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I was going to get Beyond for our six year old, who is currently in first grade at the local public school. But now I'm kind of thinking about going for LHFHG using the first grade options. He seems to be the 'average' student in terms of what he knows and what he is capable of. Anyone else have their six year old 'average' student in LHFHG? I just want to be sure he is challenged enough but at the same time I don't want it rushed. This will be our first year old hs. I don't want this to be a major disservice to him by holding him down but from what I've read it seems that LHFHG is packed with more learning than I though!

My daughter had actually turned 7 before her 1st grade year, because I had homeschooled for K, and then because of some difficulties, she went to a Christian school the following year and was in K there. Then I brought her home for 1st. We did LHFHG in 1st, and it was a very good fit for her. I'm glad we were able to begin with that guide. If you are using the 1st grade options, LHFHG would be great for him. My daughter loved the history and storytime books in that guide. If you choose LHFHG and at some point feel your son needs more, you can always adjust some things on the right side, or add extra reading. Have a great year.

My daughter is only 5.5 (December birthday), but is 1st grade. We are using LHFHG, and we are loving it. The only thing I would have done differently is order the K science instead of the 1st. It is just a pain to find the right pages to read since that is in the appendix. And the activities are the same anyways, so it isn't worth the extra work for me. We did buy the Beyond guide and are slowly doing the spelling and grammar there though (and we will start ERs probably in October). I am glad I didn't push her into Beyond even though she placed there. She is loving LHFHG so much!

Hmmm about the science! Thanks for letting me know!! I was thinking about doing our own spelling or maybe All About Spelling since I also have a four and a half year old who will soon be learning phonics. Might possibly add grammar at some point about halfway through once we get our groove.

We started LHFHG halfway through my ds's Kinder year. He did the K options then. We are doing the last half of Little Hearts for first grade with the 1st FM skills.
I am like the pp with the Science and prefer K. By January we will start Beyond in full, or part. Depends on if he is done with LHFHG fully, or just needs to move up in writing/spelling/copywork, etc.

We know people who are fully using it for 1st grade, and it is working quite well.
I would think this would be a good option especially if it is a first year in homeschooling. Due to the adjustments made from coming home from ps, it would be nice to take it a little easier, and enjoy being together. They still learn plenty!

We used LHFHG for last half of K and all of 1st grade year for ds. This year he will be in Beyond for 2nd grade.

I looked through the Singapore primary math today and know for sure that he is ready for the second book. And he's good at reading - is there a set of books we could get to go along with it besides the eight already listed and the emerging readers? And what about spelling? Should I just put that on hold (currently does spelling in ps) until we start Beyond?

He's got a little bother who is 4 (will be five in October), I'd love to combine them at some point. He's not reding yet and still working on tracing.

I would say just find some fun books for him to read other than the ERs and the storytime (that you will read to him probably - they aren't "easy" books at all). Let him pick out what is interesting to him - maybe from the local library.

As for spelling, it is up to you. Since you will want to buy the Beyond guide to get the ER information (questions, pacing, etc), you could easily do the words there. There are two lists a week - 1st grade and 2nd grade. So, if you did one list this year, you still would have a list for next year too.

As for the almost 5yo, you could see how he does with LHFHG as written for 1st grade. It can be used as a K curriculum, which he might be ready for. They have the reading programs and handwriting programs. You would want to slow down a little at some point to keep him in the age range, but he is only 2 months from the suggested age already. So, it might only take going half speed for a few weeks at the beginning of each guide to ensure he is mature and ready enough for the guide.

StephanieU wrote:I would say just find some fun books for him to read other than the ERs and the storytime (that you will read to him probably - they aren't "easy" books at all). Let him pick out what is interesting to him - maybe from the local library.

As for spelling, it is up to you. Since you will want to buy the Beyond guide to get the ER information (questions, pacing, etc), you could easily do the words there. There are two lists a week - 1st grade and 2nd grade. So, if you did one list this year, you still would have a list for next year too.

As for the almost 5yo, you could see how he does with LHFHG as written for 1st grade. It can be used as a K curriculum, which he might be ready for. They have the reading programs and handwriting programs. You would want to slow down a little at some point to keep him in the age range, but he is only 2 months from the suggested age already. So, it might only take going half speed for a few weeks at the beginning of each guide to ensure he is mature and ready enough for the guide.

I'm thinking I'll wait on the ER set and the beyond guide. Maybe do like you said and let him pick his interests at the library. If I think he needs the ER books with the questions and what not I may look at it towards the middle of the year. Do the story time books have questions/worksheets (maybe that someone has created) to go along with it? We really need to work on comprehension.

If I combined the brothers, how does that work? Both will need one-on-one help often so I'm guessing I just do math with one (or I've him some sheets I know how can do) while I work on math that's more suited for the (almost) five year old? Then same thing with reading. Let the big brother read on his own and work on reading lessons with the other?

If you look at the sample week on the LHFHG page, you will see a storytime box for each day. There are questions and/or activities for basically every day. We just finished Unit 2 today, and I can already see how the story time is really helping my daughter with comprehension! We still have to go back and reread occasionally, but she is getting better. So, I can't sing enough praises for how this is set up.

As for the ER, one option would be to get the simpler Bible listed in the ER pack. This one has questions in it (all the guide says is to use the questions in that book). You can have it on hand for when you think he is ready. Then, once you are finished with that, then order the ER set (maybe with The Beginner's Bible if you don't own it or make another substitution) and Beyond guide.

As for combining, they would be together for the left side of the guide plus storytime. This is history, Bible, rotation box (art, science, dramatic play, etc), and rhymes in motion. Then, they would have their own fine motor skills, reading, and math. Your 1st grader might be okay doing the fine motor skills independently - my daughter only needs me to read the directions for the Rod and Staff books. So, while he is working on that, you can be working with the younger one on reading. Math you could possibly all do at the table - getting one started and then "jumping" to the other when needed. That leaves reading for the older child and handwriting for the younger. While they are doing these, you can have the other one play alone. Totally it would take you about 2 hours a day like this to get everything done. If you add in breaks, then maybe 3-4 hours tops (we do 30 minutes of school and then 30 minutes of play right now).

StephanieU wrote:If you look at the sample week on the LHFHG page, you will see a storytime box for each day. There are questions and/or activities for basically every day. We just finished Unit 2 today, and I can already see how the story time is really helping my daughter with comprehension! We still have to go back and reread occasionally, but she is getting better. So, I can't sing enough praises for how this is set up.

As for the ER, one option would be to get the simpler Bible listed in the ER pack. This one has questions in it (all the guide says is to use the questions in that book). You can have it on hand for when you think he is ready. Then, once you are finished with that, then order the ER set (maybe with The Beginner's Bible if you don't own it or make another substitution) and Beyond guide.

As for combining, they would be together for the left side of the guide plus storytime. This is history, Bible, rotation box (art, science, dramatic play, etc), and rhymes in motion. Then, they would have their own fine motor skills, reading, and math. Your 1st grader might be okay doing the fine motor skills independently - my daughter only needs me to read the directions for the Rod and Staff books. So, while he is working on that, you can be working with the younger one on reading. Math you could possibly all do at the table - getting one started and then "jumping" to the other when needed. That leaves reading for the older child and handwriting for the younger. While they are doing these, you can have the other one play alone. Totally it would take you about 2 hours a day like this to get everything done. If you add in breaks, then maybe 3-4 hours tops (we do 30 minutes of school and then 30 minutes of play right now).

Thanks so much!!! I've also got a 7 month old who doesn't like to sleep! So this should be interesting. It might take us all day but we'll have some breaks in there!

I just thought about another question...Since I plan on using Singapore's first grade math workbooks is there a schedule that would match up with his math lessons like there is for the Singapore kinder workbook?

The appendix has the schedule for 1a and 1b, but the hands on activities are in the Beyond guide. If you don't have the Beyond guide, you may want the teacher's edition for activities, etc. But the schedule is in LHFHG.

Tyra,
Just wanted to say I have enjoyed reading this thread. I know you're going to have a wonderful year. I love how carefully you are researching and considering all your options. I know how you must just be itching to order! Hehe. It really sounds like your oldest *could* do either Little Hands or Beyond. But I think you are making the right choice in choosing Little Hands and 1st grade options so he can easily adjust to homeschool. Don't add in too much... he'll get to everything and you won't be missing the foundation of Little Hands.

I do like the idea of choosing some fun books from the library! We do that, we get stacks each week. LOL. My kids looove to cozy up in my bed at night and have me read one after another. We just choose fun picture books (my daughter is only 3).

Also at the library we check out those "Mailbox" magazines (preschool and Kindergarten editions) and I get cute ideas out of them. Sometimes using them for the fine motor skills box in HOD. Actually, the 1st grade Mailbox magazine might have the spelling activities you want... and you could do those for the fine motorskills box in Little Hands once a week or whenever.

raindrops wrote:Tyra,
Just wanted to say I have enjoyed reading this thread. I know you're going to have a wonderful year. I love how carefully you are researching and considering all your options. I know how you must just be itching to order! Hehe. It really sounds like your oldest *could* do either Little Hands or Beyond. But I think you are making the right choice in choosing Little Hands and 1st grade options so he can easily adjust to homeschool. Don't add in too much... he'll get to everything and you won't be missing the foundation of Little Hands.

I do like the idea of choosing some fun books from the library! We do that, we get stacks each week. LOL. My kids looove to cozy up in my bed at night and have me read one after another. We just choose fun picture books (my daughter is only 3).

Also at the library we check out those "Mailbox" magazines (preschool and Kindergarten editions) and I get cute ideas out of them. Sometimes using them for the fine motor skills box in HOD. Actually, the 1st grade Mailbox magazine might have the spelling activities you want... and you could do those for the fine motorskills box in Little Hands once a week or whenever.

Thanks! I'm trying not to stress out about it but I have to be honest...I'm so nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to go with the wrong guide and neither of us will like it. Praying that's not the case, and that we have a great year but you know how we all doubt. I wanted to put the brothers together so I was going to go with Little Hearts, and a friend of ours is doing Little Hearts for her daughter (she would be in K at the public school) but she's been to a private preschool for the last three years and they used Abeka so I'd day she's in the middle of K and 1st...we were talking about maybe getting together and doing some stuff together once a week or so. Obviously I'm not going to base our decision on HER decision but it would be nice to have someone local in the same book to get together with once a week!

I am STILL very torn. Like I said, I had thought about putting them together but the more I think about it the less I want to...right now at least. I think I will let little brother carry on to preschool and come fall break (or winter break...depends on when we are able to purchase our stuff) I will bring the big brother home so it's just he and I (and little sister) for the rest of the year to work on getting used to homeschool. Then when little brother is home from presschool (just half a day and no school on Friday) we will work on reading lessons/phonics, once I pick something out. I really think he could sit in with big brother on the Bible, history, and science (what do you all think?) and then they could do their own thing for language arts, reading, and math.