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HELLO. THIS WILL BE MY FIRST YEAR HOMESCHOOLING. I INTENDED TO DO MY EIGHT YEAR OLD (USING BIGGER) THIS YEAR AND THEN ADD IN MY SOON TO BE KINDERGARTNER NEXT YEAR. I AM NOW CONSIDERING ADDING IN MY KINDERGARTNER THIS SCHOOL YEAR. SO WHERE DO I BEGIN? HE HAS COMPLETED A FIVE DAY A WEEK PRE K PROGRAM THIS PAST SCHOOL YEAR. HE WILL BE SIX IN MARCH. HE IS JUST STARTING TO SHOW A LITTLE INTEREST IN READING SIMPLE WORDS/BOOKS (BOB BOOKS), BUT HE HAS A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WITH IT. HE GETS VERY FRUSTRATED WHEN I GIVE HIM INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO FORM HIS LETTERS. HE DOES PRETTY GOOD WITH HIS SOUNDS AND DOES RECOGNIZE ALL THE ALPHABET LETTERS. AM I SUPPOSE TO STRESS STAYING IN THE LINES AT THIS AGE? WHEN I DO HE GIVES UP AND CRUMPLES HIS PAPER. I WANT TO START HIM WITH KINDERGARTEN BUT I AM NOT SURE IF THAT WOULD BE THE BEST CHOICE FOR HIM.
BLESSINGS,

RENEE

have you had a chance yet to see where he falls on the placement chart here? http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
He may fall in LHTH or he may fall in LHFHG, I'm not sure but the placement chart is really helpful in figuring it out.

Hi Renee, and welcome! Have you looked at the placement chart for your son? http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php He sounds like my son at that age - a little slower to develop his fine motor skills, not interested in or very good at coloring, drawing, or attempting to write. I just backed off and just encouraged any attempt to use more than one color in a picture, or any attempts to write or copy. I found he enjoyed the Rod & Staff workbooks (the ones in LHFHG, though we found them before HOD) and I just let him do those and started handwriting about halfway through LHFHG. We also used The Reading Lesson (one of HOD's recommendations) for phonics, which was perfect for him because there is no writing required, just drawing a few lines now and then. He does need to know his basic letter sounds before starting it, however, so if he doesn't, LHTH could be better for him as it goes through the alphabet with sounds, bible stories, and counting activities. Have you looked at the sample weeks for LHTH and LHFHG? They are here:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf

LHFHG starts off with Bible stories, with pictures, and daily hands-on activities (science, art, thinking games, and acting out parts of stories). And you could split up the activities throughout the day so that he doesn't have to sit still for too long at first How does he do with listening to stories wthout pictures? The storytime books and devotional are great, but my ds definitely had to grow into them a bit, as he got used to fewer pictures. There is significantly more reading aloud in LHFHG, a bible or history story, the storytime selection, and sometimes a science page or a chapter in the devotional. And you sing a song or rhyme related to the week's story, and learn a Bible verse for each unit, with activities to help learn it. LHTH has a very short Bible story each day, and a song/rhyme for each unit. Anyhow, hope that helps a bit - do let us know where he places on the chart, so others can chime in with their thoughts as well

Hi Renee! Your ds could do LHTH or LHFHG next year. LHTH takes about 25-30 minutes to do each day, and will have him focusing on these things:
Daily: letter recognition, letter formation, letter sounds and motions, finger plays, music,
One Time a Week: early math skills, Bible activities, devotional topics, art projects, dramatic plays, active exploration

Here is the first week of plans so you can see what he would be doing each day (you do 1 page of plans each day):
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf

Here is the LHTH Photobook so you can have a visual way to see what he'd be doing...
http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/21

LHFHG takes about 1 1/2 hours to do each day, and will have him focusing on these things:
Daily: Bible Memory Work, Rhymes, Gross Motor Skills, Music, Fine Motor Skills/Handwriting of Letters, Phonics, Storytime, Language Activities, Math Exploration
One Time a Week: Devotional Topics, Dramatic Play, Thinking Games, Art Projects

Here is the first week of plans so you can see what he would be doing each day (you do 2 pages of plans each day):
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf

Here is the LHTH Photobook so you can have a visual way to see what he'd be doing...
http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/25

The placement chart will also help you decide what would be best for your ds...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I am thinking you have several good options here.
Option #1: You could do LHTH with the Ages 4/5 resources.
Option #2: You could do LHTH with the Ages 4/5 resources and add in the right side of LHFHG for LA/Math.
Option #3: You could do LHFHG half-speed, doing daily phonics though, and going to full-speed when you think he's ready.
Option #4: You could do LHFHG full-speed with the K options 4 days a week.
Option #5: You could do LHFHG full-speed with the K options 5 days a week.

After you get a chance to look through the placement chart and the links, I'd love to hear your thoughts and chat some more! HTH - we have loved HOD so much - I think you'll find it easy to do 2 HOD guides at once, provided dc are placed correctly. We have found this to be such a terrific way to homeschool!

In Christ,
Julie