Wonderful Program!

by Julie
(TN)

We are really enjoying the Little Hands to Heaven program. We began it in the middle of the school year and that was not an issue as the units are not related to seasonal themes.

What I like: very little prep time; all organized and laid out; child enjoys the activities, nice, original tie ins with letter and Bible study; going through Bible in order of story occurrence and it is a very active curriculum. The seat work is minimal.

What I do not like: I wish all of the copy sheets were in one section of the book to have made that easier or that a consumable workbook were an option with perforated sheets; I wish the "flash card" section was in the back and perforated for tear out and for breaking apart each flash card which would be printed front and back, ready to use; I wish the book pages were numbered.

Obviously, my "dislikes" are minimal. A few other usage notes: on one day a of most units (if not all) a Bible story is read and devotionals. Not only would that be too much "seat" time for my little guy it would also be too many big ideas to absorbs in one setting. I make the devotionals a separate morning &/or do them in the evenings at bedtime book time.

The only other area of usage that I differ from the author is some of the stories are too much for my preschooler (for example the full consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience, Cain murdering Abel). We skip some day's Bible story, using that day to review or read another Bible story book's version of the stories we have been reading for that unit.

That brings me to a last usage note: I use a number of other children's Bible story books to supplement the recommended book. I really like "The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes" and always start a story there. The illustrations are quality and the story is concise and end with talking points. However, I do not feel that one reading of the stories from that book would be enough to really tell the story nor are they interesting enough to read repetitively. We usually spend another day on most stories. Other story books might combine 2 of the stories or even 3 of the stories so they are always read after. Again, I like this Bible story book very much and think it is an excellent place to start. It is just not enough for us.
Other Bible story books we enjoy are: Play-and-Learn Bible, the Young Learner's Bible Story book, On-My-Own Reader Bible & The Beginners Bible.

We do each unit over about 2 weeks, 7-8 days of those 2 weeks. It is our "Bible & Breakfast" program. It is a simple program that usually takes less than 30 minutes. We begin it during breakfast and finish the activities directly after. The only thing we don't do at Breakfast is the masking tape letter. My husband and son do this on the Sunday night before beginning a unit in the playroom.

We also use Homeschool-Your-Boys, another alphabet based program that is very activity based at the same time for later in the day.
Again, we love this program as is and it has adjusted great to our needs and usage practices. We will use Heart of Dakota as our "Bible and Breakfast", and eventually as our "Bible, history and breakfast", for many years to come!