heartofdakota.com

I have been over and over the placement chart and keep going back and forth between Little Hearts and Beyond Little Hearts.

I have a 6 year old boy (7 in Dec) that is finishing K using My Father's World and a 4 year old girl (5 in Nov) using the same curriculum. We've covered all letters/sounds and some days he knows them...some days he's never seen them before. We've been using Readingteacher.com and my son can read some of the early readers, but I'm not sure how much is from memory. He can sound out the words though, so he is reading a bit.

I keep thinking we should use Little Hearts since I want to use it for both of my Littles, but when I looked through it (saw it in a used curriculum store a couple of months ago) it looked easy. I don't want to do something so easy he won't learn, but I don't want it to be too hard for my 4 year old either. She is able to keep up with most of the work we are doing now and usually finishes before my son.

If you have any advice/info please share.

Thanks!

If you plan on using HOD for more than a year or two, and you want to combine them indefinitely, then I would definitely not use Beyond. Although a 4 or 5 yo could possibly do Beyond with few to no modifications, Bigger and Preparing (the next two guides) would be too much when you get to them at 6 and 7. And even doing LHFHG would probably put you in those guides a little young, making you either modify things more than you really should (as each guide builds in skill, so once you start modifying, it is hard to stop), or you will have to slow down.
When we first found HOD, my oldest was 5.5 and had started Horizons 1st grade math and phonics. I was very tempted to put her in Beyond because the only things n the placement chart that she might place better in LHFHG for was age and handwriting. And the handwriting was more a willingness to write, not an inability to do what was in Beyond. I am so glad we did LHFHG! It might look easy, but there really is a lot there. First, you can always customize the math and reading/phonics. Unlike with MFW, these two items aren't tied to anything else in the guides through Bigger (math never is). The history a Bible, and storytime content I find to be most appropriate for older 5yos and 6yos. Beyond is a step up from that, and Bigger is a big step up from Beyond in content, expectations, etc.

LHFHG works great for 1st grade!! I would do it with both of them.

Excellent advice here already - so I'll just concur! LHFHG would be such fun for both of your children, and it would give your son time to continue to grow and mature in his reading skills. A trip from start to finish through another phonics program, such as The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy would be a great next step as well. I think your son would place in LHFHG anyway, based on what you've shared so far, as I don't think he's ready for the daily poetry copy work, spelling list and writing 3 sentences lessons, and grammar lessons scheduled in Beyond Little Hearts... I'm glad your son won't be missing LHFHG anyway! Hope you enjoy it with your 2 sweeties!

In Christ,
Julie