Mom2TheTeam Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Until very recently, we were reading almost all picture books. My kids just would not sit for a chapter book of any kind. Well, just within the last couple of weeks, I've tried again and they LOVE it and can't get enough. We are reading through books in just a couple of days. I'm thinking I need to slow them down....so, just curious, how do you pace your read alouds that aren't curriculum related....a chapter a day, a book a week, a book at day ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 If you enjoy it and they are loving it, no need to slow down! But if you need to spend less time on it, or you're losing your voice, LOL.... then a chapter or two a day is probably a good pace. I agree with Wendy, there's not any set rule or pace I use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Between a day or two and a week or two. Depending on the book, our schedule, who all is participating in reading- all of my kids will take turns reading outloud if it's a book they are really enjoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Depends on the book. I aim for a chapter a day. If the kids beg for one more chapter, I generally oblige. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 We read for about 20-40 mins for evening read alouds. They take as long as they take, you know? It's nice when a chapter is the right length for one sitting, but sometimes you have to stop midway. I think the longest any single book has taken us is maybe a month. I try to mix up the lengths of the books on purpose. So I wouldn't follow a really long book with another long book. And I try to follow books that are "harder" listens with bigger vocabulary and more complexity with a book that's more on the light and fun side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Longer than it should. :) Most of our read aloud time happens at bedtime. So depending on the evening, we'll do 1-4 chapters, or on really crazy nights, none at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorisuewho Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I really try to keep it at a chapter a day so they have time to think about what happened and "chew" on it. Everytime we rush through a book, I feel we didn't live it long enough for it to stick with them in their minds and hearts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plmzk Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 We take a good long time, but my kids are young: 6.5, 4.5 and 3. The reason we take a while is because we have at least 3 books going at the same time. One fun, one challenging and one Bible based. I like it this way as the kids (and I) get a choice each night (we read at bed time) and they aren't worn out with any one book. I also like how it takes a little more concentration on their part to remember what we read the previous time in a given book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth rose Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I try to do a chapter a day, usually that means 30 min of reading out of the book. with all the other reading I do for history, that is all I can handle. We do our read alouds at night usually. We also have a history read aloud going that we do in the morning. We are slogging through HP 5 right now. Those chapters are long!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I usually do a chapter per day, though sometimes I'll do 2. I also have more than one book going at a time. We usually have one at breakfast time, one at bedtime, and another one during the day or also at bedtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I generally read for 30-60 minutes a night. I decide when to break based on chapter length and how long I've already read when we hit the end of a chapter. Sometimes I read to all three. Sometimes I read an especially girly book to DD while DH reads something especially boyish to the boys. Sometimes we split by interest, and many times by maturity level. Sometimes we all read together. I will say that when DH and I each read different books, I am always pushed to go longer because he has more stamina than I do (probably because I've been with them and already read quite a bit during the day) and I don't want to hear "no fair" from my listener(s). :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 About a chapter a day. I seldom do more than that. As a previous post said, they don't really have time to digest if we do more than one. Also, I kind of like to leave them wanting more. Cliffhanger Mom, that's me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferLynn Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 We read at bedtime and aim for a chapter a day or 10-15 pages. Increasingly, my stamina is the rate limiting step. I get tired at bedtime too and my throat gets sore. We are reading longer books like The Hobbit and Journey to the Center of the Earth. I've found I need to make the time to try to finish within 3 weeks or so or else we all start to drift and lose interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I read one chapter a day, right after lunch, one book at a time until it was finished. I didn't read at bedtime because I wanted all of us to be wide awake, lol, and also because--HELLO! We've been together all day! It's time to go to bed!! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 We do anywhere from 1-4 chapters a day from our current literature read-aloud. The number of chapters depends on how long the chapters are and how much time we have that day. Unless they are short chapters, we only do one per sitting. I sometimes read a chapter in the morning, one during lunch, one in the afternoon or evening, and one at bedtime...some days we just do one chapter in the morning. We also have additional readings for our other subjects. We mostly use living books, so we often have a few chapters from other books as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 It all depends on the book and the length of the chapters. We usually read one chapter a day. If they are small chapters we read more than one, if they are longer then we only read half of a chapter. Usually we read about 15 or 20 pages a day. If the book has us on the edge of our seats we will read longer than that and finish the book in a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS83 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 F-o-r-e-v-e-r! Because of what Ellie said, I guess. I try to read at night, but I don't usually get them ready "on time" and they are wound up if they haven't gotten their energy out during the day. Definitely not the way I picture it in my mind! when we read, I manage about 10-20 minutes and usually have to send one or two to bed before I finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Depends on the book. I aim for a chapter a day. If the kids beg for one more chapter, I generally oblige. This is us too. Sometimes it takes awhile to get into a book so we read a chapter a night for about a week and then one night we'll be so hooked that we read the second half of the book in one sitting. It's been known to happen more than once! It also depends on how long the book is we read some shorter chapter books (approx 100 pages) and some longer ones (Anne of Green Gables is 300+ and I can tell it's going to take us awhile). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'll usually read at our lunchtime and always at night!! I will read 1-2 chapters(a day) depending on how many pages there are in the chapter. I can read Thumper's books fairly fast.....1 for every week or week and a half. We have been reading Johnny Tremain and it is taking FOREVER!! It's a pretty long book......almost done but we are enjoying it. Bambi seems to fade off if I read too much at one time. If it's a book that is hard to put down, then we could read it in a couple days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 We read about a chapter a day. My kids would listen to more but I have terrible read aloud stamina....it doesn't take long for my voice to disappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2TheTeam Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Thanks everyone! I was sort of thinking along the lines of those who say they need time to internalize rather than just keeping on going and going. So, I may start to limit it. I do know they are retaining it because they bring up characters from past books in conversation...comparing things to characters and such. We'll keep winging it. I was just curious what others do. Thanks for indulging me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 We have a tendency to rush through most books. But I think that is right for some books. For example right now we are working on reading the Secrets of Droon series. First Eldest reads it to himself. (This is really improving his reading!) Then I read it outloud to both boys. They felt Daddy was really missing out so then he reads the books out loud. His reading is the favorite since he does character voices. The series is 44 books long. Judging on the length of books it will take about 70 hours of read out loud time to get through the series. That is 70 hours of concentrated reading time. Add in conversation between chapters and woozers. Other books we rush through since we might be rereading a book we read two or three years ago. But other books we take slower. A chapter a day. For example the first time my dh read The Hobbit out loud or Leonardo Da Vinci by Kathleen Krull. My boys will listen to an audio book more like a people watch movies. Just like it wouldn't occur for many people to watch a movie in 20 to 30 minutes spread out over several days. It wouldn't occur for my boys to listen to an audio book in parts. They only stop when they feel down listening or they have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Depends on the book. I read aloud to my oldest in the afternoon. He does not want bedtime reading any longer. He prefers to read to himself before turning off the light. My younger ds however seems to only like chapter books at bedtime. I aim for a chapter, but will read more if they want to hear another. I always have two different chapter books going at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 We go through phases here. Some weeks, dd wants three or four chapters in a sitting (depending on length, obviously) and we might get through two or three books in a week. Other times, she's more interested in doing more hands-on stuff, so we only get a chapter every day or two, and a book might take us a week and a half. Right now we're reading through this massive, heavily-illustrated version of The Wizard of Oz, and it's taking forever because I've been sick for the last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 F-o-r-e-v-e-r! Because of what Ellie said, I guess. I try to read at night, but I don't usually get them ready "on time" and they are wound up if they haven't gotten their energy out during the day. Definitely not the way I picture it in my mind! when we read, I manage about 10-20 minutes and usually have to send one or two to bed before I finish. See? :-) I think the routine of quiet evenings at home, baths, in bed at the same time every night, is important. Well, it was for us. :-) so the dc were in bed by 7:30-8, every night. No rowdy games and whatnot. Hugs and kisses, a little prayer, lights out. That is all.:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 We read for 45-60 minutes a day, sometimes longer or shorter, but that's our average. We've had all sorts of read alouds this year, from Pooh to to Melville, so the amount of time really depends on the book. I begin reading after breakfast time when we have finished all of our daily memory work and family devotions. This year, read alouds have taken anywhere from 2 days to four weeks (White Company...that's a long one!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 About a chapter a day. I seldom do more than that. As a previous post said, they don't really have time to digest if we do more than one. Also, I kind of like to leave them wanting more. Cliffhanger Mom, that's me. This is me too. We have the best discussions when the kids are excited about what is going to happen next. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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