't think you were going to give up on HOD. I was just giving you the head's up that tomorrow might be easier naturally, so you might not need to make any adjustments. We will also be doing LHTH, but we are waiting another week to start that so I can get the oldest going smoothly first. But, I bet we will have similar issues telling her to not answer those questions too! It sounds like your two and my oldest two are similar ages (oldest turns 6 in December and 2nd turns 4 in November, with the youngest turning 2 this month).

[dschurma]

Yes, our children are very similar in age! My oldest will be 6 in December, middle is 4 this month, and youngest turned 2 this past April.

My middle son started LHTH a few months ago, but we've been going through it very slowly. Now that we've started LHFHG, I'm trying to begin each morning with LHTH so that my youngers get special attention before we begin LHFHG each day. Then, when we've completed LHTH, I get both little ones started on playing with a busy box in their bedrooms, and I am able to concentrate on doing LHFHG with my oldest. So far, the timing is working out pretty well!

I do sincerely hope that when the history readings become more exciting, we won't have any more issues. That would make LHFHG just about perfect!

[MelInKansas]

I wanted to add, History for Little Pilgrims does start off a little slow, and isn't my favorite of the history books for LHFHG. History Stories for Children is much better (as far as the entertaining factor). Well, we do better with a story format. But it does do a good job of giving a very broad overview of history from a Christian perspective. Keep asking those questions and trying to hold his attention, and the activities, rhymes, and all will make it stick.

[dschurma]

Thank you, Melissa!

[hs.mama07]

My son will be 6 in Nov. so similar age there. He also thought the intro was a bit boring (and I had to explain a lot) but since then it's gotten much better. There's a lot more stories as the book continues...easier to listen to.

[dschurma]

Thank you! It is very encouraging to hear that it got easier for your son to follow along

Day 4 was easier for us, and my son LOVED the continents/oceans on the world map. He was absolutely fascinated by that, for some reason, and even had to show it to Daddy last night. Then, this morning, when we were at Costco, he had to stop and find all the continents on a globe. It's funny what can capture a child's interests sometimes!

I did read Little Pilgrims from beginning to the end, just to see, and it looks like it will be just fine. Maybe I worried for nothing

[MelInKansas]

That's great! It is so wonderful to see them learning something and enjoying it! Yeah the intro is a little more abstract too, I forgot since it has been a while since we read that. I'm sure he will love it!