heartofdakota.com

I will start by saying that it is really hard to choose titles for the storytime plans because they all look so good!

Wondering how you have made your selection for the books. Did you let your kiddo pick and choose titles based on their interest or did you just get either the Classic, Boy, or Girl set as is? Did you make selections from each set and just mix and match?
I think my biggest problem is that I would love to read them all somehow. Anyone figured out a way to do that?!!!

Thanks!
Candice

i kinda mixed and matched. a good portion was Classic for Beyond. i have son going thru them first and then daughter.(and later another daughter) i was trying to pick ones i thought they would both enjoy. they will both be at younger end of guides so i took that into perspective too. I looked some at the RL. i threw in a couple of my own. I also skim the used books at goodwill and my homeschool support group when they are selling some used. If i can get them at library that is a plus too, especially for the individual reading with DITHOR. I am sure when my kids are older they will want more of a say in what they pick.

if ya PM me your email address, i can email you our tentative list for future guides too . Just for an example. i don't know how to attach anything here.


It is sooo hard to pick.

Jenn D.

I guess this is kind of selfish, but I picked the ones that sounded the most interesting to me. I have a girl and a boy that were hearing them at the same time so I tried to pick ones that would appeal to both. In the end, most of the books came from the boy or classic list. In at least one case, I happened to have more than one choice for the genre so I let them look the books over and choose. In one choice, they actually surprised me. I had A Lion to Guard Us and The Sword in the Tree and much to my surprise they both agreed on A Lion to Guard Us. We all really enjoyed it too So far any of the books on the reading lists have been excellent. Carrie has done an awesome job picking great literature so no matter what you choose, you can't go wrong.

What I did was print the pages from the HOD site where the descriptions of the books are. I eliminated books that we've already read like Little House and Charlotte's Web (not that many really). I then read the descriptions of each book in a certain genre (like biography). Then my ds, dd, and I each had a vote. Actually we picked our two most favorites, because it was hard to choose just one. The book that had the most votes or top rates are what we are doing for our school year with Beyond. They other books are on our Read Aloud list (or audio book list) for the summer and evenings. We had a lot of fun doing this and I hope it makes sense. Whatever you do, I'm sure you can't go wrong with a book list like that.

I was having the same problem about a week ago so I started this thread and thought it might help out:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6163

Great minds think alike.

I think I've pretty much narrowed mine down except for a few genres that I'm still pondering. In addition to what everyone shared and what I thought my oldest would like, I also kept in mind that my younger son would most likely be listening in to a lot of the stories, so I actually picked ones that I thought might be better for a younger child too. I figured in two years, I would pick a different set that would appeal to the older end - and my oldest can listen in then.

It is hard deciding, isn't it? I figure that the ones we miss I'll just add in over the summer for fun!

I also eliminated the books that we have already read and have decided to add some in over the summer. So many of them just look too good to pass up. I wonder if you could find any of them as audio books? I'll definately be waiting to hear what others are doing in order to squeeze in a few more books.

Wow, you ladies are teriffic!
Thanks so much for the tips and sharing how you made your selections.
Very helpful to me!

Candice

I'm late to this thread, and the discussion has already been so good - so, I'll just add that I like to read the Classics aloud to the boys, since they are generally harder. But, that left me feeling bad about missing the boys' selections. So, one day at the bookstore, as I was gazing at the multitude of books wondering how I could pick some great free reading books for my boys, I realized I could just get the boy pack from the guide below for them to read on their own. Ever since then, I've just put that pack under their bed (and I've even added some from the girl pack that weren't "too girly" ) and let them read it at their leisure. It's been the easiest way to choose free reading books, and a real time saver for me as they get older and I don't have time to preread everything. I trust HOD's book choices for our family. Anyway, just something to consider along with all of these other great ideas.

In Christ,
Julie

Great idea, Julie.
Thanks very much!

Candice