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Ok, I'll admit. I'm really on the fence here and am not sure what to do. Or, I think I know what to do and am having trouble convincing myself it's the right thing to do.

DDalmost 5 is really bright, and very quiet and dutiful. She's conscientious, interested, motivated, and imaginative. She's improved dramatically in about every way at the Christian school while we've been there, and now that we're almost done and about to begin our homeschooling adventure (YEA!!!!!), I do admit I have trouble agreeing to do what I feel like the best thing for her to do is!

We have both LHTH and LHFHG already, prepared to do whatever we need to. I also have a collection of workbooks, such as a big Kindergarten workbook, Kumon workbooks, coloring books, BOB books, books off other Charlotte Mason booklists, and even other curricula I bought before FINDING HOD (peace, at last!!!)...we also have "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," which I understand has a writing component to it??? (is that true?)

We are also doing a co-op with friends next year. It kind of fell in my lap and I have total peace about doing it. They are doing Atelier Art, Apologia science (I don't know which one) and Galloping the Globe. We'll move from Alaska in probably 2012-2013, so this would be our maiden voyage into homeschooling. I feel like the Lord is leading in this direction for this year for the fellowship and encouragement. After this year, I won't pursue a co-op unless it's an HOD one, after reading the boards here.

DD is already reading and is (reluctantly) able to write, only when she wants to. She scores well in every area. The only one not touched on by her CS experience this year is math, but she has a high aptitude there, and we already have the Earlybird Math books from the LHFHG package.

I think I need to do LHTH this year along with the co-op, adding in our own Earlybird Math program and a handwriting/phonics program. We got through Unit 2 this year and can easily get through the end of the year by the end of this calendar year, and whether we do or not, I'd probably hover for a while so I can start LHFHG when she turns 6. She's young for her grade. We also like Spanish, so I thought about doing some fun fingerplays in Spanish here and there. Oh, I also have DS2, who likes to get in on the action (and weak "havoc," uh, joy, in the meantime)!

Soooooo...

LHTH would provide Bible/History, Science Exploration, Art
Math - Earlybird K
Reading/Phonics/Handwriting from the books we have - should I go ahead and do the LHFHG Storytime Set now and then do the Bigger Girl's Interest set (or the general one) for LHFHG 1st grade, leaving the other option for when we do Bigger? I think DD is ready for Storytime...and we'd probably follow the boxes in LHFHG because I have it, and just maybe 3x a week...

I should not pursue LHFHG right now, right? Stick with this plan? Am I forgetting anything?

Oh, I think the reason I was leaning toward LHFHG is because DD sometimes finds the fingerplays tedious. If we did LHTH, we'd probably do them a couple of times a week and that's it.

Hi Heidi! When I tried LHTH with ds, almost 5 at the time, he was not interested in anything but the bible stories, learning to read, and math (acting out songs and art projects involving glue are not his cup of tea ), so I started LHFHG with him and we had a great time. He learned to read with The Reading Lesson and loved the EB math books and activitied in LHFHG. The only thing I would have changed in doing it over would have been to slow it down so we would finish the history and storytime in 1.5-2 years. Only now, at 6.5 has his writing caught up with the rest of his skills so that we can start Beyond Little Hearts and have him comfortably do the language arts at this level. I would not separate the storytime readings from the rest of LHFHG, as the level of questions in that section really works well with the questions in the History and Bible areas, and progresses so smoothly together thoughout the program. In fact I had to hide the Burgess books used in LHFHG because my ds can read them to himself now, and dd wants him to read them to her (We have been accumulating some of the other Burgess books as well!)

My dd is finishing LHTH right now and I was contemplating starting her slowly in LHFHG, but I've opted to do other things for a while until she's 5 and can better appreciate the history. I'm reading through many of the Sonlight P 3/4 and P 4/5 books with her for a special read-aloud time this year (some I had bought to read with ds, some from the library). Since I had a filler year with ds before starting Beyond, ds and I are actually rereading History for Little Pilgrims this month and doing a timeline for it and he is *so* into it now! He's so excited to start learning more American history, I'm very glad I waited! HTH

I think your plan sounds good.

It's such a hard decision! I have an almost 5 year old as well coming up, so I have been trying to figure out what to do with him for this coming year. He's my 3rd child ... so I've learned a lot over the years about what not to do and what to do. But that said ... each child is so different that what works for one may not work for another.

I know that he's not ready to do LHFHG exactly as written. However, I also know that LHTH is just not enough. He already knows everything that LHTH has to offer. I am actually going to do K with him this year - because he's so ready to read - and has showed signs of readiness. My conflict is that I really prefer Beyond as a 2nd grade guide and Bigger as 3rd. If I could just get out of the box that I put myself in, I might be able to think differently about it. LOL So, I am going to use LHFHG with my almost 5 yo loosely. I am going to do all the K options except for Science - I am going to use the 1st grade Christian Liberty book. I am going to take him through the Family-time Bible readings and use a Rod and Staff Bible reader as well. I am going to take him through TRL this year as well. I am also going to take him through the Singapore K math.
I am not going to do storytime with him as it is written in LHFHG, however. I am going to read 4 books to him over the year instead of 8 - to get him used to the read a-loud concept. (The reason I am going to use the 1st grade Science book option instead of the K option is because I like how the K book lines up with the rest of the activities better than the 1st book. Since we will be going through LHFHG as written for 1st grade, I will use the K book then)

Then next year, for first grade, I am going to take him through LHFHG as written with 1st grade options. This will line him up to go through the guides in a way that will take him through each guide HOD has to offer through the end of high school.

I am pretty sure that there are many women here who take their children through the guides on the younger side of the age curve and do really well. I have heard that those that do that tend to have to slow down at some point and take 2 years to do one guide. (around Bigger, I think) That's a great option too, if you think she's ready for LHFHG. You are really the only one that can know if she's ready. Do you think she's ready to read? Is she ready for K math? If she's ready for those things, you may want to go ahead and start her in K, and just go slowly, or at her pace.

Larissa, exactly. I was thinking about it last night, and using the placement guides, she places into LHFHG except for in History. Or, maybe that is just for now. I have also thought about taking this year slow because it will be our first year homeschooling and we do have so much other stuff planned...

so I've also thought about doing LHFHG at half speed. However, if she gets it now, maybe I just take her through in case we get bogged down later, like you said, in Bigger...

So, my dilemma really is, based on her placing into LHFHG, do I go ahead and do that now, and have her on the younger ends of the guide, for now?

I looked over my LHTH book again and we'd have to cut out so much because she's already done it. She's writing her numbers, knows all her letters, etc. The only stuff she may be intrigued by are the science exploration units.

Hmmmmm...
Maybe you could do the parts of LHTH that you think would benefit your daughter (perhaps Bible and accompanying fun activities that go with it, and devotional) and add in math and handwriting and her beloved worksheets for now? You don't have to do all as written in LHTH if your daughter isn't into fingerplays and doesn't need the alphabet and math activities. But you could still enjoy the sweetness that is in it while your daughter is younger, and save LHFHG for after, when she is ready for the history. From what I understand about your daughter, she may encourage you to go through LHTH at double speed and you'll be in LHFHG before you know it!! Then, though she'll still be at the younger end of the age range for LHFHG, you can just see where she is developmentally at that point. You could always use 1st grade options with it when the time comes, if you decide to do the K options now.

I'm so interested to hear what you decide. But I'll confess that I was hoping we would be in LHFHG at the same time!

krismoose wrote:Hi Heidi! When I tried LHTH with ds, almost 5 at the time, he was not interested in anything but the bible stories, learning to read, and math (acting out songs and art projects involving glue are not his cup of tea ), so I started LHFHG with him and we had a great time. He learned to read with The Reading Lesson and loved the EB math books and activitied in LHFHG. The only thing I would have changed in doing it over would have been to slow it down so we would finish the history and storytime in 1.5-2 years. Only now, at 6.5 has his writing caught up with the rest of his skills so that we can start Beyond Little Hearts and have him comfortably do the language arts at this level. I would not separate the storytime readings from the rest of LHFHG, as the level of questions in that section really works well with the questions in the History and Bible areas, and progresses so smoothly together thoughout the program. In fact I had to hide the Burgess books used in LHFHG because my ds can read them to himself now, and dd wants him to read them to her (We have been accumulating some of the other Burgess books as well!)

My dd is finishing LHTH right now and I was contemplating starting her slowly in LHFHG, but I've opted to do other things for a while until she's 5 and can better appreciate the history. I'm reading through many of the Sonlight P 3/4 and P 4/5 books with her for a special read-aloud time this year (some I had bought to read with ds, some from the library). Since I had a filler year with ds before starting Beyond, ds and I are actually rereading History for Little Pilgrims this month and doing a timeline for it and he is *so* into it now! He's so excited to start learning more American history, I'm very glad I waited! HTH

KrisMoose, I just saw your post; missed it earlier. Thanks for weighing in! I really appreciate your feedback. I know the right thing to do is start her in LHTH, and what I might do is go thru the TM with a light pencil and lightly cross through the lessons I think I'll skip and make some kind of plan out of that, including the 3R's everyday.

And Kristin, you have a very good point. That might double-speed us, to where we can begin LHFHG mid-year, or I can finish with the other curriculum through the school year? I think we can "double-speed" and still only do school 3x a week, because once I factor in swim lessons, Bible studies, and our other co-op, as well as tending to both kids and all of their needs, booklists, etc, we'll be able to stretch out LHTH this year and be ready to start LHFHG more like a 1st grade year. So we might just do what applies for LHTH with kindergarten options now, and see where it gets us. I do agree with KrisMoose, though, that DD is not ready for the history portion. We did read the "History for Little Pilgrims" pp 1-3 and she was able to tell me that history related to God's story, but that was hard to get out of her.

I'm a planner though so I like to map it out.

Kristin, I think we can go through LHFHG at the same time.

I went through tonight and penciled out some of the exercises that Girlie is probably beyond, like some of the letter sounds and math explorations. I am on the fence about letter formation, because I myself have not seen Girlie make the letters herself. Her beloved worksheets show half-done work and shoddy penmanship, so she's not advanced in this area. I, then, will probably include the letter formation aspect combined with some K writing workbook, like the one in the LHFHG K pack.

So far, I feel good about it! That, with our co-op and other plans, will probably be plenty for next year, so we can do LHFHG either as written or slightly slowed down for 1st grade. If she advances as normal, we can do it as written when she's 6.

Thoughts, though? Am I missing something? I feel like something's missing...

Heidi, I think your plan will work just fine. It will be so nice to have the LHTH plans, even if you only do some of them, and the other workbooks sound pretty simple to just do the next page in, so you won't have to plan anything once you've gotten started. As I'm finishing LHTH with dd, we've been speeding up because her interest in some of the activities has waned, so I've been skipping some as well. Also, If you do start LHFHG on the younger side, the first half is Bible stories, some of which are retold in History for Little Pilgrims, so she'll have time to continue to mature as you cover some familiar ground, even more if you do it only 3 or 4 days a week at first. I'm going to try to follow my own advice with my dd as well.

I think your ideas sound great for your DD!

Here's another thought: what about LHFHG 1/2 speed with K options for this year and then LHFHG 1/2 speed with 1st grade options the next year if that goes well? That is what I did this year with DS 2 (who just turned 6 this year...was 5.5 when we started in September) and it worked great! It was just enough for him and he LOVED Storytime most of all!!! We did Math, Handwriting, and Phonics everyday, but you may want to slow that down too since she is a bit younger than he was starting off. Just another way to possibly go about it!

Jessica, you know what I might do, based on your suggestion...do what we have in LHTH full-speed (or double, depending on what I feel like Girlie is showing me she can handle, and then LHFHG half-speed over both years once we are done...or half-speed it until she catches up with herself so we can finish by summer 2013...?

I might add that I appreciate the accountability of a friend on this board saying she would like to go thru LHFHG at the same time. That's great and will slow this roadrunner down!!!

Thanks, Kristin. Our blogs and weekly check-ins will really help.

I actually left in a lot of the material in later units in the LHTH guide.