heartofdakota.com

Hi everyone!

Just purchased LHTH to use with my 2.5 year old dd and my 5 year old ds. It's a perfect fit for dd, and works well with the program I had already purchased for ds (before I discovered HOD). We are just organizing the units of the other (lit-based) curriculum according to the alphabet schedule of LHTH.

I'm just wondering if it will be possible to combine my dd and ds in HOD after this year. Ds is fairly advanced (can already read, write, and do simple math). So the following year (2011-12), probably neither of them will fit in LHFHG... since it will be too advanced for dd and not challenging enough for ds. I could put ds in Beyond, but will that eliminate the possibility of combining them later?

For those of you that combine your kids in one curriculum, how did you coordinate things so that your younger one could "catch up" to the older one? Did you just use another curriculum until both of them would fit in one HOD program?

Thanks for any help!

Your family sounds a little like mine. I just ordered LHTH for my ds who is 2 1/2. My daughter just turned 5 and is pretty advanced too. She is reading as well. I have decided to do LHFHG with her this year. I'm not sure I will ever be able to combine them in the same HOD program with a 2 1/2 year difference. I would like too though! I know my 2 1/2 year old will be able to do some of the art and science projects that my daughter is doing and he will love the Bible stories, so I am going to include him as much as I can, but still give him his own time with LHTH. I think I may stretch it out over 2 years since he still has 3 years left before K. This is my first year doing HOD and homeschooling, so we will have to see how it goes! I hope you find a plan that works for you!

Shaffer96, your situations sounds a LOT like mine! My ds is actually not yet 5 but really close, so I just listed him as 5. I'm glad I'm not alone!

Spreading out LHTH for my younger one over 2 years sounds like a good idea. I was thinking maybe that would work for us, too... like, if I only do some of the activities per letter this year and then go through the alphabet again next year but with the other activities.

Thanks!

Hi and Welcome to HOD! Glad to have you joining our boards!

I am in a similar situation, too. This year I have a four year old and a two year old. We will be doing LHTH for the older child's pre-k year. The littler one is joining in the fun and will probably learn a lot too! They are a little closer in age, but I still had the dilemma of what to do about programs. This year they will do LHTH, and next year they will do LHTH. The only difference is next year the older one will be doing some kindergarten phonics and math along with it and the younger one will be doing a pre-k schedule. I am kind of combining a Letter of the Week curriculum (that I've put together myself) with the LHTH. We do a workbox system for our kids and this year I'll set up only four boxes for the little ones. This is where I'll have some activities relating to the letter/number/color that we're learning in LHTH. They have their "school time" with me in the morning and then when I'm teaching their older siblings, they can do the workbox activities that I have in the boxes. Of course, it will be simple things they can do without my direct help.

Next year, same thing only putting in kinder. phonics and math for the then, five year old. Then, the following year when the older one is going into first grade and the younger is going into kinder., we will do LHFHG. I haven't decided if we'll go full or half speed that year. I'm leaning toward full speed. Time will tell.

I hope this can be of some help to you. Sometimes it's nice just to see how others are doing it, and then you get an idea of what might/might not work for your family. Blessings as you begin with HOD!

In Christ,

Lisa

It's amazing how many of us have an older child that is somewhat advanced and ready to fly with their learning, and then a middle child who is very bright, but just not anywhere near where the older child is - ability-wise, or maturity-wise. For this very reason, we've found it happier in our home just to do our oldest child separate. I think it may be a birth order thing, or probably because when we had one child, I put everything I had into just him and no surprise, he became an advanced learner. Anyway, saying no to combining to begin with doesn't mean you can't combine at a later date - we'd just help you get creative about it then. For now, if I were you, I'd just do LHTH half-speed with the youngest and LHFHG with the oldest. I don't think he sounds past LHFHG, and it is a wonderful program! What is he reading, and how much is he writing? If he's reading books like "Amelia Bedelia" or "Frog and Toad" quite easily, he can start the Emerging Reader's Set in Beyond. If he's writing well, he could start the LA box in Beyond too. But just do LHFHG for the rest. Otherwise, he could just do LHFHG as it is written and enjoy that. HTH as you consider what fits each of your dc's needs the best!

In Christ,
Julie

I have 3 little ones. Tried hard to see if I could combine the 2 younger ones since my middle one is a boy and my youngest a girl, but after much prayer and consideration I came to the same conclusion as Julie has mentioned to keep each child at their own level in their own guide unless she catches up somehow!
Success with your decision and you will love LHTH and LHFHG!

Thanks for all your ideas and encouragement!

Sounds like that at this level (non-reader and early reader) I'll have to purchase separate curriculums to fit their needs best. I was thinking that was probably the case, but I was hoping there was some way to do it.

Lisa, I like the workbox idea for littles. What kinds of activities do you put in there? I think that would be good for dd when I'm working with ds on his math and reading.

Julie, thanks for the thoughts on LHFHG and Beyond. Ds enjoys books like Amelia Bedelia and Frog and Toad. He writes words and sentences (and if he's motivated, short stories) in capital letters. He's still working on lower case handwriting. If I were to choose a HOD program for him right now, I'd probably choose LHFHG like you said and do the Emerging Readers' set for reading. However, since I've already got this other curriculum that I've invested in, I think I'm going to stick with it since it will fit nicely with what dd is doing for LHTH. And then I'll see how he's doing at the end of the school year... and how dd is doing, too. Thanks for pointing out, too, that just because we don't start out combining doesn't mean we can't combine later. That's encouraging!

Moedertje, thanks for the reminder to pray!

Oh, and for those of you that do LHTH half-speed, how do you do it? Just wondering what it could look like...

We are enjoying doing LHTH half-speed with my little guy. Here is a post where I described how we do LHTH half-speed:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600&p=41232#p41232

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

I actually have tons of ideas on a list somewhere about what to put in their boxes each day. Some of the items will be coloring pages, laminated number cards, laminated letter cards, stacker pegs, sorting activities (like seperating colored pom-poms into different compartments using tongs), kumon books for cutting, pages for writing letters, pages for finding letters and circling them, tangrams/pattern blocks, file folder games, puzzles, beads and string, lacing cards, magnetic dolls (they are girls so this is very appealing), pipe cleaners to poke through holes made in the top of a pringles can, Bible verse coloring sheets, mazes, matching games and some books to look at quietly.

These are a few ideas to get you started. Of course, there are lots of variations to each of these and they can be adapted for your needs as well. Most of the things mentioned are just ideas I've gathered from the internet. Some of the pages and number cards/letter cards are things I've made for them (using printables online that I've laminated with contact paper). Most/all of these can keep a preschooler busy for a while and work on fine motor skills, too.

I hope this lends a little help to you!

In Christ,

Lisa

Thank you!