How many books are you reading????

[jcross222]

I have just read through some of the 6th, 7th, 8th grade plans threads as well as some reading list threads. HOLY COW:eek: !!! There's a lot of reading going on! How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date? Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

[brightside]

We read several different types of books. We have books for different subjects (i.e History or Literature class). These books I usually break down by chapter and assign it that way. Then I also have a list of "assigned reading", these have to be completed by a certain date, we only discuss these verbally. The books that are not tied to subjects are just books that I want him exposed to, sometimes he will encounter these books at a later date in literature class, where we would analyze them. We also recommend books for each other to read "for fun". He just recommended the Hunger Games trilogy to me and I enjoyed them. I gave him 1984 and he enjoyed that.

 

I hope that gives you a few ideas. We love books!

[newbie]

1 les Miz

[NanceXToo]

Well, this past year, we read an assigned book every 3-4 weeks throughout the school year- we read those together, and how much we'd read per day would be divided by how many days we had in those 3-4 weeks before it was time to be finished and doing a writing assignment on it.

 

That was for 5th grade but I expect about the same this year for 6th.

 

We also do lots of extra reading, both independently and together, just for fun, as we really like to read. Whether the free reading is assigned just depends. Sometimes I let it happen naturally. Sometimes it's some sort of supplemental book to something we're studying and I'll encourage her to "go have some silent reading time" while I'm doing something else because I need her busy with something and/or want her to get moving on the book.

[starwarsmomma]

My 6th grader will be reading from 2 reading books a day.

 

One is going to be the Schultz books (Practical happiness, created for work, etc...). Each chapter is only 2 pages, with 4 questions at the end. He will do one chapter a day. Really NO big deal.

 

The other will be a book he chooses from his reading list. A mix of classics, humor, fiction, etc... (working on that list now). He will read 20-40 pages of that a day, depending on the difficulty of the book, font, etc... He will do a book report (simple one) after each book.

How many books we get through depends on the books we choose. Some books are 100 pages, some are 500+, so we just go through what we choose.

[Jane Elliot]

I have just read through some of the 6th, 7th, 8th grade plans threads as well as some reading list threads. HOLY COW:eek: !!! There's a lot of reading going on! How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date? Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

 

I don't have a specific number. Reading is one subject for which I assign an amount of time rather than an amount of chapters/pages. (Chalkdust Math is the other subject for which I do this.) I have a list of books I think we should get to. Basically the list comes from the lists in WTM, but I drop/add books depending on how quickly we're moving through the list. So their assignment sheet will have the title of the book and "60 minutes".

 

They do their reading assignments during the day when their brains are sharper, and they do free reading after schoolwork is done and at bedtime. I use the literature questions from WTM to discuss the assigned reading. SWB's audio "What Is Literary Analysis" from Peacehill Press was incredibly helpful.

 

We also have a read aloud time during which we read and discuss some of the novels/plays/poems from the WTM lists.

 

Sorry I have no actual numbers for you, but this plan has worked really well for us. It takes into account their individual reading speeds (we have a very wide range here) and makes scheduling a lot easier on me.

[swellmomma]

I have just read through some of the 6th, 7th, 8th grade plans threads as well as some reading list threads. HOLY COW:eek: !!! There's a lot of reading going on! How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date? Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

 

Well we use sonlight and living books for nearly everything. Just my middle schoolers will read 84 books from cores D and 100 (that is history, read alouds and readers) They will also read close to the same number for our Canadian history reading.

 

As for how assigned, we sort of follow the SL IG (meaning we don't necessarily stop where it says to stop if the kids want to go further we do). Many of thsoe books-particularily the Canadian history ones are shorter than a regular novel so easy to get through a couple a week.

[jcross222]

:lurk5:

[8filltheheart]

I have just read through some of the 6th, 7th, 8th grade plans threads as well as some reading list threads. HOLY COW:eek: !!! There's a lot of reading going on! How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date? Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

 

My 7th grader will read somewhere around 20 books for our unit study for Where the River and Brook Meet (I am significantly altering the plans) + lots of science titles (we don't use textbooks for science.)

 

She will probably be reading assigned books ~3 hrs/day. Her days will probably be on avg 7 1/2 hrs long.

[Melissa B]

We work from a weekly schedule so the girls will have their reading assignments on Monday. For example, read chapters 1-8 of _______ by Friday. They will sometimes check the schedule over the weekend to get a head start on reading. We do a lot of our discussion on the weekend, in the car, over meals, etc. If the book includes a writing assignment it is done during school hours.

 

I do not assign any free reading time.

 

6th grade

 

3 books for online English class

 

9 books for Lit - with guide/papers

9 short stories for Lit - with guide/papers

poetry - discussion only

 

4-6 non-fiction science books - discussion only

6-8 non-fiction history books - discussion only

 

30-35 books total

 

 

8th grade

 

4 books for online English class

 

10-20 books for Lit - (8 books with guide/papers, the rest discussion only)

9 short stories for Lit - with guide/papers

poetry - discussion only

 

4-6 non-fiction science books - discussion only

20 - 25 primary source documents for history - discussion only

 

How to Read a Book - with guide

 

30 - 40 books

20 or so primary documents total

[Lori D.]

For 7th and 8th grades, we did 3 "types" of reading and book lists for school, which came out to about 5-6 hours a week during the school day -- and then just enjoyable reading on own in the evenings, maybe averages an hour (?) an evening, 4-5 nights a week or on weekends??

 

Really, you can cover a lot by just steadily chipping away at it, use books on tape for family aloud reading, read a chapter a day, do several "bites" of reading from a few different books each day, etc. In case it is of help, below is a rough idea of how much we read during the middle school years.

 

Because we did a lot of the Classics and the history aloud together and so we could discuss as we went, we went more for a length of time rather than for amount of pages or chapters. For the Literature, depending on the print and size of the book, we went for about 30 minutes a session; that often worked out to a chapter a session, or, if the chapters were shorter/longer, between 10-15 pages per session. Because we work from so MANY resources for history, going by time allowed me to cut (or add) material as the overall schedule permitted, and, also because the book sizes and print were SO varied, it is hard to say how many pages or chapters per session we were covering per session.

 

BEST of luck in coming up with a reading schedule that works for YOUR family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

1. Formal Literature Study = 4 days/week, 30 min/day

We used actual literature programs (LL7 and LL8) to cover Classics or Great Books; each program covered whole books (not excerpts) and covered novels, novellas, short stories and poetry; we read aloud together "popcorn" style ("you read a page, I read a page"), and discussed as we went, beginning to learn to analyze literature.

- LL7 (8 units) = 2 units of poetry (6-8 poems each); 2 short stories; 4 novels

- LL8 (12 units) = 3 units of poetry (6-8 poems each); 3 short stories; 1 novella; 5 novels

 

Written work included worksheets to practice the literary aspects being learned (8 pages per unit) and a longer writing assignment at the end of each unit, and took 10-20 minutes per day, 3-4 days/week.

 

 

2. History Read Aloud = 4 days/ week, 30-45 min/day

All sorts of resources to go along with history period being studied: non-fiction, historical fiction, folktales, myths, etc., from many different sources -- whole books, excerpts, magazines, novels, picture books, etc. We would read aloud and discuss together. I have no idea on amount of books, since we used such a wide variety of materials; we more tried to use the 36 weeks of the school year as the structure for moving us forward through the history timeline we we trying to cover.

 

Writing included history timeline entries, or 2 paragraphs narration per week, and occasional history research papers. Writing was separate from the reading, and took 10-40 min/day, 2 days a week.

 

 

3. History Solo Reading = 1 hour/week

Historical fiction, at or below reading level, one book per 4 weeks. Done during the school day, on their own. About 8 books per year. Writing included short (1-3 paragraph) book review. Writing was separate; about an hour for each book review.

 

 

4. Family Fun Read Aloud = 2-3 hours/week

in the evenings, just read good books, some Classics or Great Books, some great classic children's books, some humor, some fluff, etc. No writing. No analysis or discussion unless someone wanted to throw in a comment. Year round. Probably got through 12 books a year.

 

 

5. Student Free Time Reading = ?

Nothing assigned, no expectation, just read because they want to; usually works of personal interest -- a lot of humor and comicstrip collections, mysteries, fantasy, and some "fluff" reading; non-fiction in the form of gaming guides and magazines they have subscriptions to and stacks of magazines given to them (Popular Mechanics; Popular Science; Brick Journal; Mac Life computer magazine; Lego magazine; Ranger Rick; Kids Discover; very old "Mad" magazines; etc.).

Edited July 23, 2011 by Lori D.
added info

[PeterPan]

You mean I have to assign books? In general I've always had to pry her AWAY from books, not make her go to them.

 

I think the real impediment to reading is siblings and lack of alone time. I'm trying something new this year and sending her to her room at 8 pm each night. I want her to have more time to read (2-3 hours a day), and I can't give her that time during the school day. She sneaks time in, but I want her to HAVE it. So this is the only thing I could think of, to physically plan it in.

 

The other thing is that she's a stinkin' fast reader, probably faster than I am. She'll read a LOTR volume in a night. So you really can't compare numbers of books. Make sure they don't have any roadblocks to their reading, teach them to read well (love SWR for this), then make sure they have time. I also give her a basket for books in her room and have a rack in the bathroom to hold books. Once you install that rack, suddenly you find your kids need to go to the bathroom a lot. :)

 

To answer your question about the scheduling, I'm pretty loose. No, I don't specify chapters, or at least I haven't found it successful or needful up to this point. If we do Omnibus-type discussion, the segments would be important. She just finds the breaking up tedious. I think sometimes it's useful and sometimes you interject your instruction so much in the process that you ruin it for them. So if I want to discuss, I'd rather let her read the whole book enjoyably and then have her read a *2nd time* the sections to prep for discussion.

 

For history and other reading, I usually just throw books at her with requirements. So for this coming year I have a shelf of biographies (science people, stuff she wouldn't chose for herself normally), and the checklist will say to read one by the end of the week and having your book writing done on it. That's it. The rest of the pacing and whatnot is her deal to figure out. So that's partly her preference for how to read and partly the maturity thing that you WANT your 7th grader to start to make some choices on how they schedule a task to make a due-date. More and more I try to do that, giving her an assignment (output based on reading, whatever) with a due-date so she has to figure out the pace to get there and be ready. It's a good thing.

 

BTW, someone here on the boards (Laura Corin?), many moons ago, posted a comment about increasing reading speeds by upping the ante on the page requirements. So what you're looking at is how much your dc comfortably reads and then how to push that just a fuzz and nudge it up a bit. It's not like we want them to stay at the same place as they are now. A little bit of a stretch and challenge (to meet those deadlines we were talking about!) is good. :)

Edited July 24, 2011 by OhElizabeth

[Jenny in Florida]

How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

 

This past year, when my son was 7th grade age, he read only 12 assigned books:

 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare

The Crucible, Arthur Miller

The Fighting Ground, Avi

Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Jean Lee Latham

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, Nat Hentoff

The Turn of the Screw, Henry James

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Last Book in the Universe, Rodman Philbrick

The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain

 

 

He reads pretty much constantly in his spare time, too, but I don't assign those books.

 

 

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date?

 

I assign specific pages each week. At the beginning of the week, he takes a look at how many pages are assigned and decides how much he wants to read each day in order to finish on time.

 

Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

 

He read three of the books listed above in conjunction with an online language arts class, which had him doing various assignments along the way. For one other, I used one of the Glencoe study guides as a basis for discussion and writing assignments. The remainder, we talked about as he read.

 

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

 

"Assigned free reading" sounds like an oxymoron to me.

 

From the time our kids learn to read, they are allowed 30 minutes of reading time before lights out. They don't have to read, but they don't get the extra time for any other purpose. Neither of ours, though, needed any push to read. My son, in particular, reads whenever he can do so: in the car, while eating, etc. Once he's finished reading whatever is assigned for school, he's free to read whatever he wants in whatever time he can find to do so.

[LauraQ]

I think that my son was assigned to read about 25-30 books in 7th grade, they were all at least at that reading level. He would have to read several chapters a day, but the number depended on the length of chapters, length of book, reading difficulty, etc. This does not include readings from spines for any of his subjects (eg sci, hist) but does include a few historical fictions and biographies, including two biographies of scientists. In addition to those, he probably read at least one more book just for fun every month, often more than one, all either at or above 7th grade reading level as far as I could tell. For him, I assign specific amounts to be read in school books each day as he requires a lot of daily accountability and oversight. Dd had a much *shorter* assigned reading list in 8th grade, and the books were the *only* assigned reading in 3 subjects (VP's Omnibus I) but the level of difficulty was significantly harder.

[SailorMom]

Older DS read a book a week in 7th - so - about 34 books.

Younger DS - we were using a few different programs that limited us a bit mroe - he probably read about 15 in 7th.

This year in 8th- he'll be reading about 20.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[choirfarm]

Well... a lot, a whole lot.... But I love to read and so do my kids. We did Sonlight for awhile but read much faster than the IG. So I just did my own thing. We just finished 4 years of TOG and that has weekly reading. Even then my 8th grade middle child would finish the rhetoric literature novel in 2 days. Typically, that one takes no more than a week to read a novel, but more to do the work with it. We average a novel every two to three weeks.

 

Here is what he read 6th grade, but I don't think it is complete because my dad got really sick and died in May and school stopped. I didn't need to keep grades and thought the records were good enough. Since I had to clean out dad's house, serve as executor, etc. School and record keeping stopped.

hIstory Reading

Our Island Story

Story of Europe

Famous Men of Rome

Son of Charlemagne

Famous Men of the Middle Ages

Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press

Leonardo Da Vinci

LTH: Byzantine Empire

Morning Star of the Reformation

Bible Smuggler

Thunderstorm in Church

Eyewitness Renaissance

Courage and Conviction

Renaissance Artists Who Inspired the World

Hernando Cortes

A Day with an Aztec

Around the World in 100 Years by Jean Fritz

English

Medieval Myths, Legends and Songs

A Door in the Wall

Stories of Beowulf Tod to the Children by H. H. Marshall

Canterbury Tales translated by Barbara Cohen)

The Sword and the Stone

Lief the Lucky

Men of Iron

Trumpeter of Krakow

Second Mrs. Gianconda

I, Juan de Pareja

By the Right of Conquest

Shakespeare Stealer

He also had 3 or 4 pages worth of books ( 25 on a page that he read for fun)

[choirfarm]

Here is his 7th grade:

English

Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier

Stephen F. Austin: Wilderness Pioneer by Carol Hoff

Poetry of Wordsworth, Blake, Colerige, Byron, Keats, and Shelley

Swiss Family Robinson

The Princess and the Goblin

Johnny Texas

Edgar Allen Poe stories and poems

A Tale of Two Cities

Tom Sawyer

Huckleberry Finn

Red Badge of Courage

Hound of the Baskervilles

The Invisible Man

Jungle Book

 

He read all of the dialectic level TOG books for year 3 as well.

 

Here is 8th grade:

Books, Materials List, Resources: ( Entire resource used unless otherwise noted.)

America in the 1900s and 1910s Jim Callan

Imperialism a History in Documents Bonnie G Smith

DK World War I H.P.Willmot

American Presidency Edited by Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer: Teddy Roosevelt through George W. Bush

Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920’s by Frederick Lewis Allen

Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel by Albert Marrin

Hitler by Albert Marrin

America in the 1930’s by Jim Callan

The Good Fight: How World War II was Won

by Stephen E. Ambrose

The Cold War: A History in Documents Allan M. Winkler

A Young Person’s History of Israel by David Bamberger

Ghandi and India by Gianni Sofri

Mao Zedong by Maurice Meisner

America in the 1950’s by Charles Wills

America in the 1960’s by Jim Callan

America in the 1970’s

Eyewitness to Power by David Gergen

America in the 1990’s

A Charge Kept

American Regionalism Short Stories

All Quiet on the Western Front

Animal Farm

Great Gatsby

The Pearl

Lord of the Flies

The Chosen

A Separate Peace

Fahrenheit 451

To Kill a Mockingbird

As You Like It

 

Movies

Our Town

The Great Gatsby

The Crucible

As You Like It

 

 

He read much much more this past year. He read 3 Bush biographies because he loved it. He read all of Twain's works because he wanted to. The problem is getting him to write about it or do worksheets. He'll read and summarize beautifully. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was preparing for next year and he asked if one story was like Death of a Salesman. He then gave me a summary of it.. As you can see, we never studied it!!!!! He liked The Crucible and read it for fun!!!! So assigning reading, I don't. They inhale.

Edited July 24, 2011 by choirfarm

[abbeyej]

For 6th grade we were studying middle ages and using History Odyssey for history and Lightning Lit 7 for literature.

 

Here's our list of assigned reading for 6th grade. Asterisks indicate books we studied as literature:

*Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children (excerpts), Harold Bloom, 0684868741

The Door in the Wall, Marguerite de Angeli, 0440227798

*Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain, 0670869856

The Trumpeter of Krakow, Eric P. Kelly, 0689715714

Beowulf: a new telling, Robert Nye, 0440905605

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, Allen French, 1604595221

King Arthur and His Knights, Malory/ Elizabeth L. Merchant, (Calvert)

The Sword in the Stone, T.H. White, 0399225021

The Adventures of Robin Hood, Roger Lancelyn Green, 0140367004

If All the Swords of England, Barbara Willard, 1883937493

Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Gray, 0142406597

Crispin: Cross of Lead, Avi, 0786816589 (and sequel -- this one was a favorite)

Catherine Called Birdy, Karen Cushman, 0064405842

*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Master Cornhill, Eloise Jarvis McGraw, 1887840001

The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer / McCaughrean , 0140380531

One Thousand and One Nights, Geraldine McCaughrean, 0192750135

*The Story of My Life, Helen Keller, 1416500324

The White Stag, Kate Seredy, 0140312587

Tales From Japan, Helen and William McAlpine, 0192751751

The Samurai's Tale, Erik Haugaard, 0618615121

A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park, 0440418518

*All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot, 0312330855

Secret of the Andes, Ann Nolan Clark, 0140309268

Around the World in 100 Years, Jean Fritz, 0698116380

The Playmaker, J. B. Cheaney, 0440417104

King of Shadows, Susan Cooper, 068984445X

Dante's Divine Comedy as Told for Young People (excerpts), Joseph Tusiani, 1881901297

The Second Mrs. Giaconda, E. L. Konigsburg, 0689821212

*MCT's Building Poems

[abbeyej]

For 7th grade, we were studying early modern history. We weren't using an outside history program (I wrote our assignments), but we did use some of the Lightning Lit high school materials for literature. (I liked the 7/8 programs from LL, but I was severely disappointed with the high school materials and would *not* recommend them.)

 

*Pride and Prejudice

The King's Fifth, by Scott O'Dell

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, adapted by Michael Harrison

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Barton De Trevino

Along Came Galileo, by Jeanne Bendick

Gulliver's Travels

*Ivanhoe

Dangerous Journey (retelling of The Pilgrim's Progress)

*Frankenstein

*Jane Eyre

George Washington's World, by Genevieve Foster

Stowaway by Karen Hesse

*Ben Franklin's Autobiography

Forge, Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson

Mutiny on the Bounty

*The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, others by Washington Irving

Seaman: the Dog who Explored the West

*Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Uncle Remus tales (selections)

Once Blind: the life of John Newton, by Kay Marshall Strom

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

An American Plague: the true and horrifying story of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793

Fever 1793

Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: the discovery of the smallpox vaccine

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science

*The Scarlet Letter

 

Once again, asterisks indicate books that we studied as literature.

 

----------------

 

Both kids doing this -- ds and our friend -- read others book in their free time. These are the assigned readings.

[mcconnellboys]

Free reading is just that for us, free. I don't know nor care (within parameters, of course; never had those crossed or threatened, however) what they read. There's almost always some of that going on.

 

We read quite a lot. I don't know how many books I have assigned for next year, as I don't count them. It's about one a week (or every two weeks, if the books are longer) for lit. There will also be history and science reading, but that reading may not encompass entire books from front to back; it will vary somewhat. We generally have several books going at one time during the school year (and like it that way!)....

 

I am not doing a formal lit program with my son this year because he has an outside writing through literature class that's going to cover plenty of good material. He'll also be reading those books during the week and some of that may be "homework" as there may not be time for him to get it all done during the course of our regular school day.

 

I expect him to read about 50 pages per day in a typical lit book. I will be checking his reading speed at the beginning of the school year to get a good handle on it, but he has always generally read faster than his brother and that was the typical speed his brother read at for the same age....

[abbeyej]

And free reading is free reading. I exercise a bit of discernment in terms of what makes it into the house, but free reading is separate from the assigned stuff...

[Lady Florida.]

I'm working on 8th grade plans. So far I only have 3 books that I will assign.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Fahrenheit 451

Animal Farm

 

All 3 will be done along with Boomerang from Bravewriter. I'll re-evaluate after he finishes those, to decide how many more, and their titles.

 

That's for literature. We usually have books going with science and history. Some of the history ones we do as read-alouds, especially the ones that are historical fiction. Most of the science ones are biographies or other non-fiction. The books for science or history that he has to read on his own are assigned as part of science or history, not literature.

 

As far as time, it really just depends. Usually it's 30 minutes to an hour a day. Sometimes when we're using Boomerang (as we'll be doing with the above books) I'll let him know that he needs to be finished with a specific chapter by the end of the week. Then I let him adjust his reading time up or down as he deems necessary. His pleasure reading is totally his choice, and he usually reads those books at night in bed.

[AuntPol]

DD (7th grade)

9 classics (one a month)

20 contemporary books (one every two weeks-light reading for mother-daughter book club)

3 biographies (one per trimester)

3 non-fiction "life" books (DO hard things, Selfish pig, etc) (one per trimester

History Spine/Science spine/Logic book/3 Uncle Eric books

 

DS (6th grade)

 

10 Classics

8 Historical Fictions of choice

9 Contemporary books of choice

3 Biographies

3 non-fiction "life" books

History Spine/Science spine/Logic book/3 Uncle ERic books

Any additional history books he wants to read

[Ester Maria]

Generally, 10-15 works per year per language (we do two "sets") for literature. Ideally it would be one a month, but then some are so short or a shame to "waste" a month on, so it ends up being a bit more than that.

 

Philosophy maybe 1-2 works per year, but I still mostly do philosophy via excerpts and context at that age rather than via full works, and I do "easy" stuff, like Philo or some Plato, which I typically do not even count as we go over it together and it constitutes an "in class" reading more than something they are supposed to prepare on their own.

 

Free reading is free.

 

We do not do history / historical fiction / biographies reading - the only things I assign at that age is literature and minimal philosophy.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I have just read through some of the 6th, 7th, 8th grade plans threads as well as some reading list threads. HOLY COW:eek: !!! There's a lot of reading going on! How many books do you plan on having your middle schooler read over the course of the year. I am specifically looking for number of assigned reading, not what your kids might read in their free time.

Also, how are you assigning the reading. Is it, read ch1 today, ch2 tomorrow, etc., or do you ask for book A to be read by a certain date? Finally, how many are you using as formal lit studies versus reading with casual discussion?

Ok, really finally, do you have assigned free reading or do you just let in organically happen like around bedtime? There now I'm done.:) Thanks.

 

Free reading happens all the time. We're pretty light on the tv. Maybe an hour a night of something from Netflix or the DVR. I'd say my older kids read 1-5 books a week (largely science fiction novels and military fiction and nonfiction).

 

Then I'd say that they had 2 books assigned a week for history (mostly YA historical fiction or a biography).

 

This year I'm planning on adding more literature. I made up a list of all the "great or classic books" that I'd read as a high schooler. I just don't see that Sonlight (which we did the last three years) or TOG (which we're using this year) quite hit literature the way that I want. I think this is especially emphasized by the fact that the novel is mostly a modern development, so literature isn't evenly distributed across a chronological timeline from ancients onward.

 

I have noticed that reading is part of a zero sum game involving time. The more tv and video games (we have Nintendo DS games and some computer games) the kids do, the less they read. When we have waiting time, like before a Dr appointment or in the car or at a sports event that involves a lot of waiting, it is books that come along, not electronics. Same with car rides.

 

The last couple years the assigned reading was broken up a few chapters a day. However, they frequently read ahead and finished the book early. This year I'm going to start shifting to "here's the due date", but cautiously as I have one kid that will easily fill his reading time with sci fi and "forget" that he has assigned reading too. Then he will read it, but not with the attention to detail that I want. This varies by age and by kid.

 

We did assign two books for summer reading this year. It was actually my son's idea (the same sci fi reader, actually, so he's not a lost cause). All the other older kids on swim team were talking about their summer reading lists. He asked if he had one. So we assigned Animal Farm and Screwtape Letters.