Help with Placement Issues

[MitchellFamily]

Hi all! I have been using HOD for several years. I started with LHTH with my oldest (DS7) when he was 3 for some structured time together. We stretched it out over 2 years and then I decided to go with another program for Kinder that promised teaching all your children at one time. Long story short, neither of us cared for the monotony of the program, and we switched to LHFHG when he was 6 for first grade and loved it. At the same time I started LHTH with my DD4.
Here is my issue: this year I started my DD5 with LHFHG at the Kinder level, and while the math and handwriting and projects seem appropriate for her learning level, the phonics instruction and the questions with the read aloud seem too high for her now. She tries really hard and gets frustrated (because she is currently my middle child and aims to please!). The phonics is Reading Made Easy, and the read alouds are the animal stories (Reddy Fox, Peter Cottontail, etc). Since she just turned 5 in Sept, and technically would be in preschool still, should I go back and do another year of LHTH with her? Or since some elements seem OK, should I just find a slower paced phonics program or perhaps just stretch this one out over two years? I'm thinking that for her the entire HOD program would be better to wait a year for Kinder, but I'm also thinking that I don't want to go back and do LHTH for another year . . . does anyone do that? Repeat a program with maybe some different elements to it? Like a different Bible story book or a different devotional? Or just stretch a LHFHG over two years? Hmmmmmm . . . thoughts? I'm not worried about where she's at, as I taught elementary school for many years before my best job (being a mom!), so I've seen it all and know kids start out differently. I guess I was hoping for some insight from others who have used the program and have run into similar issues. Thanks so much for taking them time to read this and share your ideas!

I guess I should introduce myself a bit better. My family lives in the woods of Montana, and we are missionaries serving as the director of a Christian camp. We love to homeschool and work together as a family doing the Lord's work.

[jenntracy]

I would stretch out LHFHG for 2 yrs. that is what we did with my son who's b-day is end of October. He is now 7 and in Beyond for 1st grade and it is great.
We did the right side and added our own Bible and science as we wanted/needed. the next year we just moved on to his level of math, phonics, and did our own storytime and added in the handwriting (we didn't do that the year before) along with the History portion.

YOu could do the portions you feel she is ready for and then do it next year with your own stuff? YOu could do your own storytimes this year and do the Burgess books next year if that would better. We waited for the whole left side b/cx he wasn't ready for the History stories and the activities and rhyme time were tied to that. It was easier to just keep it all together. Funny, that this year he still enjoys getting in on the rhyme times when his sister is doing them in LHFHG.

Pray you can settle on what is best

JEnn D.

[inHistiming]

My son, when he was 5, was not ready for the Reddy Fox, etc. books that LHFHG uses. Every child is different as you know, and for him we had to set it aside. We continued to work with RME, sporadically due to life issues, and when he was about 6.5 picked up Reddy Fox again....he absolutely LOVED it and the rest of those books, even re-reading them in his own time. So, if you need to put them away for a while and just work on the basics and use easier read alouds, it's absolutely okay and may actually be better for her in the long run. I think if you want to do LHTH again, using another book for the devotional and continuing with RME, it would be fine. You can always slow down and review more with RME before moving on to a new lesson. Just my thoughts...I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences, too.

[Heart_Mom]

I'm curious to hear everyone's answers, because I'm trying to decide what to do with my 4 year old next year. She will be a young five, and don't think she'll be ready for Kindergarten. We're in Unit 16 of LHTH right now using the older Bible story book, and it's going well... I'm just not sure what to do next year since I would like her to start LHFHG for Kindergarten for the 2012-2013 school year (she will have just turned 6 then), and definitely wait until 2013-2014 to do Beyond as her 1st grade. So, I'm all ears listening in for these suggestions. Thanks for posting this question!

[Carrie]

MitchellFamily,

I'm so glad that you've gotten a chance to use HOD in the past! We pray that it may continue to be a blessing to your family. As far as your question goes, since your middle daughter has already been through LHTH and is 5, I would move into LHFHG at half-speed. We did this with our third son when he was 5 (after finishing LHTH) when he was just not quite ready for all of LHFHG at that time. Then, the following year he was all set to go full-speed in LHFHG, so we did! It worked very well for him. He then headed on into Beyond full-speed and is now in Bigger Hearts at half-speed as I wanted to ease him into it. Anyway, he's doing so well and is a smart little cookie overall, but the pacing has been perfect for him.

You may end up with a different plan in the longer haul, but for now I'd lean toward half-speed LHFHG. The easiest way to do this is to do the left side of the page one day and the right side the next. This works well for kiddos who also need a bit of a slower start in phonics. We did it this way for quite awhile. It was easy to keep track of what to do when, helped him grow up quite a bit, kept our school day to 45 min., and he thought it was fun! When he was ready for a bit more, we went to doing phonics daily but kept everything else at half-speed for the year. It took time for him to grow into really listening well to the readings, but we just kept on going and he came along. Anyway, just a thought for you as you're pondering!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Samuel'sMommy]

My son was 4 1/2 when we started LHFHG and we started at half speed. We did it that way for about a year and just recently have bumped him up to full speed. It worked out great. There are a lot of different ways to go half speed, but here is what worked for us:

We did phonics and handwriting/fine motor skills everyday. This put us ahead in the guide for this box. When we got to the end of the K books, I ordered the 1st grade option and we kept going with them.

So our schedule looked something like this:
1st Day
Rhymes in Motion
Reading About History
Handwriting/Fine Motor Skills
Review memory verse, listen to song
Phonics
Math activity
Rotating Box (science, thinking skills, dramatic play, art, etc)

2nd Day
Rhymes in Motion
sometimes I would add in a book from the supplemental reading list in the back of LHFHG, or just find some other book on the topic at the library
Handwriting/Fine Motor Skills
Bible Study
Phonics
Review math activity and complete workbook page
Storytime

[MitchellFamily]

Thank you all SO MUCH for your insight. My instinct about stretching out Kinder was echoed in several posts, only I was thinking of doing every other day. I love the idea of doing 1/2 page a day and going "half speed" instead of full speed every other day. Besides that, we have another dd due in two weeks, so I think I will need to go half speed for ME. Thank you all for your insight into how you have worked through similar issues. I have many people around me who HS their children, but none who use a curriculum like HOD that is so hands on and individual to each child. This is all very helpful. I also really like your idea for posting a week in review - I think this can help to motivate others to keep on keeping on, and it also is an encourager of sorts to allow everyone else to really "see" what different families can experience within the curriculum. I will definitely be back here on the board soon.