Can a 4yr old tag along with LHFHG? (and other questions)

[bethelmommy]

I am looking at using LHFHG this fall with my will be 5.5yr old ds and 4yr old dd. Have people done this? The placement is perfect for ds. Dd will be a little young but insists on doing everything her big brother does. Her attention span and ability to ask and answer questions about stories is pretty good for her age (we read a lot!). She already knows all the preschool stuff - letters, sounds, numbers, shapes, colors, etc... Her area of struggle (in her attempt to keep pace with ds ) is writing. She can trace letters/numbers ok, but cannot write many of them independently yet. She loves tracing, coloring, and mazes, so I anticipate that she will improve some by this fall. Will she do ok with LHFHG? Up till now, we have usually only done "formal" preschool 3-4 days a week. I am planning to do 4 regular days next year since ds will be in his official K year, but don't mind slowing things down a bit if needed.

For ds I am thinking of getting the k math and science. He has been doing Horizons K math, but will only have completed half the year by fall. I'm not sure what to do about reading. We are in the middle of All About Reading pre-level 1. It has pretty much been all review for both, but they enjoy it. Any thoughts or advice? I have already ordered the LHFHG guide. I am hoping that once I can look through the guide more closely that I will have a better idea of which options to choose for the other subjects.

Sorry if this post is a bit jumbled. I'll probably have better questions once my order arrives

[mrsrandolph]

First of all, if you are liking All About Reading, by all means, stick with it.

I am NOT NOT NOT a fan of kids starting LHFHG too early. I even tell people that I think they should wait until a child is 6 (or a late birthday 5) to start LHFHG (GASP!)
My reason for that is that when they start younger than 6, they retain very little of the History, and that is the backbone of the program.

***
I would either wait until your daughter is 5 and then start both children in LHFHG. (This doesn't mean you can't do school in the interim. We can give you LOTS of ideas there!)

OR

Start your son in LHFHG. Wait another year for your daughter (or 2 more years) and then start her in LHFHG. (Again, we can give you ideas for a program of sorts for your daughter during this time.)

Take it from me (and lots of us)...running 2 guides is NOT hard : )


Best Of Luck!

[bethelmommy]

Thanks for responding. So, if my daughter needs to wait for LHFHG, what do I do in the meantime? Skillwise both of my children are beyond LHTH and we have used all the LHTH resources many times over. I added them in as we went through a literature based preschool program. I actually had LHTH but couldn't use the guide with my son because of personality and development issues. He has CP and High Functioning Autism and didn't speak much until the last year or so. He also wouldn't engage in imaginative play. But, he loved being read to for hours at a time and learned letters, sounds, numbers, etc... before age 2. In the last year, he has made huge progress with expressive language and fine motor skills and I really feel like LHFHG will be the best fit for him. We just finished Old Mother West Wind last week and are getting ready to read it again at his request. I know he'll love the stories in LHFHG and I love the biblical integration throughout.

So, if my son does LHFHG, what does my daughter do? They are less than 18 months apart in age and I have another son who will be a year this fall.

Thanks so much for the help.

[Tracee]

I'm doing LHFHG with my six year old, and my 4 year old twins tag along, but I'm going to have them do it again for 1st grade. The only thing my 4 year olds don't do is math, phonics and handwriting. They participate in all the read-alouds, the work on scripture verses, they love the rhymes in motion and even participate in the art, science and dramatic play. But, I can see how much more my six year old gets out of the program than they do. Plus, with all the new guides that are going to be released, you can start LHFHG for 1st and do a guide a year all the way through 12th. For me, that is something to smile about.


Another thing to think about is although my 4 year olds are able to participate in a lot of the activities, I don't want them getting to the Bigger guide too early. If your dd started LHFHG at 4, she would only be 6 when she gets to Bigger. I know there is a huge temptation to put them together when they are so close in age. But, I think that is easier done when they get to the older guides that have extensions. I've tried to figure out how to put mine together also, but I know I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do 2 guides.



Tracy

[countrymom]

Well, I was about to suggest that you have them both do the right side of Little Hearts (although you might place them differently and go at different paces) and have your daughter do the left of LHTH and you son do the left of Little Hearts. Then I read your second post and see you have used LHTH already. Soooo, if your daughter is a young 4 I might place her appropriately in math, writing, and phonics, and the k basic skills if she is ready, then just let her tag along as she wants for the left side of Little Hearts. Then she would do Little Hearts next year while progressing to the next step in math, writing, and phonics boxes. However, that has you doing guides back to back which many parents do not like to do. If she was going to be 4 1/2 and mature with a good attention span, you may just be able to do Little Hearts with her too, placing her at appropriate levels on the right side of the guide. That is a call you would have to make. I started my oldest in Little Hearts before 5 and he did well. Although he probably didn't catch every little thing, it was obvious he was learning LOTS, even in the history section. He amazed me with what he would pull out of his head, even remembering it was Longfellow that wrote the poem about Paul Revere when we were working on one of the poems in Beyond. I don't know if that helps or not. I am not coming up with a plan C right now.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, and thanks for sharing about each of your dc! HOD has age ranges to recognize the fact that age is only one determining factor in placement. All 5 yo's are not the same, just as all 6 yo's, and all 7 yo's are not. So, looking at the placement chart with just your dd in mind, where does she seem to place best? Here's a link to the placement chart...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

This part of your post...

Her attention span and ability to ask and answer questions about stories is pretty good for her age (we read a lot!). She already knows all the preschool stuff - letters, sounds, numbers, shapes, colors, etc... Her area of struggle (in her attempt to keep pace with ds ) is writing. She can trace letters/numbers ok, but cannot write many of them independently yet. She loves tracing, coloring, and mazes, so I anticipate that she will improve some by this fall. Will she do ok with LHFHG? Up till now, we have usually only done "formal" preschool 3-4 days a week. I am planning to do 4 regular days next year since ds will be in his official K year, but don't mind slowing things down a bit if needed.

... makes me think that as long as you take it slow, dd could begin LHFHG along with your ds, especially considering he is only 5.5 yo and has CP/autism to consider in placement. I also love your idea of doing school 4 days a week. Do you know you could do LHFHG, Beyond LHFHG, and Bigger Hearts all 4 days a week, and this would take about 4 years or a little less. This would progressively move your dc through the guides at a pace they can both grow into, and give you 4 days of teaching each week rather than 5.

We did LHFHG with both of our sons when they were 5 yo. They loved it, thrived with it, and even began reading the Emerging Reader's Set from Beyond halfway through LHFHG. One of the biggest blessings of HOD is that it is not a cookie-cutter, one box fits all kind of curriculum. So, when considering your dd, where does she seem to fit in the placement chart, and looking ahead, can you just do school 4 days a week to allow the dc to have more time to mature as they move through the guides? I'd say proper placement depends on all of that. HTH, and I'm looking forward to what you have to share about this! Dc 18 months apart can certainly be combined with HOD - let's just figure out if that's what's best and if that's what will work down the road too! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[bethelmommy]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've been reading old LHFHG threads and it looks like there are additional readings suggested in the appendix. Is that still true? I am still open to other ideas, but am thinking of moving forward with LHFHG this fall, but stretching it out 1 1/2 years or so. I really don't want to miss this window with my son to start the HOD guides and I don't think my daughter will allow herself to be left out. I won't require anything of her (I don't right now either), but will not be surprised if she keeps pace with her brother in all but math and handwriting. It will be their second time through the Family Time Bible (we use it right now with their preschool program) and the Steve Green CD will be review - they memorized all the songs this past year. We school year round and take breaks as needed, but even so I think I can relax the pace of the schedule enough to finish when my kids are 5.5 and 7. Then I could stretch out future guides as well until they both fall in the appropriate age ranges. Does that sound reasonable?

I have been in love with HOD since my son was a baby. I was so sad when his developmental levels were too scattered to fit with the LHTH guide. Now that they have evened out more I am super excited to get started with LHFHG. Any other ideas are still very welcome. I have until the fall to get everything ready. Thanks!

[bethelmommy]

Welcome to the HOD Board, and thanks for sharing about each of your dc!

... makes me think that as long as you take it slow, dd could begin LHFHG along with your ds, especially considering he is only 5.5 yo and has CP/autism to consider in placement. I also love your idea of doing school 4 days a week. Do you know you could do LHFHG, Beyond LHFHG, and Bigger Hearts all 4 days a week, and this would take about 4 years or a little less. This would progressively move your dc through the guides at a pace they can both grow into, and give you 4 days of teaching each week rather than 5.

In Christ,
Julie

Hi Julie,

Thanks so much for your response. I think we were typing at the same time I think your suggestion will work. My son has therapy several times a week which is why 4 day school weeks will be the best pace for awhile. So, if that helps stretch out the guides enough that will be great. Thanks so much for the advice. I've been an off and on lurker on this forum for years and have always appreciated your and everyone else's helpful posts. Thanks again.

[MomtoJGJE]

Just wanted to encourage you that not all 4 year olds are created equally either I could easily start LHFHG with my DD3 who will be 4.5 next week. I'm not because I want DD2 to finish it before DD3 starts it, so I'm holding her off with random workbooks and readings and LHTH Bible readings until she turns 5, and then I'll do LHFHG half speed (left side one day right side the next day or something similar) 4 days a week until after Christmas just to spread them out a bit more.

So all that to say that I think your plan of starting them together slowly (3-4 days a week or half speed or whatever you choose) sounds really great. If you continue to use HOD the child will be ready for the next guide when you finish one if you do everything included in the guides.