When do your high schoolers get their reading done?

[Shawn On the Border]

I've noticed that many homeschoolers have very long reading lists each year. When ds17 was in school (Honors English), he read a maximum of 9 books per year. I have always considered him a strong reader, but last year at home, he only read 10 books, plus poetry and other readings. Part of the problem was that he was reading mostly older books, where the language is more difficult. The length of Moby Dick also slowed him down. He did do most of his reading during school hours.

 

I now have a freshman this year, and I am somewhat concerned. He is a good reader, but he is slow.

 

For those who have high schoolers who read 15+ books per year, when do they do it? Do they read in the evenings or on weekends? Do they do readings over the summer?

 

Thanks,

Shawn

[regentrude]

Some during school hours, some during evenings, weekends, summer, Christmas.

In grades 9 and 10, DD read a lot during the day. Now with her dual enrollment courses taking up most of her time, she reads mostly over the summer and over winter break, but that is all self-selected. She does nor "do readings", which sounds like a chore - she mostly reads because she loves to.

The assigned reading for her outside classes gets done on weekends and evenings during the semester.

[Jenny in Florida]

Assigned reading usually gets done during the day, sometimes over breakfast or lunch, sometimes lounging on the couch or in his room after the more demanding "desk work" is done, sometimes in the car on the way to or from outside activities.

 

Self-selected reading happens whenever, during those same times listed above if there's no assigned reading to do, but also at bedtime or weekends and evenings.

[justamouse]

We have a mandatory reading hour every morning. 

It works for us because 1. the TV is NOT going on, no matter what. 2. We all are very quiet in the morning, and just want to drink our coffee in peace.  So, for us, it was natural to just sip coffee and read for an hour. That's normally from 7:30 am to 8:30. 

But, even if they sleep in, that's the protocol. 

Free reading is for the evening/before bed. They normally like to go to bed at 9 pm just to read. (they don't have a bedtime). 

[Pegasus]

DD16 is the first to waken each morning so she keeps her reading near-by. She'll lay in bed and get much of her reading done before everyone else gets up. She'll also use this time to read self-selected books when she doesn't have any assigned reading to do.

[mumto2]

Dd reads for an hour in the morning when she wakes up. She also reads when in the car, waiting for things etc. Always carries a book just in case.

 

She reads during the school day occasionally but generally during quiet down time.

[Momofeat]

My freshman simply reads whenever she has a few extra minutes--car, lunch, school time, evening--anytime. She does love to read, though. She cracked me up today. She carried a book into the produce stand & read it in there! I don't know why she didn't stay in the car with my dh and read it there, lol!

 

This is her first year of hs, but I'm sure she'll easily hit the 15 book mark. Academically, literature is her "thing," though. 

[abba12]

When I was homeschooling highschool I used to wake up an hour early and read, and I would also read before bed, as my mother kept me on an early bedtime with my younger siblings, and had me read until I was actually ready for bed. That usually gave me 3 hours a day.

[lewelma]

My son prefers classics, so he does not differentiate between free reading and assigned reading. Also I give him choice as to his reading assignments, so these novels feel like free reading. He reads one hour before bed and lots on the weekend mornings. He also usually chooses a long difficult book to work on during holidays because he gets bored and wants something difficult to sink his teeth into.

 

When he gets into classic nonfiction like speeches or the federalist papers, I'm guessing he would want to work on that during his desk time.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I've noticed that many homeschoolers have very long reading lists each year. When ds17 was in school (Honors English), he read a maximum of 9 books per year. I have always considered him a strong reader, but last year at home, he only read 10 books, plus poetry and other readings. Part of the problem was that he was reading mostly older books, where the language is more difficult. The length of Moby Dick also slowed him down. He did do most of his reading during school hours.

 

I now have a freshman this year, and I am somewhat concerned. He is a good reader, but he is slow.

 

For those who have high schoolers who read 15+ books per year, when do they do it? Do they read in the evenings or on weekends? Do they do readings over the summer?

 

Thanks,

Shawn

 

Well, 15+ books is less than 2 books per month.  Putting aside books that are extraordinarily long (Moby Dick, Grapes of Wrath), my kids are usually able to read a classic novel in 1-2 weeks without special scheduling.

 

We don't usually have the TV on until after dinner (maybe 8pm).  It is not on at all during the school day, unless there is a pressing current events item to watch (this is 1-2 times a year, not per week).

 

They all will read in the car, so there is a lot of reading done (or lectures listened to) during commutes to sports.  I try to encourage them to have a book with them when I drop them off, so they can read while they wait to get picked up.  My swimmers usually have a book with them at swim meets and will get a fair amount read in between their heats.

 

I do try not to overload them too much with reading.  I don't program reading time into the day, but I do keep in mind how long it will take them to get through something.  Having said that, I don't think that weekend homework or evening reading time is unreasonable. 

[Sisyphus]

I don't track or notice particularly what Ds is reading on his own. Unless it has an awful title like "serial killer 101" and I think it best he not take it to the conservative home school band practice, lol. In general last year he read 2 books (one historyish, one for English) every 2- 3 weeks. This didn't include an outside creative writing course he took in which he read many plays, essays, poems and short stories, no full books. He reads fairly fast though, and in general he could finish a book a week, take a week to write an essay on it (rereading as necessary), start another. That's the plan for this year too.

 

Unless youngest has his brain replaced by aliens in the next two years, this will not work for him as he is a slow reader. The tentative plan is to use more audio books for him. He also has (and I anticipate it continuing) a long commute to extracurriculars, so we can use that time in the car.