LHFHG: phonics placement

[Rice]

I'm starting my oldest 3 in CTC this coming fall and have been wrestling in prayer over whether to place my 6yo DS in LHFHG or in the curriculum my oldest 3 used till now. I think we've decided on HOD.

If we do decide to go with HOD for our 6yo, I think LHFHG will be the best placement as, although he is an emerging reader, I think that is the level best suited to where he is at emotionally and in his readiness for seat work, as well as for the historical overview that LHFHG provides. I also don't want him hitting CTC by Grade 4. Of course, my time constraints (schooling 4 with 3 little ones) would be better suited as well (and Beyond will require some substituting and/or supplementing for Canadian history; I think that is better left for when I have at least a year of HOD under my belt to see what would work best). It will be a bonus time-wise that our 4yo will enjoy tagging along for some of it.

This leaves me wondering exactly what to do for phonics. He has already gone through about 73 of 100 Easy Lessons so is starting to read. Not being familiar with The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy I assume that either of them would provide more overlap with 100 Easy Lessons than would be productive or interesting for him.

Should I order the Emerging Reader's Set (listed in the catalogue as going with Beyond) and begin those when he seems ready and/or finishes 100 Easy Lessons; whichever seems appropriate depending on his reading progress over the summer? I assume that if I went this route that he would be able to do DITHOR for Grade 2 with Beyond.

Has anyone else done LHFHG with an already-emergent reader? Any suggestions Carrie or Julie?

Blessings,

[MelInKansas]

Phonics and reading are one of the easiest things to customize in the guides, as that box isn't related/connected to what you are doing in the other boxes, so it doesn't matter if you are not in the same place with those as everything else.

100 Easy Lessons is very similar to The Reading Lesson in structure and methods, but The Reading lesson is more thorough - there are more sounds learned and more practice time is given. If your son is doing well with 100 Easy Lessons though, I would just finish that, but be aware that moving into Emerging Readers there are some phonics in that he will not have learned - "ph," "kn" are some that come to mind. You will have to go over those with him as you are doing Emerging Readers. My oldest did 100 Easy Lessons and then Emerging Readers and she did fine. I switched to The Reading Lesson with my 2nd and she is also doing well, now 1/2 way into Emerging Readers.

Since it sounds like you will have maybe 5-6 weeks of 100 Easy Lessons left, you would probably want to get the Emerging Reader set and you need the Beyond guide for the schedule and questions to ask with the books that come after the Bible. You will probably want the easier of the two Bible selections (we have loved that one). There are supplemental Emerging Reader books that you can add to stretch it out a bit if you want. Also they offer that if you buy the Beyond guide alone, and later on want to get the Beyond Economy Package discount with the rest of it, they will give you the discount even though you already have the guide (will sell you the rest of the books in the package with that discount). Just be sure to mention it when you order Beyond.

[StephanieU]

Last year at this time, I thought my daughter was basically ready for the Emerging Readers. We had done Horizons K phonics, which covers basically all of the "important" phonics rules - all of the ones in the Reading Lesson basically. But< i realized she just didn't have the stamina to read the books in the Emerging Readers yet. So, we read all of the Bob books, then we read My First and Level 1 I Can Read books. Once she was comfortable with the Level 1 books and reading them fairly fluently, we started the Emerging Readers. After the Bible, the next books are chapter books. This was actually a surprise to me, as when I thought about an "emerging reader," I was thinking more of the Bob Book level. But, these are "real" books with real thinking questions to go with them. So, don't rush into them! We are actually doing about 1 week of ER and then a week with a supplemental title or other good book because I know the last books in the ER are very challenging, and I don't want ot get there too quickly for my daughter.

[my3sons]

...He has already gone through about 73 of 100 Easy Lessons so is starting to read. Not being familiar with The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy I assume that either of them would provide more overlap with 100 Easy Lessons than would be productive or interesting for him.

Should I order the Emerging Reader's Set (listed in the catalogue as going with Beyond) and begin those when he seems ready and/or finishes 100 Easy Lessons; whichever seems appropriate depending on his reading progress over the summer? I assume that if I went this route that he would be able to do DITHOR for Grade 2 with Beyond.

Has anyone else done LHFHG with an already-emergent reader? Any suggestions Carrie or Julie?

Blessings,

I'm excited your ds is going to get to do LHFHG this year! HOORAY! As for your reading choice, I think you'll know better after the summer. In general, if dc can read a book like Frog and Toad fairly smoothly, only needing to slow down to sound out 1 or 2 words (that are maybe more difficult) on a page, they are ready for the Emerging Reader's Set (ERS). If ds is not able to do that at the end of the summer, StephanieU had some great ideas to transition him into the ERS. If that description does your ds at the end of the summer though, I'd get the Beyond guide for his reading and start the ERS at the start of LHFHG. We did this during LHFHG with several of our sons. I actually got both Bibles to extend the ERS by about 9 weeks, I believe. This gave them enough time to grow into the ERS. I wanted to note that with one of our sons we started the Beyond ERS at the same time we began LHFHG as our core guide (at the start of the school year). With another one of our sons, we finished out phonics while doing the first half of LHFHG, and started the ERS with the Beyond guide about halfway through our year with LHFHG. We just finished the second half of the ERS when we did the first half of Beyond the next school year. Then, we finished that school year with (part of) DITHOR 2/3. It worked great! I hope this makes sense - if not, ask more questions please!!! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Rice]

Thank you, ladies,
What you say makes complete sense. I think my plan at this point, subject to change if his reading level changes drastically during the summer, will be to finish 100 Easy Lessons in the fall, followed by both Bibles (since we already own them both! ) as we transition into the Emergent Readers.

My biggest problem with this is the financial cost. We already have all the books for the curriculum we're switching from (except for the ones for our oldest) and here I am buying not only all of CTC (with 3 student notebooks) but all of LHFHG and the Beyond guide, too? I know that if this year works then we are likely to use it all and it will be worthwhile, but I said that before when I bought all the books year by year for our other curriculum, too, and we're leaving it before our 4th even starts it. It's not that we can't afford it, I'm just struggling with the wisdom of buying so much before trying it out for sure. Am I being a good steward or have I just got the "itch to switch"?

I know you can't answer these questions for me, but wanted to share where I'm at as I'm considering all of this. Thanks for helping me plan out my phonics course of action.

(Now I'm off to our local used curriculum sale this week to see if I can find any of the emergent reader books. . . )

Blessings,

[StephanieU]

I was able to find a lot of the Emerging Reader books at our library. The only ones our library doesn't have are the Bibles and the Nature Reader. So, if money is tight, I would definitely start with that. Also, the questions for the first Bible are in the Bible itself. So, you could start that without the Beyond guide. So, if money is tight, you could wait on the Beyond guide until you are in the NT part of the first Bible without issue. But, if you are making a large order from HOD (and not buying used), then I would probably buy the Beyond guide with CTC. This is because the money you will save on shipping.

[MelInKansas]

There is a big up front cost to a year of the curriculum, but most of it is reusable. They have a good return policy, though you couldn't use it for long or do much more than look through it before returning. It is a wonderful curriculum and I can only imagine that you will enjoy it and find it works well with your kids. CTC I can't imagine there is much you could find in a library and you have to be careful buying core books secondhand because the page numbers won't line up with the guide. It is really so much easier to buy it all from HOD because then you know you have everything that goes together. That makes it so much easier to use. Emerging Reader books as Stephanie mentioned are often available at the library, but if you go very far and realize you will reuse the set with younger children it is so nice to have them all in hand, available when you need them. The books that come after the Bible you will be reading for a week or a little more, and you would have to be really on the ball with it to make sure you get the next book at the right time.

I hope and pray God leads you to the right decision, and provides the money needed for the things you need to make this next year a wonderful experience for you!

[Nealewill]

I can honestly say I struggled a little with the decision to switch when we switched to HOD last year. I had already paid for the current year's curriculum and I was already 8 weeks in. But I was finding that I had to modify a ton of it to meet my needs. I just wasn't happy. I ordered the HOD catalog because I was just planning on buying some things from so that I could modify that program even more but found I just fell in love with HOD. For us - I bought Beyond and Preparing in one year. And for me - I actually have jumped from thing to thing each year because I hadn't found quite what I was looking for. I started with Abeka for a couple years, then went eclectic for a year, then to MFW for a year. I had every intention of using MFW all the way through high school. But I was in my second year with them and found I had to modify stuff TOO much. I have a lot friends who used MFW but I didn't know anyone who used HOD. And even my husband joked with me - So your going to try HOD for a year this year? Honestly, last year was the best year I have ever had. This curriculum is a wonderful fit for us. I was so glad to found it! And while my husband joked with me a bit about being a curriculum junkie and curriculum hopper, he is very glad we found HOD too. He (and several of my friends) have said they noticed a change in me in general. I am much more relaxed, fun loving, and calm. I work from home some so having a curriculum that teaches each of my kids at their level and saves me from spending too much time teaching each of them each day is a life saver!

This year, I had to buy Little Hearts, Bigger, and CTC. This year was definitely expensive!!!! But I truly feel that God led me to this curriculum and my kids are thriving with it and loving it. I love it. Before making the commitment to use HOD, I even have about the fact that I have other stuff I could use - especially for my younger kids. But I believe that buying this curriculum is me being a good steward of God's money. My money is going to a great Christian family who has taken much time and effort to share with us their educational plan for their own kids. In addition, my kids have learned a ton and everything we learn gives glory to God. And finally, me trying to be that good steward took all my oldest stuff and sold it on Ebay LOL! My hope for you is that once you get everything in, you will completely fall in love it with it, your kids will love it and then you will feel more comfortable with the switch. It is huge chunk of change when you are buying more than one level a time. And the High School guides do get expensive. But after last year, I can't image us schooling any other way. We love it and I am so glad we use HOD.