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I decided to get LHFHG for my 5.5 yo daughter instead of her continuing to tag along with Beyond. (She's only 19 months younger than ds, but she won't be ready for Bigger at the end of Beyond - sometime near Christmas, plus I feel the need to connect with her individually and hope this will help). Anyway, my postman honked his horn and I went out to receive my box from him (knowing it was the super fast shipping from HOD!). THe label was smeared and he couldn't scan it. He said he should have noticed that before he left and taken a picture of it, etc. He said he would just give me the package and take the heat for it. I told him - nope! I didn't want him to get in trouble, I could wait another day for the box. So he has to take it back to the post office, take a picture of the label and then I get to have it tomorrow.

So not only do I appreciate the super fast HOD shipping (thanks Mike and boys!) I also get to have box day twice!

I knew only you ladies would appreciate my story, LOL!

Lynn

Ohhh, that was very big of you to make that decision! I'm sure the postman appreciated that so much. Were you shaking, were your palms sweaty, did he have to yank the box from the clutches of your hands - that had to be tough!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Wow! What restraint you showed! Seeing the box and not being able to open it... knowing it would be at the p.o. through the night all alone. You did the right thing though and I'm sure you're postman appreciates it.

Hopefully we'll be celebrating together as I'm expecting Bigger Hearts tomorrow or Saturday.

Day 2, lunch time approaching.... I have to confess I'm jumping up and looking out the window at every car I hear!

My 2 oldest are 19 months apart too! I am planning on combining them in Beyond starting in late May. I was wondering how you know that your dd won't be able to handle Bigger when you get to it. I also have had concerns about this. My ds isn't even sounding out words yet (he'll be 6 in August), but he's doing great with math. Part of me feels like you do- like I should connect with him individually instead of letting him tag along with my 7 year old. But I already have planned for using Beyond, so we are going to give it a go and see what happens. I am planning on getting LHFHG for my 4 year old to start using when he's close to turning 5 (in Dec). If I need to, I could combine my #2 and #3 children (they are only 16 months apart), but I'm still struggling with figuring out what will be best. In some ways, it makes more sense to put my almost-6-year-old in LHFHG with his younger brother instead of in Beyond with his big sister, because he has a lot of trouble with his writing (his arm is still weak from being broken and having surgery and being in a cast for 2 1/2 months over a year ago). I'm wondering if a year from now he'll be able to handle the increased writing demands of Bigger. It seems like regardless of what I do, someone is going to have trouble handling something at some point!

Anyway, I'm sorry for hijacking your thread, but when I saw your children's ages and your plans, I wanted to hear more!

Such ability to practice delayed gratification only so that your postman does not get in trouble. I pray the Lord will give you an extra blessing for this!
I am anticipating with you to receive you box and being able to open it.

Hi Sharon,
I don't mind the hi-jack at all! Our families are really similar. My 5.5 yo will turn 6 the end of June. She's not really doing anymore than your 5.5 ds in the way of sounding out words. When I looked at the placement chart she fit perfectly into LHFHG. This was my biggest deciding factor. It seemed that I *could* stretch her into Beyond if I needed to, but it would just be a bigger stretch after that. I even considered keeping her in Beyond and doing LHFHG with her afterwards, but I nixed that idea. Also, I had decided not to do a separate program (little hands) for my 3.5 yo (turns 4 in August), but I thought he could possibly listen in on some of LHFHG if I used it with my dd. In our case my 5.5 is 19 months away from her older brother and 25 months older than her younger brother. Though she is closer in age to her older brother, I thought she would fit better with the younger. I also think she would benefit from being the "older" one in a tag-along situation than the younger one. My 7yo ds is not necessarily advanced, but he does seem more academically gifted than her. From the time she was born I assumed I would school these two together, but as they have gotten older it has become more obvious that that might not be the best fit. (And because my 7yo ds has a 10 yo older brother, it seems to pull him "up" some - i.e. they both play chess competitively, they are the same belt rank at TKD, while she is 2 belts behind them and still doesn't understand how to checkmate, etc.)

Besides all this, in my gut I felt like I needed to separate her. Her personality is more challenging to me than any of the others. She seems to be the most head strong of any of them. I felt like I needed something positive going on between her and me - a place where she might shine and I might find more to praise in her than if she tagged along behind a slightly "gifted" older brother who rarely disobeys outright.

So, I think my two main thoughts were the placement chart and her personality.

If I were you, I could see leaning towards combining #2 and #3 in LHFHG, but I don't know how I would handle waiting until Christmas to start it. Maybe someone else will have some ideas. Depending on your 4.5 yo, maybe you could start it in the fall half pace and switch to full pace after Christmas....

Anyway, the great thing about HOD is that it is so flexible to fit so many different situations. Hope I haven't made your decision harder!

Lynn

P.S. I did get my box today - woo-hoo! Now... I just need to decide whether to start using it now or save it for fall. I'm just not sure how consistently we will do school over the summer especially after a bee-yoo-tee-ful day like today!

Lynn-
Thanks so much for answering my questions.

At this point getting another HOD program isn't an option for a while; I totally drained my homeschool account (which I set aside $ into each payperiod) getting us set up to do Beyond. So, although I do think my ds could benefit from being in his own program (LHFHG) instead of tagging along with his big sister, I can't do it yet. I'll just have to see how he does with the Beyond readings. Ds is super wiggly and has a lot of trouble listening (unless he's REALLY interested). Today we were reading from Apologia Zoology and when we were done I asked what he learned about the dodo bird. He said "it flies around the house." That's a pretty amazing feat for a flightless, extinct bird, don't ya think? But anyway, I figure it's not the end of the world if he ends up not sticking with dd for Beyond. From what I'm seeing in my 4 year old, he should do fine in LHFHG if we start it several months from now. I just need to make sure my 5.5 year old isn't getting neglected in the meantime, but perhaps I'm worried for nothing. Maybe he'll do great in Beyond. I'll just have to wait and see! I do know that my 7 year old dd will do great in whatever I throw at her. She's a great listener, has beautiful handwriting (and doesn't tire with the copywork I give her), and enjoys school in general.

Thanks again for answering my questions, and thanks for sharing your great example of patience with us! I'm glad you got your box!

Lynn,

Congratulations on your almost box day! I agree you showed incredible restraint!

We're one week from finishing LHFHG with my third little guy, and I pray you'll enjoy it as much as we have!

Blessings,
Carrie

Lynn,

Just a little note for starting. It does take a few weeks to get into the groove and if you are taking a summer break it might be more beneficial to start in the fall. That way you don't end up frustrated when you stop and go. I remember reading it in one of the threads that even Carrie and Julie need a few weeks to get going. I have learned this myself, taking time to get into the groove and than it just starts flowing and you just don't want it to ever stop Hope this might help!

moedertje wrote:Lynn,

Just a little note for starting. It does take a few weeks to get into the groove and if you are taking a summer break it might be more beneficial to start in the fall. That way you don't end up frustrated when you stop and go. I remember reading it in one of the threads that even Carrie and Julie need a few weeks to get going. I have learned this myself, taking time to get into the groove and than it just starts flowing and you just don't want it to ever stop Hope this might help!

Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

Lynn