heartofdakota.com

I've got my 8.5yo girl in Beyond. She is loving it. It is a perfect fit!

My 6.5yob seems like he will do fine with LHFHG. We only did a bit of it just to try it out.

4yog will be 5yo in March....she does fine with the Bible vs. as far as memorization is concerned. She enjoyed the rhyme time. She loves the storytime and the history read aloud. She actually likes listening in on big sister's Beyond read aloud time as well. But I know a lot of it is over her head.

I don't really want to slow LHFHG down too much for my 6yob. I can slow it a little though. He is on the immature side and is still working on phonics. I'm trying to figure out how to do this. Here are random thoughts so far:

1. Continue doing Beyond with my 8yog and let the youngers listen in when they would like. They can do the memory vs. with her. We will continue doing phonics and math at everyone's level. Then I would begin LHFHG with the younger two in a few months. Hopefully 5yog will have matured a bit by then.??

2. Go ahead and start LHFHG with my younger two, but at a slower pace. Keeping them both together for everything.

3. Start LHFHG with the younger two, but do the entire thing with 6.5yob. My 5yog would only do parts of it. (not sure which parts to leave out) or she could just participate wherever and then I could repeat it with her the next year doing more 1st grade work with her then.

I don't know. I think it will work fine no matter how I do it. The way it works at our home is everyone enjoys listening in and participating while someone is doing something fun. But I still like to have in my head the minimum I want each child to do.


Any suggestions?

Also keep in mind I have a 2.5yog and 3mog coming up to join them:)

Hi Tammy,

We have very similar dynamics! I have been facing the same placement questions that you are. My oldest is 8.5 and will be starting Bigger next month. The next two kiddos are DS6 (7 in May) and DD4 (5 in April). Those two will combine more easily than my oldest who definitely needs to be placed in his own program. My 6 year old son is also on the "younger" side and the content of LHFHG is perfect for him. DD4 isn't quite ready for LHFHG and I really want her to be so that she gains as much as possible from it! I've considered the plans you are proposing: waiting until fall or starting half speed. I understand your questions and challenges!

Here is where we have landed. I want those two to enjoy Little Hearts together and I don't want either of them to miss it so we are going to wait until fall. I also don't want my daughter to finish LH too early because she's on the young side of the guides anyway. So, she needs to be at least 6 before going into Beyond and she MUST be at least 7 for Bigger (although she is a child who I suspect will be capable of the challenge, esp. because she is using HOD from the beginning!). I also don't want my daughter to miss out on My ABC Bible Verses and much of the fun content of Little Hands to Heaven so we are starting that right now. My 6 year old is going to enjoy these next several months with his sister, listening to Bible stories and the ABC Bible Verses devotional. He'll love the finger plays too. In fact, they all do. In the meantime, he will continue with the ERS and the fine motor skills written in to LHFHG (A Reason for Handwriting and the Thinking Skills book). He is also doing math very. slowly. When we begin Little Hearts in the fall DD will be a bit older (and have Little Hands under her belt) and DS will do the right side of Beyond and left side of Little Hearts. That way, the skill work is at his learning level but he can participate in Little Hearts with his sister. And, my desire to keep them in the same guide is met! DS6 will also listen in to the story time with his brother who is using Bigger. It sounds like your kiddos enjoy that as well!

I hope that made a little sense. I did seriously consider starting Little Hearts now and doing it half speed. But, my daughter isn't really ready for any math instruction and I want her to truly love Thornton Burgess. Little Hands is such a precious program and really foundational! It's a fun, sweet way to test run teaching those two together and it's easy on me for these next few months while I'm getting Bigger Hearts off the ground with my oldest. I appreciate the flexibility I have with HOD that allows me to teach Little Hearts to both of them and use Beyond's skill work for my DS6(almost 7).

Are you leaning more toward one plan than the other? I do think that IF combining those two would work out it might go a little easier for you since you have littles coming up the ranks (we do too!). You'll be teaching 3 guides soon enough . I hope you will find a plan that you're at peace with!

Thank you so much Katrina! When you say he will do the right side of Beyond and the left side of Little Hearts....what will you do about the copywork part? Beyond has them copy part of the poem from the left side of the book. Do you just mean you will have him do the spelling list, math, reading and storytime? Things like that always stump me as I am a bit of an over-perfectionist. (Meaning I tend to want it so perfect I end up doing nothing at all.)

It's good to see someone else's plan as well! Thank you for taking your time ti write that out.

I'm not Katrina, but when we did LHFHG, we did the left side of it plus the storytime and then the right hand side of Beyond. So basically we took all of our math and most of our language arts from Beyond. We were doing Singapore 1A&1B with the hands on activities in Beyond, doing the spelling lists, gentle grammar one day a week, handwriting, and emerging readers all from Beyond. For our copywork, we copied our scripture verse every week. I know that isn't a lot of copywork but my two weren't ready for much more than that at the time so it was enough. We used a spiral bound notebook that had lines for copywork on the bottom and room for a picture on top. Every week they copied the scripture and then illustrated it. It's been something that we've kept up since and they enjoy coming up with the illustrations each week. I hope that helps give you an idea of how we did left side of LHFHG and the right side of Beyond.

TammyTE wrote:Thank you so much Katrina! When you say he will do the right side of Beyond and the left side of Little Hearts....what will you do about the copywork part? Beyond has them copy part of the poem from the left side of the book. Do you just mean you will have him do the spelling list, math, reading and storytime? Things like that always stump me as I am a bit of an over-perfectionist. (Meaning I tend to want it so perfect I end up doing nothing at all.)

It's good to see someone else's plan as well! Thank you for taking your time ti write that out.

You are welcome! Well, I will have him doing some copy work or writing every day. He is capable of writing a sentence right now so I guess he'd be more than ready. I want him to enjoy the poetry during the Beyond guide so Patty's idea of asking the child to copy the memory verse from Little Hearts is a fantastic one. I'll probably just play it by ear . . . My guy *might* be ready for some gentle dictation too. He takes "phrases" from dictation now (we're still in All About Spelling which does a lot of dictation) with no problem. If he is ready for it I might start dictation with him in lieu of or alongside the spelling lists. It's still several months away and so I'm only speculating!! So, to answer your question, I don't think I'll use the poetry because I'd like to save it for the Beyond Guide for him. I'll have him writing though . . . I'll likely use the spelling somehow. We've been using All About Spelling but I love how HOD integrates everything. We'll likely shift over to using "just HOD" and so I'd place him accordingly this fall. Whether or not he'd use the lists or move up to dictation remains to be seen! I'll use the hands on math ideas although we're already using Math Mammoth. I don't plan to shift to Singapore since we've already invested in MM and the kids are doing fine with it. Yes on the reading. He's in ERS now and when he finishes we'll either move to DITHOR OR take some time to just read the Level 2 books before starting the written portions of DITHOR the following year (when he's eight). I won't do the story time from Beyond because he'll be enjoying story times from Little Hearts and Bigger. He'll do the gentle grammar intro as well.

I'm still figuring this all out too. I have realized how flexible HOD is and it's just a matter of finding the right fit for each kid. This boy of mine would do great in Beyond as written but I really don't want to run 3 guides my first year! I also think he'll love the content of Little Hearts. Funny thing is I think there is a strong possibility that the following year he'll be ready for Bigger . . . he really is on the fence and caught between his older and younger sibling. He's a kid who surprises me too. One day he seems so young and needs an ultra gentle approach. The next day a light bulb goes on and he runs laps academically. Then he slows way down again. . . he's keeping me on my toes! I find that he is my most challenging student to plan for as he's VERY unpredictable. My DS8 and DD4 are much easier for me to place.

Thank you both so very much:)

Tammy,

The ladies have done a great job of talking through some possible options with you! Since your little girl will be 5 in March, I do think that you could begin LHFHG with her along with your 6.5 year old boy now or in March. We've found such a difference in maturity once children turn 5. It is an absolutely huge milestone for kiddos skill and developmental wise.

In doing LHFHG, you could just do it 4 days a week each week at full-speed and see how it goes. In that way you won't be slowing down too much for your 6.5 year old, could get underway now, and will stretch the guide out about 9 weeks to allow your 5 year old to mature as you go. Don't worry if your little 5 year old isn't taking it all in for the first while. Remember that she will grow and change so much during your LHFHG journey. In the beginning, if she is able to sit and listen and do the activities that is enough. The comprehension will come as you go.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you Carrie:) Yes, she is quite capable if sitting, listening and enjoying. Just not much on the discussion part yet.

Let me make sure I understand...are you suggesting doing Unit 1 - days 1,2,3,4 on Mon,Tu,We,Th then taking Friday off. Then the following Monday we would begin with Unit 1 day5 and do Unit 2 days 1,2,3 on Tu,We, Th taking Friday off again?

Sorry I'm so easily confused.

TammyTE wrote:Thank you Carrie:) Yes, she is quite capable if sitting, listening and enjoying. Just not much on the discussion part yet.

Let me make sure I understand...are you suggesting doing Unit 1 - days 1,2,3,4 on Mon,Tu,We,Th then taking Friday off. Then the following Monday we would begin with Unit 1 day5 and do Unit 2 days 1,2,3 on Tu,We, Th taking Friday off again?

Sorry I'm so easily confused.

Tammy, I was going to ask the same question to make sure I understand! Carrie's 4 day a week idea is good along with her encouragements about 5 being such an important developmental milestone! I'm pondering . . .

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. In this way, you'll take 9 extra weeks to finish LHFHG to allow your little sweetie to grow up a bit, without holding your older sweetie back! We have done a 4 day plan like this ourselves with LHFHG, and it worked well.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you for clarifying:)