Where to place my almost 6 year old...

[Tree House Academy]

Okay, so some funds have freed up and I now want to do history and science with HOD for my younger child more on his level. I just can't decide which!

Okay, we plan to use LLATL Red to finish phonics (we are almost finished with Blue now) as well as finish the Explode the Code series. We are finishing book 3 now. He is already an emerging reader and can read level 1 and level 2 readers with help.

We already use Singapore math and are about to the middle of Singapore 1A right now.

We use CLE Bible and Pentime Handwriting and may or may not switch that to HOD. Those are not part of the consideration for me at this moment.

However...he has had no real history at all and no real Science at all.

So...do I put him in Little Heart for His Glory and do the basics or do I put him in Beyond Little Hearts and do the early Am History focus since his brother is doing Bigger with a full Am History focus? I am confident in his reading ability and he is doing really well - especially since he is only 5.5 and would not have started public Kindergarten until Sept of this year. LOL My heart tugs me toward Beyond...but I don't want to make it too complicated or over his head and have him dislike History and Science from the get-go. KWIM?

[joyfulness]

I'm new to HOD, so take my comments with that in mind...

If your almost 6 year old did Beyond, then would you move him up to Bigger the next year? Meaning, would you be teaching Bigger 2 years in row? I only ask because I read Carrie commenting in another post somewhere that doing a program 2 years in a row can be tiring for the teacher. With that in mind (and I don't know if it's really something to base a decision on) I would suggest going with Little Hearts. That's what we are going to use next year and I'm really excited!

[pollo_la]

If your almost 6 year old did Beyond, then would you move him up to Bigger the next year? Meaning, would you be teaching Bigger 2 years in row? I only ask because I read Carrie commenting in another post somewhere that doing a program 2 years in a row can be tiring for the teacher. With that in mind (and I don't know if it's really something to base a decision on) I would suggest going with Little Hearts.

I was going to say the exact same thing!

[Tree House Academy]

Do you ladies think the spelling and other activities would be appropriate for him, then? I think that is a good idea...I just want to make sure before I purchase.

[funkmomma71]

I responded to your other post before seeing this one, this plan may be better for you and your dc. LHFHG is fun and engaging, though the Learning the Basics would probably not be at his level, so using the math and LA from Beyond is great idea and lots of mommies have done it. The history, science and other activities are a good, solid yet gentle intro to those subjects which he has not yet been exposed to.

[netpea]

I responded to your other post before seeing this one, this plan may be better for you and your dc. LHFHG is fun and engaging, though the Learning the Basics would probably not be at his level, so using the math and LA from Beyond is great idea and lots of mommies have done it. The history, science and other activities are a good, solid yet gentle intro to those subjects which he has not yet been exposed to.

Absolutely! Then when you get to Beyond the following year, you would just go to the second spelling lists (if you do the first ones this year) and just pick different Storytime readers. If you do SIngapore math with the activities in Beyond this year though, you'll need to buy the Bigger manual for the activities next year. After that, there are no more math activitites scheduled.

[Carrie]

Rebecca,

I'd agree with the ladies that since your little one is pretty young, I'd lean toward LHFHG for the history and science content on his level. Even though he's advanced in his 3R's, LHFHG will give him a chance to have readings more on his level and to see exactly what he really knows when he's on his own (without help from an older sibling chiming in). You'll want this experience to be really successful and to be a cuddle on the couch short lesson type time with just him, so LHFHG will be perfect for that.

I'd encourage you to do all of the left side of LHFHG with your little one and the storytime on the right side of LHFHG even if it "seems" young in its feel from what you're used to. Each part of LHFHG is purposeful, and you'll see your little one grow in many different areas as you progress through LHFHG. It will be an adjustment coming from a combining focus, because the material will seem like a step back, but in reality what an almost 6 year old can take in varies widely from what an older child can take in. It's so important to give those little ones a chance to be little as the academics get hard soon enough.

If you desire to use our spelling lists/gentle grammar lessons and math activities for 1A/1B, you would also need the Beyond manual for those areas (on the right side of the plans). You will most likely need Beyond for the Emerging Reader's Schedule too, once you finish LLATL Red.

Doing LHFHG and Bigger is a good combination schedule-wise. We did it ourselves last year!

While you could most likely place your 6 year old in Beyond, I think if you did that you'd end up with both kiddos wanting to listen in to one another's readings. So, if you were going to go that route it may almost be better to keep them together in one program for their readings then. Usually we'd advise going with the younger program and beefing up for the older, but the age spread between your kiddos is pretty large, so you'd have the reverse situation going on if you combined within Bigger.

You could always give LHFHG a fair trial run (9 weeks or so) and then have the combining within Bigger Hearts as your back-up plan (since you'd already have the guide and be doing it anyway). Just some food for thought.

Blessings,
Carrie