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My 5 year olds completed My Father's World for K. I am wanting to try HOD for 1st grade as it looks more challenging but I would love some feedback on what is the correct placement for them. I looked at the placement chart already. They turn 6 in April so will be almost 6.5 yrs when 1st grade starts. They are reading simple books. If I do Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and follow that track, does it mean they will graduate a year early? I would appreciate hearing any feedback on placement. Thanks so much!

I personally think LHFHG is a perfect placement for Grade 1, using the Grade 1 fine motor skills and science options. Of course, you would do math and LA at their individual levels, which may mean you'll need the Beyond guide for the ER reading schedule (there are questions assigned for each day's reading to increase their comprehension and narration skills as their reading improves). But HOD has a wonderful policy in that they honor the package pricing when you are ready to purchase the remainder of the Beyond books that belong in the book pack with the guide, so you do not lose the savings buying the guide alone a year early.

Although they may be able to handle Bigger for most things this year, IMO, the guides become increasingly more difficult so using Beyond for Grade 1 often places them above their abilities within the following couple of years, if not in comprehension, then in maturity of themes/concepts and in overall work load.

As for graduating a year early, technically, yes, if they were able to keep the pace of one guide per year through them all then they would be done HOD at the end of their Grade 11 year. However, for the reasons I mentioned in the above paragraph, requiring a slow-down in the speed of work (some do a guide or more at "half speed" to allow age/wisdom/maturity to catch up), as well as taking in to account individual plateaus in learning/growth curves, as well as the dynamics of family life (baby years, moves, illnesses, etc.), the reality is that you may find that it will take longer than a year to complete a guide at some point, making it hard to pin down, now, where they might be in 10-12 years.

Blessings,

If I had it to do over again I would place my 6-yr-old in Little Hearts instead of Beyond. You can always place them where they fall for math and reading. Little Hearts is such a great guide and it lays the foundation for so many skills. It also allows you to really use the 1st grade year to solidify handwriting, reading, and math before taking off with other skills. If you do everything in the guide your children will be well set to move along the guides as you move forward.

My youngest is in 1st grade this year (he is older....will be 8 in April) and LHFHG was a perfect placement for him this year. I started the year off with trying Beyond and he lasted less than a week and was way too frustrated with it as it was too much for him.

Thank you for all of your replies! They have helped guide me so much!

Have you looked at the placement chart? I think that will be your biggest guidance in choosing a placement for your child. Some kids thrive on the youngest end of the age range and some on the highest. It really depends on the child. My girls do well on the youngest end of the age range but my son does best on the highest. I would use the placement chart to see where your child places and that is the level that I would go with.

One other thing with the guides, you don't have to finish them in a year. Little Hearts, Beyond and Bigger are all written for 5 days a week. Preparing and up are written for 4 days a week. There are many families who school only 4 days a week. Once they break for summer, they just pack up the guide and put it away for the summer and then get it back out the following year. So you don't have to view the guides as something that must be completed September through May. The guides are very flexible. Also, there are cases where as kids get older, they need a little bit of time at going at a slower pace to move through the guide. That is okay That just means that you take the guide a little slower pace for a period of time and let them ease into the next level. So, if you chose to go with Beyond and went slowly at first, just know that your if child places in Beyond and it seems a bit much at first, it may just take a few weeks or a month for them to get used to it. That is okay too. You can go slow at first, let them build up confidence, and then speed it up. By summer, if you don't finish it, just set it aside and then pick it back up when you start school up.

The biggest differences between the two IMO are the maturity of the level of the Beyond Little Hearts...books you are reading for history/science (i.e. more reading, less pictures, higher listening comprehension needed), the addition of spelling and writing 3 sentences a week for the Beyond...words, the addition of grammar 1 x a week in Beyond, the study of classical poetry in Beyond as opposed to Fingerplays in LHFHG, the addition of daily copywork of 1-5 lines each day in Beyond, the genre study and Godly character lessons discussions in Storytime in Beyond, the teaching and practice of oral narration skills more in-depth in Beyond assuming they've had some previous exposure to it hopefully, the longer length of school day in Beyond (1 1/2 hours for LHFHG, and 2 or more hours in Beyond), and the greater maturity of fine motor skills required to complete the timeline entries/history projects/art projects. I hope this helps as you compare the 2! Carrie specifically includes an age range for each guide because the answer for which guide will be best for all 6 1/2 yo first grade children is not the same. I hope this helps as you consider which guide best fits your children! Both guides are terrific guides, but one guide better fits your specific children. I hope this description helps make that decision more clear, but if not, ask more questions please!!!

In Christ,
Julie

I recommend using Little Hearts for first grade, especially if they place just into Beyond. I used both Little Hearts and Beyond this year; I placed my kindergartner in Little Hearts (using K math and phonics) and my 2nd grader in Beyond (using emerging reader and math 2) based on the HOD placement chart. While my dd could definitely finish Little Hearts with no problems, I could see that Beyond would be too much for 1st grade. The rhymes with motion are replaced with poems that are partially copied each day, and the history and science seem a bit hard for 1st grade (I don't think much would be retained). Therefore I slowed down Little Hearts to half speed. I will be doing some improvising for her next year by finishing up Little Hearts at full speed, reviewing the previous science and history, and adding the grammar lessons and emerging readers (as she will be at that point) from Beyond. If your children are reading, you could always add some level 1 or 2 I Can Read books. I don't know how willing your children are to sit and do work, but I know my soon-to-be first grader isn't quite ready for the change!