Combining with a large age gap and what age/s for LHTH?

[Candice]

Just thinking here...could be dangerous!

Two questions...

Is it at all possible to combine kiddos that are 3 years apart? I am thinking no, but sometimes you ladies come up with some pretty creative and clever ideas for combining.
My kiddos are 5 and 2, I have always assumed that we would just run separate programs because of the large age gap, but now I wonder????


Also, just curious, what age/s do/did you use/d LHTH with?
Interested in seeing the earliest and lastest age ranges.

Thank you (I feel like I am doing a study on HOD, lol!)!

Candice

[Carrie]

Candice,

I'm thinking that the age gap with your kiddos is pretty large now, because you'll have a reader for several years before your little one will get to that stage. That makes it tough to combine them any time soon, unless you're willing to place your older child in a holding pattern for quite awhile, which I wouldn't lean toward doing, unless your kiddos were just a year or two apart.

As far as LHTH goes, we've done it at just about all the ages mentioned on the guide and have had good success with it at all stages. The kiddos, of course, could perform the tasks in the guide at very different levels depending on their age and maturity. But, they each enjoyed it and learned (or reviewed) their readiness skills as they went.

Blessings,
Carrie

[WhereHopeGrows]

I am planning on doing LHTH with my 5yo boy and my almost 3yo girl. I am going to do it over the summer. I don't expect my 2yo (will be 3 in July) to get much out of it in academic terms, but in the way of spending time and playing together, it should be great! My 5yo son does not know his letters and sounds, so I think he could use the practice before beginning a Kindergarten program. I just wanted to comment in case your thoughts are similar. I am not sure I could combine them later on, but for now I am hoping it'll work great! My 2yo girl is probably more of an over-achiever, ad my 5yo boy is less mature, so that is a factor too.

[crlacey]

I also have kids 3 years apart and plan to run separate programs. There is no way I could combine mine since DD was interested in learning early. She did LHTH the fall after she turned 2 (May baby). And yet I won't start LHTH with my son till this fall when he'll be 3.5 yrs old.

[my3sons]

My dc are all 3 or more years apart too, and I am running separate programs very happily. It would not work for them to be combined because they are just way too far apart, and one of them would be stretched too far and the other not enough if I did try to combine them together. But, that's just my family! I would guess if the younger child was quite advanced, and the older child struggled somewhat - they may be closer to being able to combine. But then I'd worry about the content (especially in history) being too mature for the younger and not mature enough for the older, and for there to be some hard feelings if younger was doing same as/better than older - so then I guess I'd be back to separating them. I will say, if you do combine dc that are far apart in age, you just have to know that it's probably not the best fit for one or the both of them individually in one or more areas. I struggle with advising ladies to combine who have many years between their dc's ages - even if it is their heart's desire, when they're in the day to day of combining, they sometimes come back and say that the history was too light for their older, or the science readings too hard for their younger, etc. - and they've forgotten they chose to stretch a program or back up a program from its original intention, and there will be some tweaking when you do that. It really depends on each mom's dc and their situation though. Candice, I know that you will know what is best for your family and your personal goals, those are just a few thoughts I had.

In Christ,
Julie