Skipping LHTH?

[Motherjoy]

I haven't been focused on my four year old, as I've been working with her older brothers. Lol. We did start LHTH about a month before I had the baby, but we went slow and weren't consistent. We've only finished three weeks.

I just looked up the placement guide and my daughter (5 in Sept) fits in Little Hearts. Should I jump in this coming schoolyear or just wait until next?

[countrymom]

I am kind of strategizing your overall situation in my response, but I think I would wait and do Little Hearts next year. It looks like you are finishing Beyond with your olders, going into Bigger which is a teacher-intensive guide and you still have the youngers to care for. That would also put a couple of guides between your olders and daughter and you would still have a space between your daughter and the youngers as well. Plus, my experience of running the very younger end of the guides has taught me that it is often better to wait and run the middle of the guide. Some kiddos can do it, but many times they start to struggle as they progress in the guides. You could do LHTH with your 5 yr old this year if you want to do something, but if you chose to just let her listen in with olders and do her own thing that would be fine too.

[Motherjoy]

I also prefer to run the middle of the guide. But the kindy math will just be too easy for her if I wait a year. But I'm not sure how to juggle the babies, her, the middle boys. Lol. I think I'll take a gander at the multiple guides threads to see if I can make it work.

[countrymom]

You can do Little Hearts next year with the 1st grade options for math and reading if necessary. Little Hearts can work for kindergarten or 1st grade. You can even do the emerging readers with Little Hearts if your child is ready and since you already have the Beyond guide you are set for either choice.

[dschurma]

If you prefer to run the middle of the guide, what about doing LHTH along with the right side of LHFHG? My oldest is 5.5, and he enjoys doing the Bible/drama portion of LHTH with his 3 yr old brother. That way, your dd gets the math/phonics/handwriting that she seems ready to handle, but you're saving the history content for next year so she doesn't end up at the lower end of each guide. Just a thought, but then again, maybe that would be too much to juggle when youre also running several other guides?

[raindrops]

You have a lot more children than I do so I am sure you've got plenty to do already... but that said, IF you feel you can squeeze in some LHTH once in a while, then do!
I didn't know about HOD when my son was preschool age so he didn't get to do LHTH. I think had he done it that phonics would have come MUCH more easily..! My daughter is doing some LHTH (not every day, but whenever I feel like it) and she loves it. I can see how learning those A A Adam songs will teach her letter sounds.

LHTH is really a good investment! LOL. I really should be more consistent with it. Somedays she is too wiggly (but she's a wild 3.5 yr old- and NOT one of those sweet quiet little girls either, haha).

Do it when you can, no pressure on yourself.

[Motherjoy]

Well. I have both LHTH and LHFHG, so I will probably do a combination. Plus try to get my 2yo involved on occassion,

[my3sons]

I like this idea...

If you prefer to run the middle of the guide, what about doing LHTH along with the right side of LHFHG? My oldest is 5.5, and he enjoys doing the Bible/drama portion of LHTH with his 3 yr old brother. That way, your dd gets the math/phonics/handwriting that she seems ready to handle, but you're saving the history content for next year so she doesn't end up at the lower end of each guide...

Since you have both the guides, you could give it a whirl! My almost 14 yo, Wyatt, who did MTMM last year absolutely loved doing a box or sometimes 2 of the plans from LHFHG with my 6 yo last year. They have a 45 minute playtime while I work with my middle ds in CTC, and my oldest really enjoyed having a focused purpose for his playtime (as opposed to just playing the whole time with my little guy ). Wyatt enjoyed the active boxes the most, and I was glad he did because at 41 yo, I am getting less active. I see you have a 14 yo as well - maybe that child could do a box or two with your 5 yo? Just an idea!

In Christ,
Julie

[twoxcell]

I think it is perfectly fine to skip LHTH if he/she is ready for LHFHG. My oldest two never did LHTH. My oldest was in 2nd when we started HOD and my second was beyond LHTH so we started LHFHG. If she isn't ready for LHFHG than do LHTH or you could do LHTH along with the K options from LHFHG either way would be fine.