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A little background. My son will be 5 on August 29, so he barely makes the ps deadline for kindergarten. But, he was a preemie, born 11 weeks premature, so he is small for his age. So even if I was planning to send him to ps, I would wait another year to let him get some more meat on his bones.

Developmentally however, he's pretty bright. While he can write his name, he doesn't know all his letters or numbers. Mostly due to me not working with him enough because I have been so focused on getting my 3rd grader pulled from school and starting off right. Plus he tends to not sit still long!

I feel like LHTH is the right place to start, but if I start him there can I call it kindergarten? If I call it pre-k, then do LHFHG for K, then Beyond for 1st, Bigger for 2nd, and Preparing for 3rd, we then have that "missing year" thing. Whereas if I call LHTH kindergarten, then we'd be on pace. See what I mean? You probably think "who cares what you call it?" but I do. Having pulled dd from ps, it matters what grade they are. Everyone wants to know what grade a kid is in.

Maybe I'm answering my own question. Do LHTH for k and call it that. Can I beef it up some so the material is more K-like, or is that unnecessary? I know it seems like I'm over-thinking, but I am in love with HoD and would like it to work for my kiddos for many, many years. I know that "missing year" thing has come up before but I didn't know how some handled it if you were to start from the beginning.

From the sounds of it I'd say your son would benefit from LHTH for K. You could beef it up with phonics instruction if you want and Singapore earlybird math workbooks for K if you felt you needed to do more. Then for his first grade year you'd do LHFHG and continue with phonics if necessary or move into the emerging readers set out of beyond. You'd also have to get the Singapore math for first grade.

Amy,

I am so sorry that I didn't quite get my list the way I intended below. My editor, my3ons, blessedly caught my mistake! Thank goodness for good editors! Anyway, I've revised my post below to be the way I intended. I should never type with all my little boys running around!

I agree that it would be good to have this be your son's Pre-K year for state purposes. My son had just turned 5 last year, and we called it his Pre-K year for state purposes (just so he'd have another year to grow into K). Especially with boys it's important to give them every chance to succeed and starting them later helps with that so much!

I also agree that doing LHTH would be a good place to begin. You would call it Pre-K for state purposes. If you got partway through the year and felt your son was ready to add in a handwriting workbook, some phonics, or a math workbook, you could always add any of those in from the right side of the LHFHG plans. However, you may find that LHTH is just right for helping your little one grow into his kindergarten readiness skills.

If your little guy did LHTH at 5, then your schedule would look like this:
Just turned 5 (Pre- K) LHTH
Just turned 6 (K) LHFHG
Just turned 7 (1st) Beyond
Just turned 8 (2nd) Bigger
Just turned 9 (3rd) Preparing
Just turned 10 (4th) Creation to Christ
Just turned 11 (5th) Medieval to Reformation
Just turned 12 (6th) Reformation to 1800's
Just turned 13 (7th) 1800's to Modern Times

This would leave you one year of wiggle room prior to grade 8, if you needed to stretch a guide out over 2 years or needed to take longer than a year to complete a guide (possibly doing a 4 day plan with LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger instead of the 5 day plan as it's written.)

Blessings,
Carrie

Ahhh. Thanks Carrie. So to clarify, if he turns 5 this coming August, you suggest using LHTH, calling it pre-k, and then using it again the following year and calling it K so that we don't wind up with a missing year? I suppose that would work but I wonder about using LHTH 2 years in a row? Wouldn't he be bored?

Or instead are you saying to go 1/2 speed to stretch out LHTH to take 2 years calling the 1st year pre-k and the second k? Then I could add in phonics, handwriting and math as he is able and masters skills? Hmmmmmm. I think I have heard of some of you doing LHTH at 1/2 speed, but with a 2 or 3 year old. But a 5 and then 6 year old?

double post

Amy - I don't think she's saying do LHTH twice because she pretty much never suggest that - I think she means this...
ages 5 -6 (K) LHTH
6-7 (1st) LHFHG
7-8 (2nd) Beyond
8- 9 (3rd) Bigger
9-10 (4th) Preparing
10-11 (5th) Creation to Christ
11-12 (6th) Medieval to Reformation
12-13 (7th) Reformation to 1800's
13- 14 (8th) 1800's to Modern Times

HTH! And, I think it sounds like a good plan - BTW, I think it was a smart choice on your part to put your time into ds coming home from ps. That is the half of it, isn't it? Knowing which child needs us most sometimes? Good job, mom!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Okay, thanks Julie. That makes sense then. So it's okay to use LHTH for kindergarten. And I suppose I can add some resources as I see that he's ready, and if he's not I can slow things down. That's the beauty of it. I have seen such maturing in my little man over the last 6 months, that I can't wait to get started on his own program this fall. He'll be ready!

My3sons and dale1088,

I have revised my post above to reflect what I originally intended it to say! Thanks to both of you for catching that my list was off! My3sons gave you a different take on my revised list above, so you could actually do it either way, dale1088. Both would work!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Amy,

I am so sorry that I didn't quite get my list the way I intended below. My editor, my3ons, blessedly caught my mistake! Thank goodness for good editors! Anyway, I've revised my post below to be the way I intended. I should never type with all my little boys running around!

I agree that it would be good to have this be your son's Pre-K year for state purposes. My son had just turned 5 last year, and we called it his Pre-K year for state purposes (just so he'd have another year to grow into K). Especially with boys it's important to give them every chance to succeed and starting them later helps with that so much!

I also agree that doing LHTH would be a good place to begin. You would call it Pre-K for state purposes. If you got partway through the year and felt your son was ready to add in a handwriting workbook, some phonics, or a math workbook, you could always add any of those in from the right side of the LHFHG plans. However, you may find that LHTH is just right for helping your little one grow into his kindergarten readiness skills.

If your little guy did LHTH at 5, then your schedule would look like this:
Just turned 5 (Pre- K) LHTH
Just turned 6 (K) LHFHG
Just turned 7 (1st) Beyond
Just turned 8 (2nd) Bigger
Just turned 9 (3rd) Preparing
Just turned 10 (4th) Creation to Christ
Just turned 11 (5th) Medieval to Reformation
Just turned 12 (6th) Reformation to 1800's
Just turned 13 (7th) 1800's to Modern Times

This would leave you one year of wiggle room prior to grade 8, if you needed to stretch a guide out over 2 years or needed to take longer than a year to complete a guide (possibly doing a 4 day plan with LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger instead of the 5 day plan as it's written.)

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie for your thoughtful post! i totally agree with this post and will be praying about it and talking it over with dh. i am in TX and the state could care less it's more just me. I think it stems a little from wishing my dc were closer together and thinking that if dd is moving on to 4th grade and ds is still only in pre-k, the gap widens. But really, who cares. God is the one who planned this timing, and He is in control. Actually, why am I rushing things anyways? This way my little precious guy stays with me longer, right!?