young 2nd grader in LHFHG?

[sharonb]

As I'm looking at possibly coming back to HOD, I have a couple of placement options. We'd be starting in late-May. My oldest (8 years, will be 3rd grade) places in Bigger. My 2nd child (6.5 years, will be 2nd grade) has an August birthday. Since we school year-round and start our new year in May or June, ds is really on the young side for his grade. So far I've had him combined with dd for science, history, etc. I require more of dd than I do of ds as far as writing (we keep a notebook for zoology). His attention span has improved, but still is not as good as dd's. Then there's my next son, who is 5 and will be starting K. Because of his late birthday, he's 2 years apart from my first son in school, yet they are only 16 months apart. I've always felt that at some point they would be more combinable than my oldest two.

My original plan was to get just Bigger and have all 3 of them participate as they are able. (We already have our math/LA at their appropriate levels). But, I'm thinking it might be better to let dd do Bigger by herself, and put the boys in LHFHG together. That's where the title of my post comes in---- does that sound like it would work? My 6 year old is very bright when it comes to math, but has struggled with phonics/reading and handwriting. He is also wiggly with a short attention span (though he is improving!). My 5 year old is the total opposite!

What do you think?

[MomtoJGJE]

I would absolutely put them together!! Especially if they are fairly comparable with attention spans and such. Then you can just adjust the math/reading/writing parts to fit each child.

[SoaringEagle]

Sounds like it would be a good fit to combine the 2 boys.

[jenntracy]

i have to agree with the other ladies. sounds like it might be a good fit.

Jenn D.

[inHistiming]

I think it sounds like a great plan. My 6 yo will be starting LHFHG at the age of 7 (June birthday) as a first grader. I just didn't think he would be ready for the further guides at a younger age and due to family circumstances (moving, new baby, etc.) I knew I wasn't going to be ready to be doing those fuller guides yet either....so that's where we are. This year we're doing a modified version of LHTH since he's older, really focusing on learning to read, handwriting, bible stories from The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, and math. I am looking forward to getting to LHFHG in the fall when he will be ready, it should be lots of fun. Welcome back to HOD!

[sharonb]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm excited about this plan. So, the 2nd grader would do LHFHG, CLE Math 2, R&S Phonics 2, R&S English 2 (mostly orally), and possibly Cheerful Cursive (he really wants to start learning cursive, and I've found that his handwriting gets better when he's motivated!) He'd do the Emerging Readers schedule for reading, and the spelling list from Bigger.

My Kindergartener would do LHFHG, ETC/Bob Books, R&S workbooks, A Reason for Handwriting K. I might have him do the singapore earlybird math, but we will be using CLE math for him starting in 1st grade. At the very least, he can do the activities in the guide.

My 3rd grader would do BHFHG, CLE Math 3, R&S English 3, and Cheerful Cursive. For reading, she'll read whole books and keep a vocab notebook and discuss the books with me. I'm not going to get DITHR at this time, but it's a possibility for the future.

Thanks again for the help, everyone!

[my3sons]

Well, I'm late to this thread, but I enjoyed reading the steps to a great plan coming together. I think what you just shared sounds like a super plan. I bet you'll enjoy your 2 sons together, and your dd can soar with BHFHG. One thought I'd had would be for your ds to do R & S English 2 half-speed, as he's on the young side for it. Though much of it can be done orally, diagramming (which starts in R & S English 3) really shouldn't be done orally for its full effect. Since the writing increases and writing assignments begin to be part of R & S English later, you may want to slow it down a tad. For your little guy, you have a super plan in place too. I did think the Earlybird Math was fun, and went so well with the hands-on activities, so I'll just throw some kuddos out for that as you consider it. For DITHOR, I'd really encourage you to do it. It is a rich reading program with so much meat to it. I think you could definitely start it later though. Sometimes stagger starting really helps make it easy to ease into it. Those are just a few thoughts I'd had after reading your post, but they're just some fine tuning type things that you'll know best what will work for you. We did LHFHG and BHFHG as a combo a few years back and really enjoyed it. I think you will too!

In Christ,
Julie

[sharonb]

Julie, thanks for your ideas!
Doing English 2 half-speed with ds is a great idea, and I'm sure he won't mind!

As for DITHR, I am considering getting it once I have all of our other curriculum needs taken care of. The budget is tight though, so I can't get it all at once! (That's why I always start planning ahead so early!)

[Samuel'sMommy]

Sounds like you have a great plan!

[Carrie]

Sharon,

I just wanted to agree that your plan sounds great! The ladies are terrific at talking through options, aren't they!

Blessings,
Carrie