heartofdakota.com

Hi, ladies!
I need some help here. My ds will be in Beyond next year for 1st grade. He is doing really well with LHFHG this year for Kindergarten, but is having a hard time with the story time where I ask him questions. I know some of that will come with time. My daughter used the classic books for Beyond and struggled a little with some of the books even though she normally has great recall when I ask her questions. I am wondering if any of you have used the boy collection for Beyond and if the books are a little easier for them to pay attention to. It is very frustrating when I have to drag the details out of him and I don't want that time to be so much of a struggle that we end of scrapping it.

Thanks for any help on this one!
Mary

The boy/girl interest sets are a bit easier than the classic sets generally. We just picked books from each genre that were on hand so we used some from each set. My kids loved the sword in the tree in particular.

The Sword in the tree was a big hit here, A Lion to Guard Us, Squanto, Helen Keller, Trumpet of the Swan... but so far NONE of my kids have even liked the Burgess books at all.

Well, we loved the Burgess books, but we are loving the Beyond storytime books even more. We're using most of the boy list simply because they're what he wanted. We both loved The Sword in the Tree- I have strict orders never to sell it.

My ds is loving the boy interest set for Beyond. He had a little trouble in the beginning with the Burgess books, but by the end of LHFHG, he was listening well. So far, we've read Squanto, Sword in the Tree, and we're almost finished with Sarah Witcher's Story. He's enjoyed them all, and after each book, he tells me that it was his favorite. LOL.

Tracy

Thanks so much for the feedback! I think I might end up with the boy set.

I used the boys set for Beyond a few years ago with 3 boys ages 5, 7, and 8. They loved many of the books (especially Sword in the Tree, Squanto, and The Key to the Treasure), but I did find it difficult to keep their attention with Mountain Born (and sometimes The Cricket in Times Square- you could substitute The Trumpet of the Swan for that if you liked- the boys liked that one last year). But maybe realistic fiction is just not so exciting for them at that age! I would think you could go ahead and try them all, though, and then see if there's a change in what your son can handle by the end of the year. If he's still struggling, I would go ahead and look in your library for a good quality realistic fiction book for him that might be a little more at his listening and interest level. Also, the HOD Sample Book List ($5) is a great resource for quality alternatives!

I wanted to mention also for some of the harder books we have done shorter, more often sessions. Or, I stop and let him narrate after each event in the chapter/section we're reading before moving on. This has helped with his narration and it's helped him enjoy some of the tougher books.