Placement pre-k/k

[Danielln1548]

My daughter is 5 and staring kindergarten. She know some letters and sounds, but not all. Will she do ok with the little hearts curriculum? She is smart and has good attention span, I think pre k curriculum would be too basic.

[StephanieU]

She would probably be okay with LHFHG and then Beyond the following year. But, Bigger as Preparing Hearts are the guides that kids start struggling at the youngest age. Reading ability, amount of writing, and independence are the common struggles.

My third did LHTH from 4.5-5.5, which would have been through half of K of she went to public school (summer birthday). She enjoyed it. We added in math, phonics, and Handwriting/fine motor skills as she was ready. We later had to show down the guides so she would be ready for Preparing as written. My oldest listened in on LHTH when she was in LHFHG. She was doing first grade math and phonics, and she still enjoyed the Bible, devotional, and many of the activities.

If you choose LHFHG, don't rush and push to get through the guide in a year. I have found it best for my kids to be ready (or almost ready) for the Emerging Reader books by the time we start Beyond. They need to finish a phonics program at least to a late first grade level before then, as the ER books start at a second grade reading level.

[Rice]

I personally prefer to wait to use LHFHG for 1st. It is easy to use LHTH and add in the K options from LHFHG and a daily Storytime for K, then add phonics when they are ready. This ensures they will be well prepared for each guide's step up in skills, and (ideally) not get caught where the guides outpace their cognitive development. With LHFHG for 1st, that leaves one guide per year straight up through high school.

However, staring LHFHG for K is also an option. Like StephanieU mentioned, it is often best for kids (unless they are advanced across the board) to reach Preparing for 4th. That is easy to achieve, even when you start LHFHG in K, if you just complete 3-4 days of the HOD guides per week for the next 4 years! (This means each guide will take you 1-3 months longer than a school year, spreading 3 guides over 4 years.) You can either do 3-4 HOD days and 1-2 shorter days of only 3Rs, or you can spread the work of 3-4 days across the 4-5 days you have of school each week (factoring in holidays, sick days, field trips, etc.). There isn't a right or wrong way to do that; just what works for your family.

Once you get done those first 3 guides, Preparing and up are 4-day/unit guides (instead of the 5 of the earlier guides), and you could very likely complete a guide per year from then on.

Blessings.