Read-alouds for CTC and another guide??

[DHT1999]

Hello! I would like to get some feedback from any of you who may have used Creation to Christ plus one of the lower level programs at the same time.

I think my 6th grader would need the history read-aloud set for Creation to Christ. Since he will be an older student, I think he needs the historical focus of those books.

My youngest son will be doing Beyond. I definately want to use the read-aloud list in the back of the guide for the Storytime readings.

I don't mind reading two different set of books outloud to them. But, this is the problem... this year, with Little Hearts and Preparing, both of them insisted on listening in on everything else that their brother was doing??? It made our days quite long, at times. Usually, we would not be able to get everything done in one day because my oldest son, in particular, wanted to listen in on the reading from Little Hearts! I tried and tried to train him to do his own independent work during that time but he has said, "Then you shouldn't be reading books that are so interesting!! How can I concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing, if you are reading such good books?" My youngest son (he is 8 now) had the same thoughts! He listened in on everything that I read outloud for Preparing this year. They just want to be together if I am doing the teaching/reading.

I'm not sure how to address this. Other than the fact that it made our days too long, it would be fine with me. I enjoy them listening to books together. But, by the time that they both do almost everything in both programs, it's just too much.

How do you handle this? I know we will have the same issue next year. I think our day will be longer anyways since we are bumping up in the guides. And, I know they will continue to want to listen in on everything. I think I need to do two sets of read-alouds because I don't want either to be short-changed.


Any thoughts? Thanks!

[water2wine]

We did CTC, Preparing and Beyond this year. I have two little ones like this that always one to be in on the bigger kid stuff. I have few things that I do because I have three programs going. First I go over their math and La art things and get them going on that while I read to the other kids. They are allowed to politely interrupt if they need help. I sometimes do the same with projects, just kind of get them going. I let them do their copy work and handwriting during that time and then I check over it after wards. And sometimes I give them a special project to do. It could even be an organizational thing or hidden chore made to look fun. Can I just say Praise the Lord for some of the Beyond activities, like scrubbing, that they want to repeat all the time. That is really all I do. I make sure the time I spend with them reading and helping them I am really focusing on them so they feel like they get a full cup. That is very important as well.

Nothing too rocket science there but hope it helps.

[Allison TX]

How about having your oldest read the history read aloud set on his own? (I only suggest this because he is on the older side of the guide.) Then they can both listen in on the Beyond set? I started out reading aloud to my boys from the history set, but after adding in Beyond with my youngest, I now have the boys read the CTC read aloud books themselves. My voice gets tired from reading aloud too much, and they still get read aloud time with dad in the evening. Just a thought.

Allison

[DHT1999]

Allison, are your children also doing the Extension Books themselves? I was thinking that he would do those but I guess he could just read the read-alouds instead.

[DHT1999]

We did CTC, Preparing and Beyond this year. I have two little ones like this that always one to be in on the bigger kid stuff. I have few things that I do because I have three programs going. First I go over their math and La art things and get them going on that while I read to the other kids. They are allowed to politely interrupt if they need help. I sometimes do the same with projects, just kind of get them going. I let them do their copy work and handwriting during that time and then I check over it after wards. And sometimes I give them a special project to do. It could even be an organizational thing or hidden chore made to look fun. Can I just say Praise the Lord for some of the Beyond activities, like scrubbing, that they want to repeat all the time. That is really all I do. I make sure the time I spend with them reading and helping them I am really focusing on them so they feel like they get a full cup. That is very important as well.

Nothing too rocket science there but hope it helps.

Thank you for sharing. It is very helpful! We have loved our Preparing/Little Hearts combo. but I did get behind on the reading at times. I would get my oldest son working on something and then move along to read to my youngest and before I knew it, here he would come! He really wasn't trying to get out of his other work. He just wanted to hear everything!

[Allison TX]

Allison, are your children also doing the Extension Books themselves? I was thinking that he would do those but I guess he could just read the read-alouds instead

No we aren't using the extensions. My boys are 4th and 5th grade, so they fit into the age range nicely. I think the extensions would have been way too much for them. The history reading alone has been quite challenging for them, in a good way.

Allison

[my3sons]

We did CTC and Beyond last year, and I didn't let them listen in on each other's readings. I told them it would make our day way too long, and that they each had things to get done. Sometimes my oldest ds was sitting at a table near me when I was reading to my middle ds, but if he stopped working, I let him know he'd have to move to another room. We did this the first week, and he always worked hard from that point on. Something at the table that didn't require reading worked well for him during this time -i.e. history project box for my oldest if he was listening in. I did let my oldest ds know that when we were finished reading books in Beyond, he could read any of them he wanted at his leisure. The demands of upper level learning just became too much for him to be essentially doing/listening in on another program too. Being able to finish school in a timely fashion is a big goal of mine, as it keeps me enjoying homeschooling, gives them free time they really do desire, and makes it possible for me to teach each child what he really needs to learn. They are together the whole rest of the day then, and we read a book at night (usually the Bible - right now we are reading Catherine Vos) all together. So, it's worth it to me not to combine for readings so each of my dc can fully enjoy their HOD guides and learning, and still enjoy the rest of their day of free time (and how to use free time well is one of the things my dh and I want our dc to learn to do too).

Whatever you decide to do, I wouldn't have them both listen in on each other's readings. You would be doubling their day and yours, and I just don't want that stress for you, or for them. If you are thinking I sound like a big meanie and there is no way you are going to keep them separate like that , then I'd have your oldest read the Storytime books and read just the Beyond book to the 2 of them. But, I think that does change the way the Beyond child answers questions and does the Storytime box follow-up. Something about being focused on that little one's needs really does seem to help me teach them narrating, etc. more easily than when big brother is listening - but maybe that's just me.

These are just a few thoughts I had, but I know that this may not be the way you want to go about it. I just think we have to be very careful because a longer school day due to adding things in for our dc (even if they are HOD things from another HOD guide ) can soon make us unhappy homeschooling, and begin subtly stealing our joy, even though it seems like it's a good thing. That's what I've had to learn again and again at least.

In Christ,
Julie

[Tree House Academy]

We are doing CTC and Beyond this coming year too. My boys are the same way as yours! LOL What I did was save read aloud time for the end of the day. That way, they weren't delaying doing their other work while listening.

[deltagal]

We did CTC and Beyond last year, and I didn't let them listen in on each other's readings. I told them it would make our day way too long, and that they each had things to get done. Sometimes my oldest ds was sitting at a table near me when I was reading to my middle ds, but if he stopped working, I let him know he'd have to move to another room. We did this the first week, and he always worked hard from that point on. Something at the table that didn't require reading worked well for him during this time -i.e. history project box for my oldest if he was listening in. I did let my oldest ds know that when we were finished reading books in Beyond, he could read any of them he wanted at his leisure.

Julie,

Do you do a separate storytime with each of your children using the guide they are in currently?

[my3sons]

Julie,

Do you do a separate storytime with each of your children using the guide they are in currently?

Good question, and yes, I do. I think if I had dc closer in age I might not, but the read-alouds I did for CTC were so different than the ones I did for Beyond last year, and the skills for each Storytime box were too. I didn't mind doing 2 Storytimes because I wasn't doing any of the history or science reading for CTC anymore, other than the "Genesis..." study and the "Geography..." study box, which was just once daily as those two studies rotate in the plans. If I was doing, say, PHFHG and BHFHG at the same time though, I would really consider me only reading 1 Storytime, as the dc would be closer in maturity level and also the length of time I'd be reading would be longer. For Beyond, the readings were pretty short, say around 10-15 minutes. For CTC, they were longer, about 15-20 minutes. I do think you could read all the Storytimes to everyone if you enjoyed doing that, I just think it adds more time to the day and sometimes can take away focus from the child who is supposed to be learning the particular skills of the Storytime plans (this could be unique to my dc , as my oldest is apt to take over and my middle ds is all to happy to let him).

This year I can't decide what to do. In RTR, it is an option to either have dc read the Storytime box themselves or to read it myself to him. I will be doing Bigger Hearts and LHTH too. I want this to be a year to focus more on my middle ds doing Bigger Hearts, as I look at that as a "launching off" year somewhat. I also want time to teach my youngest some beginning phonics along with LHTH. Last year, I needed about 1 to 1 1/2 hours of teaching time for CTC. I'd guess RTR will be about the same. It's hard to decide, isn't it?!? I do think a person has to consider the overall good for all involved - dc and mom. I can empathize with each of you as you choose how to go about doing multiple Storytimes in your house. There are lots of different ways to go about that, and they are probably all fine as long as they fit your family's needs overall. I do think it would be fine for a CTC child to read Storytime independently (and even younger Storytimes, such as PHFHG and Bigger Hearts) as well, if the child was 9 yo doing them, and a strong independent reader. CM said once dc were 9 yo, they should be doing their reading themselves. I do think it's still very important to do the follow-up skills in the Storytime boxes though, even if they are reading independently, as that is where the teaching of skills takes place. If you have multiple dc in different guides and have an older child reading Storytime independently but still long for an all-together reading time, I would do it with a younger guide, like Beyond or Bigger. However, each of you will know what best fits the overall way you want your day to work. I'm leaning toward letting my ds choose whether I read the RTR Storytime or not to begin with, but letting him know that if he chooses for me to read it and it is making our day too long (which in the end causes both the boys and me to be stressed), I may have him take it over instead. He may just choose to read it on his own too though, he does love to read and is moving toward enjoying more independence. I hope something here can help as you as you all think through what you'd like to do!

In Christ,
Julie

[deltagal]

Thanks Julie. Your thoughts helped me a great deal. I've been feeling that I needed to let my oldest do his storytime on his own, because there are so many great skill development ideas. I think I'll give it a try.

[DHT1999]

Thank you, Julie and everyone else, for sharing your thoughts and the way you go about this. Julie, the thoughts that you have shared are very helpful. I do feel like a mean mommie sometimes . For us, it's not really just the Storytime that they want to share... it's almost everything! That's why the day got too long for us at times. I copied your schedule for CTC/Beyond. I think I'm just going to do what you did!

Right now, I'm leaning towards having my oldest son read the CTC Storytime books rather than the Extension Package, but not completely... I think I can mix it up some. There are some things in the Extension Package that I definately want him to cover.

I'm not sure right now how it will all work out but I know it will be fine. I can't believe how much we got done this year in spite of being new to HOD.

Thanks everyone! If anyone else wants to share, I'd love to hear it!!