Reading with Jr. High/High Schooler

[jeh]

Does everyone read all the literature/history books that their kids read? If not, how do you check for comprehension? If yes, how do you find the time?? :confused:

[Michelle in AL]

Yes, for literature, not history. I don't have time for both. I try to start reading in January for the next school yr. I may read 30 minutes in the am and 30 minutes in the pm. Then I reread the book before I teach the class. The 2nd time I read I can really see the literary elements, themes, and symbolism.

 

Last yr we used Omnibus which combined reading for Lit and history along with a history textbook. This yr both are using a textbook for history. Oldest dd started out reading books, but I couldn't assess how much she was learning and her recall of the books was POOR! I'm assuming it was poor due to the lack of discussion.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I read ahead during the summer and sometimes Christmas break.

[MIch elle]

some days the TV doesn't get turned on. I enjoying reading almost everything my boys are reading for school. I'm looking forward to my oldest's next book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. My younger ds starts Kidnapped by Stevenson next week.

[Ester Maria]

I majored in Comparative Literature and Italianistics, which means that by default at some point I have read about 95% of what they have or will have assigned. The rest 5% usually happens with some of their English readings and those I read ahead. Some of the more important works, even though I read them, I reread. Those I don't reread I still skim through or go through my notes, so that I'm not completely unprepared when they come to me to talk about the work.

 

We don't actually do History readings (at least not in the same fashion as Literature), but we do two sets of Literature (one for Italian and one for English).

[FloridaLisa]

I do the same thing Michelle in AL does: I read the literature books, but do not get to all of their history books. And I don't read many of their independent reads. Most of their independent reads come from our in-home library, the church library or the homeschool library. Oh yes, they do check out lots of nonfiction from the county library. I find summer the best time to try to get ahead on my reading!

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Peela]

No, I dont. Some of them I have already read, some I read ahead, but not many.

We have an ongoing read aloud and that's the book we discuss in depth. Other books- they come and give me a narration sometimes, but we dont do "work " with them. They just read. I am really not into over analysing everything we read. I know their comprehension is good so thats not something I worry about.

They do some literature courses- ds with LLATL, dd with home2teach- and that covers some literature aspects too.

Its not perfect. But it works for us.

[lllll]

No. And yes ... sort of. Ours are reading through the GB's (WTM). They each do outside reading related to the GB they're on. I never read any of those. I do try to read some of the GB's though; but it's hit and miss.

 

I've gotten about halfway through Goethe's "Faust", currently, but ds has already finished the stupid book (I really don't get this book :confused:) and handed me his paper on it. He wrote a scathing review of it, so now I'm thinking 'Why finish it. I hate it. He hated it. Why not chuck it.'. It's tempting....

 

I'm also creeping through Herodotus, because I never read the Ancients list when ds's were reading them. I was teaching their 3 younger sisters how to read, write, etc., and still trying to figure out the whole WTM method. But I love this book, "Herodotus". I can see some of the peoples referred to in the Bible, like the Persians, Scythians, and Babylonians. It's fascinating. btw, I would never have wanted to live in ancient Babylonia. Ugly women apparently didn't fare too well there. ;)

 

We're also creeping through "The Iliad" - again - only as a group this time. It's an experiment. We assign a set amount to be read individually and discussed at set times as a group. I already read it a several years ago, but I'm amazed at how much I missed. This seems to be going fairly well so far.

 

And I'd have to read a couple other GB's to keep up with all my (older) dc. They told me not to worry about it; it would make more sense to me to read chronologically, from the beginning. So I'm all the way up to "Herodotus", fast reader that I am. :lol:

 

As far as comprehension, I just assume they pay attention to what they read. And they write papers for me to read on most of the GB's they read. At first, their papers were short and shallow. I just told them to keep on writing; no big deal. As they have matured, so have their papers. I never worried about it and it all just seemed to take care of itself, naturally. They did, however, do a couple of writing programs to help with the mechanics of the writing itself.

 

Kathy

Edited January 22, 2010 by ksva

[Lori D.]

Odd man out here -- we do most of our Great Books literature (reading it and discussing it) aloud together.

 

So, as far as comprehension, it's very easy to see if they "get it", because they stop and say, "What was that??" if they don't get it. We do the majority of history aloud together too in order to discuss as we go -- but we only have 2 boys, 1 grade apart, so it has been pretty easy to do it together and aloud.

 

They do have solo reading, too. I pre-read that during the summer, and then try to ask a few questions about it when they read it during the school year. Looking at free online lit. guides and book summaries helps a lot for the books I wasn't able to get to. I also try to pre-read as much of the literature as I can, so that when we read it together I am somewhat familiar with it and can focus on helping them see themes, symbols, etc. and see how to analyze the work.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Lori D.
added info

[jeh]

Thanks for the hilarious post! It's nice to see that your kids are "flexible" with you! ha ha ha

[jeh]

I am very impressed. About how many books is each child reading in one school year? Thanks!

 

I do the same thing Michelle in AL does: I read the literature books, but do not get to all of their history books. And I don't read many of their independent reads. Most of their independent reads come from our in-home library, the church library or the homeschool library. Oh yes, they do check out lots of nonfiction from the county library. I find summer the best time to try to get ahead on my reading!

 

HTH,

Lisa

[jeh]

I am using Omnibus this year, but only for Lit. Do you have comments on the curriculum, as I see you aren't using it this year? Thanks!

 

Yes, for literature, not history. I don't have time for both. I try to start reading in January for the next school yr. I may read 30 minutes in the am and 30 minutes in the pm. Then I reread the book before I teach the class. The 2nd time I read I can really see the literary elements, themes, and symbolism.

 

Last yr we used Omnibus which combined reading for Lit and history along with a history textbook. This yr both are using a textbook for history. Oldest dd started out reading books, but I couldn't assess how much she was learning and her recall of the books was POOR! I'm assuming it was poor due to the lack of discussion.

[jeh]

I admire your self-discipline! Thanks for encouraging me to use my "free" time wisely! :001_smile:

 

 

I read ahead during the summer and sometimes Christmas break.

[jeh]

Mich elle,

 

About how many books is your child reading each school year? Or do you have a set number of days/weeks for each book? Thanks!

 

some days the TV doesn't get turned on. I enjoying reading almost everything my boys are reading for school. I'm looking forward to my oldest's next book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. My younger ds starts Kidnapped by Stevenson next week.

[jeh]

You background is a blessing! Since I majored in Engineering, I did not take even ONE English course in college! I am thankful for good high school teachers, but it just isn't enough! :tongue_smilie: Thanks for the advice.

 

I majored in Comparative Literature and Italianistics, which means that by default at some point I have read about 95% of what they have or will have assigned. The rest 5% usually happens with some of their English readings and those I read ahead. Some of the more important works, even though I read them, I reread. Those I don't reread I still skim through or go through my notes, so that I'm not completely unprepared when they come to me to talk about the work.

 

We don't actually do History readings (at least not in the same fashion as Literature), but we do two sets of Literature (one for Italian and one for English).

[jeh]

That is what I have been doing, but my kids' reading is very diverse now because of their ages, so I am having trouble continuing with that. Wow, I think that was a terrible run-on sentence, sorry! Thanks for the encouragement to do what works for my school! :001_smile:

 

No, I dont. Some of them I have already read, some I read ahead, but not many.

We have an ongoing read aloud and that's the book we discuss in depth. Other books- they come and give me a narration sometimes, but we dont do "work " with them. They just read. I am really not into over analysing everything we read. I know their comprehension is good so thats not something I worry about.

They do some literature courses- ds with LLATL, dd with home2teach- and that covers some literature aspects too.

Its not perfect. But it works for us.

[jeh]

Thanks, everyone, for your help! I will have to check out the GB listing for more information on how many books you guys are reading during a school year! We do have a well-stocked library...I guess I just need to read from it more! :001_smile:

[MIch elle]

Mich elle,

 

About how many books is your child reading each school year? Or do you have a set number of days/weeks for each book? Thanks!

 

 

My older ds attends high school but I do try to read almost everything he reads.

 

My 7th grader does CLE reading which is a reader/workbook program along with other literature. We start Kidnapped today and I'm using the Calvert 7 schedule which works out to be a little over 4 wks to complete the book (Calver 7 actually takes LONGER but they don't read Kidnapped everyday; the other days the dc read poetry which we skip because CLE reading incl poetry). Calvert 7 lesson manual (purchased used) has comprehension questions,vocabulary and map work for Kidnapped.

 

I use written or oral narration, online study guides, and purchased study guides to check for reading comprehension but sometimes I just let him read the book!

 

I don't know how many books/year because I chose a book just before the next one is completed.

 

Soo many books, so little time!

Edited January 25, 2010 by MIch elle

[Janice in NJ]

Hi!

 

Some specific details. So far this year my high schoolers (9th & 11th grade) have worked through these works. I have read all of them except for The Red Badge - hmmm - I probably read it in school but don't remember it. Dh has promised to discuss the book with them when he gets around to it. :001_smile: And I have revisited all of the others recently; I started re-reading in August. I can't interact with these unless they are fresh. (I'm not sure if I'm missing anything... hmmmmm.....)

 

Austen: Pride and Prejudice

Poetry: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Dickinson, and Whitman

Washington Irving: A couple of short stories, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (We had a ball placing this one in its historic setting. The young gal trying to decide which man will win her affection: the refined old-style man vs. the rough-n-tumble "new" man. One looks forward and one looks back. What will the New America choose? ;)), and Rip Van Winkle.

Poe: Short stories and poetry

A short, too-too-short smattering of Emerson & Thoreau

Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Hugo: Les Miserables

Cather: My Antonia

Crane: The Red Badge of Courage

 

Current title: Dickens: Great Expectations

Next one: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

 

I've read both of these recently; I have a well-annotated copy of each to teach from, so I only have to scan through these.

 

After this we'll be heading in the direction of some Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Russian lit. is completely unchartered territory for me. Crime and Punishment is in my bag. I'll be starting it in 45 minutes while I wait for ds at his piano lesson. I have the book and a pen. And a lot of work to do. :001_smile:

 

So to answer your question, "Yes! I read my high-schoolers' books." And yes. It takes a lot of time. My degree was is in engineering too, so while Columbia required the two semesters of "The Great Books", I don't remember any of it. I didn't connect with any of this for "real" when I was younger. I'm enjoying it now, but it does take a mega-chunk of time. :001_smile:

 

And yes, I try to read my 7th grader's lit too. Right now he is working through Tom Sawyer. I've read it before, so that one gets a flip-flip-flip before we discuss it a couple of times per week. (He's been reading it for two weeks; he's almost done.)

 

And I love history, so I read a lot of history. And chemistry. And I do a lot of math problems. And ____.

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

[Lori D.]

I will have to check out the GB listing for more information on how many books you guys are reading during a school year!

 

 

We do fewer Great Books per year than many on this board -- but we are less rigorous all the way around. We just shoot for a variety of types of works each year -- novels, short stories, poetry, plays, essays / speeches / biographies, and come out with a VERY *rough* average along these lines:

 

- 4 novels (1 per quarter -- about 6 weeks per novel)

- 4 plays or novellas (1 per quarter -- about 2 weeks per play or novella)

- 8 short stories (2 per quarter -- about 1 week per 2 stories)

- 2 "units" (a "unit" = about 1 week); 2 poetry units; or possibly an essay, biography or other writings (1 unit per semester)

 

 

BEST of luck in scheduling your Great Books Journey! Remember, it's not *quantity* of Great Books you read, but the *quality* of interaction with The Great Books you DO read! Enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 25, 2010 by Lori D.
correction