My 2 yr. old daughter had been begging for school, so I finally pulled HOD's Little Hands to Heaven off the shelf one day. I had purchased it when my oldest was about 3-4 yrs. old, but he never took to it and it has just sat or been borrowed out to friends. I thought that I didn't like it. Hmm. I generally do not even do "preschool" with my children (well after my failed attempts with my first child.) The boys have been content to be read to and have art supplies available. Not this girl! So in an attempt to quiet her requests, we began Little Hands to Heaven. It didn't really solve the problem as she loves it so much that she is still after me to "do school" all the time. LOL!
LHTH takes only 30 mins. or less per day, but yet it is so rich and covers so much material in a gentle way. There is one week-long unit for each letter of the alphabet and the other units are used for review. Each unit includes a fingerplay utilizing that week's Bible theme and letter/sound. We do the fingerplay and a letter activity each day. We also read a Bible story, do a corresponding activity, and listen to corresponding music. Art, early math, fine motor, and dramatic play are all interwoven with the Bible theme and letter of the week. The author, Carrie Austin, has written two levels of activities to cover ages 2-5. This means you can go back through the lessons a second time with new activities.
I'm really enjoying this special time with my daughter! I'm thankful that God drew my attention back to this wonderful program. I haven't taken the time to look into posting pictures here, but I will do that and add some pictures of Little Mama and her schoolwork. :)
5 comments:
Thanks for linking up to the BlogRoll!!! I'm glad that your little one is loving HOD!! Sometimes it's hard to find something to fit the littlest ones but it is important isn't it?!
Enjoyed visiting your blog!
Makes me wish I had a preschooler again. Maybe one day.
I'm using this with my twin two year olds. They love the finger play, but aren't quite ready for the rest of it yet. But it's still fun! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I tried it with my son and it didn't work out for us, either. I'm thinking of trying it again next year with my dd. Thanks for sharing! :)
I love the Heart of Dakota program. I first used the preschool program about 4 years ago and we had so much fun with it. There is so much more you can do along the same ideas if the kids want to do more (i.e. books, crafts, letter pages with pictures that start with the same letter, etc.). I've since moved on to Little Hearts for His Glory, Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory and Drawn into the Heart of Reading. I like that they are all flexible enough to do some thing else or different if you prefer. I'm planning on using the preschool program again next year (for the 4th time). I found your web-site via Raising Arrows.
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