New to this...when to start LHFHG

[hs.mama07]

My DS is 4 (Nov. b-day) and we just started LHTH. I’m trying to decide how best to go about this and wanted to hear some other opinions.

1. I could do LHTH full speed and start LHFHG next Jan, right after he turns 5.
2. Or, I could stretch LHTH over 1.5 yrs and start LHFHG the following fall right before he turns 6 (this is when he would usually be starting K if we were doing PS).

The reason I’m unsure is that he’s very bright and I know he’ll be ready to start LHFHG at 5, but I’ve heard it’s better for kids to be in the middle of the age range for each guide, especially in the older guides. Any advice from all you wonderful ladies out there?

[blessedmomof4]

That can be true if a child is coming from a different way of learning, but once your little guy has completed LHTH, he will be ready for LHFHG, even if he just turned 5 when he starts LHFHG If you want to slow down a little for maturity, you could do the guides 4 days a week, extending the guides by about 9 weeks each, but you dont *have* to if he is raring to go

[sweetgrace]

I'm really glad you asked this because we are going to be in the EXACT same position one year from now. I'm listening too!

[Robbi]

We are in the same spot too!! My ds just turned 4 in nov also!!! I started this fall just doing LHTH half speed, meaning we only did 2-3 boxes a day instead of all 5-6. But since the first of year, i could tell he was ready for more so we went to full speed. Right now we just got done w/ Unit 6! We are only doing 4 days a week with both dc. My dd is in beyond. I think whenever done w/ LHTH we will just start LHFHG, probly half speed for awhile. I think we will just continue until I can tell he needs to slow down!! hope this helps!!

[creativemommy]

This is what we did, maybe it will help you decide?

I started my son in LHFHG when he was 5 turning 6 within the first month of the school year. It was for his "Kindergarten" year. We just ordered the first grade options - including math since he had done Kindergarten level math already. He read through the Emerging Readers and then lots of other books for reading that year. Some days were definitely "easy" for him, but now that we're in Bigger - he's 8 (middle of the guide age level) I'm so very glad he's not 7. He couldn't have handled all the writing that's required in Bigger if he had done it last year.

You could always add the Earlybird Math, Reading instruction, Rod & Staff (Do it Carefully, etc) books to LHTH when he's 5 to give him a bit more to do without actually doing the LHFHG guide until his K year with first grade options. I did this for my daughter last year to buy us a bit of time before starting LHFHG.

[hs.mama07]

Thanks for your advice ladies. We decided to go ahead and do LHTH full speed and not worry about the future guides at this point. He's more than ready for LHTH right now and I figure we can always slow down if things start to go over his head. For now, he is really enjoying the activities and the extra little bit of structure is a nice change of pace for us. Hope you all have a lot of fun too!

[tkeller]

Hello!
I was in the same situation as you and what we did was add in the rest of the Rod and Staff preschool books to keep my eager learner busy. We saved the "D" and "F" books for LHFHG but used the ABC ones during LHTH. I also added HWOT preschool workbook. That made it a bit meatier and he loves worksheets so he loved it too.

We started LHFHG right after LHTH when he had just turned 5 and he is doing great. At first he didn't do so well with the listening to the read Alouds, but as someone pointed out on here before, that is a skill they grow into, and he does pretty great with them now. He also finished phonics during LHTH so we have been doing the emerging readers with him this year.

I too am a little worried about him being on the young side for all the guides (we will start Beyone when is is just turned 6, and Bigger at just turned 7) but my husband and I have decided to just wait it out and slow down when and if he needs to. We are following his lead, which is one reason I love homeschooling!

[KristinBeth]

We also did LHTH when dd was 4, and started LHFHG right after she turned 5. We've done I believe 14 weeks so far and it has been going great - no problems.

[hs.mama07]

Thanks so much for sharing! It's great to know others have done the same thing and are getting along well. I like the idea of adding a few things to make it a bit beefier since he keeps asking for more when we're done. He isn't much into workbooks/handwriting stuff, though he could listen to stories and music for hours and loves anything hands-on (art/science) or active. I'll have to look around and see what things we might be able to add that he'd enjoy (and if anyone has ideas feel free to share! We already do lots of library books and baking cookies and all that good stay-at-home-mom-stuff--but I think he's wanting something new and a bit more structured. As he said yesterday, "can we do more school stuff!?" He even begged to do school today (Saturday) when he found out we were taking the day off. Made my day!