So since I spend so much time with the big kids I thought it would be nice to have something structured to do with my little ones. Therefore, I purchased Little Hands to Heaven to do with them. We have had a busy week so have only done a few days worth of activities, but my 2 little ones are having a blast!Kayla, my 1st grader is still finishing up Little Hearts For His Glory so we have about 8 or 9 weeks till she moves up to the next guide so hopefully we can get into a little groove before we move her on up too.
For Language Arts we are using the recommended Rod & Staff 4 along with Drawn Into the Heart of Reading with the boys grade 4/5 pack. Rod & Staff truthfully isn't fluffy and pretty but it is solid and I love learning grammar along with my little guy. Grammar is the one part of school I never really cared for but now we are both learning so much. We are loving DITHOR also. We tried this program in 2nd grade but he wasn't really ready for it. We had finished phonics, but were still just getting into reading longer books. Now reading and comprehension are going better and he is ready for DITHOR.
Science is real nice this year also. In HOD's guide Bigger Hearts for His Glory science becomes independent. So, this year Noah is doing it independently which is nice. I found some great notebook pages to go along with science and the independent history portions, along with other things that complement the program so we have a nice notebook going and it makes his independent work a little easier and nicer looking overall. Finally, Preparing starts working more towards independence in history and you can purchase the Deluxe Package that contains 12 extra books for independent work that corresponds with the time you are studying in history.
We have started the first book which is Draw and Write Through History: Creation to Jonah and is amazing. I love that Noah is getting extra practice writing and learning to draw some great pictures at the same time.Finally, what is school without some great read alouds. A couple of these books we have read, but it has been a while so I think they will all be hits :) We are so excited to get this new school year started. It is taking a little more time than last, but I think once we get into our groove it will go a lot quicker :)
I have been thinking of switching from sonlight to HOD. I have 4 kids and I have always worried about multiple guides. But sometimes as wonderful as Sonlight is...it just seems like so much at such a young age. I feel like the history of cores B and C will go right over the head of my 7 year old. Do you feel the history is a little more age appropriate with HOD. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI do feel that with either program having your kids at the higher end of the recommended age level helps a lot. I started my first in Core A with Sonlight right when he turned 5. Most everything went over his head at the time. Right now my DD who just turned 7 loves most everything that is in Core A, I am doing LHFHG with her but we still read the read alouds from Core A since we have them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the history I feel HOD is more age appropriate in content, especially for a child that is a little more sensitive. My oldest loves the Usborne books but I did have to do a lot of censoring because of the nudity. My 7 year old has looked at the book and doesn't want to have anything to do with it, so I know she will love Beyond this next year over Sonlight.
Finally, I will say doing multiple guides has been so much easier with HOD than SL since as they get older they have more independent work. My oldest I make a list of his independent work and he does it well on his own now. I probably spend around 1 1/2 hours with him doing school which is probably a little less than I did last year doing Core C with him. :)