Little Hearts for first grade help

[TyraTooters]

If I go with Little Hearts for first grade, can someone else share with me what they are supplementing with? As in what math, are you doing any language arts? And how about spelling and phonics (or which phonics did you go with from HOD)? As soon as I decide on one guide I second guess myself and then think I should go with another one. So before I go with Beyond, I want to see what my options for first grade with Little Hearts would be.

[StephanieU]

FOr math, HOD recommends Singapore, but you can use any curriculum you want. For 1st grade, you would use the 1A and 1B scheduled in the appendix of LHFHG if you went with Singapore. If you want to use something else, you can (MUS and Horizons are two common options used with HOD). As for phonics, where is your child at in reading? What books can he read?
My daughter is 5.5yo and completed Horizons K (phonics and math) last year. So, right now I am having her read Bob Books. Once she is done with those, we will move to our My First Readers and Level 1 Readers we have. Then we will move on to the Emerging Readers books from HOD that are scheduled in Beyond. That will probably in October, as we read 1-2 books a day. For spelling and grammar, I am also doing what is in the Beyond guide. That guide has a list of (normally) 10 words scheduled a week. You do spelling 4 days and a mini grammar lesson on the 5th day.
So, you might be wondering why I chose LHFHG over Beyond if my daughter could do all of the right side of Beyond. And the answer is maturity. Storytime in LHFHG is enough of a stretch for her right now. We haven't read a lot of chapter books, and all of our reading has been in books with at least a picture a page. The Burgess books have chapters without pictures, which is taking her some time to get used to. Also, the more British vocabulary is stretching her. Finally, she is only 5.5 (turns 6 in December). We school year round, so I don't want her to get so far ahead that the later guides are just too mature for her. So, we are starting on the young end now and going full speed. She will get more out of doing LHFHG and then Beyond full speed over 2 years than doing Beyond half speed over two years.

[TyraTooters]

FOr math, HOD recommends Singapore, but you can use any curriculum you want. For 1st grade, you would use the 1A and 1B scheduled in the appendix of LHFHG if you went with Singapore. If you want to use something else, you can (MUS and Horizons are two common options used with HOD). As for phonics, where is your child at in reading? What books can he read?
My daughter is 5.5yo and completed Horizons K (phonics and math) last year. So, right now I am having her read Bob Books. Once she is done with those, we will move to our My First Readers and Level 1 Readers we have. Then we will move on to the Emerging Readers books from HOD that are scheduled in Beyond. That will probably in October, as we read 1-2 books a day. For spelling and grammar, I am also doing what is in the Beyond guide. That guide has a list of (normally) 10 words scheduled a week. You do spelling 4 days and a mini grammar lesson on the 5th day.
So, you might be wondering why I chose LHFHG over Beyond if my daughter could do all of the right side of Beyond. And the answer is maturity. Storytime in LHFHG is enough of a stretch for her right now. We haven't read a lot of chapter books, and all of our reading has been in books with at least a picture a page. The Burgess books have chapters without pictures, which is taking her some time to get used to. Also, the more British vocabulary is stretching her. Finally, she is only 5.5 (turns 6 in December). We school year round, so I don't want her to get so far ahead that the later guides are just too mature for her. So, we are starting on the young end now and going full speed. She will get more out of doing LHFHG and then Beyond full speed over 2 years than doing Beyond half speed over two years.

Thanks so much for your continuous help! LOL

I didn't realize it would be so hard to pick a guide. If I did the spelling and grammar that are in the Beyond guide, what would I use next year when we move up to fully using Beyond? Is there a next level up for spelling and grammar already in the Beyond guide somewhere? He hasn't read any chapter books...besides Diary of a Wimpy Kid. But he only reads a couple pages at a time. He can read the Step into Reading books (that we buy at the local big box store!) at both levels 1 and 2. He prefers level one because there aren't as many words but he CAN read the level 2 books. He's just not ready to sit and read that long to finish level 2. I've thought about schooling year round as well. We don't travel or go on vacations so it's very doable and would still give us things to do during the summer so we don't get so bored! LOL

[StephanieU]

Beyond has two sets of spelling lists per unit - one for 1st grade and one for 2nd grade. So, you would just use the 2nd grade list next year. As for grammar, you could do it again or start the Rod and Staff series with Preparing to Build (We are planning on Rod and Staff). Although it isn't scheduled in Beyond, the R&S is pretty easy to do without the help of the guide I think (the guide gives you the pacing and a little help with what to focus on).

As for reading, it sounds like my daughter if not slightly ahead. She CAN read level 1 books and probably level 2, but she doesn't love to read. That is why we are doing the Bob books for now - they only have 1-2 sentences per page, which isn't as daunting for her. The ER series spreads the books out over a unit (week). It starts with Bibles at level 2, and at the end moves to level 4 readers by the end. So, he could probably handle that.

If you are leaning towards LHFHG, I would go with that and buy the Beyond guide (or economy package) as well. We are loving LHFHG so far - doing Unit 3 Day 3 today. It is a perfect fit for history and Bible right now. My daughter would love more science, so we are just doing some "unschooling" things for that on top of the guide. I love that because the buide only requires about 2 hours a day (with the spelling and Horizons math and phonics), we have time for the extra things she wants. Beyond would add an extra 30 minutes probably to our day.

[TyraTooters]

A local friend just said she would bring over her LHFHG and Beyond guides over for me to look at! I am so excited!

Right now in school it seems like they are just doing 'refresher' work and he's a little bored with it. He is using the challenge list for spelling so instead of 'on, in, with, up...' he is spelling things like 'pick, brick, switch...' he struggles a little with the ck and ch sounds but is slowly getting the hang of it. Trying to come up with ways to teach those. He can read them perfectly, just has a hard time spelling them.

I'm going to take a look at some R&S and Abeka workbooks and see if I want to add anything...eventually. Bible/science/history wise I think LHFHG will be a good fit, and like you said, if he wants more we can do some unschool learning for that! Last week he asked about bones in the human body so we got online and watched some videos, found a game, read a little and looked at some pictures. It only lasted about 30 minutes but he loved it and I know he got something out of those 30 minutes. I saw on a blog where a gal was using some Abeka stuff for first grade spelling and grammar. I might check that out. I just get a little confused on their website with what I actually need! I'm thinking that maybe halfway through LHFHG we might be ready to add in/switch to Beyond. Just depends on how fast he goes through it. We may just add the spelling, grammar, and ER books...I like the options!

[StephanieU]

I like the way HOD does spelling - it is a mixture of phonics and dictation. They study the words and learn what looks right. In Beyond, the words are grouped according to rule too. You could always just find spelling lists online and use the HOD method with those. We might do that some next year, as we are doing a few of the 2nd grade lists - especially early on when the lists are easier.