LHFHG grade placement

[new2homeschl]

Hi,
I'm new to homeschooling and still trying to decide if it is best for our family. If we do homeschool, HOD seems to be the perfect fit for us.

Just wondering, my daughter will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. On the placement chart she falls into LHFHG.

1.LHHG lists 3 levels for science for K, 1st, and 2nd grade . If we do LHFHG for Kindergarten, and move to BLHHG for 1st grade, the 1st grade science book seems to get skipped. b/c the BLHHG curriculum shows the use of the 2nd grade science book. Is that a problem, or should we spend 2 years on LHFHG (K and 1st), or should I start with the 1st grade science book, since my 5 year old has a large comprehension vocabulary?

2.The same thing seems to happen with the fine motor skills workbooks. If we start with the K ones, the 1st grade ones get skipped in the move to BLHHG. With those, though, I think she might be able to just skip the Kindergarten ones and go straight to the 1st grade ones.

3. Also, if we start BLHHG in 1st grade, has anyone found that to be too advanced for a 1st grader? By then she will be an emerging reader (she's reading Level 1 Bob books now).

Thank you for your thoughts and advice.

P.S. Also new to message boards, so hope I'm doing this right. =)

[MelInKansas]

The science books aren't really a "level." It's not like they would miss out learning concepts if they skipped one of them. The concepts are covered by the hands-on activities in the guide and the reading in the science book is supplemental to that. The level of the science book is more based on length of readings and comprehension ability. So, it is no problem to do the K options with LHFHG and then go to Beyond and use the science there. I have done it twice now.

Same with the fine motor skills. The 1st grade option gives more challenge for an older student, and there are ways of making Beyond more challenging in the fine motor skills/handwriting areas if you need to. You don't need to do all of the books/options in order to go on (though you should make sure your child goes through all the skills as they build). Generally it is advised to do one level in LHFHG and then just go on to Beyond because LHFHG builds the skills needed for Beyond.

I used LHFHG for K and Beyond for 1st grade. My DD is finishing it up for the beginning of 2nd grade. Keep in mind that if you use LHFHG for K and Beyond for 1st, if you did one guide per year you would finish up Middle School in 7th grade. However, life happens to most of us somewhere in the middle, either the child needs to slow down because things start getting too hard too quickly, or you have life events that cause you to not finish one guide per year. Or, like us, you school 4 days a week instead of 5 and the guides take a little longer than a year to finish. In either case, you have some flex time to finish up all the guides by High School if you continue on the HOD path.

If your child can read Bob books now, and if you continue phonics instruction you may find that you could do Emerging Readers even before Beyond. If your child can read short chapter books or level 2-3 easy readers then they can probably start Emerging Readers. Though age would play into this also, a younger child I might hold off on moving into that too quickly.

Welcome to the board and to HOD!

[new2homeschl]

Thank you Melissa, that really helped.
As you can tell, I'm still in the "I don't want to miss anything" phase of homeschool research.=)

Thank you for sharing about using a 4 day week. We have been debating homeschooling because I do work 2 days a week (and sometimes 3).
We had planned to use a 4 day week, and it's nice to know it does work.
Not only do I like the God-centered focus of HOD, but also the no-nonsense approach in getting to what needs to be learned without time wasted.

Thanks again.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, new2homeschl! Your questions have already been answered so well that I am just saying 'hello!' I will share that we have done LHFHG with our kindergarten dc and Beyond with our first grade dc (all 3 of them at separate times) and absolutely loved it every single time. I work part-time as well, and HOD has helped me balance my homeschooling and my work well. The Christ-centeredness of it is priceless. I view that as the most important part of my teaching each day, as the impact of those beliefs is eternal. God bless you as you begin this wonderful homeschooling journey with your little ones with HOD by your side!

In Christ,
Julie