Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

This is where new posts begin. All questions or discussions about any of Heart of Dakota's curriculums start here. If you wish to share a one-time post about your family's experience with our curriculum, you may post under the specific curriculum title (found beneath this "Main Board" heading).
moedertje
Posts: 761
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:31 pm
Location: Sarasota, Fl

Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by moedertje » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:25 pm

Hello,

I am a one time user of LHTH, using LHFHG currently and moving to BLHFHG in the fall.

Now, my question is for my 3 year old son whether to start him with LHTH this year. He seems ready when I look at the placement charts. He participates with (LHFHG) all Rhymes in Motion, history reading, science etc. if he is not napping yet. He wants to read books and picks them up to read to the baby and wants to watch brothers math video (Math U See) and do math. He is excited to do his 30 minutes of individual pre-school time and 20 minutes of individual reading time before nap and is retaining the info.

I am wondering if I should start him on LHTH this year? I just don't know if he will be able to go right into LHFHG next year. He would be only 4 years old. I just don't want to do LHTH two years in a row, since little sis is following soon:-). I love LHTH, but two years in a row is too much for me:-)

If I do LHTH this year could I just have him do some of what his brother is doing for science, art, history, when we get to Bigger Hearts next year and just start him off with Phonics and Math at his own level. Than wait 1 year before starting LHFHG?

Of course I can always do all the stuff from BLHFHG with him as well this year and add some beginning phonics games (Happy Phonics and Language Lessons for the little ones book 1) and just fun cutting, tracing etc... Than start LHTH next year and move right into LHFHG the next year.

It also makes me a bit nervous to do 2 programs at the same time, because I tend to want to do it all! It will be a good way for the Lord to work my agenda out of my system and follow His.

If you have been through the same thing or have any input I would so appreciate it!

You ladies are a great help when I read all the posts.
Thanks in advance.
Raising Arrows; Psalms 127:4
ds17, Class of 2020, now at IHOPU
ds 15, WH
dd 13, MTMM
In year 1 of homeschooling it all started with LHTH for us.

crlacey
Posts: 630
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: NC

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by crlacey » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:59 am

While I personally haven't done this yet, others have suggested to spread out LHTH by doing it only three days a week. Then doing LHFHG at half speed to start. We are doing LHFHG at half speed for the summer just to keep in the routine of doing something, without too much since it is summer. So far it's working out great. Then you're little guy could just join in on the older program when he's interested while getting some mommy time of his own.
Crystal
DD 20 married college graduate
DS 17 college student
DD 11 CTC

Finished: LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, BHFHG, PHFHG, CTC, Res to Ref, Rev to Rev, MTMM, parts of WG and WH

mom2boys030507
Posts: 208
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Cottage Grove, MN
Contact:

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by mom2boys030507 » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:16 am

I have started LHTH with my 3 year old son. I am just doing it 3 or so days a week. I am guessing it will take about 1.5 years to get through. Then he will be almost 5 and ready to start Little Hearts. He was also participating in all the activites in Little Hearts with big brother.

Karen
Karen - mom to Bryce 02/03, Micah 03/05, and Matthew 05/07

stellar
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:57 am

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by stellar » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:24 am

I would start Little Hands to Heaven. I think it is perfect for a 3 year old. :-)

Kariann

LeAnna
Posts: 412
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:59 pm

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by LeAnna » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:47 am

I just started LHTH with my son who will be 3 next month. We started out doing just a half of page a day, which would take us through about 2 years. However, he really wants to do the the whole thing plus more, so for now, we are just going to go through it and see where it takes us. If he finishes before he is ready to begin LHFHG, then we will find something else to fill in the gap. :D

LeAnna :D

inHistiming
Posts: 1301
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:30 pm
Location: Central VA
Contact:

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by inHistiming » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:48 am

Since he's just 3, I would do LHTH and stretch it out to 2 years. That way, he should be mature enough to move into LHFHG when you finish. If you need more to do each day you could always read extra books, add coloring pages that coordinate with the Bible story, have special art or cooking projects, etc. You can find many, many ideas for FREE online. My son, who turned 5 in June, will be using LHTH for Kindergarten. I plan to start at the scheduled pace, adding extra things or speeding up if he seems to need more. That's the great thing about the HOD manuals. Because they are set up with age ranges, you can just speed up or slow down as needed, then move into the next manual once done. Each one prepares the child for the next manual. I think the manin concern here is that LHFHF is written for ages 5-7, so you don't want tofinish LHTH too quickly. Stretching it should be fairly simple to do. HTH :)

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

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by my3sons » Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:14 am

crlacey wrote:While I personally haven't done this yet, others have suggested to spread out LHTH by doing it only three days a week. Then doing LHFHG at half speed to start. We are doing LHFHG at half speed for the summer just to keep in the routine of doing something, without too much since it is summer. So far it's working out great. Then you're little guy could just join in on the older program when he's interested while getting some mommy time of his own.
Crystal described here exactly what we did with our second ds, and it worked very well for him. He started LHTH when he was about 3, and he will finish LHFHG when he's about 5 1/2. It has fit him very well, and LHFHG was easy to do along with Bigger Hearts... last year. The "mommy time" really made him feel special, and he continued doing whatever we'd done in LHTH (and later LHFHG) long after I'd done "my part" with him (i.e. after doing the sink/float activity together in the sink, he did it on his own for another half an hour; after hopping on the big letter on the floor with me, he hopped on it for another 15 minutes on his own; after building the Jericho wall and knocking it down, he rebuilt it and marched around it knocking it down at least another half a dozen times). You can see how investing the 20-30 minutes of teaching required for LHTH can actually free up more time to work with your other dc in the long run because the little one can keep on enjoying what you did together on his/her own. :D :D :D

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

moedertje
Posts: 761
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:31 pm
Location: Sarasota, Fl

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by moedertje » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:44 pm

Thank you ladies. I think that is a great idea to start 3 times a week, I just forget that you don't have to cram it all in in 1 week!!!!!!!!! It's 5 days per unit. I am a bit too structured at times :-).
That is what I will do and if he needs to speed it up half way through we will adapt.
Thank you again and I so appreciate your help!
Raising Arrows; Psalms 127:4
ds17, Class of 2020, now at IHOPU
ds 15, WH
dd 13, MTMM
In year 1 of homeschooling it all started with LHTH for us.

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

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by my3sons » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:20 pm

moedertje wrote:Thank you ladies. I think that is a great idea to start 3 times a week, I just forget that you don't have to cram it all in in 1 week!!!!!!!!! It's 5 days per unit. I am a bit too structured at times :-).
That is what I will do and if he needs to speed it up half way through we will adapt.
Thank you again and I so appreciate your help!
One thing I'd suggest is doing the letter flashcards and fingerplay every day. We only did 3 days of plans, but on the other 2 days of the week, we started just doing the flashcards and fingerplay, and the carryover and memorization of them was much improved (plus it only took 5 minutes). Even 5 minutes counts as "mommy time", right? :wink:

Julie :D
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

moedertje
Posts: 761
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:31 pm
Location: Sarasota, Fl

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by moedertje » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:58 pm

We incorporate our Rhyme in Motion in our "Praising Jesus Time" and I will continue to do so especially since Beyond does not have that anymore and my older one is on the young spectrum and will continue to benefit from that as well.

Great idea!!!!!!!!
Raising Arrows; Psalms 127:4
ds17, Class of 2020, now at IHOPU
ds 15, WH
dd 13, MTMM
In year 1 of homeschooling it all started with LHTH for us.

crlacey
Posts: 630
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: NC

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by crlacey » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:42 am

Another thing you could do is add letteroftheweek.com to your non-HOD days. Just pick some of the ideas and books listed to go along with the letter you're working on in HOD. Then you could do school as many days as you'd like.
Crystal
DD 20 married college graduate
DS 17 college student
DD 11 CTC

Finished: LHTH, LHFHG, BLHFHG, BHFHG, PHFHG, CTC, Res to Ref, Rev to Rev, MTMM, parts of WG and WH

netpea

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by netpea » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:22 am

crlacey wrote:Another thing you could do is add letteroftheweek.com to your non-HOD days. Just pick some of the ideas and books listed to go along with the letter you're working on in HOD. Then you could do school as many days as you'd like.
Some other good websites to help fill in the gaps till you're ready to start LHFHG:
www.starfall.com (my kids love this one)
www.freeworldu.com (my kids aren't thrilled with this one but I've heard other parents rave about it)
www.enchantedlearning.com (we get lots of coloring pages here)

HTH
:D

inHistiming
Posts: 1301
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:30 pm
Location: Central VA
Contact:

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by inHistiming » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:34 am

I just wanted to add that we will be using http://www.starfall.com too. My daughter loved it, and my son does too. We will use it along with Reading Made Easy for phonics instruction.

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

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by Carrie » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:28 pm

I just wanted to say that we did LHTH 3 days a week with my third son and really enjoyed that pace. On the off-days, I just read-aloud to him, which he really enjoyed too. Once he finished LHTH, he was a few months away from being 5. We started LHFHG at half-speed and that worked very well too. Now, this year, we'll finish LHFHG at full-speed, as I can tell he is ready! :D

Even doing short bite-sized pieces, he learned so much, and the time allotment was just right for his maturity level! :wink:

Blessings,
Carrie

moedertje
Posts: 761
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:31 pm
Location: Sarasota, Fl

Re: Need help with whether to start LHTH this year!

Post by moedertje » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:11 pm

Thank you ladies for the encouragement. I just wanted to make sure that I was not pushing him too much or holding him back.

3x's week is a great idea and he will be so proud to do school!

He loves to join in on the reading for his brother as well so I will include him some of those activities as they are appropriate!

Thank you and blessings.
Raising Arrows; Psalms 127:4
ds17, Class of 2020, now at IHOPU
ds 15, WH
dd 13, MTMM
In year 1 of homeschooling it all started with LHTH for us.

Post Reply