new to HOD

holyhart · Post by **holyhart** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:28 am

I thought I would introduce myself.

My name is Kelly and I live in NH with my husband (of almost 9 years), our dd, Evelyn (just turned 5) and ds, Joshua (2.5). We are expecting our 3rd dd in August (Lillian).

I homeschooled my dd this past year for preschool. We didn't use a set cirriculum, just some work books from local stores and some imagination. It worked well but thought that at the kindergarten age/level we should have a little something more indepth.

Which brought me on my quest for a cirriculum that would fit our family/beliefs.
1) It first had to have a solid biblical approach. Many of what I found that had that, left the academics behind.
2) I wanted it to cover all aspects academically, many of what I found had little to do with Christ.
3)I wanted a program that was fun, for her and for myself. Many were too workbook/task orientated, especially for such a young child, or were too long for the day.
4) I wanted a program with a strong literature base.

It seems that LHFHG will fit all the needs/concerns we have. I just received the box in the mail and am SO excited to start with her! We will actually start through the summer as I am due to have baby #3 in mid-Aug. I have a feeling that with the baby coming just as school usually starts up, we might end up a little behind, so we will start early and take it easy. Probably only doing 3-4 days a week, for a while anyway.

I love that on top of being all the things that I wanted; Christ-centered, academically sound, fun, time appropriate, and lit. based, that it also seems so easy to adaptable and customizable. And easy to use! (Honestly I was a little intimadated by attempting homeschool! )

Oh boy! This is getting long! Sorry for that...I'll wrap this up!

Just wanted to say hi, say how excited I am to start this, and say that if anyone has any advice/tips for me just starting out, that would be very appreciated! I think it is too early to buy/start a cirriculum for my son, but is there a way to incorporate a little of what I'm doing with my dd with him as well? He loves to be involved in anything his big sis is doing, and I hate feeling like I'm leaving him out and just having him color by himself. Just wondering.

Thanks!

OH! And is there anyone from the New Hampshire/New England area on here?

Jen in Va · Post by **Jen in Va** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:42 am

Welcome, Kelly!

I'm working on LHFHG with my 5 yo son--we love it. Finished week 5 yesterday. I think you'll find that your 2.5 yo may tag along with quite a few of the activities--especially those on the left page each day--the rhymes, art, Bible stories, etc. If you're doing seatwork with your older at a table, you could have something special just for your younger to work or play with at that time.

My tip would be that once the babe comes along to not totally drop school for your oldest child. At the beginning stages of learning concepts they tend to to lose them quickly if they are not practiced--but that doesn't mean you have to do everything every day of the week. Find a schedule that works for all of you~~and be flexible!

Many blessings to you as you begin this wonderful journey with your family!

eazbnsmom · Post by **eazbnsmom** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:44 am

Hi Kelly,

No advice, just wanted to say "Welcome".

Kay

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:34 am

Hi Kelly!

WELCOME

We loved Little Hearts! You are going to have a great year!

Mel

mom2boys030507 · Post by **mom2boys030507** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:38 am

Welcome Kelly,

We are just finishing up LHFHG. I also think that your son will tag along on many aspects of the program. My middle ds did - he wants to do school whenever big brother is.

He is welcome to sit with us while we read history or story time but has to sit quietly or he is welcome to go play quietly. He loves to do the rhymes with us and all of the art and science experments. This is one of the beautiful things about the program, the younger kids can tag along yet will get so much more from it when it is their turn to "do" the program. I am also guessing my older will want to participate in some of my youngers activities as we start Little Hands.

You will have a lot of fun with this program.

Karen

Leslie in TN · Post by **Leslie in TN** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:52 am

Just wanted to say welcome, too!

We didn't get the opportunity to use LHFHG, (we "found" HOD too late!) but I hope you enjoy it!

Dorla · Post by **Dorla** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:10 am

Welcome Kelly!
We are also finishing LHFHG and have enjoyed it very much! HOD is a beautiful way to do school with your children and still have loving relationship with them. You will also find that you will learn right along with them.
Has anyone told you that you have great taste in curriculums?
Welcome again,
Dorla

beandip71 · Post by **beandip71** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:44 am

Hi Kelly! Welcome to the boards.

I used Little Hearts w/ my dd this last school year and my 3 y/o ds tagged along when he felt like it. He would listen to read-lounds with us and when there were fun projects or experiments to do I included him in what we were doing. He also enjoyed listening to the Hide Em in Your Heart CD with us, and he even memorized some scripture. HTH!

Gina

jsusgrl · Post by **jsusgrl** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:13 am

WELCOME KELLY!!! I AM NEW TOO:-) We are beginning HOD with Beyond in August/ Sept. and using extensions for my 8 yr old with DITHOR, and Bigger for Math and English 2 for him as well:-)
Love in Christ,
Angie
Wife to Chuck- 20+ years
Mom to 3 beautiful children Jake 15, (using another curriculum) Jordan age 8 , going into 4th grd and daughter Noel, age 6, going into 2nd grd.

amysconfections · Post by **amysconfections** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:42 am

Welcome! I think you will find your 2.5 yr old tagging along alot. There was only the seatwork that my 3 yr old didn't do with us. Sometimes he did his own coloring instead and sometimes he prefered to play alone. Congratulations on you little baby coming. I was advised to do half days to get back into after baby is born. I wouldn't think taking a week or two off would hurt that much. I would keep doing you reading lessons at least 3 days a week during that time. I will be having my baby in mid-September, so we have started school already to be able to take off after baby comes and also so we can do 4 day a week school. I know you'll love LHFHG. We enjoyed it alot!

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:16 am

Welcome Kelly! I love your thought process. I think you will love LHFHG! It is very easy to use so no advice there. But for the little one I would make get some toys that are to play with only during school time that they will look forward to doing as their "school". That way they both have something special to do.

Welcome and please let us hear about your first day. You are going to love it!

Post by **Carrie** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:19 am

Kelly,

I just wanted to welcome you to the HOD family. I'm excited for you to begin Little Hearts. We'll be continuing on with it this year with our 5 turning 6 year old too!

We pray that you'll enjoy it as much as we have.

Blessings,
Carrie

Jessi · Post by **Jessi** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:11 pm

Welcome Kelly!!

I love HOD and I am sure you will too. These are a great group of ladies. By the way I love your girl names, very elegant.

holyhart · Post by **holyhart** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:10 pm

Thanks for the warm welcome! And all the encouragement!

By the way I love your girl names, very elegant.

Thanks Jessi, you wouldn't believe how many people tell me that they don't like the names so it's very nice to hear someone say that they do!

Gina wrote:

He also enjoyed listening to the Hide Em in Your Heart CD with us,

I've actually had those CD's for my kids for almost a year now. Found them in a church book store on a retreat with some girl friends when we went to MD last year and the kids LOVE them! They won't go to sleep without one of them playing. It will be nice to use them during the day purposefully too!

Jen wrote:

My tip would be that once the babe comes along to not totally drop school for your oldest child. At the beginning stages of learning concepts they tend to to lose them quickly if they are not practiced--but that doesn't mean you have to do everything every day of the week. Find a schedule that works for all of you~~and be flexible!

I was thinking a week or two (providing all goes well with delivery...had some minor complications when ds was born) off for everyone to bond/acclimate ( and mom to heal!), keeping up with story time though, and then doing 2-3 days a week till we get back into the swing of things, then bumping back up to a 4-5 day schedule.

Do you all think that that will get her too far off track?

Mommamo · Post by **Mommamo** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:26 pm

We just started LHFHG with our almost 5 year old. We have a 2.5 yo boy too, and he loves it! He does all the left side stuff with us, plus listens to the story. We do the phonics when he is down for a nap, and he plays with geoboards or other math manipulatives while we do math (we're doing something different for math but I think I'm going to switch to Singapore because it seems so convenient to just open and go.) Our little guy also has his own workbook (a dinosaur coloring book) that he does when big sis is working on handwriting or the Do It Carefully book. He could also go play if he wanted to, but he really enjoys hanging out with us.

I also just had our 3rd. She just turned 3 months. We started HOD when she was about 8 weeks. It was really no problem at all. We had already started our math and RME before we had decided on LHFHG, and that was before the baby was born, so after about a week we went back to doing our math and phonics every day. It honestly went really smoothly. I think your plan for school when the baby comes sounds fine.