Help me figure out a plan for my little ones...

[Momtoamayalilal2]

I am starting CTC with my older and am set to do CTC this fall for his 5th grade year and continuing with the 4 year cycle until he is in 8th. He is the oldest of 3 (and one more on the way!) and I don't plan on combining him with the youngers at all.

My issues is with the youngers...This fall I will have a 4.5 yr old dd, 2 yr old ds, and a baby due Dec.

I planned on starting my dd with LHTH while letting the 2 yr old tag along for fun...but have since then thought about next year when I planned on starting her with LHFHG. I would like to keep some of my children together for the future..but with 2 yrs apart between all the littles it doesn't seem like I would be able to do that without "waiting" for the others to catch up..

A little bit about my dd. She already knows all of her letters by sight and knows all their sounds. She can write almost every letter from memory but we haven't worked on this the past three months (morning sickness blahs..) so I am not sure if she has retained anything. Other than that she is beginning with some math concepts (can count to 20 and recognize numbers further than that) and I would like to start her with some phonics this year also (first reader).

Any thoughts? I would really like to keep some of them together but dont want to hold anyone back either.

LOL I am just thinking ahead....probably not a good thing at this point....I need to be simplifying with baby #4 due in the middle of this year!

[8arrows]

Your four year old sounds smart, probably able to handle LHFHG. However, I think she could still really enjoy LHTH without being held back. I am using it with my 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 year olds. I have 8 children, and I like to combine when I am able.
We are adding the Reading Lesson and ETC books for my 4 year old. I am also going to add some math, but I have not decided which one yet. She really enjoys doing all the activities in LHTH with her younger sister.

[Momtoamayalilal2]

HI Yeah, the plan is to do LHTH with her this fall ..along with her soon to be 2 yr old brother tagging along...its just the years after that I am trying to figure out She will be ready for LHFHG next year...but her brother wont....so I am wondering if I should wait for him to be ready for it and use something else with her next year or just keep on going with her and try to combine somewhere in the future. Thanks for the input though!

[krismoose]

Your 4.5yo sounds a lot like mine. I started LHTH with him and his 2yo sister, and he was getting bored at times. So I started LHFHG half-speed with The Reading Lesson, and we do mainly the art & drama activities with little sis (the rest with her alone 2-3 times/week) and we're all happy. I had thought about waiting to combine them as well, and Carrie suggested waiting until they were reading & writing on their own and then looking at their levels to combine.

[Mommamo]

What about planning to combine your youngest two? You can go ahead and do LHTH and then LHFHG at your 4 yo's pace, with the intention of combining your younest in the future. They look like they might be a bit closer in age difference anyway, which might help. Also, you can always adjust the math/language arts for them anyway, and just combine for history. But I really would just wait with the plan to combine your youngest 2 and reevaluate later. Hope that helps you a little!

[Momtoamayalilal2]

Thanks for the advice!
I think I have a plan for my dd this year (who is 4.5) and my ds (who will be 2 in OCT)

My dd is going to be too advanced for some of the activities in LHTH so what I plan on doing is this for her:

For the first month , reviewing where she is at (I haven't been working much with her since around March...due to morning sickness, pregnancy related stuff) and how I plan on doing that is doing ONE letter activity per day..not one per week. I'll just do them all in one day or pick and choose which ones we'll do. We are using workboxes this year so this should pretty easy. I will also do the same with the Math activities to see where she is at before I move onto anything else.

I am also going to do the recommended read alouds and copywork from Simply Charlotte Masons 4 yr old suggestions and the R&S ABC workbooks. I think those will be her "main" things this year along with First Reader and playing around with math manips.


For ds:
Will do some of the letter Activities with him, but will wait until he is showing some readiness....right now he is all about jumping around and getting him to sit down and do a worksheet or similar is not happening! We'll just recite the alphabet every morning and count....he is just tagging along with whatever big sister is doing to stay out of trouble


For them both:

We will do the Bible stories and activities, Art , finger plays (because she still loves these!), BIble songs, and devotional activities from LHTH.

I haven't figured out the rest of how I will combine any of them..but figure it will be a few years before I will even be able to (besides with LHTH) so I will just wait...and relax


I am sooo glad I already had my oldest figured out and didnt need to analyze the way I do this! Being a preschool teacher is going to be so much fun and a big change of pace! I started HS my oldest when he was in 2nd grade..so we didnt get to experience it...now I will have at least 3 littles to put through preschool

[Momtoamayalilal2]

What about planning to combine your youngest two? You can go ahead and do LHTH and then LHFHG at your 4 yo's pace, with the intention of combining your younest in the future. They look like they might be a bit closer in age difference anyway, which might help. Also, you can always adjust the math/language arts for them anyway, and just combine for history. But I really would just wait with the plan to combine your youngest 2 and reevaluate later. Hope that helps you a little!

That is what I am thinking also. There are 2.5 years between my dd and ds....but only 2.2 with the next baby and my ds. SOOO LOL I guess I am just way ahead of myself with the planning This baby isnt even born and I am planning out their future education, which is sooo me anyways that it doesnt seem weird to me one bit
I really dont want to be teaching with a different guide for each child...so that is the main reason I am wondering. I really was trying to figure out whether I should wait to start my dd with LHFHG in 1st or 2nd so that my ds could start with her...but boys are just a little different than girls..so I will re-evaluate every year and wait .sigh...not easy for me

[Mommamo]

I'd already planned to combine my middle with my youngest when I was still pregnant with her, so I don't think you're weird at all! I completely understand not wanting to create extra work for yourself, but I think your plan of going with your 4 yo's current skills and then looking at it in a year and see where she is and where your younger one is is a great idea.

[my3sons]

LHTH is great fun for dc ages 2-5, and I think with the things you're adding in for your somewhat advanced 4 yo, it will be a great fit. Then, the next year, you can move her to LHFHG, and probably combine the 2 littlest dc. With your 4 yo being a girl, your 2 yo being a boy, and the greater gap in age being between the older 2 and 4 yo, I think this makes total sense. This will give you a general plan, and you can re-evaluate looking at the placement chart again at the end of the year. Have a wonderful time doing LHTH - it is such a fulfilling way to homeschool those younger ages!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[Momtoamayalilal2]

Thanks Julie! I am sure she'll enjoy LHTH and my 2 yr old will learn some valuable skills like sitting still (I hope!)