Currently using LHTH...Should I move to LHFHG now or wait?

[mommybelle]

I am currently using LHTH with my DD 5.5. I am wondering if I should skip LHTH all together and move on to LHFHG? We are currently on Unit 8 in LHTH.

She'll be 6 in October. We are trying to adjust to more of a schedule for school so I started with LHTH, but this is difficult sometimes around birthdays, vacations and a busy 2 year old, so I am not always the best about staying focused on school every single day around stressful times. My main reasons for considering making the move is that she seems bored with The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes since she is used to us reading The Beginners Bible to her. She actually comprehends very well when I read to her from my own Bible too. She acts a lot sillier during her "school time," and I am wondering if it is because the work is too simple for her. I've even been beefing up the guides using the K Rod & Staff workbooks, but she made the comment to me very early on that "this is too easy" in reference to those workbooks. We have NOT, however, started a formal reading program. She has begun to read CVC words, and is very, very interested. She LOVES to write! We pick our own storytime chapter books now during her sister's naptime, and she always listens attentively and understands everything I read. I have read Burgess books (different than the ones listed in the guide) to her before, and she LOVES and understands them. She writes her numbers very well, and she can (for the most part) count to 100.

My reservations for moving up to the next guide is that I don't want her to miss out on all of the Biblical content as she loves reading her Bible. And the ABC Bible verses is such a blessing. I know I could continue to read those to her, but I don't know if it would be too much to teach the verses in LHFHG along with the verses from the ABC Bible verses for memorization purposes.

I am afraid to hold her back to LHTH if these are true signs of boredom with the level of reading in the Bible, etc. But I also don't want her to miss the Biblical content. I didn't know if I should push through at a faster speed and skip the stuff she truly knows and then start LHFHG in August when she would technically be starting Kindergarten according to the public school system or just move on up in the guides now.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thank you!

I forgot to mention...when I look at the Placement Chart, she does place in LHFHG. I just started with LHTH originally because I didn't think it could hurt to review her letter sounds again. And it is such a sweet program that I didn't want her to miss it!

[netpea]

here's a thought for you. She doesn't have to miss it. LHTH takes about 20 -30 mintutes to complete if I remember correctly, while Little Hearts takes only 1 1/2 hours. You could very easily do LHTH with both kids first, this will make your two year old happy and then move on to the Little Hearts with your five year old. My oldest insisted on doing LHTH with his younger sister every day even though he was in BLHFHG.

You don't have to go this route but it was my first idea...

[raindrops]

I would move her up if she seems bored. Then let her listen in on the bible content with your 2 year old.

This is what I plan to do with my 5 and 2 year olds.

[psreit]

Your dd definitely sounds ready for LHFHG. The pp's idea is good. Another idea is that if you want to continue using LHTH with her, you could begin a phonics and math program with her to 'beef it up' some more, and wait until fall to formally start LHFHG. You are already reading other books for Bible and storytime. If she is already reading CVC words, she is ready for phonics. You said you are doing R&S workbooks. Are they the ones listed in LHFHG? If not, you could even start her in Do It Carefully or Finding the Answers. It's going to depend on how much you want to do over the summer. If you do not wish to school regularly over the summer, I would recommend waiting until August for LHFHG and just add some of these other things to LHTH. But, I would definitely start her in LHFHG this fall, even if you are not done with LHTH. There is excellent BIble in that as well. If you are doing LHTH with the 2yo, she will pick up on the Bible anyway. I understand what you mean about not wanting her to miss out on the Biblical content. I feel the same way.

[mom23]

I think I'd bump her up. I don't know that I, personally, would make her sit through 2 school programs at that age. I know they go quickly, but still, that's a lot to ask a K-er. If you do LHTH with another child you could certainly give her the opportunity to sit in on it. She may very well enjoy it enough to want to do it, but if she's bored with it right now she may not...

I don't really think of it as missing out on this great material, as much as experiencing the great material in the next guide when they're ready for it. I had a child that I placed in a guide that was too easy for her, and kept her there, thinking that it would make our transition to homeschooling easier, as well as afraid that we'd miss out on stuff. By the next year when I put her in the next guide, she was bored with that one, too, having matured and grown through the year. Although we hadn't done the skills, I went ahead and skipped the last 2/3 of that guide and bumped her to the one she was placing in. It's going much better! If you're looking at an experience similar to mine, I'd definitely take the jump up at the LHTH/LHFHG level!

[mommybelle]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Pam - I have started her on the Do It Carefully Rod & Staff book, and this is the one that she stated was "too easy." She does enjoy doing some of them if they include pages she can color, but she already understands the concepts in the Do It Carefully book. I'm wondering if I should just move on to the Finding the Answers book as it looks a bit more complicated? Does anyone see a need that these books should be followed in numerical order. She does love workbooks when she gets to decide which page to work on.

I looked at the first week in LHFHG, and it appears that the Biblical content is somewhat similar to LHTH. Is this typical throughout LHFHG? I am just wondering if she is going to touch on the same Biblical content in LHFHG anyway.

mom23 - I think your comment has probably hit it on the nail for me. I am concerned that if I hold her back so she doesn't miss something that she is going to be bored continually going forward just based on typical child development in a few months and year.

Any recommendations on the Bible to purchase with LHFHG? The New Bible in Pictures (from LHTH) is definitely much too young for her reading comprehension, so I'm wondering if I should go ahead and go with the older option for ages 6-7, 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible. She can often comprehend readings from my own Bible.

And one last question...is the Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten worth the money or should I just go with what is written in the guide?

[creativemommy]

Hi! I think if you were to move her up to LHFHG she would love it. You can use your own Bible or buy The Family Time Bible that is recommended. My dd is 5.5 too and she LOVES this Bible, especially the pictures in it.

As far as Biblical content-LHFHG is very full! The history box for the first 19 units (over half the year) is the Bible! Everyday of every unit there is also a Bible Study box that encourages scripture memory daily and a devotional reading 1x a week.

You could also use the Thinking Skills workbook instead of the R&S workbooks. My daughter is using Thinking Skills even though it is her Kindergarten year and it fits her skill level well.

[mom23]

I'm honestly not finding myself overly impressed with The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. My son is doing fine placed in LHTH right now, but he doesn't click with this one, either. (A friend was showing me a copy of the original Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, and it looked like something I might like better-although there's a minor detail of needing to use a book that's still in print .) Nothing against the choices made by Carrie! This one just doesn't click well for us.

For LHFHG we went with the Family Time Bible (the younger option) and loved it! I did it with a 6 yo 1st grader. I'm not familiar with the other option, but I would not hesitate to recommend this Family Time Bible! My son and I had some great discussions through this book, and after one of the stories in this Bible he made the decision to accept Christ .

It's pictures are really engaging, and the stories are a few pages long and written on a more age appropriate level for K or 1st grade.

I also agree with pp that Thinking Skills would likely work fine for a K-er.

[Dustybug]

I would bump her up if she's ready as well. My oldest DD went through LHTH twice. The first time when she was 3 with the younger options/bible/devotional and then again at 4 with the older options/bible/devotional and some added phonics and other supplements. She loved it both times....BUT at 5.5 (she just turned 6 in Feb) she would have been far beyond the content of it. She is midway through LHFHG now and we are really enjoying it! LHFHG does a broad scope of history starting from Creation all the way to early America. Your DD will definitely get much of the Bible content from LHTH, and even more in depth. We use the Family Time Bible and have been pleased. She also used the first grade Thinking Skills book and whizzed through it, so we are actually about to start the second grade level from the series soon.

As far as Singapore goes, we enjoy it and it goes well with the activities in the guide for reinforcement.

[psreit]

I agree that your dd may be ready for the Thinking Skills book if she is bored with the others. It sounds like she is definitely ready for LHFHG. You just need to decide if you want to begin now or wait until after summer vacation, if you are not schooling through the summer. If you opt to wait until Aug/Sept to begin the guide, you could add Math and Thinking Skills now, and just keep reading the extra books that you are currently using. As far as the Bible in LHFHG, we used 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible. My daughter loved it. I'm not familiar with the other one.

About Singapore, the activities in the LHFHG guide correspond to the Kindergarten workbooks. If you go with PM 1& 2, the activities to correspond with those are in the Beyond manual. There are sample pages on the Singapore website(singaporemath.com), which may help in choosing the math level. From what I remember being said, Singapore is consider a half grade level advanced. If I'm wrong, maybe someone can correct that. If you use the activities in the guide, you only need the workbooks. HTH

[mommybelle]

Thank you so much to everyone for all of your wonderful advice! I ordered the curriculum last week, and it arrived on Saturday! I think LHFHG is going to be the perfect fit for her. I cannot wait to start (hopefully tomorrow)! I'm planning to go half speed for awhile until we can at least get into a better routine of doing school.

Box day was a hit as well! http://mommybelle.blogspot.com/2012/05/box-day.html