Is it ok if I start with LHFHG?

[christina101902]

My daughter will be 4 in April, she recognizes all of her letters and can count to 30 and recognize all numbers up to 10, all the colors and shapes. She also can hear a word and identify the letter it begins with, 90 percent of the time. My question is that I looked at the placement charts and based on her age she should do Little Hands to Heaven, but Im not sure if that will challenge her. I am conflicted because I do not want to overwhelm her with a curriculum that is meant for 5 year olds, if I go with LHFHG. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Christina

[LeAnna]

Hi Christina,

There are a couple of options...You could do LHTH with her and do the K books, and when you get to Little Hearts, do the first grade option....
Or you could do Little Hearts with her and start at half pace, meaning doing the left side of plans one day, and the other the next.
We started Little Hearts at full pace, with my dd, when she was 4.5. But, we did hold off on teaching to read, until 5, and moved a little slower with handwriting. Everything else, we moved at regular pace. With my ds, however, I am either thinking of going half pace with him, when he is 5, or waiting to start when he is 6.
It's totally up to you, whatever you decide!

Hope that helps a bit! I'm sure more moms will chime in!

LeAnna

[3sweeties]

Hi Christina,

I am going to have a 5.5yo (will turn 5 in April) that I am planning on doing LHFHG with for K next year. If I were you and was starting it with a 4 yo, I would definitely do it half-speed and maybe take 1.5 years or so to complete it? The biggest issue you might have is with future guides. If you only take a year to complete it, you would be doing Beyond for K and then Bigger for 1st, which in my opinion is way too much for that age (Bigger fits more into a 3rd grade level, IMO). I am doing Bigger with my almost 8 yo, 2nd grade boy this year and it has been a challenge and we are taking it slow! Just my 2 cents. I haven't actually done LHFHG with one of my kids yet, but I have looked it over pretty extensively. If you didn't want to slow down LHFHG, then you could slow down Beyond the next year. I'm sure other moms that are doing it now will have great advice! HTH a little!

[Mom4Him]

Hi Christina!
As the others already mentioned- you really do have a couple of great options!
*Doing LHTH (adding in some or all of the right side of LHFHG if you would like)
*Doing LHFHG at half-speed
When we began LHTH this year, my oldest girls were 4 1/2 & sound a lot like your daughter. (They had even begun some Phonics instruction.) But- for various reasons I chose to go through LHTH with them & their little sister- & I added the handwriting, Rod & Staff books & phonics from the right side of LHFHG... I am so glad I did! They have really been able to shine & have learned so much. It has been such a special time for us. We have reinforced letter names & sounds, beginning math skills, art projects, science explortaion, etc. all while focusing on the Bible. I am confident that they will go into LHFHG in the Fall prepared & more than capable of all that is required. Their little sister will be 4 in May (she sounds a lot like your daughter too). I have gone back & forth about having her go through LHTH again or do LHFHG SLOWLY with her sisters... for now I am opting to seperate them- but I really think she would do well either way. So, I really think it could work very well either way for your daughter. So many others have gone through LHFHG with a young one & they have done quite well!
I'm so glad you found HOD- you are going to enjoy it so much!
Jessica

[krismoose]

Welcome! I understand your concerns...I started my son at 4.5 with LHTH and saw fairly soon that he was not very interested in the repetitive activities, which my 3 yo and I love . So we started LHFHG, moving at a slower pace for several months. The first half is based on bible stories from the Family Time Bible, which has great pictures. By the time we got to the history readings that were only from Little Pilgrims and History Stories for Children, he was more mature and interested in them, It took him a few weeks to get used to the Storytime books by Burgess which have 3-5 pictures in the whole book, but he does love them now. The devotional was over his head for awhile, but he understands the stories more now. The activities that go along with the readings (art, science, dramatic play, thinking skills) have been perfect for him, and his now-3yo sister has enjoyed them as well. The only drawback for us having started earlier than recommended is that he really isn't quite ready for Beyond yet. Maybe in 6-8 months, but not in 2 months, when we'll be done with LHFHG. I think we're actually going to do MFW K while he matures a bit. This is hard for me, as we all love LHFHG and *really* want to continue on right away, but he still places solidly in LHFHG, and his 3 yo sister won't be able to participate as much in Beyond either. I love the way Carrie (the author) has put together the guides and want my dc to get as much out of them as possible. If my ds is always on the youngest end of the recommended age range, I'll always be concerned about that.

SO...I say all that to say that just-turned-4 may be a bit young, *but* if you were to plan on stretching the guide out over 2 years and let her grow into it, it may be just right for you. If you want to start phonics, The Reading Lesson is lovely and simple and my ds loves it (we're almost done, having started at 4.5 also) and it does not require any writing, which is great for a young child, or one that's just not ready to write yet. If she does have emerging writing skills, all of the Rod & Staff preschool workbooks are great (D and F are recommended with LHFHG, but you can find A, B & C elsewhere, PM me if you need more info). OR...another option is to do LHTH and just add phonics and some math games & activities. In hindsight, we probably would have been fine if I had just continued on with LHTH and added a few extras for ds, but I really liked the activities in LHFHG. HTH .

[Samuel'sMommy]

We started with LHFHG when my son was 4, but are only doing it half speed. We do the rhymes in motion, review our Bible verse, and listen to the music daily. Then we do the history and the rotating box (art, thinking skills, dramatic play, etc) on one day and do storytime and the Bible study box the next. We do the fine motor skills, math, and phonics daily. It's been going great. He loves it! I haven't decided if I'm going to go half speed all the way through and just move on to the 1st grade fine motor skills, math, and phonics when ready or if I'm going to eventully move up to full speed. It will just depend on him and how he does.

[MomtoJGJE]

We also started LHFHG with DD2 when she was 4.5, but *I* stopped doing it... she was fine, but I was overwhelmed trying to do Beyond with DD1, LHFHG with DD2 and LHTH with DD3 AND having a baby learning to crawl So after a few months of doing nothing I posted on here and got the brilliant suggestion of doing LHTH with K level math, handwriting, fine motor skills (the rod and staff books) and phonics... basically the right side of LHFHG but without storytime... we'll be finished with LHTH (I started over) sometime in the fall and depending on when it is I"m going to start LHFHG with 1st grade stuff for her (and K level for DD3) going half speed until DD3 catches up. DD2 will be 5.5... almost 6 when we start LHFHG and will be likely almost 7 before we finish it.

I said all that to say this.... IF I only had one child I probably would have been fine doing LHFHG, especially if I did half speed for a while, but trying to do 3 different levels along with a baby was just too much for ME... My kids were doing great...

[jenntracy]

I will say that my daughter is about to turn 5 next week. We did LHTH starting at 3.5yrs and did it thru the year, finsihing last fall. i thought maybe we could just pick up and start LHFHG this past fall. i tried to do the half-paced thing but sometimes she just wasn't into it. she "wanted to do schoolwork like brother", but when we were doing it she would fizzle. Wasn't ready for story-time, math,reading, History.
We continue to do things as she wants. I feel like there is not rush. She wouldn't start K til next fall if Iwas sending her to school outside the home anyway.

I do have a following directions- type book that she likes to do. Lately she has been copying words or if she wants to write a card,she asks me to spell things so i write them on her personal dry erase board.(I love the dry erase board) yesterday she copied the name of my high school from the back of my old sweatshirt i was wearing.I must say her handwriting is coming along nicely just by practicing her letters in this manner.
We do little math things.If she wanted to read I would start her in a program.

She does do some things with brother(lhfhg) if she is around for some of his activites, like rhymetime, bible verse, and science, art,etc. activities. O! we did do a Cinderella lapbook, and we are doing a pig lapbook one right now. She loves pigs. We don't do it everyday. just play it by ear.

I think the suggestions from the first reply seem like good options as well if your daughter is up for the challenge.

i do have a 2yr old as well as a 6.5 yr old.

Praing you choose the best for your dd.

JEnn D.

[my3sons]

We did start LHFHG half-speed with our 4.5 yo, and he grew into it over time. I definitely would not have started it any earlier with him than that though, even though he was reading well before he began LHFHG. My hesitation would be mainly due to the skill area of writing. With your dd not turning 4 until April, I'm assuming that her writing has probably not caught up to the rest of her learning. The writing in the guides begins to pick up in Beyond, and especially in Bigger. It is a bonus if dc are strong in this area by the time they get to those guides. I think if I were you, I'd do LHTH with any of the right side of LHFHG you feel fits her well - which consists of the phonics, earlybird math/HOD hands-on lessons, Doing It Carefully/Finding the Answers, A Reason for Handwriting A, and Storytime. Then, your dd will be 5 yo when she begins LHFHG, and you can do the first grade options for those areas, and still be able to keep the rest of the LHFHG plans together. Let's say you get the LHTH guide and it feels easy for her - that's alright! She'll have a fun start to homeschooling, and the LHFHG K Options (right side of plans) will challenge her aplenty. You could always double-time the LHTH lessons, doing 2 days' worth of plans in a day, maybe one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and finish it in half a year too - if you get going and decide you'd like to pick up the pace that way. These are just some thoughts for you to consider, however, you will know best!

In Christ,
Julie