Longterm planning

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sharonb
Posts: 459
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:11 pm
Location: FL

Longterm planning

Post by sharonb » Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:00 pm

Bear with me as I do some longterm planning and try to work through some things!

We started our school year last month, and we are using Beyond for my 1st and 2nd graders. I started to use LHTH with my 2.5 and 4.5 year olds, but have decided to drop it. The 1st and 2nd graders were the only ones who really wanted to do any of the LHTH stuff! My 4.5 year old does not like to participate in fingerplays, and when it comes to art projects, he is very creative, so he does not like the instructions to be too specific. When we are doing school, he will do some pages from the R&S ABC workbooks and his ETC Primers, but the rest of the time he loves to draw, draw, draw. He is often quiet and shy (though he does have his moments of quite the opposite, depending on who is around). I decided he can listen in on Beyond with my 1st and 2nd graders.

For 2010-11, when the oldest three will be 3rd, 2nd, and K, I had originally planned on doing Bigger with the oldest two, and LHFHG with the K'er. But, given his objections to quite a bit in LHTH, I'm wondering if he would enjoy LHFHG. I'm wondering if it would be better to let him tag-along with his older siblings for another year and listen in on the Bigger readings. I will have his phonics, math, and handwriting covered regardless.

The problem comes in when I start thinking about the following year. I'll have 4th, 3rd, 1st, and preK. 4th and 3rd would be in Preparing. I just don't see having a 1st grader tag-along in Preparing. I could have him do LHFHG or Beyond at that point, BUT, after tagging-along in Beyond and Bigger, would he be bored backing up like that?

I know that I should not be worrying about this right now. A lot can change in a year. Ds will probably change a lot in the next year. Maybe he would enjoy doing LHFHG by himself. But if I let him tag-along instead of having his own program, at some point I'm going to need to un-combine them, aren't I?

AnaDawson
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:13 pm

Re: Longterm planning

Post by AnaDawson » Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:28 pm

Sharon,

I have had a similar question answered recently. The advice I was given was that the material in LHFHG is essential to children going into kindergarten. If your kinder student does not really enjoy doing the rhymes with motions, perhaps try a different approach. My son who will be doing LHFHG this year does not like action songs either. I am not going to force him to do the motions, but he will have to be present when I do the rhyme with my two youngest (3 and 1) after his story time reading. LHFHG will have more opportunities for your son to have independent work: handwriting, fine motor skills, and math. You can even have him do a phonics worksheet if your phonics program calls for it. During bible, history, and story time he can cuddle with you on the couch and your little ones can hang around too. For the activity and rhyme the little ones can participate too while he observes what you are doing. I totally understand what you are talking about. Like I mentioned before, my son is the same way. I will do fun action songs with my other three kids while he watches and says he is bored. It is so hard for me because I am very outgoing and never want to sit out on a dance. Anyway, I guess it is hard for him too, being with a bunch of really outgoing people.

Blessings,

Ana Dawson
Blessings,

Ana Dawson

Mommy to:
Ava 7 BHFHG
Walker 5 LHFHG
Reed 3
Ella 1

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Longterm planning

Post by my3sons » Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:04 am

Sharon,

We've completed LHTH twice now with two of our dc, and it gave us such a wonderful start to homeschooling. :D It is a program that is focused on learning about the Bible, and it was key in helping our dc learn essential preschool skills - such as letter recognition, letter sounds, numbers, skip counting, measurement, patterning, just to name a few that come to mind. :D The rhymes and motions took only a few minutes a day to do - we grew to enjoy them immensely throughout the year, so giving your ds time to grow into them might help - you can decide how best to handle that. The art only comes up once a week, and you could certainly give your ds leeway about how to put his own stamp of creativity on it if you want, but being able to follow directions to complete projects is a good skill to learn. If he loves art, perhaps he could make up his own art project to do on the other 4 days there is not art in the plans? I have some nephews who, like your ds, are very artistic and love to just have the 'art cabinet' at their fingertips to create. That may be fun for your ds! :)

The bulk of LHTH is time spent in the Bible and learning K-readiness skills - I do think those are skills necessary for little ones to learn. If your ds knows his letters and letter sounds, has beginning math skills down, etc., then maybe he would be better placed in LHFHG - maybe half-speed. We started LHFHG half-speed with our 4 1/2 yo, and it worked great - but then, I attribute that largely to the fact that he took off after learning all of the skills in LHTH so well first. Either way, I think LHTH or LHFHG would serve your ds's needs better than tagging along with older dc, as this will not teach him the younger set of skills he needs and will create an ever-widening gap as the older dc move up through the HOD guides. Praying for you as you ponder what's best for your little guy! :)

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

MomtoJGJE
Posts: 1534
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:20 pm
Location: Gastonia, NC

Re: Longterm planning

Post by MomtoJGJE » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:17 pm

Do you think he could start this year doing the K stuff in LHFHG? That's what we are doing with my 4.5yo. We are doing all of the earlier books (K science, handwriting, fine motor skills, math) and then next year we'll use LHFHG again with her using the higher levels of those books. Essentially she'll be a year ahead of her age level in school, but she would also be bored out of her mind with LHTH because she's already starting to read, knows basic math, etc. I feel like K is more where she's supposed to be academically.

mariaw
Posts: 155
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:23 am

Re: Longterm planning

Post by mariaw » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:26 pm

We are doing LHFHG right now and are in week 5. As far as the rhymes in motion section goes, I say stick with it. I don't know how it compares to the fingerplays in LHTH, but I find it very valuable in following directions and using gross motor skills. It's very "sneaky" instruction too. For instance, my boys (4 and 6) can't point to the 7 continents on a globe, but I hear them "singing" the names of the continents to themselves while they play because of the rhyme in week 1. When it comes time for that, they will already have those names stored away in their brains! Half the time, they sit there and roll their eyes while I act like a complete loon jumping all over the living room! But once they decide that it looks like a *tiny* amount of fun, and they get up and get moving, I can't get them to stop. It takes a couple of days sometimes. And some of the rhymes have been bigger hits than others, but that's ok.

I am doing Preparing this year with my oldest, and there is no way I could see my 1st grader sitting through the history readings. I don't have any experience with Beyond or Bigger, so I can't speak to those. But I find LHFHG to be a much fuller program than it seems at first glance. So much of it comes in the discussion and questions that your kids ask while you go through the activities.
dd9 - Preparing with R&S 3 and Singapore 2
ds7 - LHFHG
ds5 - LHFHG
dd1.5 - in charge of hiding all our pencils

sharonb
Posts: 459
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:11 pm
Location: FL

Re: Longterm planning

Post by sharonb » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:27 pm

He already knows his letters and sounds. Now that you mention it, he probably is ready skill-wise for LHFHG. I had actually considered using LHFHG for him and the 1st grader (and in that case I would have put my 2nd grader in Bigger). But, I decided to get Beyond because I knew my 2nd grader would not want to miss out on the books in Beyond. Although my 4 and 5 year old boys are the closest in age (16 months), it was actually easier to combine my 7 and 5 year olds at this point because of skill/grade levels. The pre-K'er has a December birthday, so one possibility I had considered was starting him in LHFHG in Dec or Jan.

I'll keep pondering this; thanks for the advice!

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