Where to Start?

[StephanieU]

I think I have decided to use this curriculum with what we are already using for phonics/reading and math (Horizons). My daughter is 5 (December birthday), and has already completed the kindergarten books and has started the 1st grade Horizons material. She can write all of the letters, etc although her handwriting is no where near perfect yet. She knows most of the phonics rules, and hence she can read simple books on her own. But, she still prefers me to read to her and to listen to books with lots of pictures. So I was thinking the LHFHG would be better for her - am I right?

I also have a 3.5 yo and an almost 2 yo. I was thinking of getting the LHTH 3/4yo set for them (knowing the 2yo won't always be willing to sit still for lessons but often wants to be a part of what the older two are doing). Does that sound like a good plan? We have the Beginners Bible already that we read out of, and the 3yo loves it.

Thanks!

[my3sons]

Hi StephanieU, and welcome to the HOD Board! Thanks for sharing about each of your dc - that helps so much! "Little Hearts for His Glory" sounds like a great fit for your 5 yo dd. You can easily use your Horizons math and current phonics with LHFHG. I think you are going have such a neat year with LHFHG! In fact, I am certain of it. I just finished LHFHG with my 5 yo, and he loved it. My older sons loved it back when they did it as well. You have so many special memories ahead of you to make with LHFHG!

For your almost 2 yo and 3.5 yo, you may want to consider combining them not only now but in the future, as they are close in age. I think this would be an easier combination than your 3.5 yo and 5.5 yo, as the oldest child just seems to often take off so quickly (and this does seem like a good description of your 5 yo dd already ). So, for your 2 and 3.5 yo, you may want to go through "Little Hands to Heaven" two times, the first time with the younger Bible and devotional, and the second time with the older Bible and devotional, taking 2+ years to go through it. Or, you could go through it slowly just once, taking a few years to go through it, and starting your 3.5 yo when ready (probably during the second half of LHTH) in the "Little Hearts for His Glory" LA/math skills. If combining these 2 is something you'd like to do, a good rule of thumb is to try to have the youngest be at least 5 yo (or close to it ) when beginning "Little Hearts for His Glory." I know this is looking down the road a bit, but it's not a bad idea to do so with #2 and #3 kiddos sometimes.

What are your thoughts though? HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

P.S. I forgot to mention you can still take advantage of the big package savings HOD offers by substituting something of equal or lesser value for "The Beginner's Bible" when you order the "Emerging Reader's Set."

In Christ,
Julie

[StephanieU]

For the 5yo, should I get the 1st grade set or the K set for LHFHG? What is the difference in the books? Do they use the same teachers manual?

I was thinking for the younger two to spread it out over 2 years since we already have activities two days a week. We could do LHTH two or three days a week, and I can just supplement other workbooks for the 3yo to work on his letters and fine motor skills. We will probably stick with Horizons for phonics and math at least through second grade, so I will keep the younger two together for history most likely.

[jahall2000]

I'm not sure if you would want to go with the K or 1st options for your 5 year old. But the things this involves are the handwriting book, the fine motor skills, and the science books. If you're doing Horizons you won't need to worry about the math.
Take a look at the options for each, and decide which you think will work best for your child.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/little-hearts-packages.php

[StephanieU]

We are going to go with the economy package, so my question is what are the differences in Going on Eagerly and Hearing and Helping vs Do It Carefully and Finding the Answers. Are these the Rod and Staff books I have seen mentioned before? I don't see them listen individually anywhere on the HOD website, so that is why I have questions on them. She can print, read, etc, so if they are the Rod and Staff books, we might skip a lot of what is in them (as it seems way below where she is).

[jahall2000]

Go to the link I shared above, and then click on "more info." under the Do It Carefully book image in the Economy package. They have explanations of what kinds of skills are in each book. Hope this helps.
Here's the link to the page if you have trouble finding it.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/rod-staff.php

[StephanieU]

Thanks - I finally found it
I am still not 100% which way I will go for my oldest. We are schooling year round, but I won't be buying HOD until fall. With a new version of LHFHG coming out, it might be September before I buy anything. I realized tonight there are a few books with lots of words on them that she does like me to read to her (Christopher Churchmouse, Muffin books by Beers, etc). Her skills would place here into Beyond I think based off the placement chart - even with some Bigger skills since Horizons includes that in the K curriculum (she has studied nouns and verbs, periods and question marks, capital letters for first word in a sentence and proper nouns, etc and can write simple sentences with spelling help). But, I don't know if I want to add the time needed for Beyond just yet. So maybe LHFHG would be better for us. Luckily I have 2 months to decide!

[my3sons]

Thanks - I finally found it
I am still not 100% which way I will go for my oldest. We are schooling year round, but I won't be buying HOD until fall. With a new version of LHFHG coming out, it might be September before I buy anything. I realized tonight there are a few books with lots of words on them that she does like me to read to her (Christopher Churchmouse, Muffin books by Beers, etc). Her skills would place here into Beyond I think based off the placement chart - even with some Bigger skills since Horizons includes that in the K curriculum (she has studied nouns and verbs, periods and question marks, capital letters for first word in a sentence and proper nouns, etc and can write simple sentences with spelling help). But, I don't know if I want to add the time needed for Beyond just yet. So maybe LHFHG would be better for us. Luckily I have 2 months to decide!

I think you will know better in 2 months, as dc can make leaps and gains or stay right where they are, depending on individual growth spurts. I wanted to share the time allotments for LHFHG and BLHFHG, as they are a little different, but probably not so much different that if she places best in Beyond she couldn't handle it...


Little Hearts for His Glory approximate times per box...
Left side of plans:
Reading about History: 10 minutes
Rhymes in Motion: 5 minutes
Rotating Bottom left box (Science, Art, Dramatic Play, Thinking Games): 10-15 minutes
Bible Study: 10 minutes (add an additional 5-10 minutes on Devotional days)
Corresponding Music: 5 minutes

Right Side of Plans:
Fine Motor Skills: 5-10 minutes
Phonics: 15 minutes
Storytime: 10 minutes
Math: 10-15 minutes

So, LHFHG adds up to about 1 1/2 hours a day, give or take a bit.

Beyond Little Hearts... time allotments per box
Reading About History Box: 10 min.
Poetry and Rhymes: 5-10 min.
Bible Study and Music: 10 min.
Rotating Bottom Left Box (Artistic Expression, History Activity/Timeline, Geography, Science twice weekly): 15-20 min.

Language Arts Box: 15 min. (spelling/grammar)
Reading: 15 min. if doing the Emerging Readers and 20-25 min. if doing DITHR 2/3
Math: 15-20 min.
Storytime: 15-20 min.

So, BLHFHG adds up to about 2 hours or 2 hours and 15 minutes a day, give or take a bit.

If dd does place best in Beyond, you can start with that but do it 4 days a week if you want, since she's young. I actually think it is very nice to have 1 child in a guide 2 or 3 ahead of your younger dc, if she is ready for it. The reason I like this is because your younger 2 dc would be doing Little Hands to Heaven while your older would be doing Beyond, and looking down the road, that means your younger dc will be doing Little Hearts for His Glory or Beyond while your older dd will be doing Bigger Hearts or PHFHG. Even further down the road, your younger duo would be doing Beyond Little Hearts or Bigger while your older dd would be doing Preparing Hearts or CTC. This is very nice, as your older dd would be taken on independence in these guides, freeing up time for you to work with your younger dc. The only problem is your older dd isn't taking on the independence needed, as then the independent work becomes teacher-directed instead, which means unintended work for you. So, when the time comes for you to choose, just be sure your dd places solidly in Beyond, and if she does, it would be a very nice setup not only now but down the road. If she places more solidly in Little Hearts, that will be just fine too, and it will then be important to choose LHFHG, as you want her able to take on the independence intended in the guides as it is assigned. FWIT, IMHO, oldest dc seem to just take off. From what you've described, I bet she'll be ready for Beyond, but you'll know best.


One comment about your younger 2 dc - you may want to make a tentative plan to combine your almost 2 yo and 3.5 yo down the road. Dc should be 5 yo or almost 5 yo to start Little Hearts for His Glory. Working back from that, you may want to consider one of these options...

Option 1: Take 2+ years to go through "Little Hands to Heaven," doing half the boxes one day, and the other half the other day. You can get all the resources (both Bibles, both devotionals), and read from one Bible one day, and the other Bible the next day to add more readings than half-speed would allow. You can also do 2 devotionals if you'd like, adding one more devotional to your half-speed days. You could also add full-speed LHFHG K fine motor/math resources for your older of the duo the second half-speed year of Little Hands, if she is ready for this and needing it. Then the next year, when the two of them do "Little Hearts for His Glory," you could have older dd do the 1st grade fine motor/math, and younger dd do the K fine motor/math.

Option 2: Go through "Little Hands to Heaven" twice - the first time using the younger Bible/devotional resources, and the second time using the older Bible/devotional resources. You could still have older child to K resources from LHFHG for fine motor math second time through LHTH in this option as well.

HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[StephanieU]

Julie,

If we stick with just the left side plus storytime (since we already have a math and phonics program we like), the difference isn't much - right? My math came out to 5 minutes difference some days for the left side and then the storytime difference. With that little difference, I might go with Beyond. We will only do HOD 3-4 days a week most likely since we have activities two days a week. But, we also school year round, so we could get it all done in 1 calendar year.

Thanks for all your help!

Stephanie

[my3sons]

Julie,

If we stick with just the left side plus storytime (since we already have a math and phonics program we like), the difference isn't much - right?...

True! The only thing I would make certain to do as well is the "Language Arts" box of Beyond. It includes important spelling, writing, copywork, and grammar skills to help dc prepare for Bigger Hearts. Without doing that box, my dc would not have been ready for Bigger Hearts, so I wanted to be sure to mention that as well. Adding this should only add 15 minutes to each day. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[StephanieU]

We are using Horizon for phonics (1st grade), and I a going to have her work on copying her AWANA verses this year. She independently copied a verse in Sunday School a few weeks ago (Acts 16.31 - her favorite verse), and she got about 75% of the words printed. So, I have a feeling if we keep on this track, she will be fine in LA. Horizons already had her learning the different parts of speech (verb, noun, pronoun, proper noun), capital letters at the beginning of sentences, and periods or question marks at the end in kindergarten. And I think her 1st grade books have some of those things in them too.