placement...maybe not HOD?

[hollyh]

Hi. I have a dd4 who I just started in LHFHG. We have done about 2 weeks of it (minus the Little Pilgrims book that I am still awaiting from someone - should have this week). I know she is young (dec. bday) but she solidly places in LHFHG, has been decoding on her own since 2, and is very ready for school. That being said, what I am finding is that she is doing a great job and loving everything about the program, but is having a more difficult time with storytime. She really enjoys the book that we are reading, but I am finding that I am not sure how much of it she is retaining (on her own) and I am summarizing a lot to make sure she gets it. Is this normal or is this a sign that this program is too advanced for her? (Since I am awaiting the Little Pilgrims book, I am wondering if it too will be a bit beyond her).

In math, she can do 1a/1b (I have the books and tried out some lessons on her), but I am forcing her to go through earlybird... maybe at a quicker pace, just to have a solid foundation. In reading, she will probably be ready for the emerging readers books in late fall - I need to work on sight words with her first. Science, art and bible she is eating up! Handwriting is OK for her. She knows how to write all her letters and will write me shopping lists, etc. on her own, but doesn't necessarily love being told WHAT to do! LOL. I don't want to push this too hard b/c I know she is young.

I feel like her abilities are so mis-matched.

I'm not sure what to do... Should I not worry about the comprehension part of storytime, continuing to summarize? But then next year in Beyond won't it be even more difficult? Everything else seems fine... I don't want to, but should I maybe do a different program for a year and then start LHFHG next year? Help! How did your kids start out with LHFHG?

[Mercy]

Your daughter sounds sooooo much like mine!!!!
Just wanted to say, I think she is in a perfect place! The storytime narrations are just new. My daughter also struggled a bit and even now it just doesnt seem to be a totally natural thing for her. My oldest son has always excelled in this area so I was taken back when my daughter struggled...she clammed up and didnt want to. That is what this year is for though...to begin learning this skill. Some children need a lil more examples (of mom showing how to do it) and more practice time. Nothing wrong, she will flourish here soon.

Hope that helps,
Mercy

[my2guys]

Just wanted to encourage you that my son was the same way when he first started with both the Storytime and History (did better with the Bible lessons that the History stories, I think because he was familiar with them.) It took him a long time to grow into being able to answer the Storytime questions and I was worried too that he wasn't "grasping" enough. But I would encourage you to give it time. Let her just enjoy the stories and get used to the language and discuss it with her. It may take a few Storytime books before it starts to "click" for her. My oldest was all over the map in abilities when we started K - he was probably a year ahead in reading and writing and math - but the narrations, oh. my. - he didn't get that at all. But by the end of LHFHG, I saw a HUGE improvement. And now we are finishing up Beyond and this year I see even more growth. Your dd sounds a lot like my ds.

[Mom2Monkeys]

Perhaps you could do LHTH (the guide before LHFHG) but do the K options math, fine motor/thinking skills, and continue phonics from the right side of LHFHG. Then next year, do LHFHG with the 1st grade options in those boxes. for this year, I'd start reading her simple chapter books with few pictures to get her ready for the burgess books for 1st grade.

Or, you could continue LHFHG, but at half speed to allow her to grow into it a little more but still keep moving forward.

Just some ideas.

[twoxcell]

My dd was pretty much exactly like that when we started LHFHG. It took her until about halfway before she was totally in to it. I would not speed her through the earlybird math books at all. SM 1a starts out easy but really ramps up, by the time you get to the end of 1b they are doing Multiplication/Division. At this age it is better to build a strong foundation. You don't want her to get to higher math books and struggle. I started my dd out with SM 1a and then decided to just do the K math on the advice of my dh.

[Heidi in AK]

Holly, oh, do I feel your pain. What do you do with a high-performing 4yo that is not quite ready for some of the elements of LHFHG, but is uber-ready for others?

We have been in the same boat, and if you want to do HOD long-term (and Oh, do I recommend you do!), consider putting her in LHTH with storytime readers from LHFHG and K options from LHFHG. LHTH is basically a one-page plan, with Bible history as the spine, so that if you add in all the K options, you can have a K program with history retention matching her abilities.

Then, maturity will catch her up, so that when she is in 1st grade, she can do LHFHG and retain the US history portion that much better because she'll be older. Then, for readers, you could either do the classic pack for Bigger, or the girls' pack. Whatever you don't do for readers in 1st grade with LHFHG, you can do as readers for 2nd when you do Bigger.

I was in the same boat, considering throwing out LHTH altogether in favor of another program, but we have been doing this with K options for about 4 weeks, and it is working SOOOOOO well for us. I know DD's retention skills will improve so much over this year, so she'll be fully ready for LHFHG when she gets to first grade.

[Kathleen]

Holly,

It sounds to me like your daughter is probably in the right place. It is very normal for there to be different strengths in your child, too. Some things will come easier than others. And, I know that I've seen Carrie and Julie share that the guides are written so that even as we move up, some things are new skills that will be challenging, some things are skills that they've already practiced and will be relatively easy for them to use.

It's normal for the Burgess books to be difficult at the beginning, but I'm sure that your daughter will LOVE them as you move along. We found that to be true. I didn't start LHFHG until my daughter was 5 1/2, so they weren't very difficult for her to listen to, but she sure grew as she learned to be a more seasoned listener throughout the year. Here's a past thread where a mom shared a similar concern and an update later.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=126

Enjoy LHFHG - we loved it!
Kathleen

[hollyh]

Hi! Thanks for your thoughts. That previous thread was really useful to read through as well. I just read through my LHTH manual (have it in advance for younger kiddos). I think I will keep at LHFHG for a while still and see how it goes. She really is thriving in everything else, so I think she will grow into the storytime readers. She loves them and begs for me to read them to her, so I'm hopeful it will be fine soon enough. If in a month or two she is still asking so many questions or not retaining, I will figure out a plan b...

[mom24boys]

My son had a hard time with storytime at first too, but he caught on. One tip I saw on the boards was to read the question and see if she knows the answer. If she doesn't, then go back and read the paragraph the answer was in and see if she can get it that way. If not, then summarize/explain. That might help her along the way.

[Mercy]

Heidi's post had some wisdom worth pondering...

When you go through HODs guides as written, beefing up the 3rs when necessary, it works wonderfully. You stay on age appropriate topics and keep the rhymes/"play" for them as well. They are still challenged appropriately, but age wise are able to stay younger longer. Who wants to be pushed to grow up too fast! Lol!!

[acts29stl]

This is just my experience but I would have to agree with the pp who said to go to LHTH w/K options if you are planning on sticking with HOD long term. My daughter has a Dec birthday too and I didn't do that with her. Although she is doing fine, slowing down would have been the best. She is combined with her older brother and we did end up half pacing with Bigger to help slow down a bit. But I have seen that a lot of her comprehension and ability to answer deeper thought questions contained in the Bible Study box was always behind by a half year compared to her brother. It wasn't so much that she couldn't answer the question but rather take the Scripture and apply it to her personally. The last half of Bigger I have really seen her thinking process mature and blossom. Academically she was always fine-math, english, history.....but it was with applying the info that she needed to mature in.

It's so tempting to have our kiddos go at full steam and a bit satisfying for us as parents to think of our kiddos as advance. But nothing but time and maturity can have our dc critically thinking sooner. HOD is so much more than just academics. It's touching a child's heart right at the level they are. If switching to LHTH isn't appealing, really consider going half pace and letting her mature. If my circumstances were different (i have 6 kiddos!), I would have done this with my dd.

[Larissa]

I whole-heartedly agree with Acts29stl.

I also have experience with a very advanced child. I wish that I would have had someone tell me not to press forward with him even though he was already reading at 3yo. I started him in K at 4yo and he sped through all of it without any difficulty. He did the same with 1st grade at the tender age of 5. However, doing 2nd grade material at age 6 was a horrible mistake. He began crying every time we started school. It resulted in me completely changing approaches and repeating 2nd grade with the new and fresh approach.
My 2nd son ended up being even more advanced than my 1st son. However, I did not make the same mistake with him. I did a very modified LHFHG with all the K options. Then, we did LHFHG at full speed this past year with all the 1st grade options.(I used the Beyond guide for the math plans/and Language Arts plans) He loved storytime and fully grasped all of it and did some fantastic narrating! He will be starting BLHFHG this fall doing it at full speed with 2nd grade options. I will refer to the Bigger manuel for some more advanced options for him with English/Math/ and also will do DITHOR, since he's already read the emerging readers.

Charlotte Mason's philosophy was that "formal" school isn't necessary until a child is 6. The more I get along in my homeschooling journey, the more I believe that to be true! There is so much to learn about the world around us just in everyday life ... the nature all around us ... and I am certain that whether a child reads at 3 or not until 8 ... they all seem to catch up to the same place by the time they are about 9 or 10. (that is just an informal observation that a 4th grade teacher made back when I was teaching elementary at a public school before having children)

[hollyh]

Ok, so help me wrap my head around this. I'm not a fan of doing the same program 2 years in a row for sure. DD doesn't forget anything and would be bored.

So, if I tried to use LHTH, I would basically only be using the music & bible/fingerplays considering she knows all numbers and letters. Then doing phonics, science, handwriting, fine motor and math from LHFHG. What about the memory verse, history, art and storytime? I wouldn't want to use them this year, b/c then it wouldn't be new to her next year, but don't want to leave them out either...

Also, how does science work? If we did the kinder science this year, then next year LHFHG w/ 1st grade science - are there different activities to use for people who are using the 1st grade science option? Oh, and then what science would she do with Beyond?

Geez.. this is hard to figure out. I chose HOD for this to be simple. LOL. I'm really torn. I do think she will grow into comprehending the storytime better, but am more concerned about future years.

[Larissa]

I only sort of use LHFHG in K. I do go through it and use all the K options, but I don't really do it as written until 1st grade ... and then use all the 1st grade options. I do that so there won't be any repeats of the read a-louds, History, or Science.

I've really just fashioned my own History and Science for the K year. I can totally understand why it's frustrating. You want an open and go. LHFHG is definitely open and go. My struggle with it as I've taken my children through each guide is that I really prefer BLHFHG for 2nd grade, and definitely prefer Bigger for 3rd. As you get further along in each guide, it's quite possible that you will have to do a great deal of modifying for her since she is only 4 yo right now. This would put her in Bigger at 6yo. I know that my 2nd son could have handled several elements of Beyond ... but he could not have handled all of the written work required.
I guess, what I am thinking is that at some point, with starting her this early, you will more than likely have to do some modifying. I have just found that modifying is easier in the younger guides than it is in the older guides. And the benefits of all the skills required of them with each new guide is something you want her to reap completely!

If you think that she is completely ready to do LHFHG without any modifying - you can always try it at half speed. Do 3 days one week 2 days the next week. That will take you much longer to go through. Ultimately you are the only one that can make the right decision for your child. The other thing to consider is that you can take the program at full speed ... and then consider slowing Beyond down if it gets to be too much ... or slowing Bigger down. There are lots of options! Don't let NOT doing HOD be one of your options, though! It's fantastic and worth sticking out!

[hollyh]

Thanks for all your thoughts, ladies. Just to clarify, I'm pretty committed to HOD long term (I think). I was just wondering if I should do something else for a year and THEN start LHFHG... and since LHTH seemed way too young for her, I was trying to figure out what to do. I've been praying about it and will continue to do so. I am still considering the option suggested of only using the Bible in LHTH so that I could kind or re-do LHFHG next year... but dh said he wants me to wait a little while before making a decision - he says he sees so much growth in her in just the past 2 weeks. I'll keep praying.

Thank you for all your help!