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My dd(7) is doing LHFHG. Overall, it is a good fit for her, because of her skill level in reading, writing, and math. Even the history portion is good for her, starting from the beginning. We get done rather quickly and, especially with being indoors during the winter, I feel sometimes that dd needs more. She did get a small trampoline for Christmas to use in the basement, so I can add some fitness. But, she is on the older end of the age scale in Little Hearts and I see potential for doing more, but I'm not sure what. She isn't content to just go play with her toys independently very often, since there are no other children to play with. Her playing usually consists of role modeling adults, since that's who she lives with. She seems to have a lot of idle time and I don't want it spent watching a lot of TV or just playing with her virtual pet on the computer. I know I can let her help cook and clean, but she needs to have her mind exercised some more. She needs to learn to think things through while she is doing them. I don't want to take anything out of Beyond, because I think that whole guide will be a great fit for this fall. I've thought about doing two pages in Math, since she is in Earlybird 2B, even though she is 1st grade, but then I thought that may move her too fast and she'll come to a roadblock. I can add more artsy stuff, but I need something structured so she uses her 'thinking skills'. I was thinking about more science, just for fun. Does anyone add that for their older child in LHFHG? DD loves to play in water or other messy things, but I don't want it to always be just making messes. I need something structured as an add-on. Does that make sense? I've been concerned about how dd is using her extra time after school work. I've been thinking about piano lessons again, but I'm not sure if that will actually meet the need that I am expressing. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open. We really need a little more structure in our days. I am not one who works on a schedule, but I do know that the way time is spent needs more structure.

I'm not in that situation, but I'll offer my advice

We have extra science kits that we do a couple of times a week. When we use one up I get a new one... right now we have 6 separate kits and one geology book that has different experiments they can do.

I would also say that I would probably do both fine motor skills books, or add a new one if she's already doing that or has already done them. Even just random stuff from the dollar store...

Teach her card games beyond go fish type stuff.... Blackjack is really a good math game and she could play by herself.

About the math, I might double up on math.... you can always slow down when she gets to something she doesn't know....

You mentioned art projects, so I would encourage you to consider that further. If you don't want to invest in an art curriculum, then there are tons of craft and drawing books in the library.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

Draw Write Now books are a hit at my house. There are eight books in the series and many of the books have various animals in them. On the days we are studying an animal in the HOD science, my kids will draw a picture of that animal. They would also come in handy for you while using Beyond as you can learn to draw Pilgrims and Indians, etc.

Let's Read and Find Out Science books are great too and your library should have many of the titles.

Card games and board games would be great for thinking skills. A few of our favorites are Qwirkle, Yahtzee, Uno, and Sequence. I've also heard great things about the Ticket to Ride board game, but have no personal experience with it yet.

There are many, many options out there. Have fun looking.

Another option would be to begin the spelling and grammar part of Beyond. I did that last year when my oldest was using LHFHG.

Hi! We'll be in a similar situation this year, as I'm planning to do LHFHG with my then 6.5ds who'll have done it 2 years earlier. I would do 2 math pages and just move on to 1a slowly when you finish. The lessons are longer in 1a/1b (1-3 pages), so we just do 1 page a day, or 1/2 if there's a lot of exercises, plus the activities in Beyond, and he loves it, and we're going slowly enough that we haven't hit a roadblock yet. We add Art Adventures at Home once a week, and in the past we've picked from an art activity book like one of MaryAnn Kohl's books (our library has several). We also look at one of the Come Look With Me art books. For science, we have added more library books about the week's topic, or picked from an activity book like Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out Science or one of her others (our library has many of them too). We're also moseying our way through Flip-Flop Spanish and Song School Latin, so we kind of do one "extra" a day. And they are completely "extra" - we do HOD first, and if the day needs another structured activity, I have plenty to choose from. There's so much out there! PM me if you want to know more about the things we've done

Thanks for all the ideas. Some we have implemented on occasion. I guess I'm thinking more of the Science stuff, but I probably will do two pages in Math. I know dd would enjoy art stuff too, but because of eye teaming and tracking problems (which we've been doctoring for), dd usually gets frustrated when she tries the drawing books. Usually the art consists of painting which ends up in just a conglomeration of different colors. I don't mind that, but I'd like for her to sometimes have a pattern to follow, just to help her learn to follow instructions. That's why I think the exploring and experiment type things would be better for her. She doesn't last too long with reading because of her vision problems, although she loves when I read to her. She does retain information well when read to (if it's a story), but she thrives in hands-on for other things. When the weather gets warm, she loves to be outside and explore. But we really need to make a change in how time is spent indoors.

We did a Nature Journal and enjoyed that during the long winter months here. We tried to use books that had beautiful illustrations of plants or animals, and have our dc journal on one page for what they'd read. We used a 5x7 blank spiral bound sketchbook. I tried to encourage the dc to make the page bright and colorful. As they got older, I encouraged them to write some facts or captions or labels for what they drew, but I kept it pretty low-key, wanting to just foster a love for our Lord's Creation.

Winter is long for us too. We've added in some jigsaw puzzles, sledding time, Drive Through History DVD's, latchhook, perler beads, different books for free reading time, audio books, cooking simple recipes, Focus on the Family's radio broadcast theater CD's, action Bible song CD's, exercise videos, board games, card games, family movie night, etc. I am also encouraging them to play with each 'cube' of toys we own, methodically moving through the cubes one each day. They are finding some long lost toys they enjoy playing with again as they do so. I like to do a "house tour" when my kiddos can't think of what to do. We look in the cupboards, on the shelves, in the cubes, in the garage, in the basement, in their rooms, in the playroom, in the art cabinet, etc., and see what things have been forgotten they could do. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie