Starting Little Hearts for His Glory

[Renee23]

Hello! I will be starting Little Hearts for His Glory this coming year for Kindergarten. And I wanted to get some feedback on how much supplementing I should do. I already have the math, phonics and handwriting planned. But I had also planned on using a science and art curriculum. Will that be too much "extra" on top of HOD? I don't want to overload him. I will also be continuing piano and some light French. Just trying to not over supplement. HOD looks great and I'm very excited about getting started! Thanks for any advice.

[StephanieU]

Honestly, it just depends on your life and what you want. LHFHG does include 2 days of science and one day of art for each unit (week). Right now we are just doing LHFHG with our own phonics and math (Horizons), AWANA, and choir. We do supplement as my daughter desires, but I have no set plans other than those areas. And it is enough for sure. Some days we add some science. Some days we add some art or Spanish. Other days we just play and do our normal life.

Personally, I wouldn't require more than what is in LHFHG and one to two other topics. It can just be too much formal school for kids. But, it doesn't hurt to have supplemental items on hand when they are requested.

[Kims]

I personally wouldn't add that to LHFHG. It is my favorite by far and it is pretty perfect the way it is. We just added phonics the year we used it. Kindergarten should be fun and good memories made that set the precedent for the rest of your schooling so you don't want to burn them out.
Your child may be ready for all that but mine wasn't at that age.

[MelInKansas]

It looks simple, but you will be surprised as you go on down the road to see how much learning was packed into each activity. If you are already doing piano and French lessons I would not add anything to LHFHG (phonics is in the schedule already so whatever your child is ready for in that will be good). That seems like more than enough for the average 5-7 year old, or even an above average.

Children learn through play. If you overschedule school at a young age they tend to find it oppressive and it squelches their natural love for learning. If your child LOVES to do school work and asks for it during free time, then go ahead. Otherwise let them learn through life, cooking with you, cleaning with you, imagining, time with friends.

[Renee23]

I appreciate all the feedback and agree that I don't want to over load him. What do you think of only using the history, Bible and story part of the program? I saw in another post someone was doing that. Or do you feel there is enough material in all subjects to use the entire program? It's honestly hard to tell from the samples, because week 2 seemed more involved than week 1, but it still seemed on the light side. I think looking through the material at a conference will help, but love to hear opinions from experience. Thanks again.

[StephanieU]

I would say HOD is fairly on level for language arts and math. There are two phonics options, and one goes more in depth than the other, covering more rules, etc. But, in the guide itself, it just says to "do phonics" each day. You can still use the guide completely with ANY phonics program you want. For math, the LHFHG has the K math in the guide. There is a schedule for 1st grade in the appendix, but it doesn't have the hands-on activities. Those activities are in Beyond if you want them. The 1st grade math is definitely 1st grade, and it is even on the advanced side (covering more than most public schools, etc). What is written for K is defnitely appropriate, even though it seems light. By the end of the guide, students are adding and subtracting for example. But, the guides also let you use a different math program is there is one you like. We are using Horizons for example because we found that before HOD, and I personally like the way they do things and the spiral approach. But after looking at the scope and sequence of Singapore and Horizons, I think they are equally challenging using different ideas to get to basically the same end. Handwriting and fine motor skills are definitely enough as well. We love the Rod and Staff books. There is a mixture of maze-type activities, cutting, gluing, and writing/tracing in them. They also have some phonics, math, science, Bible, health, and other basic topics mixed in, making them a fun mix of activities to do. And the handwriting choices are perfectly fine. But, the guide again makes it SUPER easy to use your own handwriting program if you want to. If you already own something you want to use, then use that. I would recommending getting the Rod and Staff books, but it is SUPER easy to change out the handwriting programs.

As for Science, I wouldn't skip what is in the guide, as they tie into the history. The same goes for art. If you want to do more in either of these areas, then it is fine, but I wouldn't skip that box. It really helps cement the history lessons. Some times we don't FULLY do the rotating box, but we always spend time talking about the activity at least. We only skip if it is something we have done before (with the first half of the guide since it is biblical history. I know once we get to the world and American history next week we will probably do all of the activities in the rotating box, as the stories won't be as familiar to my daughter.

[VAmomto4]

I've done LHFHG a few times and all of my kids loved it.

If it were me, I would throw all of my effort into LHFHG and consider that my main school day. It is so nice to have the feeling of "being done" for the day, if that makes sense.

With that being said, there is no harm in more art or fun little science projects for that age group. I wouldn't make it a part of school, just fun stuff to do as part of a lifestyle of learning. I've never seen a stand-alone science program that I thought was fun or appropriate for children that young. However, little units or science kits usually go over well.

Also, there is a list of optional literature supplements in the appendix. Most of those cover history/Bible but there are a few that cover science topics. (pyramids, dinosaurs)

HTH!

[creekmama]

I've done LHFHG twice, and I think it's just right for Kindergarten without adding anything.

[bethelmommy]

When we started LHFHG, I tried adding in a lot of extras because we had them and I felt like we needed to use them. However, within in a few months we dropped to just LHFHG and I was finally able to relax. It was stressful to ME to try and add so much to our day and the kids learned plenty with just the guide. We do still use supplements, but they are not part of the school day. For example, we like Life of Fred math and other miscellaneous read alouds for story time at night. We also have an art program that we add in on occasion because my kids like it. Like another poster stated, I like knowing I am DONE once I have finished all the boxes for the day in my guide. Also, the longer I use HOD the more confident I am that Carrie more than adequately covers all the bases, but in such a way that mom and students are not overwhelmed.