How many books do you require you dc read on their own?

[Prairie~Phlox]

that you pick out? My dd reads all the time, but I have a hard time getting her to read books that I pick out, but that's going to change this year. I plan to pick out books for everyone and they can take a quiz on bookadventure when they are done. So now I'm wondering how many books I should pick out? I was thinking one a week of required reading, maybe 2 for my dd though.

 

Thanks,

Phlox

[Sasharowan]

I generally have them reading 1 book for history and one for literature. They can take anywhere between 1 week and 1 month depending on the challenge level of the books. For my dd, this is usually the only reading she is doing other than magazines. For the older boys, ds14 always has other books he reads as well as the assigned ones and ds9 usually is in the middle of 3-4 books at a time. We do 10-15 assigned books per year, depending on difficulty and kid's age.

[Heather in OK]

I made a list for each of my kids. There is a paper copy in their assignment notebook. I also keep a list on my iPod so when we are at the library they and need a new book, they can take that and find one. The older two have extra spaces on their list so I can add to it if I find another for them to read.

 

They have from now until next June to finish them. I don't require them to read a book in a certain amount of time. It's just understood that the list needs to be completed by June. They will have 30 minutes each school day to do quiet reading and work on these books.

 

My 7th grader has 23.

 

My 5th grader has 22.

 

My 3rd grader has 15.

 

My K has has 15 (that we will read to him).

[ThreeBlessings]

I've scheduled my children to read one chapter a day, sometimes two if the chapters are really short, five days a week. So the amount of books will vary slightly because some books have 12 chapters, some 30.

Edited July 31, 2010 by ThreeBlessings

[johnandtinagilbert]

everyone who can read, reads independently for science and history. That's 1 or 2 books per week for lower grammar, about 5 every 2-3 for upper grammar and middle school (science, history, literature), and probably 7 or so every 2-3 weeks for the high schoolers.

 

My book lovers will also read on their own and I let them read whatever they want, within our value system or their maturity level. I breed readers :) or at least hope to by the time they leave home.

[Joyofsixreboot]

It's been a huge battle but this year that is going to change. My rising 4th grader grudgingly sits through quality read alouds to get to hear his choices at bedtime (Time Warp Trio, Dragonslayers Academy, How To Train Your Dragon series). A Newberry Medal on the front of a book elicits immediate groans. This year he will be reading the Sonlight readers for core 3. How long it will take I'm not sure. We may still be doing them next year this time. He does have problems with tracking and is legally blind in one eye so I think that is part of the problem with reading and I may relent and let him listen to some on tape. As for his tastes, well, he's a 9 year old boy.

[kokotg]

My 4th grade DS reads for 45 minutes a day from the reading list I make for him. I'm guessing he'll get through around 20 books this year that way. My 2nd grader reads for 30 minutes a day, but his books are shorter, so he's already read 2 1/2 books in our first week of school. They both also read books of their own choosing at bedtime (or whenever else they want) (and we read a lot together at bedtime and for history and science).

[Embassy]

I'm having my oldest son read 8 books this coming school year (book list in signature). Some of them are quite long. I can always add more if he completes them early.

[mammaofbean]

my plan is one a month starting in september. we will see how well this plays out. i still want the majority of her reading time to be spent on books that she selects herself.

 

eta- my dd is 5, so we don't have to be very structured.

[LaissezFaire]

I've never really required an amount because my kids read so much. I do have a list of suggestions in case they want an idea of something to read. I also keep a bin of books, both fiction and non-fiction for the area of history we are studying that they can choose from. I would expect kids from older elementary on up to read at least a book a week.

[Skadi]

We have a list of historical and classical literature that is required reading each year. The lower grades have lists that contain between 30 - 40 books because a lot of these are rather short, while by comparison, the high school years have around 20 books per year. The books are listed chronologically, and we print out the year's master list with the books sectioned into quarters so that they can have more of a sense of the progress they should be making in any given month. We don't have TV in our house, so aside from the daily Quiet Hour (in which they can read, write, listen to an audiobook, or even play quietly) we don't have structured reading time.

 

Just to give you an idea of what we do, for a kid who is your oldest daughter's age we assign 28 books to be read over the course of twelve months. That might not seem like a lot compared to the two books a week you were thinking about, but we try to assign books that are challenging and yet very well written (not the modern 100 page books often marketed to kids that age), which take a bit longer to get through. Included in our list for your daughter's age are books like The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, Dante's Divine Comedy: As Told for Young People by Tuxuiani, The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson and Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle.

[NanceXToo]

Well, our curriculum last year typically assigned a specific book approximately every three weeks. Whichever book was assigned, we read aloud together. My daughter was in 4th grade.

 

Sometimes I would pick a book that I thought we would both enjoy and would suggest reading that aloud together, too.

 

But insofar as books she reads to herself on her own, I have never "required" it or insisted on particular books. I make plenty of books available to her, I buy things that look interesting at used book sales, I take her to the library regularly and let her pick out her own reading material, and I leave her alone to read for sheer enjoyment's sake.

 

That's how I grew up maintaining a lifelong love of reading, and I hope she will, too. But I wouldn't want to turn it into something that seems like she's being MADE to do it. I want her to do it because she likes to.

[mcconnellboys]

During the school year, my son reads daily from literature and history or science books that I've selected. He can choose which books to read from the stacks I present him with, but they're pretty much all on topic.

 

If he has things he wants to read outside school time, that's his business. He's been reading through the Eragon books this past school year and started in with the Redwall series in spring. He's continued those through this summer.

 

How many per week depends on how long they are. If he's reading short stories or books with lots of pictures, then it may well be a whole stack of books. If he's reading a 250-300 page chapter book, then it's one book. That's for literature, during his reading time set aside for that purpose. I will also have him reading some shorter books related to the history/science subjects we study for the week.