LHFHG or beyond for my 2 children

[big sky]

I'm looking into starting HOD with my younger children. I have previously used sonlight with my oldest k-5th (11 years), but now with my younger children I need something else.... Something with less read aloud time! I still want to continue reading to my children but hopefully combining something! Yet what also draws me to HOD is the specific skill level of the programs...

so what would work for my 6 year old daughter(birthday in dec)- who has started reading the beginners bible, can do copywork, simple spelling, is almost through singapore 1a. I think placement wise beyond is a good fit for her... and I think her younger brother who turned 4 in september could do the left side of beyond with her.... but I am not planning on starting math with him for a while and probably start a reading program this fall when he turns 5. He is just learning his sounds and how to write numbers..... but looking ahead what will I do for the next year? At that point will the left side of bigger (the history, bible and science) be too much for my 6 year old son?? I also have a 2 year old dd birthday in feb.

Ive thought maybe just doing LHFHG for my 6 and 4 year old but I won't be using the right side for either. and does LHFHG include spelling works for my 6 year old??

Yikes this seems so complicated when I look ahead!

[Carrie]

big sky,

Welcome to the board! We're glad to have you here! In understanding where your kiddos would fit best, I'm needing to know a couple of things. First, is your 6 year old daughter turning 7 in Dec., or is she turning 6 in December? Next, has your 6 year old had any introduction to history or science? Last, has she had any exposure to listening to chapter book style readings yet, or is she still mainly listening to books with pictures read aloud?

As far as your son goes, when will he be 5? Next, does he know his letter sounds yet, or is he still learning them? Also, is he able to write his letters, or still learning those as well? Last, how well does he do listening to read-alouds?

Once you get a chance to pop back in and share your thoughts on these questions, we can advise you so much better!

Blessings,
Carrie

[big sky]

thanks Carrie and here is some more info

Yes my 6 year old dd will turn 7 next december. She has had some exposure to history but nothing formal. She has listened to the abeka 1 history book and loves to use it for copywork- for her "book" she is making this year.She has been in the room coloring when I read to her older sister from books 1850-mod. For science we are using sonlight k wich uses usborne science activities, usborne first book of nature and usborne everyday things. Currently my dd and her brother are growing bean plants and measuring there growth and creating pages for their "books" last week they took apart flowers to examine their parts. She does listen well to chapter books being read to her but a lower reading level helps with her attention and comprehension. a few we finished recently have been dolphin treasure, my fathers dragon, mary on horseback and the boxcar children. She also sat in while I was reading "Caddie Woodlawn" to her sister and she did get some of what was going on in the story.

My son will be five in september. He knows about half of his letter sounds and can only write his name. He needs more time and practice before he will be writing! Just making him color has been good for his fine motor skills, he is working through developing the early learner. I did try to start him in R&S preschool books but it takes him 2 sittings to finish one page. As for listening to read alouds, he prefers picture books. He is enjoying the science books (full of pictures) and he did enjoy My fathers dragon but beyond that, he's in the room but not comprehending the story. So he needs simple text and pictures or really short readings.

thanks for all your help

[Carrie]

Big Sky,

Thanks so much for sharing more about your kiddos. It helps so much to have more information so that we can advise you better. From what you've shared so far, I would place your daughter in Beyond and use the Emerging Reader's Schedule in the Appendix and also use 1B/2A for math. 1B is halfway through the Beyond guide and 2A is in the Appendix, so you'll be at a different spot for math than you will be at for the rest of the program. But, this should work fine.

I would place your son in Little Hands to Heaven. I wouldn't worry about combining him with his sister formally in any way, but would instead focus on LHTH as being his core program. I think this will be a good fit for both of your younger kiddos and will give each of them the opportunity to grow while targeting their needed skills. LHTH takes 30 min. a day, and Beyond takes about 2 hours. So, this should be a feasible plan.

Blessings,
Carrie

[big sky]

Beyond does fit my 6 year old dd the best. Does beyond include short dictations or spelling or both?

My older daughter (11-12) will also be doing preparing. It seams like alot to being doing 3 guides at once, I'm not sure I could do that! What about doing LHFHG for my two younger children for bible and history and then they would also be in the same time period as their sister?? Or maybe just letting my ds focus on the basics and listen in during storytime or science?

Or maybe I need to just get organized and go through 3 guides this year?? Maybe it won't be too much.

[Kathleen]

In my personal experience, doing 3 guides at a time is working well. We were in Creation to Christ, Beyond, and LHTH this year. As long as we started at 8:30 each morning, we were pretty well done by 12:30 each day. (Now my oldest may have had a few things to finish up on his own past that time depending on how well he was using his time.) But I was done. It did take some work getting it scheduled, and I couldn't stop to get on the computer or talk on the phone or do some house cleaning. But, I did have a baby to care for and another round of morning sickness, and our year went really well!

After breakfast, I started by giving my oldest dictation and then going over his math and either English or Write With the Best. Depending on how happy the baby was at this point, I also sometimes went on and did either the Genesis study or Geography with him now, too. Then I left him to complete those things on his own and move on to his other independent work.
Then, I did spelling with Allison from Beyond. I showed her which pages in the Emerging Reader to "practice" for the day. We did her math lesson. Then I left her to do her poetry copywork and reading practice. (The reading practice gave her time to look at all the pictures so that when she reads for me we can move right through it. )
Then, upstairs to lay the baby down for his nap and do LHTH with Garret. He was also ready to begin phonics mid-year, so we read one page from The Reading Lesson per day during this time, too.
Now, it's Allison's turn for the rest of Beyond. If there is an art activity she finishes with this.
And, one more time with Grant. I did whatever follow-ups he needed like checking over a written narration, listening to an oral narration, checking out what he copied in the student notebook. And, we read storytime and do its follow-up.
Now, the baby is up and ready to eat and I get lunch ready. Usually Dad is home for lunch, and the kids love to tell him about what they learned that morning. (And they love to hear each other's stories. ) If there's an activity that just begs for extra involvement, we ALL get involved during the morning, too. They're never long things, and sometimes it's just more fun with more!

[jenntracy]

Beyond sounds like it would fit your 6yr old best. I don't know about putting your 4 year old in Beyond. Unless they are advanced , their are some children who have trouble with LHFHG on the left side. I think if the children were older it would be easier to combine but with attention span,etc. i would personally have a hard time. But what do i know i am not combining kids. i love keeping them seperate, knowing they are at their own levels. i might say different if i had 6 or 8 kids.
Just my thoughts. Have a good look at the placement chart.

Jenn D.

[jenntracy]

Wow Kathleen, that is the kind of schedule i need to get on. course my oldest is only in Beyond so he can only do so much on his own.
It will be interesting doing Bigger,Beyond, & LHTH . and caring for a 6 month old come SEpt.

Jenn D.

[big sky]

thank you everyone for the advice, it sounds like I need to create a morning schedule to make it work. Thanks so much for the detailed schedule- I also have a younger one in the house so this helps to see how others make it work

[Mercy]

When I first came to HOD I had no idea what a blessing it is to be able to spend individual time with ea child on their own level. And HOD makes it so easy!! We do three and it works really well. My oldest is a bit of a daydreamer, so his day can go long sometimes. Being diciplined in our day does help to make the day better regardless though. There is a link where people have shared their schedules near the top of the board. You may find that helpful as you are looking at how HOD works several guides at a time.

[Kathleen]

bigsky,

I was going to type a little more earlier...but I was interrupted and never made it back. I shared our rough schedule just so you can see that there are other moms who can manage 3 HOD guides enjoyably. Now, right off the bat with HOD, maybe that's not a good idea for you. I will say that your reading aloud time (even doing all 3 guides you're considering) WILL be less than Sonlight from what I know about it.

From what you've shared about your 6 turning 7 year old, I do think that she'd be just perfect in Beyond. And, I would not try to put the younger one there as that would not be a good fit. If you want to combine, you'll really need to use LHFHG as the core. And, maybe that would work well for your family this year. The school year before this one, I chose to do LHFHG half speed by spreadng out the boxes to last 2 "school days". This fit the attention span of Garret (who was 3 1/2 at the time). Allison was fully capable of taking it at full speed at that time, but didn't finish that guide until March of this school year because we slowed down. Now we did this because it worked best for our family as a whole for me to have them together at that point. Was I slowing Allison down? Yes. But, I don't think that in the big picture that it hurt her a bit. We were moving along with phonics, math, and fine motor skills for her at an appropriate speed. (And Garret was doing none of those things.) So, it might be worth it for you to consider what your family as a whole really needs this year. I'm sure that it would be easier for you to pair the 2 in LHFHG. But from what you've shared, you might really need to go "half-speed" as you begin to keep the younger one's attention. I'm not sure if this would be boring to your daughter or not. Skill-wise in the follow up activities, I'm sure that she is capable of more. BUT, if you're covering the basics of reading, math, handwriting, spellng - at her level, I don't think that you'd hurt her academically. Beyond will have more narration and deeper follow-ups to the reading. But, you will get there and still be at an appropriate age. If you chose to do this, I'd definitely get the Beyond guide to use for the basics for your 6/7 yo. You could do the math with her, the Emerging Readers scheduled in the appendix, the spelling in the LA box (maybe even the grammar lesson that's on day 5 weekly), and then I'd choose either A Reason for Handwriting A or B for some practice. (I would save the poetry copywork to do with the rest of Beyond as it correlates to the history.)

I do think that Preparing, Beyond, and LHTH are very doable at the same time. But, I'm sure that it would save you a little time and some mental juggling to have Preparing, LHFHG, and basics from Beyond. I'm not sure why, but earlier this year when we were finishing out LHFHG and using the basics I listed above from Beyond, I seemed to spend longer with Allison than when we made it to just doing all of Beyond as our day. If you choose to do 3 guides, you will have the benefit of everything fitting perfectly for all of them which is very nice, too.

Praying for wisdom for you as you think through this and decide what God would have you to plan for this year!
Kathleen

[my3sons]

Aren't these ladies great? This board is full of moms who are so willing to share of their time and give encouragement - I love that about this board. I read this entire thread, and I think you have 2 good options here to consider...

Option #1: Do PHFHG with oldest dd
Do LHFHG with your turning 5 yo and 6 yo, and use the Beyond guide for spelling list 1 for dd, for the grammar introduction, and for the math. You could do LHFHG 4 days a week and take a bit longer to finish it, stretching it out a tad for ds to grow into it well, while still challenging dd with the LA/math from Beyond.

Option #2: Do PHFHG with oldest dd
Do Beyond with 6 yo dd, maybe half-speed at first.
Do LHTH with ds.

Both of these options are very doable. I know it is hard to believe, but it is not hard to do multiple guides with HOD. I would do whichever option you are most at peace with after praying about it. That almost always helps me get better clarity! I will also share my schedule here that I used teaching multiple guides last year. I loved our year, and like Kathleen, we finished school around lunch time. I have found it much easier to place each of my dc where they should be placed based on their needs. This allows for individuality in placement, and makes a better overall fit for the family. Each child is able to do all that is asked of them in their guides, and the result is each child feels capable, confident, able to share, and able to participate 100% in their school day. Each child's day fits their needs so well - from how long they are doing school, to what they are being asked to do in their school day, to how much work is hands-on, to what level of independence is appropriate, to the depth and content and maturity of books and Biblical discussions. We have loved doing school this way! Whether you end up doing 2 or 3 guides, I think you will love it too!

Here is a copy of our schedule from last year, in case it may help you visualize how your day could go too...


Can you share your thoughts about all of this when you get a chance - we'd all like to help in any way we can!

In Christ,
Julie