heartofdakota.com

My dd has just started LHFHG this past week. I was hoping to combine her and my next dd this time next year so that they are working from the same guide. Do you think I could do LHFHG and skip science and History and portions of bible time and just focus on math, reading, handwriting K and Do it Carefully K workbooks and storytime THEN when she's ready for 1st grade use the same guide but do the history, science, bible portion and then the 1st grade handwriting, math, continue to do phonics and 1st grade workbooks. So almost do the left side of the guide for K and then wait and do the right side for 1st and the left side for 1st with the 1st grade books?

Bumping you up because I'm also curious.

Let me check to make sure I'm understanding this correctly...

Is this what you are saying?
This year: Older dd does the K math, reading, fine motor skills... and the storytime
Next year: Do the guide as written. Older dd moves on to the 1st Grade math, reading, fine motor skills. Younger dd joins in using the K options.

I think that would work fine. We are doing LHFHG now with the first grade options. We didn't know about HOD last year. So last year with my ds, we just worked on math, reading, and handwriting and did a lot of read-alouds from the library... which would be similar to what you are suggesting for your older dd this year before doing LHFHG fully as written next year.

One thought: If you do the Storytime box with your older dd now, what will you do for read-alouds next year? I think one option would be to use the books listed in the Appendix of LHFHG. Or, you could save the Storytime box for next year, and do other read-alouds - maybe ones that would suit both your girls. I have found "Honey for a Child's Heart" by Gladys Hunt to be a great resource for book suggestions.

LHFHG works great as a first grade program!
I am doing LHFHG at 1/2 pace with my ds (K) this year! He was way too excited to start his new manual after LHTH.
My friend is only doing the 3 R's with her son who is a few months younger, but we want to do Beyond together, so she will start full speed and I will continue to go 1/2 pace or get real creative! For 3R's I go full speed this year, so next year we will do phonics, math and fine motor 1st grade options!
May I encourage you to take a look at ARFH K option for this year and than A for next year for you older dd! It is fantastic and all my friends kids who use it, just love it.
Hope this helps! Success!!
P.s. I agree with the previous poster, to look in the appendix for extra reading material for your dd 5, and wait with the Burgess books till next year, when she does it with her sister!

I think that would work fine. One question, have you used LHTH? You could use LHTH for both of your kids this year, adding the right side of LHFHG with K options for your older child. Then next year you could do LHFHG with both of them using K options for one and 1st grade options for the other.

I'm essentially doing that right now. I'm using LHTH with my almost-4-year-old and my 5-year-old together, reading extra books each day (not the Storytime books), then doing the K math, phonics, and fine motor with the older separately. Next year, I will do LHFHG with both of them, with the younger doing the K options, and the older doing the 1 options. Right now they are loving school time and run, tripping over each other to sit beside me whenever they see me pull out the LHTH book! "What are we doing today?!?" I'm glad it's working out that they can do this together. It's easier on me and more fun for them. Hope that helps!

I was going to ask the same thing as Stephanie. If you haven't used LHTH yet, I definitely say to use it and then add the math, fine motor skill, and phonics for your K'er. Then next year use LHFHG and up her level of math, reading, & fine motor.

Or another option that was mentioned...start LHFHG half-speed. I did that last year with my 3 & 5 year olds. We did the rhyme & music daily. Then we alternated either the history & its corresponding box OR the Bible study & storytime. My 5 yo did the math, phonics, & fine motor skills daily. It worked great!! This year the 4 yo is doing LHTH on his own. And my 6 yo is finishing LHFHG on her own with upped levels of those basics.

Kathleen

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll leave the storytime for next year then and just do some fun read-alouds from the appendix.

I'll look into LHTH also!

If you decide to just do the LHFHG's Kindergarten LA and math right now, the next year you could just use one of the 3 Beyond Storytime Read-aloud options. Then, when you do Beyond, you could use one of the other two. If you did LHTH along with the LA/Math K options of LHFHG right now, there would be less tweaking overall, and you would also be training dc to listen to history readings, as well as be building their comprehension skills. They would also be more familiar with the format LHFHG will take, as after the history reading, there is a follow-up activity. Bible history is an amazing way to begin to teach history. It is so much more than just "reading a story Bible". LHTH helps dc better remember what was read, respond to it, and learn to love God's word so they want more and more of it. You have 2 good options to choose from here.

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks Julie!