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I'm somewhat new to HOD and homeschooling. DD will be 5 in August. She started LHFHG at 4.5 back in March since I was looking for something to challenge her. She has been reading since she was 2 and at the time (March) was reading at a 4th grade level. Per the placement chart, she would have placed in Beyond for all but the age and the writing. LHFHG has been a perfect fit for her so far. She also reads the books that are listed as supplemental/optional in the back of the guide. She loved Reddy the Fox. We're only in Unit 9. We've been going slowly since she's not technically supposed to be in K until this fall. Since it's summer, we've just been doing school when we don't have other activities planned. I say all this only to preface my questions in terms of trying to figure out what I should do with future guides and DITHOR.

1. DD has read most of the emergent readers that have been available to her and has the ability to read all of them (but she still prefers picture books). Her ability to Narrate a story she's read blows my mind. Do I start DITHOR in the fall while doing LHFHG or wait until we start Beyond?? She does struggle with handwriting due to her age. Will starting DITHOR before beyond affect writing skills that are supposed to be developed using DITHOR?
2. DD wants to read the Bible and the Burgess books to me, but I think that it is so important for her to hear stories read to her as well. So far what I've been doing is telling her she can read whichever one she wants and I read the other. Sometimes when she reads them I don't feel like she pays as much attention (answers questions in as much detail as when I read them-although she still understands what is read). Is this what others would do or are there any other suggestions?
3. I've seen several posts by HOD users regarding slowing down the pace of the earlier guides so the kiddo is not too young for later guides. I was thinking about slowing down the guides to 4 days/wk in the fall for the above reason. However, I do wonder if that wise in our case. Since she fits so well with LHFHG should I do full pace since she is perfectly capable or should I slow it down so she's not so young for later guides. I think she could later handle the reading, but I do worry about writing that will be required later...or maybe that will be more developed by the time we get there. I've thought about: 1. going full speed and starting beyond when we're finished, 2. 4 days/ wk and start beyond when we're finished, or 3. stretch LHFHG over the whole next year and start beyond the following fall. I'd love to hear from anyone who has had experience with these issues or has suggestions.

One thing you could do to help her writing along and to make the guides last longer to make her older for each guide until you feel it's right is to use LHFHG for x number of units and then do a unit study for a few weeks. Maybe each time you finish a Burgess book do a short (2-3 weeks) unit study on something to do with the books? This would extend your year by about 20 weeks or so... and along with regularly scheduled breaks and the LHFHG plans it would take you about 1.5 years to get through LHFHG (so she'd be 6) and then if you did the same thing with Beyond she'd be almost 8 starting Bigger. You could slow down or speed up as needed. Focus more on handwriting or math or whatever else needed focus.

Has she done the alternative ERs? If not you could have her go through those and read them. They should last her until she's in Beyond. You'd have to make her stop when it's time to stop, not just blow through the books... that's not the point of CM readings. If she has you could always get your own books, figure out your own schedule of reading ( a chapter a day is pretty good) and base your questions on the style of the ER questions.

I would not start DITHOR with that young of a child. Even if they love reading, the analysis just would be better for later... when her writing is stronger. From what you've described of your child, I'd wait until you get to Beyond. OH and then you could do a DITHOR genre as a unit study type thing itself in between sections of Beyond! You could break it up by Story Time... each ST book lasts 20 days (4 units) so you could either do 1 book or 2 books worth of Beyond and then a DITHOR genre.

Hi JoyofLearning, and welcome to the HOD Board! Your little gal sounds like one of my sons - an early reader that just flies through books and loves to read. Hooray for her, and way to go Mom! My ds was reading far, far above the Emerging Reader's Set when we did that set with him. We started the ERS half-way through LHFHG. The books were easy for him, but it was the comprehension questions he needed to hone in on. He did well with them, but they helped him learn to truly think more carefully while he was reading. He could read almost anything on the page, but to truly think about and discuss the books well every time he read was another habit to learn altogether.

I think if I were you, I'd do LHFHG full-speed only 4 days a week instead of 5 days a week. I'd start the ERS and follow the schedule in the back, making sure to do the questions each day. Whenever she finishes LHFHG, she can just start Beyond Little Hearts. You can either start it half-speed or full-speed - I think you will be able to tell which would be best for her. Whenever she finishes the ERS, she can start slowly reading the Level 2 DITHOR books. I would wait to start DITHOR formally with her until she is at least 7 yo and can comfortably write several sentences. Whenever she turns 7 and can write at least several sentences, you can start DITHOR with her slowly. We did this with our early reader. First, I wrote his answers for him in his Level 2/3 DITHOR Student Book. Then I wrote half of them in the book, the other half on a markerboard, and he was responsible for copying the half on the markerboard. Eventually he was able to write all his answers. We took 2 months to do 1 genre at the start of DITHOR, and this worked well. As far as the HOD guides, I'd guess by Bigger Hearts, you'd go half-speed with her for awhile. You'll know when to go full-speed. I'd probably do both Beyond and Bigger 4 days a week. We have, and loved that.

HOD is very flexible, and I think that it is such an incredible benefit to be able to pace the guides according to each child's needs. As long as your dd can do every single thing asked of her in a guide, she can go full-speed. By the time she gets to Bigger Hearts, she should be at least 7 years old and ready for what the guide is asking her to do. With those guidelines in place, she should do well!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you so much for the responses!!! I love getting concrete answers. I'm relieved to hear you say to wait with DITHOR for the analysis. I think if I start with too much too early, she may not enjoy reading as much. I also love the idea of the 4 days/wk since we'll start a co-op in the fall that will take a whole morning. (More so she can meet other homeschooling kids than anything else). You mentioned the ER questions in the back of the book. We happened to have several of the ER books listed on the HOD website so she had already read them and others she had read from the library. She's read them to me and we talked about them, but I did not realize there were specific questions to go with them. Are the comprehension questions in the back of one of the guides?

I was wondering (with the upmost respect and pure curiosity ) why you say to wait until a child is at least seven years old to start bigger? Specifically, IF they are strong in the skills after doing beyond and love doing school (maturity?, content?, skills?. I don't think we would go through the guides fast enough for us to get to Bigger before that age, but I am curious. Right now, I am trying to slow down in LHFHG and NOT do it on weekends or too much over the summer, but today my daughter begged to do school so we did handwriting and the right side of a day (which is all we had time for before doing other things that were planned for the day). Not every day is like this, but it did make me wonder. (We do plenty of other fun kids things too and are not ALL academic around here) I guess I'm asking this questions because one of the reasons we started looking into homeschooling was because we knew our daughter would not do well in a K classroom and we didn't want her to be with peers that much older than her if she were to skip grades. So, we decided to homeschool to keep her challenged and at HER skill level because she thrives on this. We do not want to hold her back in a curriculum purely because of age. We do not want her in school all day doing "busy work" if she already knows the material. We DO want her to ENJOY school and meet all her academic needs while she is learning about God every day. We want to instill Godly character first most. (It appears that HOD will help us meet these needs which is why we love HOD ) but I am curious about the age thing. I do understand that maturity is needed to handle heavier content and was wondering if this was part of the reasoning for waiting on bigger. Sorry about my ramblings but I was trying to figure out how to phrase what's been going through my head in looking at the big picture of curriculum in later years.

Good question! The main reason to wait to begin BHFHG until dc are at least 7 yo is the writing requirements, as well as the higher level thinking involved in the plans.

Amount of writing in BHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3005
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1516&p=11829

Another reason is the reading levels of books, the maturity content of books, and the higher level thinking required in the upper guides. Every guide increases incrementally in these areas from year to year. For example, the youngest age in the target age range for the guide "Creation to Christ" is 9 yo. Dc are to read, comprehend, and respond to their reading independently in higher level ways, such as writing written narrations, summaries, etc. Here are some links to one of the history books dc read independently for CTC...
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ancient26-27.pdf
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ancient-xxx.html
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ ... xxxix.html

Here is a link to the first week of plans of CTC, as well. The "T" stands for "teacher-directed", "S" for "semi-independent", and "I" for "Independent". Dc at this age are conducting their own experiments in a lab format utilizing the scientific method - all independently. They are also doing all of their own history and science reading.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-First-Week.pdf

They are using WWTB, which utilizes classical literature excerpts for dc to model their writing after. Here is a link to a peek inside WWTB...
http://www.edudps.com/WRITE-WITH-THE-BEST-Vol-1.pdf

Anyway, I'm just trying to show that looking down the road, the guides become increasingly difficult in many areas. You can see by the above examples that it will take a pretty academically strong 9 yo to be able to do CTC. Likewise, it will take a pretty academically strong 7 yo to do BHFHG, but this increases even more so along with the guides. I think you will find HOD to challenge your dd appropriately. I'll also link you to Carrie's explanation of higher level thinking, as it is a great "walk through" the guides.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8178

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,
I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU for answering my questions in the way that you did!! (I would have written back earlier but had hand surgery the other day and typing is difficult ) The links regarding the specifics in the amount of writing each day for bigger were very helpful and something to keep in mind as we move forward. I also love how you linked the books for CTC along with the first week of CTC. I felt like it gave me a "lightbulb" moment. In looking ahead, it's easy for me to just see what is written in the guides for each level. That is, I see what is in the boxes without examining the CONTENT in the books being read for the day and how the questions relate to the content. It is hard for me (with oldest DD being 4) to know what is typical for a 7 or 9 year old to know or do. I only know what my DC's are capable of at the moment and at previous ages. However, in looking back at when I was in school, it is clear to me that HOD covers WAY more than what I learned at those ages and I went to a very "academic" private school. I just wanted to say that I appreciate you taking the time to help think through these things.

I'm glad it helped! It is tough to see down the road sometimes. I am praying for God's guidance, and I am thankful HOD is doing high school. That in itself is a huge stress reliever for me. I'm glad this helped give a tiny peek at what is to come, and that it gives peace to dd doing BHFHG. I agree - HOD covers much more than I learned in school. I'm so thankful it's done in a way that is still steeped in the Lord and full of joy to teach and to learn. Enjoy BHFHG with your dd - it will give many memorable moments together!

In Christ,
Julie