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I am desiring to begin my 4 year old (who turns 5 Nov. 4th) in Little Hearts this coming school year. I know that this material is "rated" for Kinder-2nd grade. My is would it be too early to consider her in Kinder this coming school year?

I know that this may be a personal decision but I'm just curious as to what you more experienced...and wiser ...moms think. Would it depend on how well she does with the material as to whether or not she can keep up and finish is this year or spread it in two years.

We've made the end of this year special for my oldest (grad. pictures, a video of her "commencement" here at the house etc.) so I would like to do that also for my younger daughter if I consider her in K this coming year.

Would that make her a little young for each consecutive year?...or not...now that I think about it I graduated at 17...

Anyway, just curious as to what you all think!!!

I was kind of in your same boat a few years ago. My twins have Dec. birthdays and would not have been eligible for K based on age, but I started their K year in January...after they'd turned 5. Now I did not call them K until the next year which would've been their official K year in ps, so it kind of gave me some wiggle room before we approached the "real" first year of schooling....first grade (k is not a required year in most states) which is when record keeping begins here in MO. It also helped us to ease into doing real school work.

So there's one option for you!
Mel

I am currently doing Little Hearts with my son who turned 5 at the end of Feb. I am considering him dong K work but still a preschooler. He is not eligible for ps K until fall then he will be a K'er to the world but we just work at his pace.

I would start your dd when you feel she is ready and when she is done with Little Hearts wether it be 1, 1.5 or 2 years then do K graduation stuff like you did with your older child. If the work gets to be to much in future years remember that you started early so you can always slow down:)

I have a similar situation. I have one that just turned 4 and one that just turned 6 doing LHFHG. So how do you count that. My dd that is 6th will be first grade and honestly she is really ready for first grade level reading and math. My dd who is 4 I am feeling like will be K even though that has her age wise a year ahead of the other. And that is not about being smarter as much as it is less wiggly and more ready earlier. So I am actually considering registering her in our declaration of intent this year so she will get credit. It also has her graduating at just barely 17 since her birthday is in April. But we will still be homeschooling and I imagine that we will just continue to "specialize" in whatever her call is for a bit longer. I was worried about her being so young but she is really ready and she does not want to be held back. So now I see the extra time really as a gift. She could take an entire year to study nothing but Bible if she wanted at some point or just to pursue a personal interest. What a gift really that is!

So that is how I am seeing it for us. There really is a big difference between pushing them and allowing them to take off if they are ready.

water2wine wrote: There really is a big difference between pushing them and allowing them to take off if they are ready.

That's exactly what I feel in my heart!!! I guess I just doubted it cause when I mentioned it to a friend she questioned the age. I told her that I felt that she was ready cause she ALWAYS ASKS to do her school work and is really wanting to read like her big sister. I've never pushed her and have only done any type of school work with her when she asks to (which is most of the time...even this afternoon!!!)

To me her desire to learn was enough to settle it in my mind...but then when my friend (who was not being ugly or judgemental about it) questioned it I began to doubt myself!!!

I guess the One I need to listen to is the Lord!! Maybe He is telling me that my dd is ready and using her own requests to "do school" to let me know.

And as far as the "grade" is concerned...if she can do well this year and completes the Kinder. requirements then would it be alright to go ahead and move to 1st next year?

I like what water2wine said also about allowing them an extra year after graduation to study Bible!! Wow!!! What the Lord could do with a soul devoted to the study of His Word only for one year!!

Just another thought here...you wouldn't have to finish LHFHG to celebrate her first year of "real school" either. You could go through it at your pace and stop when you were planning to for a break and do all the special things you mentioned...then you could continue when you were ready to pick back up. It could still be her Kindergarten celebration!

Kathleen wrote:Just another thought here...you wouldn't have to finish LHFHG to celebrate her first year of "real school" either. You could go through it at your pace and stop when you were planning to for a break and do all the special things you mentioned...then you could continue when you were ready to pick back up. It could still be her Kindergarten celebration!

See what great ideas you get when you THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX?!!! I think that I am the kind of person that believes if I even step a pinky toe outside the box the world will come crashing down on me and I'll get I don't know eaten by a dinosaur or butterfly or something!!!

Maybe I ought to at least try to crack that lid a little huh?!!!

there has been talk on the board about grade levels before and whether you complete a manual in a year. The general consensus has been that you don't have to complete a manual in a year to move up a grade. Several people have talked about finishing up the last 6 to 8 weeks of a manual at the beginning of the next year.

I started my son with LHFHG at age 5 but at the 1st grade level in Math and LA and called him a 1st grader. We had done LHTH at age 4. He did great. But he has done 2nd over 2 years because he just needed some time to mature a bit.

Start when she's ready, and if she needs to slow down at any point, don't give it a second thougth. As long as you are going at her pace you will do just fine.

I started LHFHG last Sept. w/ my dd who turned 5 in Oct. She has done very well with the program and I plan on starting Beyond in the fall. I think it depends on the child. We have loved using this for our K year and are looking forward to using Beyond for 1st. HTH!

Gina

We used LHFHG with both of our sons when before they turned 5. It worked well, but we started half-speed with our second son. He was begging to do school as well, and we'd finished LHTH, so we just began LHFHG doing half of the plans each day. We did do phonics every day for the benefit of repetition. We recently began doing both sides of the plans every day now. As has been said, don't worry about whether it takes a year or 2 years to complete. Just go with the best pace for your child, and you'll be set! As water2wine so wisely mentioned, having an extra year at the end to study Bible, and topics of personal interest would be GREAT! Also, I know lots of homeschool families do an extra year of "college prep" and "life skills" anyway (like how to balance a checkbook, be responsible with a credit card, plan a budget, pick a new church - if college is somewhere new - etc.). That would be a huge relief to have time to do all that important stuff too!

In Christ,
Julie