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Do you read aloud the REALLY great books or let your kids read them?


Meadowlark
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Now that my son is reading chapter books, I have a problem. I tend to pick the really great books for read alouds because I love our snuggle time and can't handle "twaddle". I'm also a former reading teacher so I have tons of the classics and award winners here. But...as I look at reading guides/curriculum for future years, I'm noticing a lot of them include the very same books I'm reading aloud NOW.

 

So, then I start to think...is it really okay to read aloud the book now, and then have them read it independently 2-3 years from now and naturally dig deeper? Or, should the first time they read it, be fresh and new to them? For example, we read Charlie and the Chocolate factory 2 years ago and today my son saw it on the shelf and practically retold it to me he remembered it so well.

 

I don't know which ones to read now and which ones to save!?! I'm starting to freak out when I see a Sonlight book list for grade 4, and I think "darn, we read that one!". I mean, how do you decide without knowing what curriculum you'll actually be using in the future? Hopefully this makes some kind of sense. Thoughts appreciated.

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I'm having this problem, too.  However, I really want my daughter to enjoy these classics for themselves, which I think is easier right now as an audiobook/read aloud.  If we "review" them later and she reads them on her own, then maybe knowing the plot as she goes into it means she might be able to get much deeper than she would have been able to now.  She is reading chapter books, but I am picking ones that are much longer or might be more difficult for her to navigate as our read alouds.

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Now that my son is reading chapter books, I have a problem. I tend to pick the really great books for read alouds because I love our snuggle time and can't handle "twaddle". I'm also a former reading teacher so I have tons of the classics and award winners here. But...as I look at reading guides/curriculum for future years, I'm noticing a lot of them include the very same books I'm reading aloud NOW.

 

So, then I start to think...is it really okay to read aloud the book now, and then have them read it independently 2-3 years from now and naturally dig deeper? Or, should the first time they read it, be fresh and new to them? For example, we read Charlie and the Chocolate factory 2 years ago and today my son saw it on the shelf and practically retold it to me he remembered it so well.

 

I don't know which ones to read now and which ones to save!?! I'm starting to freak out when I see a Sonlight book list for grade 4, and I think "darn, we read that one!". I mean, how do you decide without knowing what curriculum you'll actually be using in the future? Hopefully this makes some kind of sense. Thoughts appreciated.

 

I read the books to my children that I wanted to be sure they experienced (although "chapter books" is not in my vocabulary). I never required them to read anything. If they wanted to read something again that I had read to them, well of course that was fine. :-)

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I don't really try to "save" things. I know people go on about "the first time I read [insert famous books of choice] it opened my eyes / changed my mind / changed my life forever" but I don't think that the possibility of such an experience is a good reason to avoid works when reading aloud, and here's why. Assuming that a certain great book is destined to change your child's outlook on life (which is by no means certain), but you decide to read that book to your son now instead of preserving his literary virginity, one of two things will happen: either he will experience the incredible life-altering change of paradigm earlier, or some of what's in the book will go over his head, leaving him to discover those aspects when he rereads it in five years' time. There's nothing terrible about either of those outcomes. Also, as other people have already pointed out, a really good book can bear many readings, with the reader getting more and/or different things out of it at different stages of life. Then, of course, there is also the possibility that your son may not even want to read certain books later, so by 'saving' them you would actually be depriving him of them.

 

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I read aloud the things that I don't want them to miss, or that I want to share with them.  They end up re-reading so many of the things that we've read aloud, and enjoying them more and getting more out of them later.

 

As far as the whole question of should a book be "fresh" when you study it - I don't think it's necessary, or even particularly desirable, to tell the truth.  I think any book worth studying is worth a 2nd or 3rd read.  I know when I read something - especially something exciting - for the first time, I tend to read it quickly to find out what happens.  My kids do the same thing.  It often isn't until the 2nd or 3rd read that you start to notice some of the deeper stuff in the book.  Rereading is your friend, and teaching your kids to reread, and to read more slowly and deeply the second time around, is a gift.

 

I think we have to remind ourselves why we are reading these books, right? Are we reading them so we can check them off a list and get a cool t-shirt,or are we reading them to expose our kids to wonderful stories and ideas, and to start involving them in the Great Conversation?  

 

Again, anything I'm going to bother "studying" with my kids is a book that I believe bears reading again and again . . . there are so many books out there, why choose anything that doesn't bear repeated reading? So enjoy read alouds when they are young, and come back to the books later.  You'll all get more from them that way.

 

Or not.  Like someone said, as long as you are picking great books that you both enjoy, you can't really go wrong! Don't worry about it too much.  You won't ruin anything for them by reading aloud together when they are little!

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A bit of both. Except for a few exceptions, I won't read all the books in certain series. I'll read aloud the first Harry Potter...not the rest. I'll read aloud The Hobbit...not LOTR. I'll read aloud Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe...not the rest.

 

I think in this way I can give them a taste for those books and hopefully they'll read the rest on their own. 

 

Also reading aloud every thing just wears me out!! :) I don't like reading aloud the same book for a month or more. My ds could read The Hobbit quicker than I could read it aloud. One chapter and my voice is tired. Some books are just more enjoyable in your head. I love the Harry Potter series, but I cringe whenever I'm asked to read it.

 

I also read aloud any book I want my kids to be familiar with but they either can't read on their own yet, or I think they are unlikely to pick up on their own. 

 

My oldest has read loads of books on his own that I had previously read aloud.

 

Peter Pan, Roald Dahl books, Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, The Hobbit, Charlotte's Web etc. Books I read (sometimes more than once) to him when he was younger. But it didn't diminish his enjoyment or love of them when he was able to read them on his own. I think already knowing the story helped him, actually. Some books were started out as read alouds but I didn't like them, so he finished them on his own. Ella Enchanted and Nurse Matilda...I started out reading those aloud and I wasn't really feeling them. He finished reading them on his own. I don't read aloud anything that makes me groan or is overly tiring to read aloud. Some books just don't work as read alouds. 

 

And like others have said...there are so many books in the world!!! We haven't even read all the books we own!

 

I always have a read aloud going, and I do require my ds to have his own book to read daily. I don't assign what book to read, he can read anything. I just expect daily reading. 

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Both. I'm reading the books I most want them to love & experience at this stage...*way* more than we will get to! And I'm assuming they'll pick many of those books up in the future and read them again and again...

 

That's what I did. Mom read to us every night - and the books she read (Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Johnny Tremain, Narnia, etc.) are still among my favorites. They still have a 'cozy' feel to them. LOL I've read them all multiple times - and I want to read them to my kids, too. I trust my kids will someday be reading these stories to *their* kids...

 

Of course, the world is so full of good books, there will always be treasures for them to stumble onto. Some of my favorite books are also the ones I discovered on my own (LOTR, The Count of Monte Cristo, Treasure Island, etc.)

 

So...both. You can't go wrong! :)

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I read them aloud because I want to enjoy them, too. There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading aloud to children of all ages. And if you are a good reader, then it could be even more beneficial and they may get even more out of the book than if they read it themselves.

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I read them aloud because I want to enjoy them, too. There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading aloud to children of all ages. And if you are a good reader, then it could be even more beneficial and they may get even more out of the book than if they read it themselves.

:iagree:

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Yes - I read the great books aloud, and more often than not, they'll come back to them as readers later. My daughter loves re-reading read alouds because she says she finds new things every time. I think there's somehing to be said for re-reading a great book. Some of the harder books become a bit easier if they are familiar. It's easier to read Huck Finn if you already know the story because you won't get bogged down by the dialect.

 

Also, I love to share those stories with my children. Reading aloud is much more enjoyable when I love the book I'm reading. I tend to not worry too much about looking ahead at booklists, because honestly, you don't know where you will be on your homeschool journey in 2 - 3 years. I might not ever read anything aloud if I worried over whether a book was going to come up later on a reading list. If a book is worthy of reading aloud, then it's worthy of my child re-reading it later on down the road.

 

 

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I tend to pick read alouds in a few different ways. One category is favorites I want to share with them, together. I want to reread it myself. Other ones, I pick because they're challenging and I don't think they'd get through them on their own, or might think are too hard, or because they are slow to get going. My kids do sometimes read a book "together" (most of the time, one reads first and the other reads shortly thereafter, but with e-readers and a few paper copies, they have actually read the same title at the same point in time). My kids have forgotten many books I read a few years ago. Oh well! It doesn't bother me, they were small, and there's plenty left to read, or re-read.

 

Also I think re-reading a truly well written and/or important book is quite a good idea. For example, I studied Crime and Punishment extensively in high school -- it was our class book that we analyzed in detail and the book on which I based my response essay during the AP exam -- as well as during an upper division college class on Russian Literature. I did not find it boring or repetitive at all. The same might not hold for annually revisiting Charlotte's Web, but I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.

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I pick read alouds based on what I really want them to hear, books they might not pick for themselves or books I think would be a bit of a stretch. It is good for read alouds to be a bit of a challenge  so I quite like it when ds(my only fluent reader so far) comes back to a story I read him to read on his own. I do keep an eye to booklists but I don't let them rule me, sometimes we read books "ahead" and sometimes "behind." There are so many good books out there, there is no worry about running out.

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This is my theory.  I am 44, a voracious reader and I still haven't run out of great books to read.  So, I plan on introducing books as she is ready to listen, and as I notice them.  

 

Exactly. I love to read...I consider it some sort of personal  challenge the universe gave me to read all the books in the world. I've been doing my best since I was 5 to do it too. 

 

And they just keep coming!!! No end in sight!!!   :laugh:

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Exactly. I love to read...I consider it some sort of personal  challenge the universe gave me to read all the books in the world. I've been doing my best since I was 5 to do it too. 

 

And they just keep coming!!! No end in sight!!!   :laugh:

 

So true.  So true,  I've always wanted to read "all the books."  My brain tells me that is impossible to read all all.  So, at least within a certain category, I want to read all.  My parents bought Golden Books when I was a kid.  Remember how they had a list of the other golden books at the end?  A few of mine have checkmarks next to the ones I've read.  I was quite disappointed that I hadn't read all.  Then I discovered classics at a used book store, and that seemed like a finite list of good books, so I thought that would be neat.  I've been working at it, but still haven't made it.  At first, I used the list at the back of a Cliff's Notes as my reading list.  My husband started me on the Foundation series.  Yes, I MUST read ALL.  Including the Robot or Empire books and the ones he didn't write.  I really wish I had this for myself (I sort of do but I started it so late it is only a little helpful).  But, I plan on keeping a list of all the books DD reads.   I really hate to buy a book and then realize I've read it already.  

 

My DH was telling me that they had a cheaply run library near them growing up and most of the books didn't have covers.  SIL read all the Yellow books.  

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I read whatever strikes our fancy. We have read a lot of great books, and far more not-so-great books. Neither of my older kids are truly independent readers yet. DS2 is already reading storybooks and fairy tales on his own. I prefer to read fantasy novels for read alouds. I have gotten lost in "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Chronicles of Prydain". We read 5 of the CoN books and all of the CoP. I have also read the first book from "The Wheel of Time" series aloud. That was a hoot, my kids really liked it. DH and I took turns with it, but ultimately decided to save it for later because it was a little much for our kids at the time.

 

I've read plenty of the "Classic Starts" books to my kids and a lot of selections from AO Y1-4 to my kids. The two older ones will be starting Y3 next year, but I'm not worried that we'll run out of things to read. We like audiobooks and have listened to many of the while working on other things. DS1 loves graphic novels and has read a few of the classics that have been reworked into graphic novelizations.

 

I don't think that you can run out of great books to read aloud. Some books you can read again and again and they never lose their touch, so to say. "The Golden Compass", "Time Cat", "The Phantom Tollbooth", "A Wrinkle in Time", "Alice in Wonderland", most of Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Jean Craighead George, Shakespeare...There is so much great stuff out there. Even if your student(s) have heard the story umpteen times, it's a little different each time you read it/hear it. And nothing can beat that sense of accomplishment a kid gets from reading a really good (and challenging!) book, imo.

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I usually start reading a book aloud, one or two chapters at a time at bedtime. My oldest then takes the book when I'm done and finishes it before he goes to bed (he's a lightening fast reader), then I continue where I left off the next night. Yes, he's read the book, but he's hearing it again and able to notice more on that second reading. ;) I just have a rule that he is not allowed to tell us what is going to happen. No spoilers! :D

 

There are some books I have no desire to read aloud. For example, LOTR... too much Elvish, plus those are long books. So instead of reading them aloud, I raced my son. We both read it at the same time - same book with two bookmarks. I was sneaky and would take it in the bathroom with me to read throughout the day. He would read on the van rides around town. It was quite fun. When we finished a book, we'd watch the movie and discuss the differences. My younger kids, unfortunately, will have to read the books after having already seen the movies. :tongue_smilie:

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