LHFHG & Beyond Placement Help!

[Taramisu]

Hi,

I have a 5.5 year old and was planning on starting LHFHG for Kindergarten this year (with the K options), starting this summer and doing year-round schooling. I had planned to do 4 days a week with breaks here and there throughout the year, including taking the month of June off between school "years." Then I had planned to move on to Beyond next summer for 1st grade while my son would be 6.5. But now I've heard from many that this would be on the early side for the curriculum and may get too difficult too soon after this (or in "Bigger") for the younger ages.

My son is on the mild side of the ASD spectrum, and his weaknesses are auditory comprehension with read-alouds, and writing (we haven't really started at all). With very few informal reading lessons because he begged me for them, he has taught himself to read (at age 4-5), and is reading at about a 2nd grade level. He comprehends what he reads, as well. He is also very good with math and flipping through the first Singapore math book that came with LHFHG, I'm thinking it's way too easy for him. I've read a couple of the Burgess stories with him, and he cannot answer the questions at the end at all. I think he must focus on one thing he hears in the story and can't hear anything else I read after that or something.

All this being said, I'm wondering what you all recommend as to WHEN we start and complete LHFHG with him. He will turn 6 in the beginning of December. I was interested in year round school, like I said, starting in the summer, but now wondering if I should wait until the fall when he is closer to 6 to begin LHFHG. Then if we did year-round school ending next fall, I suppose we could take a short break and then start Beyond just before or near his 7th birthday in December. Does that sound like a good plan? Then he'd be near 8 starting Bigger.

My struggle with the option some have suggested of doing LHFHG over 2 years instead, is that I want to be doing school at least 4 days a week, because I know we won't be consistent if any less, and my son WANTS to do school each day. But I don't want to start Beyond too early next year and have him feeling way behind or overwhelmed.

Please help!
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[rumkimom]

I suggest on taking 18 months or so to do LHFHG (with 4 days a week) and then move to Beyond in the middle of the school year (Beyond has much more that you read to him). Take it slow if needed. He will take awhile with his auditory issue. My daughter (who is now 15) had a very hard time with the auditory part of HOD when she was little as well (and still does, those oral narrations are very difficult for her so we focus one just one thing and she has gotten a little better over the last year....she does much better with questions when SHE reads it, but still has a hard time comprehending what she read), so we switched away from HOD and were eclectic (trying to find something that worked well for her....then I switched things up for High school....back to HOD....that was a hard adjustment for her due to her mildly autistic nature).

As far as the questions with the story, have him focus on one thing and listen for that. With history narrations (starts in Bigger/Preparing) I started off with my daughter just focusing on WHO the story was about, then added on location, now we have also added on "what else can you remember?". You also might want to act things out with him (he is little so he might like that).

It sounds like your son might be ready for the ERs already! (the program/questions that go with the books are in both Beyond and Bigger) What I did was to get the guide above and use just the one thing from it. Then again you can jusg keep him reading early reader with some comprehension questions of your own (they do between 1-3 question each day on what the childread)

Question....Can your son answer open ended questions? (such as when HE has read the story, "who is the story about?"......my daughter could not answer that question for years!! But if I gave her 3-4 choices, then she could pick out the correct answer).

Because of his learning issue, he might not be ready to start Bigger at age 8, it depends on where his listening skills are. (my older son was 9...and is now 10 and finishing it up this summer; and my now 8 year old is starting Beyond in the fall). Like I said, just take is slow if you need to.

My daughter (the 15 year old) has ADD-NOS (autism spectrum) and Expressive-Receptive language disorder. She is going into 10th grade but we are using the middle school curriculum for her. She started RtR last fall and will not finish it until Nov/Dec this year. I was hoping to get her though World Geography before graduating her (we plan to do 4 more years not just 3)....but it is starting to look like I will only get her though MTMM (typical 8th grade guide).

If you have any question, please feel free to ask....I have dealt with this for MANY years and it is HARD. My daughter struggles and we have seen many tears of frustration with schoolwork.

[Taramisu]

Aww, thank you so much for your helpful response! It's good to hear of others who are being flexible with the curriculum and figuring out what works for them! As for the open-ended questions, my son has NOT been able to do this until just recently, and only when it's something that really interests him, it seems. I think he is just starting to get there, though. He does do much better with options, but I think he's improving slowly. That's partly why I was thinking of waiting until the fall now to start instead of this summer.

I just read about some people doing LHFHG, Beyond, & Bigger over 4 years by skipping Fridays. That has me really intrigued. I think that would make my son an older 4th grader for Preparing if I figured it out right... I guess we will just start this fall and take at least a year and a half to do LHFHG and evaluate as we go. I am such a planner, I hate seeing as I go, but obviously this is more realistic when we are dealing with unique children who are at all different places and grow at different paces! So I guess I need to learn to be more flexible with my plans

I think I want to actually complete the book (we were using Reading Reflex very casually since last fall with great success) for phonics this summer/fall and then see what we might do next. I'm not even really sure about the options or what is "typical" for phonics/reading levels/steps. Even though he is reading very well intuitively, I want to make sure I teach him the basics he needs to know. We are on the Advanced Code right now but he's mostly learned that on his own and we haven't formally gone through that part in the book much.

Anyway, thank you. I'd love to hear from others who did those three guides over 4 or so years, as well, and I'm assuming that format usually takes the summer off?

[Taramisu]

Oh, one more question. If I do take LHFHG over 18 months, would you get more advanced math books part way through? What about the science and history, etc. Would you go to the 1st grade materials half way through those 18 months or just stick with the K materials? I've heard the science for K is better than 1st.

Thanks!

[rumkimom]

I would add in more math....we did not do the math in the guide but had our own (1st grade). My son was first grade but we used the K science book (so your choice) no need to add science or switch books. The history books are the same for both grades. As for the workbooks, I am not sure what they use for K as compared to first grade. I would go with the K workbook for your son and it you do them more often then the guide says, you might want to get the one of the first grade options as well (but you can wait on that. The second of the first grade workbook has a lot of cutting and pasting.....my son still LOVES that book).

[rumkimom]

Oh, BTW, my older son is 10 and starting preparing this year so he is also on the older end....but is the perfect level for him (he also has learning issues). He started Bigger at age 9 1/2 and loved it....again it was the perfect level for him, right where he was at. It is OK to be at the older end of the age range!!

[Taramisu]

Thank you, that is helpful!! Now I'm just wondering if I should go ahead and do LHFHG over 2 years starting the next guides at an older age or doing LHFHG over a year and a half (doing close to 3 guides in 4 years) and switching to Beyond then... Hmm... Decisions, decisions. Either way I'm excited to start (and so is my son)!! I also have a daughter who will be turning 3 at the end of August. She is also begging to do school. I bought LHTH for her, but even if I do it casually over two years with her, she would be a YOUNG Kindergartener at barely 5 for LHFHG. Sigh. I feel like they need an extra curriculum (a true K curriculum) between the preschool and K/1st as so many people seem to say LHFHG is more aimed toward 1st grade anyway.

Anyway, thank you for your help!

[bethelmommy]

If your son is ready to start LHFHG then I would just start. You can do the 4 day route (we always have since my oldest has ASD and CP and has multiple therapy appts. one day each week) which will stretch things out a bit. Then, just continue to do the next thing. If at some point you hit a spot where things seem too difficult, just slow down to half pace for a bit. Each guide really prepares each student for the next one. There is a normal adjustment period when starting a new guide as the student and teacher become familiar with the increased work load, but most students settle in after a few weeks. The longer I homeschool, the less I worry about 2 or 3 years down the road. The beauty of using HOD is that I know all of our bases are covered if we just stay the course at whatever pace our children need.

[Taramisu]

Sounds like good advice. Thank you!!

[my3sons]

Wow - awesome advice here already! I think you have a good plan! I agree that your ds sounds ready to start, so why not get to enjoying LHFHG now? We always follow our oldest son's HOD guide's schedule, which has been a 4 day a week guide, for our younger sons doing 5 day a week guides as well. This has worked well as our younger 2 sons were on the youngest side of the target age ranges of the guides, and I wanted to naturally spread out the guides so they were on track to finish MTMM by the end of 8th grade. I've loved this! (Not to confuse the matter, but I did want to mention we don't technically school 4 days a week, but rather 5 days a week to slowly get ahead and have a shorter school year to coincide with my dh's work schedule and with my busy season and my sons' busy season with their work as well.) So, we school the number of days of my oldest son's HOD guide, and we pick up where we left off the next school year with our other sons' guides. We have done this from the start with our youngest 2 sons and loved it!

Our younger 2 sons are both now done with 5 day a week guides. This coming year my youngest is 9 yo, 4th grade, doing PHFHG; my middle ds is 13 yo, 8th grade, doing MTMM, and my oldest ds is 16 yo, 11th grade, finish US1 and starting US2 (he is slightly ahead; we are spreading out the last guides over his last few years of high school; he actually helps teach his younger brothers - his idea - one day a week here and there). So, all that to say, HOD IS EXTREMELY flexible! Make it work for you and your family as you progress through the years! My advice would be to start LHFHG now, school 4 days a week, and keep going forward full-speed until you feel a slow-down is needed. Then, go to half-speed for as long as needed and ramp up to full-speed as soon as he is ready. This is self-paced learning at its best, and it keeps students progressing at the pace that fits them the best. You will know when it is time to slow down, and when it is time to speed up, but overall (half-speed, 4 days a week, or etc.) I never take a full 2 years complete a guide; usually its more around 12-18 mos. Steady pacing going forward usually proves half-speed to need to be ramped up to full-speed to complete a guide in about 18 months or so at the most. That has been what we've found at our home at least - HTH! Enjoy the journey with HOD, and please try not to stress out planning an exact path for the next years! God will reveal His plan in your son's progress with guides, and HOD has the flexibility for you to respond accordingly with a pacing in your son's best interests along the journey.

In Christ,
Julie

[MomtoJGJE]

Just another thought is you can get the Beyond guide, to have the emerging reader schedule, and spend this fall doing the K level math (you could probably condense both books down to the one semester), start on the emerging readers (3-4 days per week), and also you could find other books to use as read alouds (from the library) and follow the Emerging readers questions with those books to train him to be listening and processing. Then you could start LHFHG four days per week in January using the 1st grade math (or finish up the K level) and continuing the emerging readers. And as you go through if you are finding he's needing more during the day, you could add in more from the Beyond guide, like the spelling/grammar, since you'll have that anyway.

For mine who struggled with being able to answer those type of questions I read them the questions before we/they read, then read the section. It worked much better than them just trying to remember everything about the story and only able to focus on the very first thing they heard.