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I am really drawn to doing Little Hearts for our first officialy year of homeschooling. My son will turn 6 early sept. and this is the first year we are "going official" with the school district. (we live in NY state). So we have the option of putting him at K level or 1st. He is mostly ready for 1st. He completed all 5 levels of hooked on phonics. We haven't done a lot of formal math, a little right start level A but I think he's ready for level B. He is figuring out math on his own... He does not hold a pencil correctly and therefore his printing is very slow. He knows how to "draw" letters, but does not write them "correctly" (goes bottom up, etc.) they look pretty good though.

I really like the world history idea of Little Hearts. He is "into" the Bible right now. He doesn't seem all that interested in history in general. I would like to do the world history for my own benefit too! But I'm sure if I took the time to use the placement charts he'd ready for Beyond. (except for the writing?)

so.... does it make sense to use Little Hearts with him? I would supplement the reading in some way and either start Singapore math or continue with right start. I think he's ready for more grammar though too.

He is not used to sitting and "doing school" other than the phonics we have done (which he liked) and the math. rarely on the same day.

We used Little Hearts here for first grade with my 6 yo twins. There were several reasons why we chose LHFHG, but one of the reasons was their fine motor skills still weren't great and writing was still a struggle. What we did was add the basics from Beyond. So we did the math activities from Beyond with Singapore 1A and 1B and the spelling and grammar from Beyond. For reading, we had already started the emerging readers schedule from Beyond and continued with those. it was a great fit for us and worked out well. Maybe that would work for your ds too.

I did Little Hearts with my 6yo 1st grader. She really took to reading so we just jumped into the Emerging Readers so you may need to get the Beyond guide as well. Also, some of the math activities got a little simple for her but I just increased the difficulty of things on my own and it was seamless. (Like instead of 1-5 I did 1-10 or 1-15, etc. Not a big deal) She really enjoyed the history and the story time books.

I would register him as K, but use what you want. We did this with two of our boys who had late birthdays. That way when they were younger, they really fit well into all the social events you needed a grade level with, but we still worked at their own ability. In the end, we did skip a grade with one later on (We skipped 8th without difficulty); with the other we did not. In both cases it was the right decision when they were little. I think LHFHG sounds great. I am using it with my 6 year old daughter. She is a beginning reader and can copy sentences. We did the first day today! She loved it!

if you get the beyond manual you can use the emerging reader list and comprehension questions from that for the reading portion. If the math is too easy in Little Hearts, you can do the math from Beyond. We were a guide ahead in math for the first couple of years until we got past the hands on activiites.

I agree - I think it makes total sense to start LHFHG with him, and just do the LA/math parts from Beyond he needs. While he could do Beyond this year, the copywork of the poetry would be difficult, and I'd be concerned that he'd not be ready for all of the increased writing in Bigger Hearts the next year. LHFHG with Beyond's LA/math seems like the perfect fit! He can do all of LHFHG, but instead of phonics, he can do Beyond's Emerging Reader's Set. He can also do the whole LA box in Beyond, using Spelling List 1 and doing the 1 x a week grammar lesson as an introduction to grammar. You may want to do a trip through LHFHG's Earlybird K math, along with the great hands-on plans for it in LHFHG, as it covers many skills, such as telling time, counting money, reading graphs, standard/nonstandard measurement, etc. Then, whenever he finishes that, he could start Beyond's plans for 1A/1B. I think I'd still do the LHFHG Storytime books, as it teaches beginning oral narration skills, and also teaches dc to listen more attentively to more classic sounding books before doing the Beyond Storytime set the next year. Those are just some ideas - HTH! I think you'll enjoy LHFHG with Beyond's LA/math - many, many families are following this plan and enjoying the flexibility of meeting each of their dc's specific needs so well.

In Christ,
Julie