New -LHFHG for 1st grader and 4 year old?

[CindyK]

Hi! I am new to this board and would love input so that I can make a wise decision about what I will be ordering. I am a homeschooling mom of 5. My oldest 2 are in college and I now only homeschool my 12 yr old dd, 6 yr old ds, and 4 yr old dd. I am considering LHFHG for my 1st grader (6 yrs old) and my 4 year old. From reading this board it sounds like alot of people do this curriculum with their 5 year old. I don't want this to be too young for my son but at the same time I would like to do this with my 4 year old daughter also. Has anyone else done this? Also, wondering if this could be too much for my daughter in the coming years because she will always be one year under the youngest age shown. She does keep up with her brother in phonics though...maybe even surpasses him alittle. Of course I would do appropriate Math, handwriting, etc. but am mainly wondering about the basic curriculum. Any input would very helpful in me making a decision. Thanks!

[CindyK]

Also, maybe I'm assuming I should be combining them and it would actually be better to let them do seperate things. (?) They are exactly 2 years apart. Just brainstorming here about what I should do. I will be speding quite a bit of time with my 12 year old this year so that was one reason I was thinking combining the youngest would be nice. For those of you who have done both...which do you think is best or does it not really matter?

[moedertje]

I have used LHFHG and I think it will be great for your rising 1st grader. It may even be fine for your 4 yr old dd, however going through the guides as they get older, the material covered and the skills required for narration may be better understood at an older age.
With all that said I was wondering if you checked out the placement chart for each individual child to see what program they place in best. Here is the link and some others Mom's may chime in as well to help get you on your way. Either way I pray the Lord will guide you in the way that is right for your family and your little kiddo's.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

[Shimmer]

My oldest will turn 6 in the Fall and my next one will be 4 in the Fall. I'll be doing LHFHG with them, but mainly for the 6 yo. I was going to let my 4 yo tag along and work on beginning phonics and handwriting as her special school time. I'll have the 4 yo do LHFHG again when she is older probably when she turns 6. Anyway just another idea to consider.

[shaffer96]

I ordered LHFHG for my 5 year old for next fall and I have decided to wait to do it until she is in 1st grade. After looking over the curriculum, I saw that even though she is reading already, she is just not ready for the read alouds and the higher vocabulary and length of the history texts. It does say ages 5-7, so I think that will work for us. It should work nicely for your 1st grader too. I personally think it may be over your 4 year olds head a little bit. She would enjoy some of it, like the art projects and some of the science, but I think the history and the read alouds would be a lot for a 4 year old.

[CindyK]

Thanks for your replies! I had looked at the placement chart earlier but decided to print it off and do as they suggested...circling what describes your child. That did help alot! I think my 1st grader will do great with LHFHG. After looking at LHTH for my 4 yr. old I decided she would do best doing things in LHFHG that she is capable of doing. She did most of Sonlight P4/5 with K/LA along with us last year...just not the Math and writing parts. She did do the phonics with us so I'm thinking she will do well with LHFHG if I make sure to keep things for her at her level. She likes to do school with her brother. I'll play it by ear for the following years. I am really excited to be doing HOD. I wish I had know about this curriculum sooner! I love the Bible integration! Thanks so much for all your replies! That helped so much!

[3boysandagirl]

I am doing LHFHG with my 6yr ds and 4 yr dd. My 4yr old is struggling, I have just been continuing without requiring a lot from her. I figure I'll just repeat it for her next year since I'll already have the curriculum. I'll admit the math and phonics is what she's struggling with, sounds like your 4 yr old is ahead of the game on that so it'll probably be fine. Isn't it great how we can tailor this curriculum to fit our individual children, that's what I'm loving about it. Good luck and I know that you'll find great ideas on this board, these ladies are wonderful.

[Kathleen]

Hi Cindy!

I think it could work well for you to combine your kids as you start LHFHG. You might want to think about slowing down the pace a little though to give them time to grow into doing school together (and so that you don't always have the youngest out of the age range). You could make LHFHG last a year and a half or 2 by slowing down the pace, while still keeping the phonics, math, and fine motor skills moving for your oldest. Here's a thread about using HOD half-speed where lots of moms share how they're using different guides to fit their kids where they're at. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600 If you scroll down to the post I made, you'll see how we were using LHFHG this year. I was letting my 3 yo tag along with his 5 yo sister this past year. (They both have had brithdays in May since we stopped school for the summer.) It worked really well for the year, but this spring I could really see that Allison was ready to blaze ahead while Garret was NOT and it was going to take a lot of work on my part to keep them together long term. So, I decided to split them and everyone has been very happy with that, too. So, even if you have a wonderful year of them enjoying LHFHG together, you're totally free to change your mind as you move along and split them up if that works better for your family then!

Kathleen

[Mommamo]

I did LHFHG with my oldest when she was 4.5 and she did great. It was perfect for her then. That being said, it could have been perfect for her this year, being 6. I think they get different things out of it at different ages.

I am planning on combining my currently 4 and 2 year old in LHFHG when they are 6 and 4. Being only two year apart I just can't see the point of having them do two separate guides, much like you must feel. I just figure I can go more slowly if need be, probably a 4 day week, and I can keep them at the correct level in math, phonics, and language arts. I'll have all the guides that come next so we'll be fine on math, etc. Anyway, I definitely think it could work. Just take it slowly and you should be just fine.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board! Thanks for taking the time to do the placement chart and share about your dc here. I really like Kathleen's idea of slowing LHFHG down a tad so you can more easily combine your 2 in the years to come. Maybe you could just school 4 days a week? Or, maybe you could do LHFHG half-speed, left side of plans one day, and right side the next? Whatever you did to slow it down, you could still do daily phonics and math with your older child. If it seems like your 4 yo is ready for a good portion of LHFHG, you could do it maybe 4 days a week, and then when you start Beyond Little Hearts..., you could do that one half-speed with the 2 of them. We've done portions/all of LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger half-speed or 4 days a week at our house to let a younger child grow into them and really appreciated that flexibility of pacing. Just something to consider as you begin - you'll be able to tell what pacing is best with 4 yo in mind once you begin. I think you'll really enjoy LHFHG - we sure did!

In Christ,
Julie

[rni'smommy]

I have two that are exactly 2 yrs apart(2wks short ). Dd is 4 and ds is 6 I am also thinking about doing LHFHG with them together. They did LHTH 2x together already at 2 and 4, and then again at 3 and 5(with K math and phonics for ds).In academics I really feel that dd and ds are more like one yr apart, because ds has minor speech delays and I think that going slower has been helpful for him. I plan to do LHFHG over 2 yrs, putting my ds on the upper age for the guide, then do Beyond full speed(possibly 4days a week) with both of them at 6 and 8, then when we get to Bigger I will add in the extensions if needed for my ds to make it more challanging. If dd had not been tagging along with us for LHTH 2yrs in a row already I would have started her there, but after doing it twice she is definitely ready to move on. HTH

[MomtoJGJE]

In January I will be starting LHFHG with my then 6 and 4 year old (4 in October and 6 in January). My 6yo will be doing the 1st grade options from the right side and the Emerging Readers from Beyond (assuming we finish phonics before then) and my 4yo wll be doing the right side as written. I am going to at least start off going half speed 4 days a week. So doing two full days of school each week, finishing a unit in 2.5 weeks. I'll probably do that for 4 or 5 units and then re-evaluate. My plan is to have it last at least 1.5 years, if not two and start Beyond close to when they are 6 and 8. That way it'll allow my younger one to mature a little bit before doing Beyond and it will allow my older one to learn how to sit and listen without bothering her sister

Plus, I'll have an older one doing Bigger full speed at that point (January) and I don't want to short change anyone.... if I'm only trying to "fit in" two days worth of school each week for the younger ones it'll be easy!

Another thought... Have you considered going through LHTH quickly before you start LHFHG with them? Doing two days at a time would probably take up about as much time as half speed LHFHG each day, and it would help strengthen skills for your 4 year old before starting LHFHG.

[CindyK]

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I'll definetly be doing LHFHG for my 1st grader and 4 year old. I'm thinking of turning it into a 2 year plan so that they can be together throughout. I'm still playing that by ear a little though. I didn't feel that my daughter (4yrs old) needed LHTH since she did Sonlight P4/5 with us last year. However, I just had a thought. If I did LHFHG half speed with both of them...would LHTH be good to fill in this year for them both to have more to do or is that something that shouldn't be done at the same time only before? Just wondering if anyone else has done this or would know?

Also, is there a materials list anywhere for LHFHG that I could take a look at?

Thanks so much everyone! This is a great board!

[my3sons]

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I'll definetly be doing LHFHG for my 1st grader and 4 year old. I'm thinking of turning it into a 2 year plan so that they can be together throughout. I'm still playing that by ear a little though. I didn't feel that my daughter (4yrs old) needed LHTH since she did Sonlight P4/5 with us last year. However, I just had a thought. If I did LHFHG half speed with both of them...would LHTH be good to fill in this year for them both to have more to do or is that something that shouldn't be done at the same time only before? Just wondering if anyone else has done this or would know?

Also, is there a materials list anywhere for LHFHG that I could take a look at?

Thanks so much everyone! This is a great board!

I do think you could do LHTH with them both as an opener to your day maybe? Since it takes about 20-30 minutes and is Bible-based, it would be almost like a together Bible time to begin with each day. Then, you could do your LHFHG half-speed, and that way if 4 yo couldn't quite hang with all of LHFHG, she'd still have had her LHTH. LHTH will feel young for your older ds, but I think if you let him know that he's helping you teach 4 yo too, he'll feel special about that. My middle ds (who was 6 last year) loved to come help me do LHTH with my 3 1/2 yo. He especially liked to help lead the Fingerplays and join in the dramatic play. I think your oldest would feel the same way. Also, if you start LHFHG half-speed, you can at any time go full-speed if you'd rather and younger dd seems ready. Then you can always start Beyond half-speed, etc. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Mommamo]

I think you could definitely do that! I love the idea of doing LHFHG half speed for now, along with LHTH. We currently do LHTH for my 2 and 4 year old, but we do it as "circle time" for all three! My 6 (almost 7) yo would feel left out if she didn't get to do it too! In fact, I tried having her do independent work while the youngers and I did LHTH and that just wouldn't work for her. It hurt her feelings to see the little ones having so much fun and not get to participate. So.... I think your 6 yo would probably enjoy it. It's such a fun program. I even taught LHTH to the 1-4 yos at our church and the older kids (think 7 or 8 ) were always asking to come help! Everyone just thinks it is fun. (And they learn a lot too!) I do think that your 4 yo will likely be fine doing LHFHG whether you do LHTH or not though, if she's already done Sonlight prek with you. Especially doing it half speed. She should already be used to listening to the longer stories, which I really think is the hardest part. I know my oldest was ready at 4.5 but my middle guy is now the age my oldest was when she started, and I'm beyond certain that he won't be ready for it for some time, but I'm planning to wait until he's 6 anyway so he can combine with my younger one when she's 4.