Little Hands to Heaven Question...

[lynnie]

Hi All~

I'm brand new to Heart of Dakota and I have a very quick question. I plan on using only Little Hands to Heaven (I use another curriculum from Kindergarten and beyond), and I'm wondering how people stretch it for two years. I plan on starting with my 2 year old in August (she'll be 2 1/2)...do I do just 2 days a week that first year, and then 3 days a week the following year? I think 5 days a week might be too much for her age...or is it so hands-on that a 2 year old can do it daily? Would it be boring for her to do the program twice, once at 2 1/2 and again at 3 1/2? Just looking for some ideas on how other people have used this program for 2 years in a row...planning ahead! Thanks in advance~Lynnie

[my2guys]

We've used LHTH for my ds and stretched it over 2 yrs by doing it around 3 times a week. This also accounts for taking breaks for summer (dh is a teacher so that is our family travel time) and for things like holidays - and most recently a move. It's worked out perfectly for us. (It is extremely "hands on" and takes a short amount of time per day - less than an hour.)

HTH

[pollo_la]

I did LHTH for awhile when my dd had just turned 3. 2-3 days a week was the PERFECT pace for her at that time! I would say that 2 days the first year and 3 the second would work out perfectly!

[Mommamo]

We are doing it 2-3 times a week right now with my newly 3 year old. We're going to do it all the way through, however long it takes, using the younger student options. Then we're going to go through it again using the older student options for D, and by then E will be old enough to do it too using the younger student options. I don't think he'll be bored by any means because it's mainly Bible stories with fun activities. After all, they do the same Bible stories over and over in my kiddos Bible classes at church and the kids still enjoy them, so I think it will be okay. Also, he'll be older so the letter activities will make more sense to him, as will the math activities. I'm also planning to add math and phonics the second time around too, to make it more like Kindergarten.

[lynnie]

Thanks everyone! It looks like such a fabulous, gentle and Godly preschool. I've searched for something like this for very long, only finding workbook type programs, or programs which take as long as kindergarten, which I'm not wanting for her at only 2! I think I'll try the 2 days the first year, and then 3 days the second. I have both sets of devotionals and Bibles already. I love that it takes just a bit of time...next year I'll also be schooling two 2nd graders (twins) and a kindergartner. Thanks again!! Lynnie

[Dustybug]

I've just started LHTH. I plan on stretching it 2 years as well. My daughter is 3. I do "school" 5 days a week, but I only do LHTH every other day. On the in between days, I use fillers that relate to what we're learning in LHTH. For example, we started Unit 2 yesterday (The Flood), so we did Unit 2 Day 1 yesterday and today, we watched a movie about Noah's Ark, colored on "B" coloring sheets, made an ark craft, and did some "B" pages in a workbook I purchased at a dollar store. We also read a book about Noah's Ark.

Here's a link to this week's lesson plan if you want to see how I do it:
http://reachtothemoonandback.blogspot.c ... -9-13.html

[Mommamo]

I've just started LHTH. I plan on stretching it 2 years as well. My daughter is 3. I do "school" 5 days a week, but I only do LHTH every other day. On the in between days, I use fillers that relate to what we're learning in LHTH. For example, we started Unit 2 yesterday (The Flood), so we did Unit 2 Day 1 yesterday and today, we watched a movie about Noah's Ark, colored on "B" coloring sheets, made an ark craft, and did some "B" pages in a workbook I purchased at a dollar store. We also read a book about Noah's Ark.

How fun! You sound a lot like what I did when my oldest was three. We didn't do LHTH (although I wish we had), but we did Before Five in a Row and I added in all sorts of fun extra things. I wish I still had time for all the "extras!" Thankfully HOD is wonderful without the extras but those extras sure are fun!

[netpea]

I did it with both kids when they were 4 and 2 and then again with my youngest when she was 4. She loved it just as much the second time around.

[Dustybug]

I've just started LHTH. I plan on stretching it 2 years as well. My daughter is 3. I do "school" 5 days a week, but I only do LHTH every other day. On the in between days, I use fillers that relate to what we're learning in LHTH. For example, we started Unit 2 yesterday (The Flood), so we did Unit 2 Day 1 yesterday and today, we watched a movie about Noah's Ark, colored on "B" coloring sheets, made an ark craft, and did some "B" pages in a workbook I purchased at a dollar store. We also read a book about Noah's Ark.

How fun! You sound a lot like what I did when my oldest was three. We didn't do LHTH (although I wish we had), but we did Before Five in a Row and I added in all sorts of fun extra things. I wish I still had time for all the "extras!" Thankfully HOD is wonderful without the extras but those extras sure are fun!

They are fun! I originally was just going to do the three days a week, but my daughter loved "school time" so much she was asking to do stuff on the others, so I said, "why not?"

[pollo_la]

I've just started LHTH. I plan on stretching it 2 years as well. My daughter is 3. I do "school" 5 days a week, but I only do LHTH every other day. On the in between days, I use fillers that relate to what we're learning in LHTH. For example, we started Unit 2 yesterday (The Flood), so we did Unit 2 Day 1 yesterday and today, we watched a movie about Noah's Ark, colored on "B" coloring sheets, made an ark craft, and did some "B" pages in a workbook I purchased at a dollar store. We also read a book about Noah's Ark.

How fun! You sound a lot like what I did when my oldest was three. We didn't do LHTH (although I wish we had), but we did Before Five in a Row and I added in all sorts of fun extra things. I wish I still had time for all the "extras!" Thankfully HOD is wonderful without the extras but those extras sure are fun!

They are fun! I originally was just going to do the three days a week, but my daughter loved "school time" so much she was asking to do stuff on the others, so I said, "why not?"

Your dd sounds SO much like my dd was at 3!! Anytime we did anything that was "school" she absolutely LOVED it! Of course, she is exactly the same way now...

[MamaBear23Cubs]

I bought LHTH when my younger two were 2 and 3. I used with along with Before Five In A Row. For their preschool days it has worked out well together. Except now that they are 4 and 5 I no longer use BFAIR. I am now just doing LHTH along with Rod and Staff preschool workbooks, activies printed off from homeschool share, and enchanted learning. My son isn't ready for Little Hearts yet. We are still working on his listening and answer skills which have improved since I last post ages ago about it. Now 2 out of 5 times he will answer questions and talk about the story
Anyhoo since we have had this program the kids still enjoy the book. I did a little bit the first year, added more the second year and now this will be our final year using Little Hands to Heaven. Next year they both will be using Little Hearts For Heaven. It's a lovely program and it's being enjoyed by all three of my children. My oldest enjoyed the pretending part and last summer you would find us outside in the trees acting out some of the stories. I look forward to this summer so we can do it some more because doing this all inside isn't as much fun as outside.

[mskogen]

I love reading the posts. My youngest dd just turned 2 so I was going to wait to do LHTH until next year when she is 3. I am finishing it up with my ds who is turning 4. She loves doing it with him. Reading the posts gave me something to think about. Maybe I could stretch it out over two years with her or even do it through two years in a row but the first year only do it part time. She likes to do school....I will have to think some more.....Thanks ladies for sharing your ideas

[my3sons]

Hi All~

I'm brand new to Heart of Dakota and I have a very quick question. I plan on using only Little Hands to Heaven (I use another curriculum from Kindergarten and beyond), and I'm wondering how people stretch it for two years. I plan on starting with my 2 year old in August (she'll be 2 1/2)...do I do just 2 days a week that first year, and then 3 days a week the following year? I think 5 days a week might be too much for her age...or is it so hands-on that a 2 year old can do it daily? Would it be boring for her to do the program twice, once at 2 1/2 and again at 3 1/2? Just looking for some ideas on how other people have used this program for 2 years in a row...planning ahead! Thanks in advance~Lynnie

Hi Lynnie! Welcome to the HOD board! We've used LHTH twice now. With one of our ds's we did it all in a year, and with our middle ds we did it 2 or 3 days a week over several years. Both worked great! I did decide my ds doing it half-speed benefitted from still doing the Fingerplay and reviewing the Letter Flashcards and actions each day of the week though (both only took 10 minutes together). He just learned them so much better, and it was great to start our day with those.

In Christ,
Julie