Going to Half Speed LHFHG?

[tnahid]

My daughter just turned 5 in September and is doing really well with LHFHG, but I am wondering if I should slow it down to half speed for her. The reason is that I just can't see her going into Beyond next year, with her being so young. Although, I feel like doing the full 5 days does help her to retain more of the lessons for that week than spreading things out longer. Any thoughts on this? She is doing really well overall with the program and with her phonics, but she isn't catching on super fast. Yet, I think for her age, she is doing appropriately.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[mater est laetus]

Is she using the K options this year? Is doing it a second time next year with the 1st grade options ... well .. an option? I know some people go this route and their children don't mind the repetition. Only you know yours though.

[krismoose]

I would slow down in some way, whether by stretching out the left side+storytime (maybe doing half each day), or by doing the full guide only 4 days a week and the 3 Rs only on the 5th day. Or even 3 days a week, just remind yourselves what's going on in RAH and storytime before you start each week. Repeating the guide would not have worked with my ds I was in the same position with my ds and he was simply not ready for Beyond, even at half-speed, when we finished. There is not a lot of writing in Beyond, but he could not have done even that, and I didn't want to modify the requirements if waiting a year would mean I could do it as-is. We did a "trip around the world", which was fine, but after a couple of months, I longed for the simplicity of the HOD guide I don't mind having math and reading on their own tracks anyhow. HTH

[KristinBeth]

If she's doing fine, I'd just see what happens. Maybe she won't need to slow down (things can change a lot over the course of a school year) but if need be, you can always slow down if necessary. I have this conversation with myself all the time by the way, because mine just turned 5 last week and we start LHFHG next week (DD wanted to be officially 5 when we began kindergarten).

[my3sons]

Since she is doing well with full-speed, I would keep going full-speed with her. I agree that going full-speed naturally helps with retention, provided dc are ready for it - and your dd is obviously doing well with it. I do think I'd drop to doing full-speed 4 days a week, and then you can do Beyond Little Hearts and Bigger Hearts 4 days a week too. This will naturally spread out her years without slowing her down too much. This will especially be handy as your two older dc move into PHFHG and are on the 4 day a week pacing. I've found it easier to go full-speed when dc are ready, as it allows flexibility later in going half-speed at the start of new guides if needed. It also keeps dc moving along a fluid continuum of learning within each skill set from year to year (i.e. a child that is ready to write sentences needs to be writing sentences within their school day, as they will be writing sentences outside of school anyway, and they need to learn to do it the proper way so good habits are formed). HTH!

In Christ,
Julie