How much reading do you do? Streamlining and organizing

[elfinbaby]

And how do you organize it?? I am swimming in book lists. I mean well but I have got to slim it down and organize it.

 

I have a read aloud list. Easy. I'll be choosing a book and reading to everyone.

 

I have a ds 11. His list consists of books on the history topic (reference, short books, etc.) and historical novels (which I'd like to assign him). I also want him to choose a novel (with my approval) to read. I think my "categories" for his books will be 1)History (books will just be part of the lesson) 2) Assigned reading 3) DEAR time (drop everything and read)

 

Dd 5 is just learning to read. Her list is FIAR, picture books on history topic when available, and reading time with me until she gets the hang of it. I think we'll divide that last category into great kid stories that she couldn't read alone and simple readers.

 

Okay! I feel a little better just writing that out. How do ya'll handle all of those great books?

 

Specific questions:

 

How many books do you bring home on a history topic for the kids to look at? I bring home waaaaay too many. And how in the world do you choose? Especially when, for example, your only going from a recommended book list and an amazon review? There are so many good novels for ds to read but I have to slim it down. I think I need to tell myself "You can have 3-5 books per topic, 2 novels for ds, etc."

 

I am teetering between feeling completely overwhelmed in general and some sort of order depending on the moment. Between Homeschool Tracker and book lists... those moments make me want to give up.

 

TIA

[heart'sjoy]

It feels like a waste of time..

 

but it really helps to set out goals. I usually do this twice a year. For ds5 it's a list of materials. Kids change so rapidly from 4-7 it's hard to guess what how fast they can move through material.

 

for us it looks something like this:

Step 1 Goals:

 

ds7:read one literature ch book/week, read history assignment/week

 

dd9:read one literature book/week, read 2-3 history assignment/week

 

ds5:read 4 phonetic readers/week, read 1 book with lots of sight words/week

 

Step 2: Books I will use at the bare minimum to meet the goals.

 

I have weekly worksheets for me with likely reading assignments for two older children. These are already filled out for 36 weeks. They also include art, music, science, geography, related hands-on ideas. I also have a separate weekly reading worksheet for each of these 36 weeks with second and sometimes third choices(These second and third choices are already listed in my curriculum TOG.)

 

Step 3:Kids' weekly assignment charts

Every Friday I fill out weekly assignment charts for all work. Reading goes on these.

 

Step 4:Put lists in 3 ring binder

Put the lists in a binder. Sorry! I haven't organized this one. Obviously a searchable excel file would be better. But most of our reading is being generated from TOG at this time. My extra lists are only used 3-4 times a year.

 

Step5:Adjust, adjust:001_smile:

Right now ds7 is suddenly reading more and at a higher level. I don't have time to rework all 36 weeks. I stuck a list of Literature books in the front of his notebook to use when I make his weekly assignments.

 

 

:grouphug:from a list lover. They make my head swim too.

[Karen in CO]

I read history twice a week for about 20 minutes. Unless something came up in other discussions that they want me to read.

 

I read science once or twice a week for about 20 minutes.

 

I don't assign novels based on history topic (or on any other topic). If they are interested, they'll get one themselves from the library or I'll help them find one elsewhere. In later grades, we'll read books written during a time period we are studying.

 

I am working my way through classic mythology from around the world with the kids - we've done Greek, Roman, Celtic and are working on Norse. This fall we will do American Indian myths and American storyteller tales to correspond with our American history. I read these 4 days a week for about 30 minutes.

 

We really study one Shakespeare play each year and read several different versions then follow up with a live performance.

 

My dd8 is a voracious reader, but I try keep her directed at older children's books. She is currently reading books by E. Nesbit that were written in the early 1900's. They are rich and complex and lead to great discussions about literature. Nesbit was also apparently a big history buff, because her books often reference events from history. These always lead to my dd doing things like checking out books on the Gunpowder Plot for her own reading. Saves me from assigning stuff like that. I don't assign her to read anything; I typically have to make her stop reading to do other things like sleep. She reads about 1 to 2 hours a day - more if I'm at work and don't make her stop. She also loves books about Roman history and will read and reread everything we have on the topic.

 

As my kids age, we enjoy buddy reading. I even did this with my ds up until he graduated. We will share a book and read it aloud for as long as time allows or until our voices give out. Now that my ds is away in school, he lets me know what books he is reading for class, and I read them too so that we can discuss them. Buddy reading has been wonderful for building fluency and a great bond.

 

Dd4 is learning to read, so I spend 30 minutes or more a day listening to her when she is in the mood. I read a picture book of her choice to her daily. Each day she also gets a chapter from a chapter book and a fairy tale. All the readers in the house read to her at least once a day.

Edited June 27, 2009 by Karen in CO

[Sasharowan]

How many books do you bring home on a history topic for the kids to look at? I bring home waaaaay too many. And how in the world do you choose? Especially when, for example, your only going from a recommended book list and an amazon review? There are so many good novels for ds to read but I have to slim it down. I think I need to tell myself "You can have 3-5 books per topic, 2 novels for ds, etc." TIA

 

I sometimes check out up to 20 picture and easy readers on history and science subjects and then assign dd9 and ds8 to read 3-4 history and 2-3 science of their choice from the stack. Sometimes they will read the same ones and sometimes they will read different ones. Some weeks I forget to get any books and our SOTW chapter is all we read on that subject. Some weeks we find movies to watch instead.

[Peela]

I have learned there are only so many books we can read and I try to pick the best ones. Many, many times I have assigned too many books, and it has taken me years to learn that less is more. A good historical novel might take my kids many weeks to read.

I use the CM system of having several books on the go at once. This term my kids are finishing off Watership Down, The Once and Future King, and The Faerie Queen, while our main read alouds have been Ivanhoe, The Brendan Voyage and Sophie's World, and some Shakespeare. They read each book for either a half or a full hour each week. Altogether it's an hour or so a day of reading in school time, indepedently, and half to a full hour of me reading to them.

We can only do so much. The 2nd half of our year will add in 3 more books, as they/we have finished 3.

On top of that they read from two or 3 history spines, but its not more than an hour a week.

As you can see my kids are older, but I just wanted to share that its been quite a process to find an amount of reading that is in balance with the rest of our work and its probably an individual family thing, as to how many books. Having our writing program integrated with history is saving us a lot of time this year and I allocate that extra time to reading, because we just like to read.

[Arch at Home]

I request all our books through the Internet and my husband picks them up. Consequently since I don't see them before they walk into our house, I request every book available on our book list and then decide which to use once they arrive. In the picture book phase my oldest devoured every book that came through the door. Now that books are longer, she is more selective.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

For my oldest, her reading next year for 5th will consist of:

1)history - every week she will read from a spine plus 1-2 other books

2)literature - grade level reading 3 days a week, Ambleside year 4 lit 1 day a week for a challenge

3)science - my goal is 1-2 related books a week but I haven't scheduled these yet.

 

My 3rd grader will have basically the same setup with except for using The Red Fairy book instead of Ambleside

 

My Ker and I will do phonics and try to read 2-3 stories a day with a mix of topics