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Ok, just one more question and I will leave you poor people alone!
I am looking over the book lists for storytime (Classic, Boy interest, and Girl interest) and the book lists for DITHOR (3rd level, and 4/5 Girl interest).

I am going crazy and don't know how to choose. I have a boy and a girl and I love history. I want them all!

I am assuming that the storytime books are the read alouds, but I could put them on the "Want-to-read-because-Mom-wants-to-read-it-all" shelf and then read them as time allows? The DITHOR books are meant to be read on their own?

Guidance anyone?

Ah, a fellow book lover! I know exactly how you feel. I have such a hard time choosing just one book. Right now I'm thinking of adding one of the books to bedtime because I couldn't choose just one read aloud for this genre. I also have a boy and a girl so I have chosen a lot of the classic books but sometimes I'll choose one from the girl's set for one genre and then one from the boy's set for the next genre. Most of the books that we're reading aloud this year are from the classic or boys set. It's just the ones that appealed to me most. I can be very selfish when it comes to picking read alouds! I have given my dc a choice before as well and they have surprised me as to their choices. For the DITHOR books, I usually do give them several options and let them choose. All of the books are wonderful so you can't go wrong with any that you choose!

I'm a book lover too! It is so very hard to choose. I am trying to have our kids go through all of the HOD books somehow eventually - either by me reading them to them, them listening to the books on audio, or them reading the books themselves. Carrie does such an excellent job of choosing books, that I have the hardest time finding anything that even comes close to a distant second to her choices. We do a Bible based reading at night as a family, and we're doing 3 HOD guides, so rather than adding another read-aloud time, I have found it works well for our family if we choose 1 Storytime Set and 1 DITHOR set for each child for the year. Then, the other sets I am longing to get through I usually put on their free reading shelves a few years down the road. For example, I put the Beyond Little Hearts Storytime books we hadn't read through on my ds's free reading shelf when he was about in the middle of BHFHG or so. Then, the next year, when he was in the middle of doing PHFHG, I put the BHFHG Storytime books we hadn't read on his free reading shelf. When we did CTC, I looked a any of the Bigger Hearts extensions I thought would fit him, and now in RTR we looked at any of the PHFHG extensions and any of the CTC Storytime Books we hadn't read I thought he was mature enough to read and put those on his shelf. This has worked out so well - and they are some of his favorite books! If you have time to do an extra reading of another Storytime book at night, I think you could easily get through 2 Storytime Sets that way. The third set you could eventually have them read on their own a few years down the road, or you could choose them as books to read when not doing school just for fun. As far as DITHOR, those are the books they read to you, so I'd get each child his/her own set that fits his/her reading level the best. These to are wonderful books, but you will get through them all by doing DITHOR as planned each year. HTH - this is SUCH a good problem to have, hmmmmm!

In Christ,
Julie

Oh, thank you Julie!

That is a wonderful suggestion. Now I feel as if I can have it all!