When you do lots of reading aloud...

[CandaceC]

How do you schedule it in your day?

 

I prefer to have all our schooling done by lunch time. :D We usually never have a problem getting this in...

 

But, I'm curious, if you read aloud for several of your lessons - how do you break it up??

 

When my kids were just a little younger, and we would do something like FIAR, we would read a Bible story, read our FIAR book and maybe 1 other "go along" and that would be it...and that would be all on the couch, then we'd head to the table.

 

Now that we are adding in more subjects and some of them include reading aloud - do you break it up and how do you do that??

 

Do you read (on the couch or wherever) then go to table, then back to couch, etc? Back and forth to break up the reading??

 

I'm just not able (with attention spans) to get ALL the reading done in one sitting...but our "routine" is sooooo ingrained in us, we've been doing it that way for about 4 years...that I'm just having trouble figuring out if we should just go back and forth or what...

 

thanks! I feel like this is kind of a silly question, but I'm really having trouble getting a "new" routine down!

[Daisy]

Read-alouds are not usually factored into our "school" time.

 

I read at every meal. We read for longer after dinner because hubby is leading devotions and reading his book choice to us.

 

Before the children were reading their own books at bedtime, I use to read aloud to them at that time also. I also used to read to my kiddos while they were in the bathtub when they were really little. I had to be in there supervising anyway. Might as well read a story.

 

I also keep a book in the glove box of the car and read aloud whenever we are waiting (doctor's appointment, bank, etc.).

[chubbyhugs]

I don't know if this helps you, since you have three dc and I only have the one . . . When dd was doing early elementary level (K-3) I'd read aloud to her as the subject came up: for Math I'd read a page of a Theoni Pappas book; for Religion a Bible story from the Old Testament or a parable from the New Testament; for History, a chapter of historical fiction, etc. I never scheduled in "reading time." I just did it in addition to the curriculum she was doing. She also read books on her own. Between 3rd and 4th grade level she began to be more independent. But dh and I have always, and still continue to, do a real aloud of one of the classics (a chapter) at night before bedtime (on our bed).

[Guest CarolineUK]

At the moment we have to go pick up DS11 from school every afternoon, so I set out early. It's a ten minute drive to the school, during which DS3 falls asleep, I then have DS9 and DS5 as a captive audience for half an hour, during which time I read history related stuff - I don't think they even realise that its all deliberately organised! Other than that I find it difficult to find time, unless, like Daisy, it's while waiting for something else.

[....]

We do Sonlight and our Read-Alouds are done at Bedtime. History/Geography is done during school time. Readers (which are read independently) are read in the morning as we start school.

 

Unless, of course, I have to start the day mowing the lawn and giving 5 baths...:glare:, which means it's 10:36 and I am still waiting for all the mermaids to get out of the bathtub....and we haven't started school yet. :001_huh: Even our Shih Tzu feels a "disturbance" in the Force.

[CandaceC]

Thanks ladies...

 

I should have clarified - I'm talking about reading aloud, but their "main" subjects...

 

Like SOTW, our Christian Worldview book, Bible...

[Guest CarolineUK]

Oh, yes I do read to DS11 and DS9 for half an hour to an hour each night at bedtime, after which DS11 carries on reading to himself (sometimes far too late).

[Daisy]

Thanks ladies...

 

I should have clarified - I'm talking about reading aloud, but their "main" subjects...

 

Like SOTW, our Christian Worldview book, Bible...

 

SOTW gets read with us sitting on the couch. Later in the week, we listen to it again on audio (in the car, before bed, whatever). I like to read this on the couch because we immediately go into oral narration.

 

Bible and character reading is read at breakfast. We eat our food and then before we even clear dishes we grab our baskets with the Bibles and read round-robin style. Before they could read, I just read to them while they ate.

 

The book in the car is usually a science living book of some sort like Burgess, Fabre, or Buckley because it is easy to read a chapter and then not return to it for a while.

 

Lunch time is usually our poetry and whatever literature read-alouds I've chosen.

 

Dinner time is devotions, Bible, and hubby likes to pick church history (History Lives) or missionary stories to read to the kids.

 

I don't try to fit all of that into an 8-noon type scenario. My kids are going into 3rd and 6th. There is no way we could fit all of school into 4 hours now. That's what I meant by I don't factor that into school time. Most of that reading is stuff we would do even if our kids went to ps, so it doesn't really register as "school" to me.

[Chris in VA]

Thanks ladies...

 

I should have clarified - I'm talking about reading aloud, but their "main" subjects...

 

Like SOTW, our Christian Worldview book, Bible...

 

Ah, I see--

Sometimes I read right at the table--esp SOTW.

If it's non-fiction, it's usually at the table. If it's not a spine/textbook, then it's in a comfy spot.

 

Dd just told me yesterday she's done with true read aloud time. :o

[CandaceC]

Thanks ladies, hearing how things work in your house is helping me think through this! :)

 

Daisy - I do see what you mean now, about not fitting it all into the school morning regardless...

[myfunnybunch]

We go back and forth from couch to table. If we read aloud for history, we meet at the couch. I read and we discuss the reading. (ETA: All readers take turns reading--me, the two fluent readers, and a few simple sentences for the beginning reader. Two birds with one stone: I hear them read aloud daily, and we're reading through the subject material we have to read anyway.) Then I send the kids to the shelf for their history notebooks and they head to the table for mapwork and/or projects. Same with science. I find I get better discussion and narration if we're all curled up on the couch, and it seems to naturally break up the lesson so that it doesn't seem too long.

 

Our regular read-alouds are read during lunch, after school and in the evening. I do read a subject-related book (usually related to history or science) every 3rd or 4th book.

 

Cat

Edited July 8, 2010 by myfunnybunch

[pageta]

We do Bible, literature and poetry read-alouds, then we do our three R's, then we go back to read alouds and do SOTW, science, art, music, whatever else. So we have sit and listen, then get up and do things, then back to sit and listen. Free reads get read at bedtime. I have a hard time doing read-alouds that aren't somehow worked into the structure of our day - the just don't get done otherwise.

[spradlin02]

Right now, morning when we wake up and before bed.

[AngelaNYC]

Our curriculum involves lots of reading aloud for the main subjects. We get everything in in about 2 - 2.5 hours as well. We prefer sitting on the couch but will use the table sometimes.

 

1. Math for about 20 minutes.

2. I read aloud some history and ds narrates - and we put something on the timeline.

3. Ds does a page or 2 in his spelling workbook.

4. I read aloud some geography or science & ds narrates

5. Ds and I read a poem together and he uses it for copywork

6. Ds reads aloud to me - usually 1 page.

7. I read aloud some literature or a "free reading"

8. We do one of the extra subjects (artist, composer, or nature study)

[Mom0012]

We use SL and I've always read to my kids at breakfast. Core 3 took me about an hour a day to read to them. This year, I am thinking of moving our reading to lunchtime because I want them to get their other schoolwork done first.

 

If my kids weren't able to sit for all the reading I wanted to do, I'd break it up between breakfast and lunch. I don't think bedtime reading would work so well here, but I've never tried it.

 

Lisa

[Julie in AZ]

As we added things, I had to let go of having school done by lunchtime.

 

School for us looks something like this:

 

*Bible reading, memorization, study (during breakfast)

*read aloud (FIAR go along, history, for fun, etc.)during handwriting

*grammar

*math games

*ds math on computer then break

*dd break then math on computer

*ds writing

*kids break

Lunch (read aloud - FIAR book or go-along)

*FIAR activity or writing, etc.

*ds spelling

*BOB time - books on bed (ds reads biographies)

*ds piano practice

 

I forgot ds wants Latin and we plan to add science...:lol:

Anyway, that's what we have so far.

[Sahamamama]

After the girls are in bed for the night, I lay out what we'll need for the following day.

 

 

• All the seatwork for my oldest goes out on the long table. We work through that, going "down the line." All the preschool stuff for the twins goes on the buffet. They like to have a work page or a puzzle, KWIM? :001_smile: We (attempt to) do seatwork in the morning.
  

 

 

 

• All the daily Read Alouds -- Bible, Literature/Poetry, and a math book and/or a composer biography -- go in a pile on the filing cabinet. Simply stack them up in the order of reading, first book on top, with long bookmarks on the start pages. For example, our pre-nap "pile" today had (1) a math picture book (we read the whole book today); (2) a child's biography about Mozart (we read a few pages); (3) our children's Bible (we read one story today); and (4) an Aesop for children (we read 2-3 fables). I also like to put something sleepy on the bottom of the pile, like Kitty Cat Lullaby. We read this stack of books after lunch and before nap. Sometimes, I hear zzzzzzzzzzzz next to me, then I know it's time to stop reading and let little girls go to bed. ;) (Time: 30-45 minutes)
  

 

 

 

• All the weekly subject Read Alouds -- Science spine/books, Geography spine/books, History spine/books, and anything else -- go in a pile at the end of the long table. Simply stack them up in the order of reading, first book on top, with long bookmarks on the start pages. You probably won't read every subject every day, but you might have a few library books for Science, for example. We read these at various times. Sometimes, I begin the morning with a subject Read Aloud -- "Let's start our school day by reading about ________!" They love that. Other times, we read our subject pile after seatwork, but before lunch. That feels like a lot of work for me some days, or my voice just gives out by lunchtime. So most often, we read the subject pile after nap, but before supper. What helps is that it's all stacked up, ready to go when we are ready to read! (Time: 30-45 minutes)
  

 

 

 

• Picture books for the month go in a wicker laundry basket. Daddy reads those to the twins at night, when available. Otherwise, Mommy reads picture books to all the girls in the evening, after supper and before bedtime. (Time: 20-30 minutes)
  

 

 

 

• A chapter book for the older child is on my nightstand. When Dad can read to the little girls, Mom reads to the bigger girl (for some snuggle time together, no twins!). This is what my daughter calls "Read Aloud on the Bed with Mommy." If her father is home and supper is done, she'll ask, "Mommy? Can we have a read and a snuggle tonight?" :001_wub: How can I say no to that? (Time: 20-30 minutes)
  

 

HTH.

[Sahamamama]

My kids are going into 3rd and 6th. There is no way we could fit all of school into 4 hours now. That's what I meant by I don't factor that into school time. Most of that reading is stuff we would do even if our kids went to ps, so it doesn't really register as "school" to me.

 

:iagree:My kids are not 3rd or 6th graders, but I agree with Daisy in the sense that I mentally divide our day into Morning Seatwork and everything else -- the weekly subject time slot (Monday/Bible; Tuesday/Doctrine; Wednesday/Music; Thursday/FREE; Friday/Science), pre-nap Read Alouds, post-nap Read Alouds, evening Read Alouds, and whatever else we just do as a family (not necessarily for "school"). We have a pile of books for Read Aloud, a basket of picture books to self-select, a shelf full of books in their bedroom, and a big "Animal Book Box" for our science books this year. IOW, books are all over the place. :)

 

My motto: Learn through seatwork in the morning, then eat, read, sleep, sing, and play the rest of the day. :D

[heart'sjoy]

With three kids 10,8,6 here they are never all at a good stopping point. I eat breakfast before them and read during breakfast. Lunch, I read when I'm done. Sometimes at supper also, but right now DH is reading them Beric the Briton at bedtime.

 

I just stack a couple of read alouds on the mantle. I usually have a list in my notebook of planned read alouds for each nine week section.

[NanceXToo]

My daughter likes when I read to her while she eats breakfast. So we start our day with me reading aloud while she eats. If she finishes eating before I finish reading, we move to the couch and finish.

 

I also usually read at bedtime.

[prairiegirl]

We go back and forth from table (or sometimes floor :D ) to the couch for reading. Reading calms my kids down. So if we have just done a stressful lesson for math, then we will go to the couch for a read aloud, be it for history, science or lit. We go back and forth like that to give the kids time to regroup. I alternate skill subjects with book-based subjects or creative subjects.