New here! Intro and questions...

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MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

New here! Intro and questions...

Post by MamaPajama » Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:31 am

Hello! Just a quick intro. My name is Khara and I have a 6 year old son, daughters who are 4 and 22m, and #4 is due in September. This school year we are using My Father's World Kindergarten for my son, and we like it but he's advancing beyond what it has to offer. We are supplementing phonics (Phonics Pathways) and math (Math-U-See) at this point, and quite frankly I'm not looking forward to the MFW 1st grade curriculum. I just haven't been excited about it at all. I LOVE that it's Bible-centered, but there doesn't seem to be much else to it. We're both anxious to get into more meaty subject matter, and I really want a curriculum that is going to incorporate read-alouds into school time, and not just on the side. Since we're using a different phonics and math program anyway, I started to hunt for a curriculum where we could choose those without having to pay for things we wouldn't use. A friend directed me to HOD. I had seen the site before a long time ago, but had forgotten about it. I'm happy to have found it again. I especially love the classic/boy/girl books selections as does my husband.

Anyway, I'm planning to do "Beyond" with my son, and "Little Hands" with both of my girls. My questions are are follows (and I'm sure there'll be more):

*I see that LHFHG calls for a supplemental handwriting program. Do I need one for Beyond?
*Since my youngest will be 2 this year, do I just keep doing Little Hands with her every year until she's ready for Kindergarten?
*If we stick with HOD, it will take us through 5th grade. I see that HOD is planning 3 more curricula in the future (essentially 6th-8th for us). Is there any plan to do a High School curriculum?

I think that's it...for now anyway. I look foward to hearing responses.
God bless,
Khara

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amysconfections
Posts: 247
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 1:37 pm
Location: AL

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by amysconfections » Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:41 am

You do not need a supplemental handwriting unless you prefer that. Otherwise they copy the poem each week or part of it..
I would not do LHTH with my 2 yr old except just including her in when it's fun. Then you can do it later with her when she is ready. Once you get the curriculum you will quickly see what you want to do.
I'm not sure about the high school levels.
Amy
T-18 Masters degree Cyber Security WGU
T-16 Bachelors in Cyber Security WGU
A-12 Res to Ref
A-10 Res to Ref
Heart of Dakota user since 2007.

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by MamaPajama » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:15 pm

amysconfections wrote:You do not need a supplemental handwriting unless you prefer that. Otherwise they copy the poem each week or part of it..
I would not do LHTH with my 2 yr old except just including her in when it's fun. Then you can do it later with her when she is ready. Once you get the curriculum you will quickly see what you want to do.
I'm not sure about the high school levels.

Thanks for the info. Honestly I haven't looked through the Little Hands info as much as I have the other. I was just going by the age recommendation. Really I just planned on including her in things like finger plays and what not. I'm sure I'll see what you mean.

4froggies
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:02 am

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by 4froggies » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:23 pm

Hi and welcome! Just wanted to say that we also switched from MFW to HOD. While I think MFW is a great curriculum HOD is just a much better fit for us.

As for handwriting, if your son already knows how to form his manuscript letters and just needs more practice, then the copywork in Beyond should be perfect. If he needs a little more instruction on the formation of the letters, then I would just add in A Reason for Handwriting.

I agree with the previous posters opinion about LHTH for your two year old. The younger ones really will enjoy joining in many of the olders' activities!

About high school, Carrie (the author) has not committed one way or the other on that (to my knowledge) . I'm sure they are planning on following the Lord's direction on that, though.

Hope this helps! :D
Beth

Mom to 5 great kiddos (15,11,8,5,2) and one due in October!

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by MamaPajama » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:33 pm

4froggies wrote:Hi and welcome! Just wanted to say that we also switched from MFW to HOD. While I think MFW is a great curriculum HOD is just a much better fit for us.

As for handwriting, if your son already knows how to form his manuscript letters and just needs more practice, then the copywork in Beyond should be perfect. If he needs a little more instruction on the formation of the letters, then I would just add in A Reason for Handwriting.

I agree with the previous posters opinion about LHTH for your two year old. The younger ones really will enjoy joining in many of the olders' activities!

About high school, Carrie (the author) has not committed one way or the other on that (to my knowledge) . I'm sure they are planning on following the Lord's direction on that, though.

Hope this helps! :D

Thank you! I also think MFW is great. I'm still keeping it in mind for the future. It's just that when I think of their first grade curriculum I just keep feeling like it would be drudging through one more year until we get to the fun stuff. If I'm feeling that way, I can only imagine how my 6 year old would feel about it. I'm also leaning more and more toward the Charlotte Mason method. And as much as I like the library lists from MFW, our library doesn't offer most of the books, I've discovered. So I'm constantly having to supplement books. I like how HOD has the book lists for sale on their site. This works better for my brain. :)

Mom4Him

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by Mom4Him » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:47 pm

Hi Khara!! Welcome!! :D :D It sounds like you have such a precious family! We have really appreciated & enjoyed HOD at our house. I like how it gets our children really learning, but is easy enough to get done in the day-to-day, & it is God-centered! :D We will be using part of Beyond next year for the Emergent Readers, so I have gotten to take a peak at the guide- it is wonderful! I know you are going to like it! Also, this year we have been going through Little Hands with our children aged 2, 3, 4, and/or 5- so it really does work well for a variety of aged children! The olders have really had a chance to "shine" in their learning & the youngers have really, really enjoyed it! We are planning to use it again next year for our then 4 & 2-year olds- just using the other Bible & devotional that HOD offers & some of the "older" activities written in the guide. Our little guy has mostly just been hanging out with us this year during that time (but I can tell he is learning, because he now knows most of his alphabet & even some letter sounds :D ). He will be repeating Little Hands again with his little sis when they get a bit older (so technically he'll go through the guide about 3 times :wink: ). Others have successfully stretched out the guide to last 2 years- while others repeat the guide (adding a few things). So, you have some great options. :wink:
You will find this board to ba a friendly, helpful place- so if you have more questions- feel free to ask!!
Have a great day!
Jessica

Kathleen
Posts: 1980
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:23 pm
Location: NE Kansas

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by Kathleen » Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:49 pm

MamaPajama wrote: Anyway, I'm planning to do "Beyond" with my son, and "Little Hands" with both of my girls. My questions are are follows (and I'm sure there'll be more):

*I see that LHFHG calls for a supplemental handwriting program. Do I need one for Beyond?
*Since my youngest will be 2 this year, do I just keep doing Little Hands with her every year until she's ready for Kindergarten?
*If we stick with HOD, it will take us through 5th grade. I see that HOD is planning 3 more curricula in the future (essentially 6th-8th for us). Is there any plan to do a High School curriculum?
Hi Khara! :D

I wanted to pop in and say hi, too!

Beyond uses the copywork of the poetry as your handwriting practice. So, if your son has already had instruction on how to for his letters, that's what I'd do. If he hasn't had much instruction with that, you could easily order one of the handwriting books and use that with him instead of the copywork. Does that make sense?

I did LHTH last year with my 4 & 2 yo. I was doing it intentionally with my 4 yo and my 2 yo loved joining us and really got a lot out of it. We had a super-fun year! :D This year when she was 5 and he was 3, I slowed down LHFHG so that he could join us for most of it. Here's how we did that... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600 Now, at the end of the year I've decided that for him it will be best to go through LHTH again. He is loving it! (And I know that he remembers some of it because when we were getting ready to do the sink/float experiment from unit 2 where we read about Noah, he was telling me exactly what I needed to get out so that it looked the same as before.) But he's definitely at a different level of learning now, and is picking up lots of different things. And at this age he loves things that are familiar. :wink:

Just to answer your question, the idea of LHTH is to use it once and then move on to LHFHG. It's not really 3 years of school, but can definitely work well with all of the ages in the age range. Lots of moms here will have ideas for you about how you can use it in your family.

:D Kathleen
Homeschooling mom to 6:
Grant - 19 Kansas State University
Allison - 15 World Geography
Garret - 13 Res2Ref
Asa - 8 Bigger
Quinn - 7 Bigger

Halle - 4 LHTH

Kathleen
Posts: 1980
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:23 pm
Location: NE Kansas

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by Kathleen » Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:55 pm

I had one more question to answer for you...but for some reason my computer does this crazy bouncing thing when I type a long answer. :roll:

Right now, Carrie has plans to finish 2 more guides in the history cycle after RTR. And, then she just told us this year that she's writing another guide that could be used for 9th grade. (If you're thinking you'll get a guide done per year though, you'd hit that guide for 8th grade I think - which would be fine.) So, as of now the geopgraphy guide that I just mentioned is the only high school guide in the "plan". I know that she's following the Lord's leading on this and there is the possibility that He'll lead her to write for high school, too. (I happen to be praying this way! :wink: ) But as of now, there is not a plan for high school. I know that she's said that she'd be willing to share her high school plans for her boys if she doesn't write it though.

:D Kathleen
Homeschooling mom to 6:
Grant - 19 Kansas State University
Allison - 15 World Geography
Garret - 13 Res2Ref
Asa - 8 Bigger
Quinn - 7 Bigger

Halle - 4 LHTH

Samuel'sMommy
Posts: 647
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:59 pm
Location: TN
Contact:

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by Samuel'sMommy » Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:02 pm

Hi Khara! It looks like everyone else has already answered your questions, but I wanted to pop in and welcome you to the boards! I hope that you and your family will love HOD! I know that we do!
Stephanie
Wife to Adam for 25 years
Mom to Samuel (18 - freshman in college), Isaiah (8), and Judah (4) through the miracle of adoption
Using and loving LHTH & BLHFHG

Loved using LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, BHFHG, PHFHG, CTC, & RTR!

Carrie
Site Admin
Posts: 8125
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:39 pm

Re: New here! Intro and questions...

Post by Carrie » Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:37 pm

Khara,

The ladies have already done a great job of answering your questions, so I'll just pop-in to welcome you too! :D We're glad to have you here and look forward to getting to know you better. We pray that HOD may be a blessing to you and your family. :D

Blessings,
Carrie

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