What to do with my 4yr old???

[nena3927]

My dd age 4 (late October birthday) has been doing LHTH full speed along with ETC (Go for the Code), R&S Counting Book, and one page per day in TRL. She does 2 pages in ETC on Mon, Wed, and Fri and 1 page in R&S on Tues and Thur. She LOVES R&S and ETC and calls them her "fun" books. The problem I am having is regarding TRL. I did NOT intend to teach her to read until she was 5 but when I started my ds with TRL she just jumped in and stayed right where he was until now. Lately she has become resistant to do her lessons and while she was doing 2 pages per day, I cut her back to 1 page to see if that would help. However she still whines and doesn't want to do it. I don't want to force her since she is so young but at the same time, she is on lesson 10 and I hate to start back over this fall. I actually am not sure now either about the plans I had for her this fall. If she were going to ps she wouldn't start till next year because of her late birthday. I held my ds back by only allowing him to do the right side of LHFHG and then added in LHTH so they could do LHFHG this fall together. As far as skills go, my dd would be ready of LHFHG this fall even with the read alouds (she loves the Burgess books!) but now I'm not so sure she will be interested in doing so. I am hoping her attitude changes by then because her and her brother can definitely be combined. I just don't know what to do with her lol. Would you completely stop TRL for now even though she can do it and is halfway through? What about this fall...if she does not want to do LHFHG, what would I do instead? If I waited that till the following year when she is 5 fixing to turn 6, then her and my ds will only be one guide apart which I know is not recommended esp for Bigger /Preparing. Oh my...I'm stressing right now! Any suggestions?

[StephanieU]

I have two with fall birthdays, and one thing I have learned is plans change and then can change back VERY easily. The plan was to start LHTH in the fall, and my son did not want anything to do with it most days. So, we stopped. I decided to pick it back up in January, and now he is wanting to do it (as is the 2yo). He will actually even pull out his handwriting book that we are slowly working on and do things when I don't "request" he try. Four months ago, I thought I was going to have to wait a full year to start LHTH, and now it is a perfect fit.
The same thing happens with my 6yo. Some times we just have to take a week or two off of a subject and just do it loosely. They can easily burn out, especially if the subject is requiring a lot of thought and work. If it is easy, they love to do it normally at this young age. So, can you take a month off of TRL and just work on reading simple words in books? We did that with the 6yo some. I would be reading a story and then point to a word she could sound out periodically. It worked pretty well to keep the phonics skills "fresh" without making it too much school.
So the moral - by Fall, she could be ready. If she isn't, maybe consider going half speed with both of them for a little bit. If it becomes clear she still isn't ready for LHFHG, then speed the 6yo up and have her do LHTH again - at least the Bible part. Then have her start LHFHG when she is almost 6, and if you feel the need, go half speed periodically to spread them out a little more.

[bethelmommy]

I think it is fine to take a break from TRL since she is young. She is still getting phonics through ETC. My ds was resistant to learning how to read at age 4 even though he had learned all his letters and sounds before age 2. I told him he didn't have to learn to read at age 4, but that at age 5 he would be K age and would be having lessons everyday. So, when his b-day rolled around we started and once we established a routine, lessons went fine. Whenever you do pick back up TRL, just do the end of chapter word reviews to see what she remembers and start back in wherever she ends up. In the meantime, when you are reading to her you can occasionally ask her to read certain words for you. If you are reading easy picture books, have her do a line and then you. You can also have her read bob books and other easy readers from time to time just to keep her up on what she knows. A little bit of time to hang out at a level where she is comfortable reading may be all she needs. Try not to worry about the fall. Children mature in spurts, not a steady, straight line. LHFHG is a blast and it sounds like she will be ready for it.

[MelInKansas]

I totally agree with the others. Something to keep in mind is that while young children (2, 3, 4) can learn to read if they know the letter sounds and have a good ear for it, it is very difficult for them. Children have to be able to remember and repeat back a sequence of at least 6 pieces of information in order to read fluently. So you could say 6 numbers to her, "1, 5, 2, 7, 3, 4" and she could repeat them back without any mistake. If you think about it they have to hold a lot of information in their heads in order to see all the letter sounds and then blend them together. It is definitely not something to push.

My 2nd born went through a stage where TRL was difficult for her and she would cry nearly every day. We stopped for a couple of weeks. We started back up again with a lot of encouragement from me. I did see a character issue with her (and she was also 5 1/2 so she was older than your DD and really was ready for it) that when she would not get it right the first time and had to go back and sound out the word(s) again she would get frustrated. I figured she needed to learn that sometimes you have to try again when you don't get it right, and this is not a reason to be really upset and cry. I don't know if she learned it, but we got through it mostly positively.

As others mentioned, you have no idea what your daughter will be ready for and willing to do in the Fall. That is a long time in a 4 year old's life. I would take it easy on her now, let her feel that school is fun, and pick up again if she is ready and shows interest.

[nena3927]

Thank you ladies for your suggestions! I do think I will just back off from TRL for now (even though I hate to) and just let my dd continue with what she likes since she is so young. Maybe after a break, she will start WANTING to read again like she did to begin with. I guess I'll just wait and see where she is this fall and go from there. Really hoping though she will be ready to start LHFHG with big brother...it looks like such fun

[Carrie]

Nena,

You've been given such wonderful advice from the ladies on the board! What a blessing these ladies are to one another and to me!

I think that it sounds like your little almost 5 year old honey will be able to head into LHFHG with your son this coming fall. She sounds ready with her writing skills, her reading skills, and her listening skills (which is great)! So, I would stay the course to keep them combined.

As far as The Reading Lesson goes, since your sweetie is so young, you can definitely set it aside for now if desired (and just pick it back up in the fall). One other suggestion that may help (due to your daughter's young age) when you do pick The Reading Lesson back up would be to write the words from The Reading Lesson page on a markerboard one word at a time (using The Reading Lesson like your Teacher's Guide for awhile instead of as a Student Book). When your daughter reads the one word on the board correctly, let her erase it. Then, write the next word. Do 10 words or so a day this way. Often just seeing one word at a time makes reading the word easy. Erasing it makes it fun! Doing just 10 words a day makes it short. But, you are still progressing through The Reading Lesson (truly losing nothing). You could try this now even, and maybe you won't have to put The Reading Lesson aside.

Another possibility to ponder (to stretch out LHFHG a bit to allow your young one to grow up) would be to do LHFHG 4 days a week next school year. Then, you would go 9 weeks into the next school year to finish LHFHG. This would give you an extra day off each week (where you possibly just do reading and math) and allow your little sweetie to mature a bit to enable her to stay with big brother for the long haul.

Blessings,
Carrie

[nena3927]

Thank you so much Carrie for taking the time to share your thoughts! I am going to try your suggestion with TRL and writing the words on the board instead of having her read from the book. It actually may be a perfect fit for my little Hannah as she loves to write/erase on our dry erase board. I will also consider doing LHFHG 4 days/per week to extend the guide a little longer if she needs that in the fall. It's good to know I have so many options with HOD. Thank you so much for this curriculum as it has already truly blessed our family and given us a wonderful first year of homeschooling