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Hi all, my name is Melissa & I'm entering into the homeschooling waters with my 1st grade daughter & 4 year old son. I've purchased LHTH & BLHFHG. Did/do any of you do anything in terms of writing at this age? Any other tips for a newbie? Thank you!

For kids those ages you just need to do what is in the guide. In Beyond you will be having her copy the poem you study each week, and drawing a picture, along with spelling and occasional grammar writing. Start off slowly with the copywork, just what she can do well in about 15 minutes time. Gradually build up until she can do the whole poem each week. LHTH doesn't have any writing, just pre-writing skills like tracing with the finger, making shapes, smiley faces, and things like that. That should be plenty enough for a 4YO. If he seems to want to do more and be ready then preschool cutting and pasting, tracing letters and numbers, and those types of things are appropriate. But don't feel you need to do anything other than what's in the guide, it is complete and it is plenty for such young children. If you want to do anything extra do fun things like music, nature walks, games, active things.

I hope you have a great first year with HOD!

Welcome to the HOD Board, melissar! MelInKansas gave sound advice here, and that is what we have done. There is enough writing for your dc within the guides, and each skill in the guide teaches something important. We've found what we do one year is built upon the next year, and so on and so forth. So, we enjoy seeing the growth across the guides this way. Writing, especially, is an area that I've seen truly incredible growth in our dc across the guides. You may especially enjoy this past thread where Carrie shares the progression of writing through the guides, if writing is your passion! There are additional guides with additional writing taught now since this past thread, but it is still an awesome thread...

Progression of Writing Through the Guides:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8731&p=64455

I hope you have a great year homeschooling your dc, and we look forward to getting to know you here, melissar!

In Christ,
Julie