LHFHG or Beyond for 1st grade??

[4froggies]

Hello! I'm new here and hoping you ladies can help me decide which program to use for my dd in the fall. My oldest (dd-10) will be doing CTC (Im so excited to have found this!) and I think I might start LHTH with my ds-3. But, I cannot decide what to use for my dd-6 (she'll be 6 in June) . Looking at the placement guide, she fits Beyond in everything except the writing- we are still practicing lower case letters- no sentences (although maybe this is someyhing we could work on during the summer). She is finishing phonics and is ready for spelling. also strong in math. But, I think the history overview and bible in LHFHG would really fit her right now, and I'm wondering if my 3yo ds could join her sometimes in the activities, which would be nice. Also, she would love the animal read-alouds! I'm just wondering if LHFHG would be enough for her?

I guess my two options are to add some language arts/spelling to LHFHG (we're using abeka) or use Beyond and adjust the written assignments until she's ready. Has anyone used either of these with a first grader? I'd love to hear your experience. Thanks!

[funkmomma71]

Hi and welcome!! LHFHG is very meaty program! From what I understand there is alot more writing involved with Beyond, so if she is laggin in that area it may be the deciding factor. In the back of LHFHG there is an appendix for extra read alouds for each unit, you could easily add those in for a more meaty program. Each program builds on each other so, even though you can start anywhere, if your dd needs more time to grow into skills you may want to go with LHFHG, no one will be frustrated and it can easily be made more challenging if your daughter shows that she can handle more. If you do go with LHFHG you may want to consider buying the Beyond manual so that you can have the hands-on math activities for 1a-1b, it will make math even more accessible to your daughter. You would also be able to use the emerging readers appendix and activities for your little reader. Many moms go the route of combining different aspects of two manuals to customize HOD for their little students. The history overview is really wonderful and so are the activities that tie into them, so unless you are really set on Beyond you may want to take a good look at LHFHG.

BTW, today my ds, 19 months-old, joined us as we review an old rhyme covering the days of the week! He loved being a part of what we were doing. So yeah, your ds would probably love being able to join in for rhymes and storytime.

May God bless you with peace in your decision.

[tiffanieh]

Just as Nancy said, LHFHG is most definitely a meaty program. We use it this year for my 5/7 year olds doing K/1st grade. We did have to get the Beyond manual when my 7 year old was ready for the reading comprehension. We also didn't do Singapore so it didn't matter what guide we had for that.

You're not going to go wrong with starting in LHFHG and you'll have the added benefit of being able to enjoy BOTH programs this year and next year doing Beyond. If she is ready for reading comprehension then just go ahead and get the Beyond book too and you'll be one step ahead of the game!

You'll thoroughly enjoy LHFHG!

[Emilylou]

I think it would depend on where your daughter was at. We are doing LHFHG this year for K. My son was bored with the 1st 1/2 of bible history, he liked the readings but since he has done Sunday School and AWANA for 2 years- most of the things were repeated for him.
I think it was the 4th time he learned and played out "the walls of Jericho" for an example.
All of the math manipulates were too easy for him. I had him "teach" them to his younger sister just too keep him engaged for a little extra time. He had already done all the Rod and Staff workbooks for preschool last year, so we worked on the Thinking Skills Book.
He loved the read alouds, and the supplementary reading lists, the music and art. The science is a very gentle approach which most of it was simple and quick for him. It did get him thinking and he expanded on most of the activities himself.
Over all he enjoyed the book, and we have stuck to most everything each day. but I couldn't imagine him doing it for 1st grade.
Hope this helps. He is also a 1st born, and pretty much an eager learner. And my 3 1/2 year was able to enjoy alot of LHFHG along side her brother. She would do all the math activities, music, art and science with him. and she did coloring sheet while we read aloud.
We already have Beyond for next year, and I think it will be a great fit for him.

[busybee4]

Hello and welcome!!! I used LHFHG for all except grammer, spelling and math (we used Beyond for those) for my dd who was in the 1st grade. It was a perfect fit for her to use both manuals and it didn't get confusing or hard at all! She also LOVES the Thorton Burgess books so maybe your little one will too! I used the bible, music, art, science and read alouds for both my dd 7 and dd 5 from LHFHG. I did find that they LOVED the Bible, we read the stories right from the Bible itself and even though they heard stories that they'd heard since forever they LOVED it and enjoyed ,more than I thought, hearing it from the Word of God. The science was very gentle and at times I wanted to go a little more in depth so feel free to do that if you want. The history from History for Little Pilgrims was just right for the both of them. I thought that some of the action rhymes would be too silly but they enjoyed the ones that we did. I think this decision highly depends on your child. My oldest is more of a reluctant learner who likes things "gentle" so this fit for her. If yours is eager and advanced then go into Beyond. Either way they are both great and I'm sure you'll have fun...which is the point any way right?!

[4froggies]

Thank you all so much for your input!

busybee4- so then what did you/will you use for 2nd grade for grammar & spelling?

[Jessi]

I'd vote for Beyond and just try to beef up her handwriting this summer or perhaps buy a handwriting program to do in conjunction with Beyond. If she places there in everything else I'd hesitate to say that LHFHG would be a good fit. Her handwriting will come along just fine. My daughter just turned five in March (we started LHFHG in Dec) and she is flying through it. We started half pace as she was still only four but we are now going full pace and it is just right for her.

Go with Beyond. You'd rather have your child challenged than feel like the whole year your child could have done more. We started with LHTH in the fall after good advice (it is great that ladies on here want to help and I have listened to much of their wise counsel. They are wonderful! But only you truly know what your child is capable of so trust your instincts). But it was not a good fit for us. She complained that it was too easy....so we went up a guide mid year and she loves it! Just the right amount of challenge.

I know people say that each HOD program is meaty and it is, but you have to base that on what your kids are capable of. There is no pat answer here but I second EmilyLou with doing Beyond. And sure you could use LHFHG for history and bible and do the the learn the basics on the right side of Beyond but that is a lot of work for someone who mostly fits into Beyond. My daughter is a lot like EmilyLou's son. The Bible stories she has heard and reenacted so many times. Of course she loves Bible stories but having done LHTH for half a year and now LHFHG part of the year, we are doing the same stories and very similar activities for each one, plus church every week.

Either program is just great- hope you find your right placement. I can't wait to start beyond next year!!

Have a great day!!

btw- I have scoured our library for the list of books in the back and so far I have been able to find 1 book (we are in week 7). I am hoping once we get to more modern history towards the end I'll have better luck but if your library doesn't carry a lot of Christian books, you'll be hard pressed to supplement.

[4froggies]

Jessi, I think you might be right about Beyond. We will be doing a 4 day week next year since my other dd is doing CTC, so this would allow me to slow down the pace of Beyond and finish it the first couple of months of second grade. I need to just stop looking at LHFHG because it just looks like so much fun! (although Beyond does too!) Thanks!

[Tree House Academy]

I was in the same dilemma as you just a few weeks ago. My older son who is 10 will be doing Bigger with Extensions (because we want to focus on American History this year before we start the 4 year cycle). He will jump on to HHTT the next year. However, my younger was the issue - 1st grade, will be 6 in September. When it got right down to it, I followed what my gut told me to do. From the moment I read the description of the programs, Little Hearts just seemed too "young" for him. Beyond seemed absolutely perfect. I asked the ladies here and many, even Carrie herself, recommended Little Hearts. However, I just had to follow my gut and I knew that if I Beyond and it didn't "fit" we could always save it and I could buy Little Hearts instead. In the end, my gut was 100% right on. I got Beyond and it is absolutely PERFECT. It meets him totally at his level.

Also, you do not have to use 100% of the curriculum. The great thing about HOD is that, while Carrie gives great suggestions, you are free to pick what works for you and your child. We are using CLE Language Arts, CLE Bible (this year, may switch to HOD next year...we had already purchased and like CLE), and CLE Math. I also added in state and capitals study for my oldest along with Writing with Ease because I feel he needs the formal writing instruction. Everything else, we will use HOD. When we finish doing the emerging readers in Beyond, we will start with DITHOR which is also just such a wonderful program.

I guess my long, rambling post was basically to say "follow your gut." You know your kids better than anyone else - and while we can all tell you what we would do, you have to know that we think of our own children and their levels and choose with some of that bias. Only you can know for sure.

Best of luck to you and Welcome to HOD!

[Tree House Academy]

Oh...and as for Finding the books...bookmooch and paperback swap have been wonderful! What I haven't gotten there (free!), I have bought used. Last night, I posted a "want to buy" ad at the WTM forum and one of the great ladies there had 4 of the books I was looking for and I paid very little for them used. I also got the whole set of emergent readers for Beyond for $19 off the same for sale board. It can totally be done...just start ahead of time.

[Jessi]

Rebecca- I'll have to check those sites out for books. Thanks for posting them. I was so disappointed we couldn't add in relevant reading to go along with our lessons. My children love books and it would be nice.

[busybee4]

Thank you all so much for your input!

busybee4- so then what did you/will you use for 2nd grade for grammar & spelling?

I will go into the second spelling list in the beyond manual for my dd 7 and I will use the grammar from the manual again but beef it up by following the 2nd grade scope and sequence from the world book website and Ruth Beechick's Three R's book to make sure that I hit on the topics that she needs for this year. The practice will come from copywork listed and from examining sentences that I pick out from something we're in the process of reading. My heart's desire is a relaxed way to homeschool which fits with our lifestyle (4 kiddos: 2nd K, 3.5 yr. old rambunctious ds and a nursing infant), my daughter's manner of learning and the Lord's leading. I know that this doesn't work for all but hope it gives you some ideas!!

Oh! P.S. We also used A Beka for phonics in K5 and 1st and her reading is great however she wasn't ready to go into the emerging readers in 1st so we will be doing that for 2nd along with probably just the 2nd grade phonics workbook to help with review and to sharpen her phonics skills a little more. The spelling lists are quite different as Abeka is advanced. The spelling in Beyond fit better for my dd so we stuck with that and will continue for 2nd as well.

That's my 2 cents!

[Carrie]

4froggies,

I just wanted to welcome you! The ladies on the board are doing a terrific job of helping you sort through options to find the best fit for you. As you can see, there is not one "set" answer or "set advice" that we give to moms who are looking into placement for HOD. When we're giving placement advice on the board, we're weighing the information you give us about your child (or children), along with how we perceive your personal family goals, and whether or not you wish to combine kiddos within a program. We also weigh whether or not moms may end up doing 2 programs in a row (back to back) and thinking about whether that would be wise in the long haul (hence my advice to TreeHouse to use LHFHG instead of Beyond), and the family's day-to-day situation, and your teaching style, etc., etc., etc.!

There are so many options to consider when finding the best placement for YOUR child. I would most likely lean toward placing your child in Beyond, since that is where your child tends to fit best on the placement chart. It also looks like your older child will be heading into CTC, so you won't end up doing 2 programs in a row by doing Beyond and CTC (which makes for a nice rotation of programs from year-to-year).

Since you've shared you'll be doing a 4-day plan that also makes Beyond more feasible, as you can go 9 weeks into the next school year to allow your child to grow up a bit more before heading into Bigger Hearts.

I pray you'll find the best fit for you and that you'll enjoy HOD as much as we do!

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

I think your dd fits in BLHFHG in all areas except writing, so as long as you help your child along in that area, it should be a good fit overall. LHFHG was a blast, so that's too bad you'll be missing it, but BLHFHG is equally fun - so no matter what you decide is the best fit for your family, either one is a great program. I also think it is important to realize that our attitude about a program sometimes influences the way our dc respond - so if we think a program is too young, they may think so as well. If we think a program is going to be a struggle, they may think so too. Anyway, once you make your choice, just getting behind that choice with a "can-do-it" attitude will do wonders and make your time together joyful. Have fun with it - it sounds like you've made a good choice for your situation!

In Christ,
Julie