heartofdakota.com

Hello HOD friends -

I am thinking through what to do for the coming school year... (Hard to believe it will start back up 'officially' in about six weeks! Where has summer gone?)

Here is our situation... Our two oldest kids are just 14 months apart in age.

This past year we did LHFHG for K for our son (who was five at the time - he's since turned six...)

Our daughter was around for a lot of it - but I didn't make her do some of the activities. However, she listened for read alouds, bible, history, etc.

She has recently turned five.

So next year, I'll have a K and 1st grader.

I was thinking of repeating the LHFHG - doing the full K version for her - and adding in the 1st grade stuff for him.

Is that what you all would recommend?

Is it hard to add the 1st grade component?

Our son is a pretty proficient reader (just read a boxcar children book)... He moved pretty quickly through the kindergarten material (the hands on stuff, math, etc.) I am thinking her pace will not be as fast as his.

I'd appreciate your help, advice and insight... I REALLY love HOD - and I do not want to have to look for something else... And I would like to have them share parts of the day (bible, history, read alouds, science, etc.) After last year, I can see how that would work in a family...

We also have a little one (almost 2) and hope to add to our family this year...

Thanks so much!

Blessings,
nicole

oh that's a tough one...

if you discount anything in the past and look at the placement chart from a clean slate, where do each of them place?

We will be doing LHFHG with 1st grade options for dd(7). The schedule for 1st grade is in the guide. No problems there. If you want to combine, I think LHFHG would be the way to go if your dd is ready for K. I think the only thing your ds would be repeating would be the history readings. There are optional supplements for that in the back of the guide. If you are using Singapore Primary Math 1A & 1B, there is a schedule in the back of LHFHG. If you want to follow Carrie's activities to go along with it, you would need the guide for Beyond. I had originally planned to do Beyond, but then decided to start out with Little Hearts. So, I have the Beyond guide and can use that with the Primary Math. But, the math can be done without the Beyond guide. Emerging readers can be used if phonics is completed. HTH

HI NIcole, and welcome to the HOD Board! I think you probably have 2 good options here. The first option would be to combine your 2 dc in LHFHG, but use the first grade options. I would also get the Beyond manual for the LA and math for him. If he is reading "Boxcar Children", he really is ready for the "Emerging Reader's Set" in Beyond, as well as for the comprehension questions so carefully chosen to accompany them in Beyond's Appendix. He can also begin Beyond's LA box, Spelling List 1, and Beyond's 1A/1B Singapore Math plans. That will up the LA and math nicely for him, and using the first grade LHFHG options will up the science and fine motor skills for him too. The only concern with this is his history will be the same. How would he feel about repeating that, and how would you feel about repeating that? If you truly want to combine them from here on out, I do think this would work well long-term. I almost would never suggest repeating a guide after just finishing it, but in this case, with the long-term plans of combining dc and with their close ages in mind, it may work very well.

The second option would be to move ds on to Beyond... and do it as it is written for him. You could then do LHTH with your 5 yo dd. This would also be a good option and very easy to do. However, it would make it more difficult to combine down the road, and they really are close enough in age to do so if that is your desire. Taking one more peek at the placement chart may be very beneficial as you weigh your options, so here's a link to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this when you get a chance, and then we can all help chat about fine tuning things!
In Christ,
Julie

Hi Nichole,

I too have two children just 12 1/2 months apart. We did LHFHG together and then moved onto Beyond, which worked well. But, moving then onto Bigger, I'm having to slow down for my younger's sake. I agree with Julie, that if you are really wanting to keep them together, you might just keep them with LHFHG, and do the 1st grade option and then emerging readers. I think that is what I would do, just from knowing how things progress with a younger one in the picture. But, it's totally up to you. As, they get older, too, you can slow down and stretch out a guide if you need to. We are doing as well. The nice thing about HOD is that you can easily do this, but still do those things like reading and math, separately, without any problems.

LeAnna

Nicole,

One more idea (if you decide to keep them together in LHFHG) is that you could add a seperate storytime for your son this year. You could choose a pack of storytime books to go along with the plans in Beyond (like the boy interest set). You could do the LHFHG storytime with just your daughter and let her do those activities. Then...the following year when you get into Beyond, you could just choose a different set of books to use with both of them (either the girl interest set or the classic set).

Just so you know, if you decide to try to keep them together for part of the day and hit the basics at their level. You won't always need 2 guides to do it. By the time you hit Preparing, you'll have the math plans, the English plans, the dictation - all right in the same guide for both of them! I do think that it could work well, if like Julie mentioned...you & your son are both ok with repeating the history part of the plans. My little ones like repeating things, so I could see this working well. (Much better than trying to repeat when they're older. )

Kathleen

I think your idea sounds like a good idea if you wish to combine and your son is o.k. with repeating the history of LHFHG.
i actually have kids the same ages.

I am doing LHFHG with my daughter 5 (Mar '05)
and Beyond with my son 6.5 (Oct '03)
and daughter tagging along 2.5 (Feb '08)

I had wanted to combine , but my son is already at 2nd gr reading level ( a few more books in emerging reader to finish and half-way thru 1st grade level math).
Add to that their personalities, and it will just work better for everyone to be in separate guides, even it means back-to-back guides. Just depends on your preference and what works best for your family.

We may also add one more to our family.

Jenn Daughtry

Thanks everyone for your insight and advice... I guess in my mind it makes more sense to try to keep them together as much as possible... I will look at everything and pray over it as well. I know he enjoyed this past year - and I don't think repeating the history would be a big deal to him - or to me. I like the idea of getting a set of books for him this year - and then changing it for the following year when I'd move both of them up to beyond... I can't believe school is right around the corner. I need to get this all figured out. Thanks again!

My oldest 2 are 11 1/2 months apart! We did LHFHG last year for K & 1st grade, worked out very well. I also used the Beyond book with the Emerging Readers for DD #1 in 1st grade and spelling words. We used Math-u-see last year but after seeing the great hands on activites in the guide for Singapore, we will be switching to Singapore this next year. It worked out VERY well for us! So much that I am trying to figure out how to combine DD #3 & #4 (20 mths apart) in the future! I ended up working part-time at the hospital during the school year and it was easy for DH to step in with HOD and do school. (You can see some of my previous posts about all that...)

Here's one more idea for your combining plan, you could get some of the books from the back of LHFHG (or other appropiate books) for your son to read on his own. It may not seem like such a repeat if your son has some fresh material to read. I like the idea of combining your kids especially since they are so close in age.