Brand New to HS and HOD-what to choose?

[arlandes]

This will be my first year to homeschool. I have a 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son. My daughter will be 5 in November this year. My heat wants to hs but my head is overwhelmed! My friend told me about HOD a few months ago and she is a certified teacher but hs's her kids. I am trying to get myself and my 4 year old excited about this venture. So far she isn't too keen on the idea but I am hoping to change that. I have looked in HOD a lot and looking at the placement chart, she seems to lean more toward Little Hearts for His Glory, however I am unsure. My idea was to still do Little Hand to Heaven and add it The Reading Lesson and a kinder math (probably math u see). Is that too much? What are you thought from those of you who have been through this? Because this is a trial run for us, I am not sure how our schedule is going to be either.

[Heart_Mom]

Little Hands to Heaven would be very nice, since it would ease your daughter in and your 2 year old could join in on some of the activities for fun. You could certainly add in a K math program and the reading lesson. That would make a nice, gentle K year for her. One of my daughters has a late summer birthday, and I did Little Hands to Heaven with her last year for her when she was 5. We both really enjoyed it! Now that she's finished with LHTH, we're starting up Little Hearts for His Glory for this year (she'll be 6, but I'll call it her K year).

Feel free to ask us more questions! We're more than happy to help you out!

[lmercon]

Hi,
Welcome to the wonderful world of hsing!!!!!!!!!! You are so fortunate to have found what I believe to be the best hs curriculum out there! LHFHG is a wonderful program. You could use it with your young 5 yo, but you will want to consider the future. I made sure that both of my dc were/will be 7 before we started Beyond. It is a fabulous program, and I felt that both my dc would get so much more out of it if they were on the older side of the age range. I think HOD programs really do work best at the upper end, at least that has been my experience. If you really think she fits best into LHFHG, you could plan to go slowly through the program. One plan may be to take the next three years to get through LHFHG and Beyond. I know that's adding in a whole other element into the decision, but it's just something to consider.
hth,
Laura

[Heart_Mom]

Hi,
Welcome to the wonderful world of hsing!!!!!!!!!! You are so fortunate to have found what I believe to be the best hs curriculum out there! LHFHG is a wonderful program. You could use it with your young 5 yo, but you will want to consider the future. I made sure that both of my dc were/will be 7 before we started Beyond. It is a fabulous program, and I felt that both my dc would get so much more out of it if they were on the older side of the age range. I think HOD programs really do work best at the upper end, at least that has been my experience. If you really think she fits best into LHFHG, you could plan to go slowly through the program. One plan may be to take the next three years to get through LHFHG and Beyond. I know that's adding in a whole other element into the decision, but it's just something to consider.
hth,
Laura

I agree about preferring to have my children in the older age range of the guides. I know many have enjoyed them at the younger range, but the older range works great here!

[arlandes]

Thank you so much! I decided to go with LHTH and add in handwriting, math and the LHFHG reading. We will just see how it goes and if it is too much we can always scale back and I can use the extra books when she is ready. I can say I have not bee too thrilled with the idea of HSing but it is starting to grow on me! It's great to have a community of others for encouragement! Thanks!

[Heart_Mom]

Thank you so much! I decided to go with LHTH and add in handwriting, math and the LHFHG reading. We will just see how it goes and if it is too much we can always scale back and I can use the extra books when she is ready. I can say I have not bee too thrilled with the idea of HSing but it is starting to grow on me! It's great to have a community of others for encouragement! Thanks!

Heart of Dakota is such a fantastic way to homeschool. I think you're going to love it! I love how I have great books to read and varied activites to do with them ... all without having to plan them myself. We're just finishing up our homeschool morning, and we've sung, read, drawn, written, created with homemade, acted out a Bible story, etc. (Those are activities we did today from more than one guide.) I know I would never have all these things included if was trying to plan this out myself!