Getting so excited but still not firm on plans!

[Bramble]

We've been looking at many of Julie's (and other members') pictures of their HOD activities. My boys and I are so excited to try them ourselves! My friend returned my copy of LHTH and I started that with my will-be-3-in-Sept. DD a couple weeks ago. She LOVES it and is begging for it everyday. The 5 and 7 have been joining in some, too. I am embarrassed to say that I have owned LHTH since my 9 yo was preschool aged and have never used it fully. It kind of annoyed me before. LOL! Maybe it was my son's personality? but DD just loves it, which encourages and excites me.

I also have everything for LHFHG, most of Beyond, and everything for Bigger, but I am still having trouble committing to a plan for placement! I'm about to drive myself crazy!

I'm thinking I'll leave my 5 yo w/ my 3 yo in LHTH, adding a light schedule of phonics, fine motor, and math activities for LHFHG. I'm quite comfortable w/ that plan. LHTH goes very quickly (each day) and I really feel that although 5 yo DS knows his letters and sounds and can blend CVC words, he is just still more like a preschooler. He won't actually be 5 until the end of August and I'd like to give him time.

After a talk with my dear husband, another with my 9 yo DS, and reviewing the work he completed this past year, we all agreed w/ a placement in Bigger. We really feel it best that the 9 and 7 yo's are not together. We feel they will really thrive having the separate programs and I love Julie's comments about the benefits of doing Bible one-on-one.

SO I guess the only real placement question is with my 7 yo. (will be 7 in Aug.)
Do I put him in LHFHG or Beyond?
Part of me leans towards LHFHG: I know he will love the Burgess stories. He reads but is still working through phonics w/ me (not sure what level he is at.) I like to not rush my summer babies.
I will have to add copywork (use the Bible verse), though. I will skip the Thinking Skills book because according to the samples I viewed, he is beyond it. He will work on cursive because he wants to and his fine motor is excellent.
In reading, writing, and math, he fits better in Beyond on the placement chart. Yet, I do not feel that he needs grammar instruction or spelling lists. I am concerned that the science in LHearts will be somewhat BTDT for him. Using Little Hearts would give me a lighter year perhaps, but I would need to work out of both LHearts and Beyond guides to cover him which I'd rather not do. If I did Beyond, I would do 4 days/week.

I had more pros and cons for doing each of the programs w/ my 7 yo but it is in my handy dandy notebook that seems to have walked away. I will re-post when I find it.

ETA: Found my notebook!
Little Hearts Pros for us:
*can concentrate on phonics w/o so much other stuff
*Burgess books
*low pressure year for him
*put a year between programs

Little Hearts Cons for us:
*not enough copywork? (add memory verse copywork and possibly sentences from Burgess)
*5 days/week (thinking 4 maybe be better, but I don't want to slow down Little Hearts)
*science too BTDT for this child?

Beyond Pros for us:
*he fits the placement chart for reading, writing, and math
*could do 4 days/week
*one less guide to cover gives us time to spare in the long run
*math activities included (don't really want to work from 2 guides)
*Emergent Readers schedule included
*will move to a more independent program sooner (with 5 kids this is important! LOL)

Beyond Cons for us:
*too much copywork? (but could start out slow and build)
*don't believe grammar or spelling are really necessary for him yet
*I'd have to buy more books. is this really a con? LOL
*I'd use Bigger back to back years.

Would Bigger, Beyond, and LHTH be manageable? Or should I use Bigger, LHFHG, and LHTH just to save time? LHTH doesn't really take much time at all and I'm used to giving my littles some time for reading and Bible anyway.
OR should I just give up the idea of having each child in their own guide? (this would eventually mean 5 guides at once someday down the road! yes, I shouldn't look that far...) Of course, it may not be so important to us to separate the younger ones just because of different personalities and abilities. One can only guess.

thoughts?

[Heather4Him]

We only have one child and are new to HOD, too, so I can't help much with placement. But, I wanted to say "hi" from one WI Mama to another!

[Bramble]

oh my goodness, I wrote a book! LOL

Hi Heather!! We're about an hr north of Madison.

[Heather4Him]

We're about a half-hour south of Green Bay!

[inHistiming]

Well, this is what I think. We will be doing Beyond...this year with my ds 7 (just had his b'day in June). I waffled back and forth about LHFHG or Beyond, but ultimately decided to go with Beyond....My plan is to start out at half-speed and move up to full-speed once I think he's ready. We do school year-round so we have a bit more time that way. You could easily start Beyond without using the grammar or the spelling lists and add those at the appropriate time for your ds. I plan to do just that, and start back on week one with those two things when we begin. Same with the emerging readers. We will not be doing those in the very beginning but will add them as time goes on. I will have my ds do as you mentioned in your post with the copy work....he will copy a sentence or two a day from the poem, gradually adding more until he is copying the entire poem each week by the end of the year. I used this guide with my dd at 8 and we loved it! I adjusted the copy work for her needs very easily and she was quite capable of copying the entire poem by the end of the year. I had the same concerns as you about LHFHG, though it does seem to be a great program. If you want an easier, more minimal work year that may be the way to go, but if you're going to end up adding things to 'beef' it up, I would say just go with Beyond...and leave out what you think is unnecessary until you think ds is ready. Just my opinion, hope it helps some.

[jenntracy]

i will tell you are plans. don't think i can answer all your questions.

I have a son who will turn 7 in October and we are going to use Beyond. He is about to start the Tornado in the emerging reader set.
We are using it for "1st" grade. i am going to add the Thinking Skills "2" book. The #1 book looks too easy for him as well.
I will use LHFHG for my daughter who turned 5 in March, for Kindergarten . it is a perfect fit for her.

Yes i will be doing back-to-back guides, but it is what is best for my kids and family.

I think LHTH fits into any schedule really. It only takes about 30 minutes, sometimes just a little longer if prepping for art box.

I think you could easily slow down the copywork and just work at his pace for grammar or spelling.
Math and grammar are two things that are definitely flexible.

We have a 2 yr old and will probably start LHTH whe she is 3.5 yr.

Praying the Lord gives you peace in your decision.

JEnn D.

[momtofive]

Hi, and welcome to HOD! We're so glad that your joining us on the board and within this great curriculum!

I agree with inHistiming, she's got some great advice!

I was only going to add: Have you thought about doing Beyond at half-speed, over two years? This would put some space between the guides for you and challenge your son sooner avoiding the "BTDT" scenario. You could start really slow on the more challenging aspects or just omit them until you feel he's ready to tackle them. Then add them in when he's ready! It does sound, from what your saying, that LHFHG would be a bit beneath his level right now. I hope this can be of some help!

Blessings as you decide!

In Christ,

Lisa

[moedertje]

While I absolutely loved LHFHG and would not want to miss out on teaching it 3 times (I have 3 kiddo's), I agree with the ladies above that you can easily start Beyond at 1/2 pace with your ds so he can mature to get into Bigger and to get some space between the guides.
I did Beyond with my ds who is fine motor challenged, at full speed (I did not know about the 1/2 speed/pace thing). We did add in the Thinking skills book for grade 1 and he loved it He had just turned 6 when we started Beyond that Oct.
Now we have slowed down in Bigger and we are doing it at 1/2 pace over 2 years to get him in the middle age range of the guides and get to him more independent while focusing on his fine motor skills and we are loving it! We take two weeks to cover 1 unit, now being almost half way through we can take a day off each week and still get everything done!
So when you notice that the school days are getting too short and he can handle all the activity, you can always speed up and than do Bigger at 1/2 pace for a while at first again! Doing the guide 4 days a week from beginning to end adds about 9 weeks.
Success and may the Lord guide you to do what is best for your children.
Blessings

Just to let you know, the Grammar in Beyond is so gentle and is if I get it right just an introduction to Grammar, not meant for mastery. The spelling activities are also very gentle and fun, a great way to prepare the kiddo's for dictation in the later guide, so you may still want to give it a try once your ds gets into the swing of things

[Bramble]

Thanks all! I think your replies just confirmed what my heart knew. There really is no good reason to keep him back in LHearts, is there? We will use Beyond, probably at 4 days/week unless that seems like too much for him after we get started.

[MistyP]

After reading through your initial post (and then seeing you had already made up your mind ) I would say Beyond too.

[gotpeace91]

After reading through your initial post (and then seeing you had already made up your mind ) I would say Beyond too.

same here.