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Hi there,
We will be a three guide family this fall...Little Hearts, Beyond, and Bigger. I know these are subsequent guides, but I just could not combine any of mine b/c up until this point I've always either drug someone along or held someone back. After reading this board for a while, I am going to try and let everyone work at their own level this year. (My dds will be in 3rd, 2nd, K and ds 2 will keep things lively) So my question is, do you see any potential problems with combining the two oldest in storytime using the Bigger selections? Then next year, we will use the Preparing selections and so on. If I have a gap year, I'm very comfortable adding my own selections. I already have all three guides, so don't try to give me any ideas about combining because I've already given myself enough headaches trying to make this decision I plan to read the selection and then ask the questions from each guide separately to each dd (since my oldest dd always monopolizes narration and question time if I don't pointedly ask each dd individual questions). Thanks for helping me think through this! What a great support system this board it!

The storytimes are going to be best combined in the guides that have the genre based books. Beyond, Bigger, and CTC all have this (at least as an option). So, if I were you, I'd use Bigger's this year. And then the following year, I'd keep the Preparing titles with the child in Preparing. But, you could still do a storytime together with all and use some of the Beyond titles or ones from Bigger that you haven't yet done (there are 4 options in the appendix for each genre). The oldest could still sit in if you want it to be a family thing.

I'd keep the history based storytime titles with the guide they belong in. They do SUCH a great job of bringing the time periods to life! But, I'd definitely combine everyone for the genre based storytime when it works...and you can even let an older or younger one join in on the listening if it doesn't make the day too long. Some moms read a storytime book aloud at breakfast or lunch to everyone and it works great!

Kathleen

I agree whole-heartedly with all Kathleen shared in her response! I think you will be able to keep a good balance by keeping in mind those suggestions as you do Storytime through the years.

In Christ,
Julie

We often save one of the storytime books for bedtime story and do the other one earlier in the day. I don't like to read at mealtime because I want to eat when they do. My children love storytime!

The ladies have done a great job of answering you! One thing I'll just pop-in to say is that we rarely recommend that you do 3 of the lower level guides in a row (all at full-speed) as they take more teacher time than the upper guides. So, while it isn't difficult to run multiple guides, it does matter which particular guides those are!

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be possible to do those 3 guides at one time, but the following year it would get quite a bit more time intensive when you head into Beyond, Bigger, and Preparing. With that in mind, and looking down the road for the long haul, I see a couple of options for you to ponder before you decide to go the LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger route for the upcoming year.

One option would be to have your almost K student do LHTH and add in the 3R's from LHFHG to make the K year. This would give you the great Bible focus and skill-training, but would make sure that the 3R's are on right on level. You could add a phonics program, a K handwriting workbook, the Do It Carefully/Finding the Answers, and even the K Earlybird math with daily plans from the LHFHG guide to raise the level of LHTH. Then, the following year your child would head into LHFHG and do it with first grade options. This plan would allow you more time to work with your olders and would keep you from having 3 guides in a row and may actually fit your younger better.

Then, you could more easily keep the Beyond and Bigger for your older two if desired.

Another option would be to place your older two together in Bigger Hearts, but do a 4 day plan. In this way, you would spill over 9 weeks into the next school year, which would allow your younger student time to mature a bit before heading into Preparing, but would also allow you to keep your older two together as a pair. This is also a good option, and it could be used in combination with the LHTH idea I shared above or separate from it.

Anyway, just a few thoughts as I'm looking down the road for you, in the hopes that you will have a good fit yet a manageable path for the future!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,
Thank you so much for your reply. So, what I hear you saying is that using these three guides (LHFHG, Beyond and Bigger) would not be a problem this year, but it will become a problem next year b/c of the amount of work for me using Beyond, Bigger and Preparing? Thanks for the clarification!

We don't typically recommend doing 3 programs in a row, especially as kiddos progress into the more time intensive guides. In special cases it can definitely work, but it is good to try not to have 3 guides in a row going if possible. So, I would definitely encourage you to take a look at some of the suggestions above and ponder a bit to see if one of the options may even work better than doing 3 guides in a row for the long haul.

Blessings,
Carrie