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We Love Little Hands...but don't know what to do next!?!?

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:10 pm
by Chrystal in TX
My boys are now 3 and almost 5. This year we have been making our way
through Little Hands to Heaven. My goal was to keep the boys together so as they got older. The idea was to use Little Hands to Heaven and go through Bible stories with both boys while reviewing our letters. It would be a good intro for my little guy and a great review for my big guy.

Now, a few things have thrown me. First of all, I don't know that my sons
will be able to be on the same level. Maybe they can be but right now it
just seems like such a big difference in their ages. During our time doing
LHTH, my youngest son has grown to love the finger plays and the rhymes and the songs. He also loves the activities. Now, my older loves the songs and fingerplays but they have become babyish to him. My younger could do LHTH again. He is speech delayed and going through the ABCs again wouldn't hurt.

During this current year my older son, who has all of his letter sounds down thanks to Letter Factory, has begun reading CVC words. We work through PreETC.

I thought about moving on to Little Hearts to Glory because we do enjoy the program and my older son is ready I believe, but I'm wondering if it would also be beyond my little guy.

Any suggestions? Any help?

Thanks,

Chrystal in TX

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:16 pm
by blessedmomof4
Hi there!
I think you would be right on to move the older one up, and possibly repeat Little Hands with the youngest. He'll probably get more out of it the second time around. On the other hand, you could just let him listen in on read-alouds and join the hands-on activities with the older sibling doing Little Hearts, sort of riding along but not making him do any of the language or math from Little Hands-even so, it may just be over his head. Just a suggestion.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:15 pm
by Carrie
Chrystal,

I'm so glad that you have gotten a chance to use and enjoy "Little Hands to Heaven". :D We love doing it with our own little ones as well.

It sounds like your almost 5 year old is right on track to move into "Little Hearts..." when you finish "Little Hands...". Once kiddos turn 5 they usually have a great learning spurt! It sounds like you are seeing it now already! You wouldn't want to hold your older kiddo back to let your little one catch up. So, I'd just head into "Little Hearts...".

Lourdes has already given you the exact advice I would give you for your little one. You could certainly repeat "Little Hands..." taking your time with it, or you could take a break from "Little Hands...' and just have your younger ride along with any part of "Little Hearts..." that interests him.

For the next while you'll probably be running two separate HOD programs in order to best meet your kiddos needs. But, many of us on the board run 2 or more programs HOD and find it to be no problem. You may be able to join your kiddos together eventually (once their reading levels and their ability to write levels out a bit). It all depends on how each one develops and how they work together.

I'm sure some other moms will chime in here too! I think your post got buried. :)

Blessings,
Carrie

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:42 pm
by my3sons
Hi Chrystal!

You've gotten some great advice already! I agree that it would be great to begin your older child in LHFHG. I'm doing it now for the second time, and I think that your child sounds at the right stage to start it. As far as running 2 programs, I've been doing that for awhile, and running 2 HOD programs is VERY easy to do. I wonder if you could do LHTH again with your younger child, and use the other Bible and the other devotional than whatever you used? I think you should keep them separate at this point. Your younger ds needs to feel confident about school, and he may not if he has to "stretch" too far to do LHFHG. He could still listen to the LHFHG read-alouds, Bible verses, do the Bible verse activities, etc., but have his own LHTH time just with you too. I kind of learned the hard way about combining when a younger is not ready, and it can make them feel not very "good" at school sometimes. However, I know you know your situation and your children best! It's so nice to "meet" you, and I'm so glad you're here!!!:o
In Christ,
Julie