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Hi, I am trying to decide what to do for first grade. My daughter is 6.5 and we used Abeka kindergarten last year. She can read some easy books. I was thinking of starting with Beyond, but don't know what to do for sure. I have heard that some people combine Little Hearts For His Glory and Beyond. I would like some opinions on what is best for first grade. Thank you.

Have you checked the placement chart yet? My dd was placing mostly with Beyond last year for first grade (6yo), but I felt like she needed an overview of what history is before we started American history. (She was not as interested in history as her older sister at that age) So we went with LHFHG with the 1st grade options in the guide. It was wonderful! If you dd already has a strong interest in history though, then Beyond might be a good fit.

Also, check out the storytime books and see which might fit better for her. We LOVED the Burgess books with LHFHG (even my 10 year old!) and it was a good reinforcement of listening comprehension skills.

Also, Beyond includes some light grammar and I really wanted to focus on phonics for 1st grade. I'm glad we did but your situation may be different.

Whichever you choose, though, you really can't go wrong!

Hi and wecome to HOD!

You've picked a great place to start! I only wish that we had found HOD sooner! I just love this curriculum and I'm not alone!

I would first of all recommend giving the placement chart a good hard look. It is really the best place to begin your search for the right program. Just from what you're saying about your daughter, I think she'd really benefit from Little Hearts For His Glory (LHFHG). Last year my daughter finished a similar curriculum to what you used for Kindergarten, and I wish I could have put her in LHFHG. Little Hearts is a great program for kindergarten or first grade! I am combining my daughter with her brother into Beyond, so for that reason she wont be doing LHFHG. It kind of saddens me because it looks like an awesome program and wish I could have used it for her last year. If it wasn't for my NEED to combine, we'd be doing LHFHG for her this year as a first grader. My best recommendation would be to check out the placement chart and see where she fits best. Carrie (the author) has made an excellent guide for us in knowing where to place kiddos. She's right on with her suggestions too!

Blessings as you decide!

In Christ,

Lisa

My son is also 6.5yr. he is on the Tornado book of emerging reader. We are using Beyond for his 1st grade. I would double check the placement chart and go from there.

Jenn D.

I would also suggest checking the placement chart. My DD #1 did Abeka K also. I felt that really she was ready for Beyond but one of the reasons we originally chose HOD was to combine my 2 oldest DD's. So, last year we did LHFHG for K & 1st grade. I did use the Emerging Readers from Beyond for 1st grade and also the spelling. I also bought the Abeka 1st grade cursive workbook since my DD was doing very well with cursive and I wanted to continue that.

Now this year we are looking forward to stepping into Beyond for 1st & 2nd grade! DD #2 isn't as strong in math or handwriting but is a great reader. I am thinking we will have to go slow on the copywork.

So I would think either way would be good for you depending on your DD's placement

Thanks everyone for your replies. They have been very helpful. Does anyone have an opinion on which one of the two phonics program is best. We had a lot of phonics last year, but still need to finish up phonics this year?

Hi Samnem, and welcome to the HOD Board! One of the things I enjoy the most about HOD is flexibility in placement. You could do LHFHG as it is written, LHFHG along with the right side of Beyond, or Beyond as it is written. I agree with the other ladies in checking out the placement chart to determine which would be best, so here is a link to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Could you share a bit about the kind of books your dd is reading, her writing, her math, and the kind of books she is used to listening to being read aloud (i.e. picture books, books with some pictures, books with few pictures)? That would help us give you better advice for your pumpkin. As far as the phonics programs, here is a helpful link to read:
Carrie compares The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2503

I'll keep checking back here and see how we can further help you with placement! I think you'd love HOD as much as we have. It's a joyful way to go about homeschooling!

In Christ,
Julie

Hi Samnem, and welcome to the HOD Board! One of the things I enjoy the most about HOD is flexibility in placement. You could do LHFHG as it is written, LHFHG along with the right side of Beyond, or Beyond as it is written. I agree with the other ladies in checking out the placement chart to determine which would be best, so here is a link to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Could you share a bit about the kind of books your dd is reading, her writing, her math, and the kind of books she is used to listening to being read aloud (i.e. picture books, books with some pictures, books with few pictures)? That would help us give you better advice for your pumpkin. As far as the phonics programs, here is a helpful link to read:
Carrie compares The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2503

I'll keep checking back here and see how we can further help you with placement! I think you'd love HOD as much as we have. It's a joyful way to go about homeschooling!

In Christ,
Julie

I can't say which is best, as I've only had experience with RME. However, I'm using it for the second time (1st time with my dd, now 10) with my ds 7 and it's going wonderfully. I highly recommend the program.

My daughter is used to being read to from picture books and books with some pictures. We did read The Boxcar Children last year and she enjoyed that. She can read early reader books and can read a lot of words that she sees on signs or in magazines. Her writing is pretty good. She knows how to write all letters and has had some practice writing sentences. For math she has had basic addition and subtraction, counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, spelling of number words up to 10, some counting of coins. She seems to fall in placement of Beyond, but I am having a hard time deciding. I want her to be challenged and enjoy school at the same time. Thanks everyone for your help!

Samnem wrote:My daughter is used to being read to from picture books and books with some pictures. We did read The Boxcar Children last year and she enjoyed that. She can read early reader books and can read a lot of words that she sees on signs or in magazines. Her writing is pretty good. She knows how to write all letters and has had some practice writing sentences. For math she has had basic addition and subtraction, counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, spelling of number words up to 10, some counting of coins. She seems to fall in placement of Beyond, but I am having a hard time deciding. I want her to be challenged and enjoy school at the same time. Thanks everyone for your help!

Thanks so much for sharing about your dd here - that really does help us give more fine-tuned placement advice. I thought it may be helpful to mention some of the differences skillwise between LHFHG and Beyond, since that can help with placement. I guess first I would consider how well she listens to history books with fewer pictures being read aloud. In LHFHG, 2 of the 3 history spines have quite a few pictures (History for Little Pilgrims and the Bible Choice), and one doesn't (History Stories for Children). In Beyond, each of the history spines has fewer pictures, and you'll be reading more pages or longer sections aloud each day. Geography and Timeline skill boxes are added in Beyond as well. For science, there are also shorter readings more pictures in LHFHG, and longer readings a few less pictures in Beyond - though I would say this contrast is not as different as it is for the history. Another difference is the Storytime books that you would read aloud and their follow-up activities. LHFHG uses shorter readings and focuses on teaching dc to listen attentively to the readings.

The LHFHG Storytime books are purposefully similar to one another, with the bulk of them having the same group of forest animals for characters, though each book focuses on a different character. This teaches character development and teaches dc to be able to make predictions about what may happen next due to knowing characters well over the span of the year (i.e. Reddy Fox is always quite sly, so dc begin to be able to predict he is "up to no good" as my dc put it ). Daily readings are kept short, to about 3 pages and most chapters have a picture. These are the rotating goals of the Storytime box in LHFHG:
*Day 1: basic comprehension discussion questions
*Day 2: retelling the story in a variety of ways
*Day 3: critical thinking questions including some vocabulary discussion
*Day 4: early writing practice emphasizing names and simple words
*Day 5: moral connection questions with personal application

The Beyond Storytime books are purposefully different from one another, with each unit covering a different genre. Daily readings are longer, probably around 5-10 pages. Narration is an important skill in Beyond. These are the rotating goals of the Storytime box in Beyond:
*Day 1: introduce and study different types of literature
*Day 2: model narration to foster comprehension
*Day 3: identify and analyze a different story element for each genre
*Day 4: relate personally to one Godly character trait, compare
Biblical and book characters, and select one area to improve
*Day 5: practice narration by retelling the story in a variety of ways

LHFHG still has get-up-and-move typical movement things for younger dc, like rhymes, larger gross motor skills, and dramatic play. Beyond has less movement to it. LHFHG has the memorization of a Scripture verse, along with singing of the Bible verse and actions added, and on the fifth day its meaning is discussed. It has a devotional once a week. Beyond has poems along with copywork of them instead of rhymes, gross motor skills, Scripture memory work, songs and actions, a devotional each week, and these goals:
*Day 1: introduction and interpretation of the memory verse
*Day 2: personal application of the memory verse
*Day 3: observation of Godly character through devotional reading
*Day 4: practical application of the devotional character trait
*Day 5: exploration of a Bible passage focusing on Godly living

Beyond has spelling and grammar added to it as well. Also, here are the differences in time for LHFHG and Beyond:
LHFHG time it takes (PHFHG is included in this thread as well):
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4244&p=31219#p31219
Beyond, time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4390&p=32417

I would guess your dd may do well by doing LHFHG as her main guide, and doing Beyond for any of the LA or math boxes that fit her best. But, I'd love to hear what you think about all this when you get a chance, and we can chat through it more then too!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

Thank you so much. I decided to go with LHFHG and use Beyond for the math exploration and maybe language arts. I am very excited. I think this is going to be a fun year! I will post an update once we get started.