Literature....how do you decide?

[cam112198]

How do you decide what your children read? Do you use Sonlight or Veritas Press lists? I am just planning for next year.

Thanks! :)

[Rosie_0801]

1. What I have in the house

2. The Well Trained Mind book list

3. What I feel like an idiot for not being familiar with

 

Something like that :p

[Ellie]

1. What I have in the house

2. The Well Trained Mind book list

3. What I feel like an idiot for not being familiar with

 

Something like that :p

 

:iagree:

 

Also, (4) bunny trails in the library.

[Pen]

I usually try to keep pushing the edge of ability zone and stretching genres and subjects, but I also let my son choose a lot of what he wants on his own at this point. The children's librarian at our library has been very helpful at certain points. Running with an author and reading all that person wrote till done or bored with it has been helpful. Recalling classics that might fit other interests has been a help. What other children we know are reading. What Shakespeare play will be performed this year locally. Many such considerations have led to choices. I have not followed lists, but have sometimes looked at them and been reminded of something. Mostly books from lists have not turned out to be good fits, however.

[Hunter]

There is what MUST be covered, and then there is what MIGHT be good to read IF I'm struggling to find something fun to read.

 

The MUST list has always been what did me in. What MUST be read. What MUST I have on my bookshelves at all times.

 

I pulled out my SOW Students of the Word curriculum and decided I will use this as my MUST read. That means everything else can be from the library and student choice. This is all I will stock on MY bookshelves. This is all I will read MYSELF and TEACH. It's good enough. I can rest with this.

 

The other lists I just couldn't rest with. The author's of the lists had different priorities and worldviews.

 

I'm sure over time I will tweak the SOW list, but I'm comfortable with it in general.

[SFM]

1. What I have in the house

2. The Well Trained Mind book list

3. What I feel like an idiot for not being familiar with

 

Something like that :p

 

 

Same here and like Ellie says following rabbit trails at the library. I also have a few books like, Books Children Love, etc. for extra help choosing, if necessary.

[*Lulu*]

1. What I have in the house

2. The Well Trained Mind book list

3. What I feel like an idiot for not being familiar with

 

Something like that :p

 

 

I also pick up the school district's reading list from the library each summer. I figure if every kid in this area is reading xyz popular book it would be good if my kids can hold a conversation about it. (Unless it is just a terrible choice.)

 

I follow SWB's advice about our book choices and allow the kids to walk away from any book they hate after 4 chapters. (Total paraphrasing, I haven't listened to the lecture again this year. It is on my list for next week's convention at home. :p ) There are just too many good books out there to waste time on a book you hate. (A least before college.)

 

I would guess for every book my kids read there are 2-3 I offer and they reject. I have gotten where I give them 4-5 choices and they pick one. The next book is totally their choice. The mine, then theirs, etc.

[SarahW]

For free reading?

 

I've been sort of following the Mensa K-3 reading list. I posted about it here: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/453896-mensa-k-3-reading-list-leveled/?do=findComment&comment=4685024

 

The public library has copies of everything so far (and liberal ILL), so that helps. And some of the books were things that I would have never thought to read to my kid, but he has liked them so far. We did do Winnie-the-Pooh with the Denis recording, and that was a big hit with him.

[MerryAtHope]

I've pulled from several sources. Sonlight literature/readers have usually been a good match here, so we use many of their books (and some entire cores). I saved a lot from my childhood, and pulled from what I already had as well. Sometimes I draw from other lists like Mystery of History/Bright Ideas Press, Winter Promise, Diana Waring, and so on.

 

If I have more than I need (ha!) I make a "definitely read" list and an "optional read" list, based on what sounds most interesting, and that includes lots of classic and/or award-winning literature.

 

Merry :-)

[CatholicMom]

I use Sonlight as my go-to list of quality literature.

 

I also look at Glady's Hunts book, Honey For a Child's Heart, for classics I may not be familiar with and see if they are of interest.

[KristenR]

When my daughter follows rabbit holes, sometimes we end up with books I'm not sure about or have never heard from. I utilize this website where folks can review and rate books AND movies. It hasn't steered me wrong yet.

Common Sense Media

[ByGrace3]

We use SL as our main go to list. My kids love the books, and I have been very pleased. I also take some choices of what I think look interesting from MP and VP.

[Mrs Twain]

I make a list for each grade using VP and the books listed in the Core Knowledge K-8 sequence. Those are my main lists. I add audio CD's of historical fiction according to what we are learning in history. If we need more books, then I choose from Honey for a Child's Heart. If we need still more books, then I will pull out the 1000 Good Books List. I don't often get the 1000 Good Books List out, though, because it is too long and stresses me out.

[Julie Smith]

ICK, iPads can be annoying.

 

Quick answer, things recommended from here and this list, http://www.slj.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SLJ_Fuse8_Top100_Novels.pdf

 

 

[Farrar]

I'm pretty well read in children's books. I look at various lists - award winners, library lists, etc. And I incorporate historical fiction for the year.

 

Of course, that's just our required reading - not free reading, which they can choose themselves.

[jessj]

I look at several lists...

 

online:

Logos School

Simply Charlotte Mason

Ambleside Online

My Fathers World

 

books:

Read for the Heart

Well Trained Mind

Educating the Wholehearted Child

 

 

When I pick and choose from the lists I look for books I think my children would like, and/or topics I would like them to read about for history or to challenge them or inspire them towards something.

 

My children may also choose other books. I'm not very formal about how I do it, but most of the time they have a book that I've suggested for them that they read during assigned reading during the day. Sometimes they have an idea of a book they may want to read and if it's at an appropriate level I will let them include that. For their free time reading before bed, they are free to read whatever they want. I try to balance challenging them and providing quality reading material, while also making sure that their love for reading is growing, not being squashed by horrible assigned reading!

[edeemarie]

I try to keep in mind the interests of my dc as I am choosing their list (do they like animals? History? Science? Etc.). I love, love, love Medieval mom's book list http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/345347-medival-moms-book-list-in-pdf/. But I also do search the other catalogs to see what they have on their lists (Ambleside online has a nice list). There are also a few other lists online I check.

http://charlottemasonhome.com/2007/05/30/literature-by-grade/

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

http://www.greatbooksacademy.org/curriculum/good-books-list/

Usually the ones I see repeated on several lists I try to use since I know they will be good:)

[TracyP]

For assigned lit, I use TOG, HOD, Sonlight, and A Book in Time.

 

For free reading, I love the 1000 Good Books list.

 

The Read Aloud Handbook is another great literature resource I haven't seen mentioned yet.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I use SL, HOD, VP, TWTM for Ideas and we are slowly working our way through the Mensa reading lists

http://mensaforkids.com/school_template.cfm?showPage=school_readeraward.cfm (scroll down for links to different grade lists)

[Ellie]

FTR, I never assigned reading to my dc. I read aloud to them from those good books we're talking about, one chapter a day right after lunch, each day that we were home. The dc chose whatever they wanted when we went to the library weekly.

[SarahW]

FTR, I never assigned reading to my dc. I read aloud to them from those good books we're talking about, one chapter a day right after lunch, each day that we were home. The dc chose whatever they wanted when we went to the library weekly.

 

I wish my kid did that! lol. I would try to make him choose a book, but he would just choose one at random, only one, and then when we got home he would never look at it. grrrrr...... I have to choose books, and, honestly, the racks of early readers sort of scare me. I mean, the baby-reading books was something I could deal with, Jr. High and up are books I'm familiar with, but other than Dr. Seuss I have a huge gap for some reason when it comes to early readers, and my kid doesn't care for a lot of Seuss. And, gosh, so many of the leveled readers at the library just look....sucky. Blech.

 

The Mensa list is easy. I ILL a few, take them home, and then can "happen" to decide "hey, let's read this book together!" But he's still 6. What will I do when he's 8? I don't know. I hope he likes to read by then.

 

 

 

 

 

(And I used the word "suck" twice this week on this forum. Sorry).

[Ellie]

 

I wish my kid did that! lol. I would try to make him choose a book, but he would just choose one at random, only one, and then when we got home he would never look at it. grrrrr...... I have to choose books, and, honestly, the racks of early readers sort of scare me. I mean, the baby-reading books was something I could deal with, Jr. High and up are books I'm familiar with, but other than Dr. Seuss I have a huge gap for some reason when it comes to early readers, and my kid doesn't care for a lot of Seuss. And, gosh, so many of the leveled readers at the library just look....sucky. Blech.

 

The Mensa list is easy. I ILL a few, take them home, and then can "happen" to decide "hey, let's read this book together!" But he's still 6. What will I do when he's 8? I don't know. I hope he likes to read by then.

 

 

 

 

 

(And I used the word "suck" twice this week on this forum. Sorry).

 

 

We went to the library weekly. Dc could check out any books they wanted, or none at all. Every book was returned the following week whether it had been read or not--the only way I could avoid overdue fines, lol. I never questioned the dc about their book choices, even if they made no book choices. And since I was reading aloud one chapter a day from a good book (I could keep books longer than a week, 'cuz, you know, I'm the mom) that I chose, I figured they were getting enough exposure. :-)

[nmoira]

(And I used the word "suck" twice this week on this forum. Sorry).

 

 

I've said far worse. :tongue_smilie:

 

DD the Younger didn't like early readers (her sister skipped right past them), with a few exceptions.

 

Arnold Lobel (Frog & Toad and more)

Cynthia Rylant (especially Poppleton and Mr. Putter and Tabby)

Rosemary Wells (especially McDuff)

Martin Waddell (esp. Big Bear and Little Bear... not technically early readers)

The Fire Cat

 

Mostly we just read books together until she was able to read Bad Kitty. Then there was no looking back.

[Walking-Iris]

My ds does a great job choosing good books to read on his own now, but when he was 2nd-3rd grade age, he had a hard time choosing books. I'm like ellie, I DO NOT assign my child books to read. If there's a book I want to discuss, want him to be familiar with and yet I'm positive he might not choose it, or I want to do projects, I just read it aloud.

 

I highly recommend The Read Aloud Handbook not only for the lists, but to understand why one would want to continue to read aloud to an older child.

 

I also like More Books Kids Will Sit Still For, Books to Build On, WTM, the ALA Newbery award winners list. And then there's a ton of online resources for booklists---Ambleside, Sonlight, and so on and so on. Using WWE and Bravewriter Arrows has been a good way to find new books. Core Curriculum has a booklist.

 

I use these lists to either remind me of a book I may have forgotten and to discover new books (I never read Wizard of Oz as a child, didn't even know it was a book series until I started homeschooling!!) I also like booklists to give me a guide when purchasing books.

 

 

It can be really daunting for some kids to see all the books on the shelf at the library, and at home, and figure out how to pick one. To help my ds I would choose 6 books from our home collection. We would choose them together. I would pick a mix of books he had heard read aloud before, books he may be interested in, easy books, challenging books, nonfiction. Then we would set those 6 books on a separate shelf. And those were what he could choose from. It was easier for my ds to pick from 6 rather than try to pick from hundreds. Sometimes he decided he didn't want to read some of them and so we would choose a few more to replace those. I also ONLY buy books for our home library that I would want my kids to read. I let them choose what they like at the library. I also don't make them read their library books. I do have a rule that they check out 1-2 from the nonfiction areas, but I do not buy twaddle or junk books for our home. They only have what I would consider quality to choose from so they can be free to read what they like and no worries that it will be junk.

 

That strategy of isolating 6 books worked because now he can look over the shelves and think about what he wants to read next. I think it was a visual overload thing, a case of too many choices making it hard to make any choice.

 

Now when they are young beginning readers, age 6, I just choose books for them to practice reading aloud from I Can Read classic stories (Little Bear, Frog and Toad etc) and any picture books that they choose to look at or attempt to read. I continue a lot of read alouds at that age, picture books and chapter books,and do some shared reading.

 

Easy series like Magic Tree House are great for bridging that gap between I Can Read style books and chapter books. My ds also liked the Berenstein Bears chapter books when he was a fledgling reader.

[boscopup]

Sarah, at that age, I just let them go look in the picture book section and find something they might like. If they only pick one book, I might tell them to pick a couple more. My oldest liked non-fiction best at that age, so we hit the history/science easy readers (there are tons around a 3rd-4th grade reading level... probably not historically accurate though :lol:). I had to work on him to get him to like fiction. He didn't like fiction in first grade, except Star Wars. Star Wars kind of opened the door to fiction, and they have everything from easy readers to young adult novels. Later when he was comfortable reading novels at any grade level, it was easier to get him into some fiction books, like Homer Price and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then he moved on to higher level stuff and now will read fiction quite willingly (yay!).

 

But yeah, at 6... Give him easy stuff (below current reading level) that is about topics he is interested in. And remember that it's not uncommon for boys to gravitate toward non-fiction.

 

I don't really worry much about the quality of the picture books my kids bring home, except that I try to avoid Sponge Bob and the like if we can. Sometimes stuff like that slips by anyway, and I just get over it. :) They have often found some real gems of picture books without me looking ahead of time to see what we'd get.

 

As far as picking out read-alouds, I just kind of see what we're in the mood for. Right now, we're working through the Chronicles of Narnia series. Prior to that, we did Little House in the Big Woods, so we'll probably do Little House on the Prairie after we finish Narnia (we have a few Narnia books left). My dad has given me a few books that we've done as read-alouds, like I, Robot and some more modern books like The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (which DS1 is re-reading on his own this week). Basically, if it looks like we'll enjoy it, we'll start reading it. I especially try to hit the classics that I never read myself as a child (the Narnia series falls in that category).

[*Lulu*]

Like Ellie, I stay hands off with thier choices and try to incorporate the books I definitely do not want them to miss into read-aloud time. Still, even those I allow them to opt out of if they are not convinced by chapter 4's end.

 

That in between stage is rough. Two recent hits for us in that category have been the "Mercy Watson" series, and Dodsworth.

[HS Mom in NC]

There are lots of read aloud threads here where people list their preferred sources for finding quality literature and how to read aloud in increasing spans of time through out your day so you can work up to a couple hours a day of reading aloud great literature. Do your "not to be missed" books as read alouds and have quiet activities for the kids to do as you read loud. Award winning books and other books by award winning authors would be good selections to have on hand for your independent readers. Let them choose their independent reading from a very very wide variety of worthy books. Some like action and adventure. Some like poetry. Some like fantasy. Some like Sci-Fi. Some like folklore. The broader the choices the more likely they'll find something that resonates with them.

 

Books with really good book lists:

 

Books that Build Character

Honey For a Child's Heart

A Thomas Jefferson Education (book list in the back)

Who Should We Then Read

 

google "award winning books" for book lists

[cam112198]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies! I will have to check it all out. I did check out Mensa for Kids, and I liked what I saw.

 

This may be a different topic, but how do you keep track of what your children have read? I have 4 children I am trying to keep up with, and sometimes I forget who has read what! :tongue_smilie:

[TracyP]

This may be a different topic, but how do you keep track of what your children have read? I have 4 children I am trying to keep up with, and sometimes I forget who has read what! :tongue_smilie:

 

 

I keep a reading list for them - simply title and (sometimes) author. I tend to start out well at the beginning of the year but lose steam by the end. At least I end up with a general idea of what they were reading. I plan to have my oldest keep her own log next year. FWIW, I don't try to keep track of every book, just a few per month. My kids read a lot and I just want a sampling for my own records.

[Julie Smith]

I had to work on him to get him to like fiction. He didn't like fiction in first grade, except Star Wars. Star Wars kind of opened the door to fiction, and they have everything from easy readers to young adult novels. Later when he was comfortable reading novels at any grade level, it was easier to get him into some fiction books, like Homer Price and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

 

 

My only rule for pictures books is I will try reading anything except starwars!!!! (mind you dh will read them, and so will eldest)

 

I do the book picking for both my boys since they have no interest in picking there own books. I pick things I tnm they will like. I also pick out a few books that might work for them, and let them pick for mthat selection.

[pineapplehorse]

I come up with a list of things I read, should have read, am just now reading or I have seen mentioned in WTM, BW, etc....I throw out things I know they will find and read on their own (my oldest and youngest are VORACIOUS readersI)...

 

play around with it a while...

 

and then ask Lori D :)

 

 

I shoot for...

6 read alouds

6 non-fiction or historical fiction readers

6 fiction readers for DS8 and DD9 and 12 fiction readers for DS 12

 

I try to keep DS8 and DD9 reading different books (or different short-stories in the same collection) because

1. Their reading level is drastically different --DD9 reads at a 2.5 while DS8 reads at a 4.5

2. They are extremely competitive, and

3. That way each has something to narrate to the others about in our weekly lit discussion

[Ellie]

 

This may be a different topic, but how do you keep track of what your children have read? I have 4 children I am trying to keep up with, and sometimes I forget who has read what! :tongue_smilie:

 

 

I never felt the need to keep track. :-)

[edeemarie]

I never felt the need to keep track. :-)

 

:iagree: Your children will let you know if they have already read the book (they have amazing memories!). Sometimes though it is a book they enjoyed and want to read again, and to me, that is just fine:)

[Mommy22alyns]

WTM

VP

Mensa for Kids

CBD lit lists ( http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=166234&sp=102656&navcat=Homeschool|Classic-Lit-K-8 )

AO

1000 Good Books

The boards

[Ariston]

I use mainly Sonlight lists, and Jim Trelease's lists (Read Aloud Handbook).

[TracyP]

:iagree: Your children will let you know if they have already read the book (they have amazing memories!). Sometimes though it is a book they enjoyed and want to read again, and to me, that is just fine:)

Oh, I don't keep track so they don't reread a book. I keep track 1) for the portfolios I keep for my kids so I can see at a glance what they were doing any given year and 2) because my state requires certain subjects to be taught and I need a record of what has been read (since that is how we study history and science) in case "they" ever come to check me out.

[ondreeuh]

When ds 11 was in the early stages of reading chapter books, I chose titles from Sonlight and ones I liked when I was a kid. For actual literature study, I choose books I have lit guides for. Last year we chose books from Ready Readers and Moving Beyond the Page. Next year we will do MBTP all year, and in the future I plan to do Lightning Literature and MBTP. He isn't interested in choosing his own free reading books (unless it's one he wants to re-read) so I supply him with books I've seen suggested here. Right now he's reading The Shakespeare Stealer, which was highly recommended. Next year he will read to himself the suggested read alouds in Classical House of Learning Literature.

 

For DS5 (who is reading much earlier than his brother did), I will be using a variety of things for Kindergarten. Teaching with Favorite Arnold Lobel Books, Teaching with Favorite Kevin Henkes books, Teaching Story Elements with Favorite Books, Story S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-R-S for the Primary Grades, Literature Pockets for Caldecott Winners 1-3 ... For 1st grade I plan to do Aesop's Fables, Teaching with Magic Treehouse Book, and Teaching with Cinderella Stories from Around the World. As he goes up the grades, I plan to integrate MBTP literature units.