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Maybe this has been discussed and I just had trouble finding it.. if so, sorry! If you could send me to a previous post I'd appreciate it. I'm looking for some ideas from the sweet ladies here! I am currently taking my 4th grader through Bigger and we are loving it. My 1st grader is in ps for now- We are prayerfully deciding whether to bring him home too. If we do this the plan for our boys next year- our ds 5th grader will be in Preparing and our ds 2nd grader will be in Beyond. (I think!) How do you juggle read- alouds? Do you do one for each child? Do you combine? Currently we read at lunch and I really like that. I like to follow the suggested RAs cuz I'm wierd like that I also want my kids to get exposed to all the books suggested. I'm afraid the RAs for Preparing might be too much for the 2nd grader- maybe not! I'm such a children's lit junkie that I don't want to give up either set of RAs (even though economizing would be smart) It also seems like it might be a lot to juggle if I have an individual RA for each boy...ideas?!

I would recommend going with two sets of read alouds, mainly because the level of sophistication needed for the read alouds in the upper levels may make it frustrating for your younger child to understand and enjoy those books. Since there are so many books to choose from, and honestly you could pick anything you want for storytime, you may want to utilize the library for your young ds read alouds. You could also scour curriculum fairs and used bookstores, both online and brick & mortar stores for books. I like having the books at home so I try to buy my books used so that I can build our library as economically as possible.

An idea for read aloud time may be for your older ds to read the books to your younger ds, you could then step in and do the activities and your older ds could be doing some of his independent work at that time. HTH!

Hi Dawn,

I'm doing Preparing this year, and I think you'll want to keep the Preparing storytime with that program. It matches up exactly with the history you're studying. So, sometimes it's a Bible passage and sometimes it's historical fiction.

I would have your together read aloud be the title you choose from Beyond. You could easily have everyone listen to that one. And then let the Beyond child be the one responsible for answering the day's questions or narration or whatever's there to talk about. HOD does have 3 book packs to choose from for Beyond, so you're still going to have to choose between some great books , or buy them all!

Kathleen

Dawn,

The ladies are giving you wonderful suggestions. Part of the decision of whether you'll read both Storytimes or not depends on how much you love to read-aloud as a family. Some families just can't get enough of reading aloud and others have a tough time even getting in one very short read-aloud a day. So, it's good to know what type of family you are when deciding which read-alouds to do.

If you love to read-aloud as a family, then it will work well to do the read-alouds for both Beyond and Preparing Hearts. If the thought of doing two read-alouds overwhelms you than I would lean toward doing the read-alouds from Beyond for all of your kiddos at lunch instead. Just make sure, as Kathleen mentioned, to have your littles answer the Storytime questions from Beyond so that they are getting the lit. comprehension practice that they need.

While the read-alouds from Preparing Hearts are truly wonderful, and I'd hate to have you miss them, they require a more mature listener. So, they wouldn't be as well suited to your younger listeners.

Another thing some families do is have one read-aloud at lunch (like Beyond) and then have dad do one before bed for just the older kiddos (like Preparing). It's up to you to choose what fits your family best. If your not a read-aloud lover, then just pick one set and call it good.

Blessings,
Carrie