LHTH Review

[RSmith]

Good evening and Happy Fourth of July!

This summer, I have been reflecting a lot on the last year, and I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my thoughts. In May, my 5 year old son completed LHTH. We absolutely loved it. This was my first year to homeschool, and I was a little nervous before we got started. However, the guide made teaching so simple; it gave me the confidence I needed for this journey. I loved the fact that I could open up the guide to the day I was on and take one box at a time. I never had to prepare or plan lessons, and I just followed the script. LHTH was the highlight of our year last year. Every day, it felt like I was making meaningful memories with my son.

Some of my favorite things about LHTH:
* It is truly open and go.
* The science/math/art activities are easy and fun and tied to the Bible story.
* It is very much a boy friendly curriculum.
* It only takes 30 minutes to do, and it is something we looked forward to every day.
* My son loved it so much he would occasionally ask to do school on nights and weekends.
* It prompted several heart to heart conversations with my then 4 yr old boy.
* LHTH takes little ones through the entire Bible.
* It is hands on and fun!
* The fingerplays- I truly think they set my son up to take off in reading!
* The math activities do an amazing job of making math meaningful.

* Another huge benefit to this curriculum is that it got us in the habit of doing family worship. We would read the Bible story from the children's Bible during school, and then my husband would read the text from the Bible after dinner. It was wonderful because my son Charles was so much more engaged during family worship since he studied the text during school.

As we were wrapping up our year in May, Charles brought me The Reading Lesson from our bookshelf and told me he didn't want to wait to learn how to read. As I said before, LHTH is a wonderful foundation for reading readiness as it teaches letters and their sounds so well. So now we are enjoying our summer while doing phonics, and I am amazed at how effective TRL is! Charles often tells me he can't wait to do cardigan (Kindergarten), and I have even caught him curled up in my reading chair with the LHFHG guide daydreaming about school.

If you are on the fence about this curriculum, I encourage you to give it a try. I truly believe it will enrich your time with your children. I also want to add that the blog and message board are incredible resources full of wisdom. I'm a former school teacher, and I felt more mentored in my teaching this year than I ever have before! I also think it is absolutely amazing that we have the ability to call HOD and hear from the author or one of her family members.

Carrie, thank you for making this wonderful curriculum for us. I can't imagine the time and effort you put into these guides, but I also know the Lord had his hand on you the entire time.

Blessings,

Rebecca

[WriteItOnTheirHearts]

As your "in-person" best friend. I love that after watching you and Charles have an amazing year of doing LHTH; the Lord has led this momma, who has been homeschooling for 5 years already, to take a step of faith and switch from a curriculum we love, but isn't quite fitting our lifestyle, to a curriculum I had only heard mentioned a time or two. I couldn't get past the amazing things that y'all were doing and the way HOD seemed to check all my boxes. As I prepare for my first year of HOD, I'm thankful that I was able to watch it at work in your home, see the amazing way this curriculum works, and now I'm thankful we get to do it "together" even though we live in different states now! I'm excited to see what our year of HOD turns out to be and I know that if it is half as good as y 'all's year last year, it'll be a success!! You spent the whole year telling me how much you were learning from me as a 'veteran' homeschooling mom, but I'm thankful that the road goes both ways, and the Lord used you to show me and teach me about this new (to me) curriculum! Thank you, Carrie for writing such a great curriculum and thank you Julie for taking an amazing amount of time to talk me through placing my children this summer! We are excited for our coming HOD year!!
Rachel

[my3sons]

Thank you for writing this review, Rebecca! I just love picturing your little Charles enjoying Little Hands to Heaven and for him looking forward to his 'cardigan' homeschool year! What a cutie! Little Hands to Heaven has so much to offer little ones, and it gives such a joyful start to homeschooling. Your post here will be so helpful to others pondering using Heart of Dakota.

When Carrie and I first began homeschooling, we wanted our children to love their time learning with us! We also wanted to love our teaching time. Your list of favorite things mirrors our thoughts and dreams for Carrie creating Little Hands to Heaven. It is just pretty special to read your list for this reason!

I really loved the time I spent talking with you for the first time on the phone the other day, and I truly appreciated your prayer for Grey. I passed that on to Carrie, and she was just so touched and encouraged by you taking the time to pray for him right on the spot. She is out of town right now, but I will make sure she sees your post here.

I believe the Lord provides encouragement at just the right moments in our lives sometimes. You are that encouragement right now! Thank you!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Thank you, WriteItOnTheirHearts! I just love how the Lord brings families to Heart of Dakota, and it is often through special friendships like the two of you have! Being able to share with one another this year as you both homeschool with HOD will be such fun. I pray you have a wonderful upcoming homeschool year with HOD with your family as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you during our placement phone call too. God is just so very good.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Rebecca,

Thanks for taking the time to share about your year with LHTH! It honestly brought tears to my eyes, as so many of the things you shared are the same reasons why I wrote LHTH for my own boys! I loved hearing how your little Charles looked forward to doing "school" - and how much more the nightly Bible reading meant to him because of the connections he made in LHTH.

It is thrilling that he is excited about reading with the TRL. Those are such precious times in mothering! He is so blessed to have you as his mama.

Thanks so much for taking time to share! It means so much to me to know the Lord is working through our guides.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Carrie]

Rachel,

I am so excited for you to begin your journey with HOD! We pray it may be a blessing to your family.

I really loved hearing about your connection with Rebecca, and the way you have shared with and encouraged one another. I have that huge blessing of a relationship with my sister Julie too! What a rare and amazing gift that is.

Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us too!

Blessings,
Carrie

[RSmith]

As your "in-person" best friend. I love that after watching you and Charles have an amazing year of doing LHTH; the Lord has led this momma, who has been homeschooling for 5 years already, to take a step of faith and switch from a curriculum we love, but isn't quite fitting our lifestyle, to a curriculum I had only heard mentioned a time or two. I couldn't get past the amazing things that y'all were doing and the way HOD seemed to check all my boxes. As I prepare for my first year of HOD, I'm thankful that I was able to watch it at work in your home, see the amazing way this curriculum works, and now I'm thankful we get to do it "together" even though we live in different states now! I'm excited to see what our year of HOD turns out to be and I know that if it is half as good as y 'all's year last year, it'll be a success!! You spent the whole year telling me how much you were learning from me as a 'veteran' homeschooling mom, but I'm thankful that the road goes both ways, and the Lord used you to show me and teach me about this new (to me) curriculum! Thank you, Carrie for writing such a great curriculum and thank you Julie for taking an amazing amount of time to talk me through placing my children this summer! We are excited for our coming HOD year!!
Rachel

Rachel,

I'm so excited and thankful that the Lord led you to HOD. I know you will love this curriculum, and I know your kiddos will too. I just keep thinking about how the Lord moved you and your sweet family away from us physically, but then he led you to use the same curriculum as us. In a way, it will be like our kids are attending the same school. I'm not worried about our kids losing touch because their hearts will be connected through HOD.

In Christ,
Rebecca

[RSmith]

Thank you for writing this review, Rebecca! I just love picturing your little Charles enjoying Little Hands to Heaven and for him looking forward to his 'cardigan' homeschool year! What a cutie! Little Hands to Heaven has so much to offer little ones, and it gives such a joyful start to homeschooling. Your post here will be so helpful to others pondering using Heart of Dakota.

When Carrie and I first began homeschooling, we wanted our children to love their time learning with us! We also wanted to love our teaching time. Your list of favorite things mirrors our thoughts and dreams for Carrie creating Little Hands to Heaven. It is just pretty special to read your list for this reason!

I really loved the time I spent talking with you for the first time on the phone the other day, and I truly appreciated your prayer for Grey. I passed that on to Carrie, and she was just so touched and encouraged by you taking the time to pray for him right on the spot. She is out of town right now, but I will make sure she sees your post here.

I believe the Lord provides encouragement at just the right moments in our lives sometimes. You are that encouragement right now! Thank you!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

A joyful start to homeschooling is the perfect way to describe LHTH as it brought so much joy into our home. Whether we were acting out Bible stories or having a dance party to the Singing Bible, every day was full of fun. I'm so thankful you and Carrie put so much "heart" into creating this program. I love teaching this material, and he does love learning it. Actually, I am learning a few things alongside him.

Thank you for taking the time to visit with me on the phone last month. It was fun getting to know you, and your encouragement and guidance were greatly appreciated.

In Christ,

Rebecca

[RSmith]

Rebecca,

Thanks for taking the time to share about your year with LHTH! It honestly brought tears to my eyes, as so many of the things you shared are the same reasons why I wrote LHTH for my own boys! I loved hearing how your little Charles looked forward to doing "school" - and how much more the nightly Bible reading meant to him because of the connections he made in LHTH.

It is thrilling that he is excited about reading with the TRL. Those are such precious times in mothering! He is so blessed to have you as his mama.

Thanks so much for taking time to share! It means so much to me to know the Lord is working through our guides.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,

Thank you, thank you for writing this curriculum! You could have just taught your own boys, but I'm so thankful the Lord led you to share it with other homeschooling families. Charles and I are both excited about LHFHG. Yesterday, he packed his backpack full of office supplies and told me he was getting ready for his "cardigan" year (even though he knows we won't be leaving our home to do school). Also, this morning he asked me if we were going to learn new songs (finger plays) and sing them every day like we did last year. He was so excited when I told him yes. If I hadn't done LHTH last year, I might be nervous about teaching Kindergarten. However, I know there's nothing to be nervous about as your little boxes will guide us in our journey like little stepping stones of knowledge.

Also, I want you to know that I continue to pray for your son. I hope and pray that he is doing well.

In Christ,

Rebecca