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Anyone else ever use LHFHG for an 8 yr old?? I had my reasons for putting my DD in little hearts, but I'm wanting to feel pressure to put her up a guide.
I chose LHFHG for several reasons;We had already started reading the book History for Little Pilgrims last year but didn't get it finished before summer break. She loved that book. I was badly needing a break & didn't even want to read it through the summer. I thought the addition of the History Stories for Children would be a nice way to flesh it out. I had the idea that we would start in the guide where we left off in the little pilgrims book and just go from there. Basically just using guide for the history and storytime. 2. I thought it would be a good place to start as we are quite new to HOD. I really need my children to be more independent in their schoolwork at a younger age than maybe most moms expect from their children. She does pretty good at reading directions and I was sure she could take the guide(since she was older) and at least get out the history books & follow along on CD we made for her. 3. She loves the Thorton Burgess books and was beginning to understand them so I thought the questions & narrating activities would be good for her. They were challenging enough even at her age. She has gotten better at telling back. 4. I wasn't keen at all, to be honest, with the activities, but she loves to make and do things. I was sure some of them would seem to young for her but what we have done she has enjoyed. (No, we havent done them all, I'm sorry to say )

So... in saying all that I get to wondering if it's ENOUGH. She really placed in Beyond, but we wanted to finish History for little pilgrims. I've thought of just reading several days of history in one day to move along faster but have managed to do 2 days worth at once and then fizzle. She's happy enough with it. I do have beyond and when I mentioned it, she picks up her little hearts guide, hugs it up close tight, and said "I just cant let go of little hearts!" She told her daddy she just LOVES little hearts.
Do we just keep going with it? Maybe I just need encouragement it's ok...
Thanks,
Becky

That's so great that your daughter seems to like Little Hearts so much and wants to keep going with it. It is a really fun guide, and a great introduction to history as well as a great start off for "real school."

Knowing what lies ahead for you in the guides though, I would highly recommend you go with where she places on the placement chart and don't be afraid! Because if she places solidly (which you said you think she places in Beyond) then she will soar and she will love it! And you will enjoy it more too. And some of the things I hear you saying in your post will be accomplished more easily. For example, independence. The guides and the format of them gradually prepare the child for independence. From what I have heard from others HOD starts children in independent work "early" and what makes this so easy for you as a parent is that it is all planned out for you and written in the guide. Once your child can read and follow directions well, they only need to look at their guide for what they need to do. They don't need to ask you, and/or you don't need to have written out a detailed plan for them to make sure they can get everything done.

Now checking in with them is important and making sure they understand, along with being there when you need to be. But I think HOD balances these roles very well.

Preparing Hearts is where the child starts taking over some of the work independently. Others have independence in different areas earlier than HOD suggests but I would really urge you to follow the way HOD does it because you will find that is very appropriate and prepares them well. The problem with putting the child into independent work too early is that they never learn how to do it well, or they don't learn how to get from it what they should. They just rush through to check the box off and say they are done. Not that my daughter is never guilty of this. But the checkpoints in the guide help keep them from doing that.

Maybe there's some way you can finish up some things in Little Hearts that will pacify your daughter and somehow you can get her excited about Beyond. Also I would encourage you to do the activities and to take heart in that as well because in Preparing the child can do a lot of them on their own. Bigger Hearts is intensive because it has the most work and it is still teacher-led in all areas. But it is so worth it to invest that time for that year so that you can hand it off the next year. I think the child can gradually become a bigger part of doing the projects and cleaning up as they go through Bigger Hearts, but I also see that it is really training and preparation and parental involvement during that time is really key. (I have learned some of these lessons the hard way!)

So all that to say, now I am LOVING our time in Preparing because my DD was ready and she has taken over so much of her own work (except when she dawdles and I have to nag her.... what parent doesn't face that?) I love that she gets the hands-on learning that really makes it come to life for her. I love the projects she does because she is really proud of them and they do look great. And I love that I don't have to do it all anymore. Whew. In CTC she will take over even more of it.

I hope this is helpful.

I agree with Melissa. If it were me, I would personally check the placement chart. Since you are asking if it enough, it sounds to me like she already places higher than that guide. Buy using the placement chart to determine your guide, you are able to give your child the best year they can have and to help the increase in skills each year. And then every year after, she will move up and focus on new skills. With her being 8, I would think that she would be ready for quite a bit more writing. Beyond has weekly copywork by copying the poem you are studying. Bigger has copywork from the bible and texts, drawing for notebooking pages, and daily cursive. Plus, some people have the kids do some writing from the R&S grammar books. I can't remember if Little Hearts has spelling but I know Beyond and Bigger do as well.

I know you said your dd may has a fondness for Little Hearts but sometime kids love what is familiar and easy. I do think if it were me, I would look at doing Beyond or Bigger for her instead. I think she will come to love it. And since it sounds like she can read well, I would definitely have her do DITHOR and start with either the level 2 or 3 book packs. Some people have even had their kids read some of the books for Bigger as well by the end of that level to help with getting school done. You could have her do some of too if you wanted as well.

You said you jumped ahead to where you were in History for Little Pilgrims. So what unit is that in LHFHG? I am guessing it is near the end... I personally would consider maybe speeding LHFHG up a tiny bit with the goal of being done by Christmas and then move on to Beyond or Bigger.

StephanieU wrote:You said you jumped ahead to where you were in History for Little Pilgrims. So what unit is that in LHFHG? I am guessing it is near the end... I personally would consider maybe speeding LHFHG up a tiny bit with the goal of being done by Christmas and then move on to Beyond or Bigger.

We started in unit 20. We are now in unit 28. That was my original thoughts, to get through this & into the next guide. Yesterday and today we were actually able to do several readings but it hasn't always worked out to go at that speed. I was mainly wanting it for the history as obviously she would be at a different level in math, language etc. Though she is 8, she is not at 3rd grade level in math or language, probably 2nd at this point. We're using CLE for Math and language arts and they are advanced so she might move up closer to what she 'should' be as the year progresses. It looks like she will be able to go right from 1st grade cle math into 3rd teaching textbooks if we chose that route.
I was considering Beyond for the next guide... she places into both beyond AND bigger.. she has not had any teaching on parts of speech.. she has been writing 1-2 sentences of her own to tell what is happening in a picture in cle language arts. Also, writes notes and makes cards for family. She is trying cursive using pentime- we tried last year but it was a bit much. Not sure how much of this matters when we will be using just the left side of the guide for the history.?

Thanks for the replies, I have been considering and pondering it all
Becky

So you are just doing history? You have other things for science? Is she doing reading and handwriting?

That's different. The guides bring all your subjects together, and even if you want to use a different writing or reading program than what HOD recommends, the guide will balance it out so you are doing just certain ones on certain days. Also the guide takes out your planning, so if you are just using history and putting the rest of it together yourself, then you will be planning what you need to do in all the other subjects each day.

Which if that's what you want to do, that's fine. Then it won't really matter whether you do Beyond or Bigger next, Bigger would give you more in depth of the American history. For an 8YO I think that might hit her better. Finish up LHFHG and then move on to whichever of the others seems best to you.