Dh is not on board...

[Daph]

...with me buying a complete curriculum for my five year old. He wants to wait until she's at least in second grade to start spending the higher dollar amounts. SO, I'm unsure where that leaves me with HOD. My oldest is in between Bigger and Preparing, so I was going to put her in Bigger. I thought I'd have them both do activities together, since my youngest is not far behind my oldest as far as cutting and pasting and drawing skills go. :/ I'm not thrilled with this solution, though. I'm still praying about it.

It was also suggested that I put them both in Beyond, which I would be fine with, but I'm not sure if it would be too much for my youngest, who just turned five, and not enough for my oldest, who turns nine in June. :/

I'm not sure what to do...

[twoxcell]

I would not combine a 5, and 9 year old. They would just be too far apart skill wise. For your 5 year old you could focus on the basics this year, and maybe do Little Hearts for 1st. Another option would be to find Little Hearts used.

[MrsMandy]

Has your 5 y/o done Little Hands yet? Does your husband have any suggestions for you to use instead to teach your youngest? It would not be hard to come up with stuff on your own but maybe your hubby doesn't realize how much time it would take you away from the family to do it. If he doesn't have any suggestions and knowing the effort it takes to pull it together on your own but still wishes you to do so, perhaps you could borrow something from your local homeschooling group or work with another mom who has a little one your daughters age and school them together.

[tnahid]

What about buying the 5 year old the Rod and Staff preschool workbooks? They are very inexpensive and thorough. I think there are 5 or 6 of them in all, and they are very good, basic teaching for kindergarteners. I think the whole set is under $20.00. Then she could otherwise sit in and listen to the read alouds with your other children. I think that would be plenty for this year. She can play starfall for free and learn her sounds, phonics. Or you can buy Leap Frog videos for her to watch as well. I personally still think your other two would be fine in Beyond as well, maybe with extensions for the older one. It is a very meaty program in my opinion, and they learn a lot.

[4Hispraise]

What about checking out the library? I have had to do this repeatedly through the years. We purchase the guide, any workbook type things...and then I head to our local library's website to see what books I can check out from there. I even check one of the outlying county's libraries because it is much more homeschool friendly. My dh is very supportive of this. He says that if I have done all I can to NOT buy the curriculum, then I can purchase the books that are unavailable through the library. So, I just buy those books as I need them instead of all at once - the only down side to this is you lose the discount for buying the package, and it seems to me that shipping adds up. But, it is OUR compromise. Just an idea, but HTH!

[erin.kate]

Hi Daph,

I wanted to second the Rod & Staff 4/5 program. Part of post removed by moderator due to board rules. My dd5 LOVES the R&S books. Also, music and singing along is a great way to stimulate their little minds.

I was also thinking ... and this is just how I might approach dh (I am in no way saying that you should or would want to try) ... I have discretionary money each week to spend on things ... yesterday I bought two tank tops from Target for me and a pair of fleece pants from Old Navy for my son for $10 total. My dh is never keen on forking over lots of money on boxed curricula, either, so in the past I have set aside my discretionary money and saved up. Since LHTH is fairly affordable, maybe that is doable ... or maybe for your dh it is not the money but rather the simple fact that he is not ready to buy a full curriculum. Either way, wanted to share my approach to my sometimes stubborn dh, who I love with my everything.

The library can be such a great tool, too ... aside from saving money it is a fantastic window in the world of books and other people loving books, too.

Enjoy your Sunday!

[8arrows]

What about LHFHG economy split over two years? You need to buy something for phonics anyway, correct? Or do you have something on hand from you oldest? The Reading Lesson is not very expensive. For handwriting if you need to conserve money you could make your own worksheet. You could work on the letters, sounds or words you are learning in The Reading Lesson or whatever other phonics you are using. You could use your own story Bible or read from the Bible. Maybe you could even get her the Bible for a birthday or Christmas. If your husband is still not on board I would follow his wishes, but since they don't deal with school every day like we do, sometimes different solutions are not as obvious.

[icul8rg8r]

I'd like the chime in about the Rod & Staff workbooks, as well. My son, but especially my daughter, LOVED these workbooks - they did them when they were 4 & 5 years old. They are very affordable, and really teach the basics, practice cutting, pasting, etc. Also, the KUMON work books (available at TARGET), are fun & affordable. We're using the Kumon MONEY book now! We also found the READY, SET, & GO "Explode the Code" workbooks on sale, and my daughter begged to do it EVERY DAY (including Sunday after church!). DD loves workbooks; DS not so much (6 months younger than his sister), but he'd do the one assignment for the day (whereas DD would try to do the entire workbook in one day!).

Someone also mentioned the LEAP FROG Videos - we have them all (got them as a set one Christmas at Costco) and they are great. My kiddos still sing "when two vowels go a-walking, the first one does the talking" and "silent e makes the first vowel say it's name", etc. And the "Going To School" video taught my kids the days of the week, months of the year, seasons, etc. They are WONDERFUL!

[my3sons]

Honestly, LHFHG is an inexpensive program. By the time you spend money on workbooks, DVD's, books, etc. you could just own LHFHG. I wonder if you could just do LHFHG half-speed over 2 years? Ease into it, and let your dh know you'd be easing into it - technically not doing a full program, but rather taking a lighter approach and easing into school over 2 years. This would be a way to respect dh's wishes, but give your dd what she needs.

I just want to encourage you that my dh was not on board at first either - he has come around! Please keep in mind I'm thinking of my experience when I ask this question - Would you say it is really that your dh doesn't want your dd doing school full-time yet, or would you say it is really more the final dollar amount spent? I know with mine when it was all said and done, it was the dollar amount, though that was not exactly what he was saying. Once I realized this, we talked about how much he was willing to spend on our dc's education, and we agreed that I could then come up with the rest in my own way - by tutoring, selling something, watching other dc for an afternoon, buying the dc used clothes to save money, etc.

It helped my dh to see the importance of what I was trying to teach my dc in homeschooling by talking to him about how dc receive a fully funded education in kindergarten in ps, and that just because our dc were being homeschooled, they deserved no less. I understand the need to respect dh's wishes, but some good talks about the "why's" behind what was being said really helped my dh and me, maybe this could help out in your situation too? I had to explain to my dh that in order to homeschool in an academically and spiritually strong way, we'd need to put some money into it, and that just because we were homeschooling, that didn't mean I wanted to give them a less than solid education. Once he understood that, he slowly came around to supporting it not only with words but with funds as well. This has been slow going, but so worth it! I just want to encourage you that often dh's hearts are in the right places, they just are unsure of how this whole homeschooling thing should go.

If you have a certain dollar amount to stay within, then we could all chime in with what's essential and keep you within your budget. You can even order just 9 weeks of the program at a time, many moms do that as it spreads out the cost nicely. Or, if he really wants to wait to homeschool dd fully until she is in second grade, it may be good to point out the need to meet state standards earlier than that, and see what he thinks of utilizing LHFHG over 2 years (which would be less expensive than buying some filler things now and then buying LHFHG later anyway). I hope something here helps - just know you are not alone, and dh's do often come around and become our biggest supporters given time - the results of using HOD over time speak volumes to dh's! Happy dc... happy mom... solid academics... growing faith... all work together to win dh's over in the long run.

In Christ,
Julie

[Heidi in AK]

I wanted to chime in to your situation, but Julie did such a great job of asking you questions I had been thinking about for you too. I think that I just saw Julie advise someone else to do LHFHG half-speed over two years for a completely different reason...and then you could buy one of the Beyond storytime sets for first grade, as well as the math and anything else she's ready for at that point...but you may have to ask your DH tough questions - is it really a cost issue, is there something else, and if it's a cost issue, what can we accommodate, etc.

There is so much curriculum out there, and you can buy something with all the bells and whistles and pay a TON, while HOD is SO inexpensive as far as Christian curriculum goes. Let us know how it turns out. I know there are other curricula you can combine children more easily in, but one set of that far outcosts two sets of HOD. Then, you have the reasons you were drawn to HOD in the first place to tackle as well. I'll be praying it becomes crystal clear for you.

[Daph]

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions! To answer your question, it's mainly money with dh. He thinks that we can do a good job educating in Kindergarten and First grade without buying a whole lot of stuff. I can see where he's coming from...I'm just not completely in agreement with him. He was homeschooled from 7th grade through high school, so he does know a bit about what goes on, but he was taught during the older years, when he was much more independent and doing a lot of work on his own. He would wake up in the morning and start reading Science books. There wasn't a lot of curriculum available when he was homeschooling either, and now there's so much that it's overwhelming! I think part of it is my fault, as well. I sort of have a curriculum spending problem. I come home from the conference with tons of books, and don't use them all over the course of the year. So, it's partly my fault that he's being so money-conscious. lol I really love the idea of looking for the books at the library and using HOD over two years, instead of one.

I'm also considering getting a part-time job during the summer, just so I can have some extra spending money, and so I can save up for things that I want. I love my dh with everything, too. He's awesome and so supportive. I think it's good that he's so concerned with spending money, because honestly, I'm usually not. *cringes*

Thank you for all the suggestions! I've never seen the Leap Frog videos, but we have a Leap Pad that we love. Both my daughters adore starfall.com too.

So, I think my first course of action will be to see how many books are available at the library, and do some more research and Math to see exactly how much it will cost per kid for the year. Maybe I can persuade him a little.

[anointedhsmom]

I wanted to let you know that I am doing LHFHG half speed with my 5 year old son for K and 1st. Here is the thread where I asked how to do it. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8367&p=61041#p61041 I plan to use the appropriate level of phonics and math for him each year. I will follow the plan as listed in the thead above using K level phonics, math, & science. Then for 1st I will move to the 1st grade level phonics, math, and science. This works well since LHFHG has K and 1st grade options for science and skill building as well. The LHFHG manual also has a list of optional literature supplements that you can add to the history topics in the Reading about History box. You could use these for 1st if you needed more read aloud options.

I understand the money issues you dh has. It helped my dh that it was being split across 2 years. The other option is you could do LHTH for K and LHFHG for 1st. LHTH is very affordable and I can attest to the fact that all you need to do the program is the $80 for the 4/5 option. I'm doing that right now with my almost 5 year old son.

I do hope this helps in some way.

[Daph]

My five-year-old is doing a lot of first grade work, so I would probably still use LHFHG. I just looked up books at the library and they don't have a single book that's on the list! I want to stamp my foot! Back to the drawing board. Thank you all so much for the advice and help. I appreciate it so much! I /think/ I can convince dh eventually. I think. XD

[water2wine]

Sounds like you have some great advice. I love Julie's suggestion. Just wanted to say that sometimes with dhs it is more than just the money. My dh had some reservations at first. He worried that it might be too much for me to hs all six of my kids especially given that one of my children has learning delays and special needs. Sometimes his reasons for me adding this or that came out differently but later I realized his issues were more about could I handle it all not just emotionally but physically. It took me a long time to figure out he had that issue. He always supported me but I just felt reservations and if I would hit a bump he would offer ps as an option. Now he is 100% on board. He is completely against ps and would do anything to keep us hsing. And the reason is I think he has seen the value in it and seen that this is really God's call for us. This is a little different but sometimes if you can show them the value in what you are doing they can really understand the need and eventually they become the biggest fan even though they had reservations. HOD does far more than just give the basics. It is training a child's heart toward the love of Christ. The age you are talking about is the age some of my children really came to know and accept Christ as Savior. That is a very tender time and it is a great opportunity to show them God is in everything. HOD does it like nothing else out there. Academically at that age maybe I could have pieced it together but two things would have been really missing. There is just the ease in being able to open and go knowing it is all covered thoroughly because there are a lot of skills to learn at that age and it can overwhelming to make sure they are on track with it all. And then there is the doing all that completely around the main goal of teaching them to love and know Jesus. To me that is the absolute most important thing. HOD let's that be the main focus while it covers the rest for you.

We started with LHFHG. That was our first HOD program. I watched my two little ones just burst in their faith and love for the Lord. And they also really grew in leaps and bounds. My now 6 year old in Bigger is doing Singapore 2B almost done. And she reads really on the 5-6th grade level. She really struggled at first learning how to read and with HOD she just got it and excelled. My other dd is also ahead a bit for her age as well. She started HOD at an older age. I think she would have been more ahead if we had started earlier. She is though perfect for her age. She is a rambunctious little one though and finding focus was hard for her but now through HOD she can narrate and focus very well. She did not want to do school though before HOD. All the love they both have for school started in LHFHG with the Singapore math being introduced and all the reading that they absolutely loved. I mean I had to hide some of the books so they would not try to read ahead. It was a huge deal for them to guess what came next. And both accepted Christ in LHFHG. Both of them. It's really a wonderful start both academically and spiritually. Now they are in Bigger and they will do the projects before I can even get to them to start school. They just love it so much and want to see how it works out with science experiments and history projects. I really feel that work ethic and pure love came from the way LHFHG is written.

In fact today when I was talking with the kids about HOD doing high school. The comment was made by some of the older kids that they were jealous that my two little ones will know nothing but HOD for their entire school. They will have never had anything else really except for the first sew months of frustration I tired something else. But really their k-12th will have been done through HOD. While all my kids do really well not all of them have been hsed the entire way and at that even all the way with HOD. Even though the older ones have caught up you can tell the difference from my little ones that really pretty much know nothing but HOD. All that to say I hope you find a way to make LHFHG work for your family. It is too wonderful to miss.

[FiveLittlePeaches]

I get your husband's point of view.

After making a few different K program purchases myself, I also felt that a lot of them were a waste of money. Not LHFHG. It really challenges children to think. When my 3rd daughter was 4, she wanted to be like her older sisters and she loved doing school. She burned through workbooks, always wanting more, more, more. Then I found HOD. I combined my 3 oldest, ages 5 - 7 in LHFHG, and it was so different from the workbook approach I had been using. They loved the read aloud aspect (history, Bible, story time & rhymes in motion), but when it came time to act out or narrate a story, they just froze. Over the course of the year, my 7 year old really blossomed in her narration skills and she continues to be strong in that area. My then 5 year old is now 7 and she is in Bigger Hearts, and she has progressed so well in all of her skill levels. It's just amazing.

I have another daughter that is now 5. She is even able to narrate well because she picked up that skill from listening to her sisters. Sometimes she even volunteers to narrate during her sister's storytime. I was going to make her wait until the fall to start LHFHG with her, but I think she's ready now. I still think I'm going to wait until the fall.

Don't get me wrong. Like some of the other mothers, I also recommend those R&S preschool books. I think they're wonderful and I have used them for all of my children. I think what LHFHG offers is another way for a child's brain to function.

I'm not saying this to put the pressure on. I wouldn't want you to go against your husband. The thing is, LHFHG offers a wonderful approach to learning and it's a fantastic stepping stone in the thinking process.