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My youngest will be 5 in Oct. He's been to MDO some and last year he went to his own pre-school class at our co-op once/week. We've done very little as far as school goes at home though because he was in "play" mode all year:). However, in the last couple months he's begun writing and has learned letters and letter sounds mostly on his own! He can count to 100 will little help, and can write many of his numbers, do simple addition verbally, etc. I have the LHTH guide that I bought for last year & he was just too busy so I didn't bother with it. I had planned to use that next school year, but this am I looked though it, and the right side is just way too easy. If I got the LHFHG guide I could just do the right side & the left side of the LHTH guide with it, right? Would I need to use any of the LHFHG books or just the guide? THX!

The LHTH guide is only one page per day, so no right/left like in the later guides. The right side of LHFHG has reading/phonics, handwriting/fine motor, math and storytime. I'd save storytime for when you do the rest of LHFHG, so you wouldn't need any other books. So choose a phonics program, handwriting, fine motor R&S workbooks, and math. The hands-on activities for SM Earlybird 2A/2B are in the guide, which might be the only area you'd want the guide for yet. You can pretty much just do the next page for handwriting and fine motor, and there's a reminder to do phonics. If you look at the sample week here, http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf you'll see how it's written. You could easily do the Bible activities in LHTH and add in the other areas. HTH
P.S., What's MDO?

LHTH is only one page per day. I've heard of people using LHTH, but adding in the right side of LHFHG as well.

This is what we did:
My DD turned 5 last Feb. and had already been through LHTH one time, so she knew all her letters, letter sounds, colors, numbers, etc. I was doing LHTH again for my DS who was 3, so I decided to put them both in it. I do it as written for my 3 year old, but for my DD, she participates in the Fingerplays, bible stories, bible activities, art exploration, active exploration, etc. using the older options listed in the guide and then when DS is doing the letter, color, number activities, DD works out of a supplemental workbook for Kindergarteners(that includes basic addition, subtraction, reading readiness, etc.) and then she has a separate phonics lesson using Abeka. So, I just "beefed up" LHTH, so to speak so that I wouldn't have to run two guides at once and she could still start LHFHG for K.

We are doing the same thing. My dd will be 5 in August. We will be doing handwriting K, Math K, rod & staff books, phonics from LHFHG and then using LHTH mostly for Bible/History and some of the other activities. I will save the storytime books for the following year when we do LHFHG for 1st grade. She will probably listen in on the storytime with my other dd who is doing Beyond.

Have fun! We can't wait to start!

Hmm. I could be wrong, but it seems to me like the R side of LHFHG was mostly choosing what you wanted, what your child was ready for anyway? At least with phonics and writing, I guess the math was laid out there too. The math activities are pretty great, so I can see why you'd want to use LHFHG for those if he's ready (which it sounds like he is, my DD has finished LHFHG and she can count to 100 with some help).

My DD who is 4 and will be 5 in this school year will just be doing phonics and a handwriting book this year because she already did LHTH. I hope it goes well. She loves the activities in LHTH, I hope I can pull her in on some fun things too.

You would need math books. If you plan to do the scripture memory that's on the R side of LHFHG you may want the CD which has a lot of the verses on it. Is the devotional reading on the R side? If so, I would say the LHTH stuff is better for the devotion, if you're going to do the L side of LHFHG maybe you can add in the devotion for LHFHG too, we had a wonderful year with that devotional book.

Skill-wise, I think he's ready for LHFHG. I just found a LHFHG pkg used and ordered it. I guess I will need to look at both guides and decide if I need to combine or just do LHFHG. my concern is if we start it too early he'll be doing beyond when he's 5 turning 6, or doing LHFHG for 2 yrs. I could combine the 2 for this yr, and just do LHFHG the next year. SO much to think about. I'm going to read through everyone's suggestions again. Thx so much for the input!! By the way MDO is Mother's Day Out preschool.

The thing that would keep you in LHFHG for another year, instead of going to Beyond next year, is fine motor skills IMO. There is a LOT more writing in Beyond. If you think your son would be able/willing to do copywork by next year, then plunge right into LHFHG (also you might want to read the devotion for LHFHG if you have it, to see if your son would follow it well). I have a friend whose daughter is a grade "ahead." The guides ages are suggested, the skills are what matter for placement.

MelInKansas wrote:The thing that would keep you in LHFHG for another year, instead of going to Beyond next year, is fine motor skills IMO. There is a LOT more writing in Beyond. If you think your son would be able/willing to do copywork by next year, then plunge right into LHFHG (also you might want to read the devotion for LHFHG if you have it, to see if your son would follow it well). I have a friend whose daughter is a grade "ahead." The guides ages are suggested, the skills are what matter for placement.

I agree, do consider his fine motor skills. I didn't know about getting to the next guide "too soon", and I needed to fill a year before starting Beyond because ds wasn't writing at all, and I just didn't want to adapt everything and still be in the same boat when we got to Bigger. Maybe do it 4 days a week if half-pace is too slow.

Four days a week is a great option. I think it adds 9 weeks to a guide? Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong. You can continue doing it 4 days a week through Beyond and Bigger, and then by Preparing it's written for 4 days a week so you've added 27 weeks, so close to a full year. That could help you keep from getting to the next guide too early. However, even then they can be adapted a bit to gradually increase the writing. I think that your best bet is going to be going off of what the placement chart says. It's really pretty accurate. And then each guide prepares the children so well for the next one.

Yes! I got the LHFHG stuff today!! I'm so excited!!