Had our 1st day in Little Hearts today!

[SandKsmama]

All went well - my little girlie was SOOOO excited to look at all her "new books". It took about an hour, which included some minutes of bringing her back from doing gymnastics around the living room LOL.

And of course, the first day brought with it a question...today did go well, but I had to "push" her just a bit to pay attention and finish what we were doing. Her previous school experience has been quite informal, so do you think it'll just take a little while for her to settle in? She JUST turned 5 (yesterday in fact), but she placed solidly into Little Hearts on the placement chart. I know some of you with younger 5's have done Little Hearts at 1/2 speed, doing one page of the plans one day, and then finishing the other page the next day. Should I just give it some time and see how she settles before thinking about doing that?

[water2wine]

My six year old starts LHFHG at age five. She is squirmier in general. It took her a few days to sort of settle down. But she is ready for the material and wants more when I do it at half pace for the benefit of her younger sister so we have utilized the appendix. Some kids are more all over the place by nature because movement is part of how they learn. That is not to say they do not need discipline or can't learn to sit still but just to say it is their nature. If I were you I might try doing a few days at half speed like maybe one unit or a little less then try full speed again. Probably at that age she is just learning how to learn and be still when read to which is a skill that is learned. But I would not worry much about it. Hopefully other moms will have advice as well. But HTH.

Congratulations on your first day!

[beandip71]

My dd did Little Hearts for K last year and she was 4 when we started. She turned 5 a month or so after we started. She did very well with it. I know not all 5 year olds are ready for Little Hearts, but in our case it was a great fit. HTH!

Gina

[Candice]

Hi Amanda!

Congratulations on a successful day with your little "gymnast!"

We just finished our second day of Little Hearts and my daughter, Danielle, is 4 1/2. She did very well overall with paying attention and following through. I knew ahead of time however, that she would most certainly lose focus at times (and yes, she did!), especially with some of the readings. I decided to make salt-dough with her "Danielle style", with tons of glitter and color, as a break-time activity to mix it up a bit. Then when we were ready to continue I let her play with the salt-dough while I did the readings. I must admit that I wondered a bit if she was comprehending the concepts, but I decided to skip any comprehension-type questions with her and to just let her be, let the material "sink-in" on it's own. Later as I was driving her to soccer, she randomly starts talking about history and says: "Mommy, there are two worlds". I say, "really?" She replies, "yes, the world we live in now, and then when our history here on earth ends we go to a different world, God's world". I was pleased that she had absorbed the material we had covered.
Also, I am leaving an open mind regarding how much of the lesson we accomplish daily. I start the day with the intention of completing half of the lesson and the rest is a bonus if we happen to cover it. So far, we have been able to accomplish the entire lesson without any complaints or resistance. But, if tomorrow we hit a bumpy road, I am prepared to call it a day and resume the following day. I remind myself that she is still a little pip-squeak and I am just so proud of how much she does give when we do our lessons. Not only am I teaching her bible, academics, etc., but I am teaching her the ability to display attentiveness, and as water2wine said, learning how to learn.
It sounds like you are off to a great start, keep us posted on your progress!

Candice

[netpea]

Today was day 2 of little hearts for my 5yo. She is almost 6 and the 2 pages are perfect for her, but last year it would have been too much. I would say give her a week or so and see how she does, she might just need to learn what to expect in a day. If she's still too wiggly, you could try cutting back to 1/2 speed and see what happens. You can always slow down for a while and then pick up the pace again when she's ready for it.

[crlacey]

My DD was turning 5 when we started. I tried to do the left side of the page in the morning with her and her brother. Then do the right side of the page in the afternoon when her brother was asleep. This worked well to split the day up. To get her used to doing school, you could do the first week or two just doing it at half speed and then build up to the whole day when she has learned to do half speed with no fussing. We still have days that we just do half one day and half the next because it seems like a wiggly day. But that's the joy of homeschooling, I can move at DD's pace and work on her time schedule. Such as yesterday, we did the Bible and science just before bed since the science required a sink or tub of water. So we did science and bath time together!