Would love your opinions on whether or not to move forward

[Candice]

I am currently doing LHTH with my daughter who will be 4 in January. As much as I love it, I am wondering if we should move on to LHFHG now even though we have not completed LHTH. Typically, at this point, I am just following along with the bible story, devotional activity and active exploration. We skip the letter activity, math activity and everything else. I feel she might be beyond it. She is reading three letter words, loves her child's atlas and seems to love math. Today we did the active exploration which involved choosing items to add to a tub of water, and when I brought out all of the different items and put them in the water she quickly told me the reason why some things floated and others didn't. For example, the rock and the seashell did not contain air but the plastic egg did. I did not even have a chance to offer her any reasons before she made her conclusions. Anyway, I really do not have a problem sticking with LHTH until we finish because it is such a valuable program, just wanted to get the opinions of those who use/have used LHFHG. Perhaps there are some subject areas in LHFHG that she still is not ready for. Would love your comments, opinions!

[jamieswife]

I would definitely move on! I think it's important to keep them moving forward and challenging them. If they have something down pat they may enjoy it doing it but they aren't neccessarily "learning" any more. I think also it helps down the road if they encounter something that takes them a while to learn you are already "ahead of the game" so it helps to not feel pressured when you have to slow down and take more time with something. Did that make sense? Haha...I just woke up!

[momof4]

I'm a new HS mom, but I would move on. We are using LHTH with our son who will be 5 in Jan. It is just the right pace for him except the math. We got him a K math program this week and are going to use it with the rest of the LHTH book this year.
Hope that helps.
Laurie

[Melanie]

Well, I will offer the opposing vote...yikes!...she's only 3. If it were me, I would just keep doing LHTL, and slowly at that. Play, play, play and read to her, read to her, read to her. If you feel a need, add some gentle phonics and math activites.

The history in Little Hearts is pretty in depth, the read-alouds have almost no pictures and some challenging vocab., the thinking skills and memory work all require quite a bit. Now, bear in mind, my kiddos are not Einsteins, but they are very intelligent, and I feel LIttle Hearts is perfect for them at 5 and 6.

Sometimes when we advance a child too quickly, we miss some of the "building blocks" that will be needed later and those missing pieces can cause frustration down the road. I would just keep laying a good foundation for her, one piece at a time, even if it means doing things you think she already knows. (My kids loved the sinking and floating thing as well and totally "got it", but they had a blast testing things.)

For some reason, when we homeschool, we tend to think we have to raise some sort of genius or we have failed. The rest of the world seems to have that same oppinion! Just relax and enjoy your child, it seems to me like you're doing an awesome job already!!

I hope this comes across with spirit in which it was written, it's so hard to do when typing, but it was typed "lovingly"!

[Candice]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have decided to hold off until we complete LHTH. The activities actually are just right for her because it is light and fun. I need to remember that I have many years ahead to tackle the academics and she is only this age/stage for a little bit of time. My instinct tells me to stay where we are and enjoy the simplicity of learning as it is now.

Thanks again!

[netpea]

You can always read more books with her. Read, Read, Read. Once they get a little older and get involved in outside activities, it seems harder to get enough reading time in. I miss the days when my oldest was 3 and we could just sit and read as long as we wanted.

Just my 2 cents.

Lee Ann

[my3sons]

One other thought... you could do 2 days' worth of LHTH each day, and finish it more quickly without losing out on all of the great stuff there is to do there. We did begin Little Hearts for His Glory with our gung-ho for school son when he was 4 1/2 years old. It was a good fit for him, even though we began it a little early. But, I am doing just the opposite with our second son. We are taking 2 years to do Little Hearts for His Glory because that is the pace that fits him. You'll know best here, and you've gotten some great advice from everyone here.