Do you read aloud during the school-day? Care to share a typical day?

[madteaparty]

DS is almost 10. We've read aloud, even when not HSing, but it's always been at night,  before bed. Do you read to the kids during the day? Is it usually a history or science tie-in, or whatever you feel like?

Also, after the "breaks" thread, care to share a typical schedule? I feel like we've been on school-light forever (except for math) and I'm eager to kick things into gear now that the holidays are over. Many thanks!

[LibraryLover]

All the time. When the days are long and winter dark/cold, and my voice needs a break,  we listen to audio books. Reading the same ones again and again was also wonderfully comforting. (And familiar books for young people helps increase literacy levels, so do not be afraid to repeat and repeat. :))

[swimmermom3]

All I have left at home for school is my youngest, who is fifteen. I still read aloud to him, usually earlier in the school day. I don't really need to do it, but he has a heavy reading load and we usually pick something that we both enjoy reading together. He will read portions to me.

[Shellydon]

I read history, science and a read aloud every day.   This blog has several 'day in the life' type posts that you could read http://gratefulforgrace.com/2013/01/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-homeschooler-day-7/

 

and http://gratefulforgrace.com/2013/08/a-day-in-the-life-of-our-homeschool-fall-2013/

 

I think that first link had other bloggers link to it, so you could possible read up on several different schedules.

[MerryAtHope]

I moved lit. read-alouds to bedtime when my oldest was K or 1st grade--it just made the "school day" seem lighter and they enjoyed the stories more at night. We still read at night (reading Short Stories of O. Henry right now) and they are in high school!

 

In grade school, we read history and science and Bible during the day. Usually I started with Bible, then history, then independent subjects, and science after lunch. But in some of our early years I also block scheduled--did history one day & science the next, doubling up on each. 

[Ellie]

To me, "reading aloud" means "reading good books to the dc for enjoyment." I don't count any reading that we might do as part of Official School Stuff. :-)

 

So, yes, I read aloud to dds every day, right after lunch, *one chapter* from a good book. I didn't read to them at bedtime because I wanted all of us to be wide awake...and, frankly, when it's time for the dc to go to bed, I want them to *go to bed*, lol.

[boscopup]

I often read at breakfast (I eat before the kids come down, since I'm up around 5:30 or 6, and they're not supposed to come down until 7), then we have a history/science time late morning before lunch where I read aloud from those subjects, and then I read aloud at bed time. Bed time is usually a "fun" book (like the How to Train Your Dragon series, which my kids LOVE). Breakfast is either fun book or history read-loud (historical fiction makes a great breakfast time read). We also do Bible at breakfast.

 

[marbel]

I read schoolish stuff aloud to my kids, and fun stuff too.  My kids still like to be read to at times, even as teens. Some school things are easier to deal with reading aloud and discussing instead of sending them both off to read on their own (though we do that too).  Sometimes schoolish books and fun books overlap.   Sometimes I'll read a novel while they eat lunch.  We've been reading an Agatha Christie mystery this past week.  Sometimes I read some natural history type book, such as Edwin Way Teale or Bernd Heinrich.  Those are fun but also schoolish, right?

 

I don't read at night anymore.  They are up later than I am these days, reading their own books.

[Alicia64]

I read aloud every day. And it definitely makes for a long school day because if we get really involved in a read aloud. . .we can kill many hours. So I have many days when I'm wondering if I'm spending time "correctly."

 

On the plus side, my boys have awesome vocabs and super high comprehension of stories/symbols/themes etc. I can remember one boy at five saying, "Don't you see Mama? The author is saying that the tree is dying . . . like the little boy is dying." (Wrinkle in Time) I was stunned.

 

But I often have the feeling of. . . should we be studying the elements? Latin? You know, more hard core topics?

 

When we were studying the Civil War last month, for example, I read awesome Civil War fiction for a month. It got to the point where a guy w/ a beard was on TV (not Duck Dynasty) and the same son said, "He looks like Stonewall Jackson!"

 

Am I spending my time "correctly?" I don't know. I've heard of a science book that gives book titles about scientists' lives. I'm not into science but that's up my alley.

 

I don't know if I'm being helpful at all, but we usually start out day w/ a good hour of reading. (Sometimes more.)

 

Alley

[73349]

I read DS a chapter of something right before his afternoon quiet time, and another at bedtime. We often read library books after lunch or after quiet time, but not on a schedule.

[TracyP]

We start our school day with a read aloud. It is a good way to bring everyone together and "kick off" the official start of school. This is sometimes connected to studies (right now we are reading Greek Myths) sometimes not (next is The Railway Children). We do a few other things together and then my older kids start working on their independent work. I take the younger kids for their school which includes reading aloud a FIAR picture book. We also have a bedtime family read aloud going most of the time. (currently A Christmas Carol) Our school day ends at about 1:00, so sometimes I will have another read aloud in the afternoon. We don't have one currently, though.

 

 

[happyWImom]

I always read aloud during breakfast, starting with our devotionals & bible curriculum.  If we have time, I read from a "fun" book.  I also read aloud during their lunch (I eat afterwards) which is usually part of our science or history, but also a fun book.  

 

Even though both of my dc are excellent readers & read a lot during their free time, they still enjoy when I read aloud.  

[EKS]

When we homeschooled, I read aloud during the day and in the evening. 

 

During the day, we would do work at the desk first.  Then if there was a hands on science thing, we'd do that wherever it needed to be done.  Then we moved to the couch and did the read alouds.  These consisted of anything I was reading to them--fiction, nonfiction, textbooks, MCT LA books, K12 lessons off the computer, whatever.  This was their favorite time of the lesson.

 

Then in the evening before bed, I read another book aloud, one that was reserved for bedtime.  Sometimes it would tie into our studies and sometimes it wouldn't.

[LLMom]

I always read for 30 minutes from a literature selection around 10 in the morning.  This is right after my child has gone outside for a bit, and while I read, she eats her snack.  Then she is refreshed to begin her school again. 

[Shellydon]

We also do audio books everyday.  We have one in the car and one at home during lunch.

[dragons in the flower bed]

In years past, I have scheduled read-alouds to coincide with snack breaks. The kids would get popcorn or seedless grapes and sit relatively still while I read through the titles in our WinterPromise program.

 

This year, we are talking about our reading a lot as we go. The boys are almost teens and they have a lot of funny, sarcastic commentary to make. Our schedule for the fall semester went like follows.

 

7:00 - get up, get dressed, take care of animals and eat

8:00-8:20 - yoga

8:20-8:50 - math

8:50-9:35 - grammar, vocab, writing & logic workbooks

9:35-10:00 - music practice

10:00-10:30 - Spanish program

10:30-11:00 - lunch

11:00-12:00 - schooly read-alouds (covering religion, historical fiction, mythology, biographies and great books)

12:00-1:00 - Mondays & Tuesdays, history; Thursdays & Fridays, science

1:00:-whenever they feel like stopping -  Mondays & Tuesdays, drafting (13yo) or studio art (10yo); Thursdays & Fridays, programming (10yo), electronics (13yo)

5:00 help straighten up the house, help make dinner

6:00 dinner

7:00 fun read-alouds (Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman so far this year)

8:00 little kids are sung to sleep, big kids read independently in bed for an hour

 

Wednesday afternoons, after schooly read-alouds, the boys worked towards goals in projects of their own choosing.

 

Often the boys would keep on doing art, programming or electronics until their younger brother and stepsisters came home from school at 3:00 because those are subjects they loved. I put them last so they could do that if they wished.

 

Read-alouds were right after lunch because that is generally a moment in the day when the boys are dragging and reluctant. It's not hard to sit and poke holes in a book, though, so I found it easiest to re-engage them via that.

 

We start Monday with a new schedule for spring, because we wanted to switch up some of the books we're using, but I haven't sorted it out just yet. Guess I'd better get on that.

[Χά�ων]

I read aloud to DS at bedtime unless reading is needed for a lesson. We have audio books going in the house during free time and in the car.

[SemiSweet]

I read aloud for most of our subjects and then when the kids eat lunch and before they go up for quiet time I'll read a chapter from a book.  I'd like to get into the habit of reading a bit before bed again, dh used to read the Harry Potter books for about 30-60 minutes before bed but we fell out of the habit and have had a hard time getting back to it.

[HS Mom in NC]

I'm homeschooling my 8 year old. 

 

Typical 4 day school week:

 

Morning read aloud(s)  (these are usually character, religious, life-skills related)

 

Bible memorization

 

History Spine or Science read aloud (SOTW chapter(s) on Mondays and Wednesdays and a science living book on Tuesdays and Fridays)

narration or assignment related to read aloud

copywork (which is handwriting) of the narration or if a narration isn't necessary that day, we do italic script for handwriting

 

break

 

mapwork related to history (usually just once a week)

 

logic

 

Latin and Greek Roots (this is has replaced phonics now that she can read well on her own)

 

break (sometimes depending on if it's needed or not)

 

Literature, mythology, folklore, picture book or biography read aloud related to History or Science (usually found in SOTW Activity Guide or with the local library's search engine.)

 

lunch break and some free time

 

Math

 

child reads aloud to mom from McGuffey readers (mom then corrects any bad theology in the McGuffey reader reading for that day)

 

hands on activity related to history or science (usually once for history and once for science but sometimes it's a couple of shorter, easier things)

 

In the evenings I read aloud for 30 minutes to an hour whatever I choose.  It can be literature or school related.  My husband reads aloud another selection for about an hour of literature he chooses.

 

Our school hours are usually 9-3 but that includes breaks and sometimes we finish by 2.  We school 4 days per week the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month.  We School 3.5 days the 2nd and 4th weeks per month. Art Class is on the 2nd, 4th and 5th Tuesdays  from 11am-1:30 pm. Before art class I do whatever I decide is most needed in that time so we don't fall behind.The kids have lunch and play together just before and after class.  Homeschool PE is every Thursday from 10:30-11:30 and the kids stay after and play and eat lunch until 12:30 or 1:00.  We do a read aloud before and math after PE on Thursdays.

 

 

 

[Chelli]

I read aloud while they are eating breakfast usually a picture book for history or science plus a fairy tale or story of some kind. This is part of our Morning Meeting time. They do morning chores, then we start our school day.

 

Our next read aloud time comes at lunch where we do Lit for Lunch (stole the name from a boardie here). These are the read alouds that I used to read at night, but I moved to lunch where it get's done more consistently. These read alouds come from my read aloud lists in my signature. My dd6 has a picture book and one chapter from a chapter book. My dd10 gets one chapter from a chapter book read to her. After Lit for Lunch, they go out to play for recess while I eat my lunch, then they come back in and my oldest finishes her school day.

 

I no longer read aloud at bedtime because I'm tired and I was usually skipping read aloud time to get in bed. Plus, by that time in the day I just want to get the kids in bed so I can have some down time before I go to bed.

[Soror]

I'm working on figuring out the best time for this here. We've tried various schedules, currently (subject to change!) we are doing them before lunch, after skill work and then some in the later afternoon after a bit of a break. Sometimes I do some at breakfast as well. When ds was little we started w/ our read alouds but I've found that I have a hard time stopping and I like to have plenty of time. We are doing a combo of lit, science and history readings.

 

Current schedule is 1.5 ish hrs for LA, 30-1hrish for Math/work, games etc, 1 hr for Content. I was splitting up our subjects and doing a bit each day but now I'm trying a schedule of bigger chunks. I have been contemplating 2 days History/2 days Science but now I'm thinking of doing 2 days History and 1 day Science/1 day Nature Walk. Documentaries/educational shows in the afternoon alternating science/history.

[LAR]

While the girls eat breakfast, I read a history lesson (3 times a week) or a science lesson (2 times a week).  After they finish eating, I cleanup and the girls write a summary of what they heard and then I ask them questions about the reading.     On the history lesson day, our 10 year old will have independent reading related to the lesson.  I haven't asked our 8 year old to read additional history materials, but the time is coming!  And on science lesson day, we do an experiment. 

 

We all look forward to Lunch and Literature.  Again, the girls eat and I read.  We either use K12 literature or Mosdos Press. 

 

We've used this schedule for almost 2 years and it's worked well. 

 

 

[madteaparty]

I'm working on figuring out the best time for this here. We've tried various schedules, currently (subject to change!) we are doing them before lunch, after skill work and then some in the later afternoon after a bit of a break. Sometimes I do some at breakfast as well. When ds was little we started w/ our read alouds but I've found that I have a hard time stopping and I like to have plenty of time. We are doing a combo of lit, science and history readings.

 

Current schedule is 1.5 ish hrs for LA, 30-1hrish for Math/work, games etc, 1 hr for Content. I was splitting up our subjects and doing a bit each day but now I'm trying a schedule of bigger chunks. I have been contemplating 2 days History/2 days Science but now I'm thinking of doing 2 days History and 1 day Science/1 day Nature Walk. Documentaries/educational shows in the afternoon alternating science/history.

 

This looks similar to my aspirational schedule. We do do close to 1 hr of math daily, but I've been hard-pressed to extend LA to that long. I'm adding an independent vocabulary component, and will start on that Writing and Rhetoric curriculum soon. So that should cover it. I think, after reading this thread, that I will incorporate a read aloud to start our day, perhaps a fairy tale or something related to history.

 

[JennyD]

I have nothing to contribute but am finding this thread very interesting and helpful.  We do read-alouds at bedtime these days but I really want to work more into our daily routine.  I'm thinking lunchtime might work well.  (Breakfast is newspapers.)

[My3girls]

We do read alouds during the day. I'm too tired by bed time and so are they usually. They are allowed to keep their light on for an extra 30 min at bedtime if they are reading, though. I read aloud a lot of the AO books such as James Herriot, Aesop, Tales from Shakespeare, Burgess Bird, 50 Famous Stories Retold, etc...

 

I'm amazed by the amount of time you all spend on it. Ours typically don't last more than 20 min or so. We may do two or three a day, though, from different books.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

There's always some sort of read-alouds going on each week. I do it for logic, science, and sometimes history, although far less for that than back when it was SOTW. DW reads aloud a LOT. We're deep into Canterbury Tales at the moment. Before that, it was letters from Helen Keller. Before that...uh.....you'd have to check the list on DD's blog. It's long.

[8filltheheart]

I read aloud a lot every day. Some read alouds I really, really enjoy. Simple premise......I save those for a time in the day when I am just sick of school bc they rejuvenate me. Usually this is whatever I am reading with my 9th and 12th graders. Right now we are doing a study of short stories together and it has been a pure pleasure. Conversely, ones that I find difficult I try to do earlier in the day when I have the energy to focus. Right now that would happen to be Beowulf in pretty difficult poetry form. We are having to read a prose form after our analysis of a section of the poetry to see how close we are getting in accuracy in understanding our reading. My younger kids' school read alouds get read during our 1-on-1 time.

[OneStepAtATime]

My husband asked the kids and I to stop doing read alouds at bed time because we would end up reading for hours and not go to bed on time (and I was reading with each one separately since they had different interests so evenings were really long - I still miss that winding down together with a good book, though).

 

We started doing fun read alouds, like a lot of PPs here, at breakfast.  I am up really early so I have already eaten and drunk a cup of tea before my daughter comes barreling down the stairs to go hang out in the back yard for a while.  Once she comes in (about 645am), she wants to start school before her brother gets up, so she works until about 9.  He gets up and they both eat breakfast while I read.  Now that we are usually reading the same "fun books", it really has streamlined our day.  Then DD goes off to do independent work while I work with DS.  When we break for lunch, we continue our fun read aloud.  Afternoons are wrapping up what we didn't get done in the morning, plus any science experiments or DVD's they are scheduled for, along with music and art and extracurriculars like karate and drama.  We also end up continuing reading on many occasions, especially if they are really interested in the book. I read aloud a lot of subject material, too, though because both kids are dyslexic.

[kolamum]

Yes, we read aloud. Like someone else mentioned we do audio books when I need a break. A typical day {full on} looks a bit like this:

 

Child reads to me while other child does a couple of chores

Swap the above with children. I have a child with vision issues so I have him read to me still so I can keep an eye on his vision.

Spelling, Writing, & science with the younger while the eldest works on: Math, Science & Bible on his own.

 

Youngest does math & then takes a break while Eldest does writing & spelling with me. I also check over his math, review his science notes & he narrates to me about his science lecture. If he has any questions about Bible or anything else they are presented then. 

 

If people need snacks this is when it happens. After that we jump into read alouds which are also our history as we use Sonlight &/or Winter Promise. We generally finish this up just before lunch time or slightly after. School starts around 9 & ends around 130, but that's with non-stop constant moving.

 

We also have music, memorisation, poetry, & typing that happens in there. Sometimes over breakfast for a few things before we are officially started. This year we'll officially have 2 different foreign languages happening as well as computer programming too which means we'll have some school after lunch unless children are up earlier & do some work before breakfast. ;) 

 

We tend to put on an audio book in around 530 when we're doing a tidy up from all our activity for the day or the kids are working on quiet projects while I make dinner. Honestly, it's a cherished part of my day where someone else reads to me & I can do something with my hands. :D

[silver]

My kids are book junkies.

For school we read the Bible everyday and at least 1 history and 1 science book from the library each week. Every couple of weeks we check out several books from and about other countries and read them. All of these are books I select.

For fun I am usually reading several pictures books a day (of my children's choosing, combination of what we own and library books) along with 1 chapter book of my choosing as a group book. Then my older 2 kids generally have 1 chapter book of their own choosing. Sometimes only one child has chosen a book, and only that child is interested. Sometimes there is only 1 book selected and they are both interested. Sometimes they each have 1 book and they are both interested in both books. Then my husband usually has two chapter books going with them (a group one and one for our older child; the middle one prefers picture books from Daddy and the toddler likes board books). And yes, that means my kids are following the plot of anywhere from 2-5 chapter books at any given time (or 6, if you count the books my oldest reads to himself). It doesn't seem to confuse them at all. And if we finish a chapter book on Tuesday and they have to wait a whole week before we get to the library to get another one (we go on Mondays), they'll often choose for me to reread a book we own, just so that they still have a book to listen to.

 

I should make mention that they generally don't get a chapter from every single book each day. I do usually read 1-3 chapters a day (depending on length of chapters, the rest of the school load, how many books we have going, and how engaging the book is). My husband reads 1-2 chapters a day (usually closer to 1). Snuggling up and being read to seems to be the love language for both of my daughters, so many, many picture and board books get read each day. My middle child is usually asking about 8 times a day to be read to. Sometimes I can't, because I'm cooking dinner or doing a math lesson, but I do try to indulge her. The toddler will come running over shouting "up, up!" if she sees me reading to the older two. She's only 18-months right now, so she doesn't really sit for the chapter books, but I wouldn't be surprised if she were to start much younger than my others (they both started listening to chapter books at 3 1/2).

Oh, and my oldest is in 1st, so it's not like we have academics filling the day. I suspect that as I'm teaching more children and higher grades that we may need to cut back on the number of read alouds. But then they'll probably just do more reading to themselves. I do hope to continue to read aloud to my kids well past these early elementary years.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

We took a break from read-alouds during our recent moves, but added them back in a few weeks ago. They were loved and missed!

 

At one point I tried to do an "afternoon basket" and have all the read-alouds during that time, but it was too much all at once. We now are back to our original pattern of reading aloud and discussing after skill work for each subject.

 

In addition to skill work and assigned reading, we currently have read alouds for math, spelling, writing, science, history, philosophy and literature.

 

[Julie Smith]

Telly schedule weave is a list of thingstoget done before dh gets home from work. If we dont get done they have to be finished the next day beforeim willing tomatoe anyone (except myself) lunch. Some days the boys like to work ahead, they occasionally fall behind and have to finish stuff the next day.

 

Before daddy gets home I am willing to read whenever you want unless I am in the middle of something else.

 

I do often comment that we need to get going on an audio book or read aloud book since the library will be wanting it back soon. This is happening more often since many of the books we have been getting are long and popular so we can't renew. Mixed in with house guests and long weekends away from home means that have got to get listening. For example the boys are listening to the house of hades audio book which is 13 CDs long. I am reading the annotated hobbit outloud (happily we own it so no rush).

[jkl]

We read aloud a ton, because they love to listen to stories and I love to read aloud :) So, we do...

 

A read-aloud or 2 at breakfast--goes along with something we'll be doing during Morning Meeting

Morning Meeting

Outside for an hour

Snack and either a history or science read-aloud

20 minutes of readalouds for everyone

Older kids go back outside, and I spend time with my almost 3 year old (usually read another book)

Everyone in for lunch. I read a few nature stories while they eat

Work with my 2nd grader while younger 2 do tot trays

20 minutes of read-alouds with my 2nd grader while the girls play

Quiet time. The idea is for the girls to have 30 minutes of quiet time, and then 20 minutes where I read to them, and then 10 minutes where we do a music activity. (Right now, I'm working on getting my 2 year old to cooperate with the quiet time part) My 2nd grader has 30 minutes of assigned reading, then 30 minutes where he works on 1 of his many projects that he is constantly coming up with.

Snack, and then a history or science activity.

I work with my 5 year old while my oldest entertains the youngest.

 

We do math when dh is home to entertain the girls. ddd5 gets a picture book before bed. I read to ds from 1 of the chapter books (currently Stuart Little), and then he reads aloud to me. DH reads aloud to ds right before bed--a father-son chapter book.

 

So, we read aloud all day in little chunks. Works for me, especially now since I am 8 months pregnant and want to sit down :)

 

ETA: We do this 3 days a week. Wednesdays and Fridays we read a little less and go out a little more....

[Alice]

We have a fun book I read-aloud every day at lunch. I read a chapter or two of a “special book†to each of them at night. Dh reads a few picture books to Z4 at night also. I have “special book preschool†time with her every day when I read her picture books, usually when the older ones are doing something like math that I don’t have to be at the table with them. Often the second grader wants to listen in as well and that’s ok. Sometimes the 5th grader wants to listen in also, and that’s ok if he is getting work done otherwise. I also read books that have to do with school, like history or science or poetry or art at various times during the week. It works best as a break and typically we’ll do teatime once or twice a week and that’s when I’ll read those kinds of books, which are kind of for school but they consider more of a break. 

[fdrinca]

Our best days are the ones where we start with read-alouds all together for 1 or 2 hours. Two hours is an outside figure, but we could solidly sit for 90 minutes for read alouds every day. When we do this, the 3 year old is much happier to go about playing while I do more formal instruction for the older two (K and 1st). Since the kids are so young we don't do that much formal seat work. I'm not sure how the read-alouds will work when the older ones are in that awkward transition to needing to do more work but needing me to do hands-on instruction of that work. We try to read books related to what we're learning, but also whatever interesting library books I've checked out for the week. As long as we're not reading Fancy Nancy 30 times in one sitting, I think the read-alouds are a solid addition to the school day.

[Amy M]

I put my three youngers down for a nap at 2:00, so I read to all (except youngest toddler, who is zonked out already) on their bunk bed at 1:30-ish right before nap time. School is usually done by then. If the read-aloud is over the 2-year old's head, that's okay, because she's supposed to be going to sleep anyway. :)

[lea_lpz]

My kids are little so I do a lot if reading. M-Tu-Th we do read alouds for about 15 minutes within the first hour of school. If we are home we will likely also read a chapter book after lunch for about 15 minutes and the kids take a nap, though as they are older and can go without a nap without melt downs, this happens less often. Lately my dh and kids have been watching all the StarWars episodes for about an hour before bed, no reading, but now that we've started back up with school I would like to start reading before bed again.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We read aloud at bedtime every night, something fun usually a series not related to school.

 

We are reading through The Children's Bible, but not religiously (hee hee) - what I meant by that was not every day, but the other interpretation works too!

 

We are reading a critical thinking/logic in science book by Zaccaro and discussing it, 4 days a week.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=zaccaro's%2010%20things

 

That's all together.  With my 6th grader, we do some of her history books as read alouds/discussion, some she reads independently.  I think I pretty much have her trained at this point to let me know if she's not "getting it."  SOTW and other texts she reads on her own, but I read Zinn Young People's History aloud, and for the nonfiction things we use, it varies depending on the complexity of the book and how much I want to discuss the topic.  If it is really discussion-heavy, sometimes it is more efficient to read aloud and pause for discussion.

 

We're also reading A Midsummer Night's Dream aloud together - each taking different parts.

 

Science is similar to history, some read alouds and some read alones.

 

My 2nd grader has her own read aloud for lit going, and I read aloud to her for history every day.  Sometimes science, too, but not every day.

 

It feels like I am reading to someone, or discussing their reading, pretty much all day . . . . 

[robsiew]

We listen to audio books every day at breakfast and sometimes at lunch as well as for longer car trips.  I read aloud science and history to the younger two boys as well as LOF to my youngest.  Also, every day I read a chapter out of a book about a missionary.  We're working through the YWAM series of missionary biographies.  This is my favorite time of day!  Our schedule is more of a flow....

 

eat breakfast (listen to audio book)

Read missionary story

take turns working with mom, meanwhile others do things they can do independently (I meet with each child as long as they need me to go over work from the previous day as well as new work)

lunch (when you get hungry, usually make your own)

I read history or science to the younger two

chores/instrument practice

play time

[Chloe]

Lately we have been spending about an hour to just under two hours doing "book basket" time.  We pray, read the Bible and poetry, review the poetry or Bible passage we are memorizing and then I choose two to three of the other books we have going to read.  Generally, we have a classic literature book, historical fiction book, myth or fairy tale book, missionary story and Shakespeare in the basket.  I am toying with the idea of assigning each type of book a day of the week (i.e., the classic literature book would be our Monday book, the missionary story would be our Tuesday book, etc.) so I'm not reading so many books on any given day and we can read a larger amount of each book at a time.  We are also going to start a lunchtime audio book that we will try to listen to each day.  

 

Now all of this is with my 11 and 7 yo.  My high school students do all their own reading.  I stopped doing read alouds with them last year, and I only got one book read to them then.  They don't like for me to read to them during the day because they like to get on with their individual studies, and it's become too difficult to find the time in the evening due to babysitting jobs, youth group, Bible studies and other social activities.  I may keep trying.  Even getting through only one or two books a year is better than nothing.

[Harriet Vane]

I have always started the homeschool day with reading aloud. For many years the first thing the kids would do each day is climb in bed with me and snuggle while we read. We also read right before bed at night.

 

I read aloud to my dd until she was a sophomore in high school. I would gladly have continued doing so but she felt that reading aloud was too slow--she wanted to be able to rip through the stories (ie find out what happens) more quickly. At this point she prefers to talk together or focus academic time on other discussions.

 

I still read aloud to my ds morning and evening (though often dh reads at night). I treasure the time together. He struggles to sit still, so he usually works on something while I read, like whittling or latch-hook or whatever project we've got going.

 

At least half of our read-alouds are books that I consider both good literature and good fun to read. I do not read twaddle out loud--they can read that stuff for themselves if they want. About a quarter or a third of our reading are books that are more "literary," and I use the read-aloud time to push them towards higher literature. Often hearing harder pieces read out loud helps their minds fall into the voice and the language of the book. For example, when my dd was 10yo she really wanted to read Dickens. I would read a chapter out loud, with as much expression and drama as possible. Then I would hand the book to her and she would read the next chapter to herself.

 

When the kids were younger, read-aloud was our literature time. By the middle years, though, I add in a more formal literature study in addition and the read-aloud is just to enjoy. Yes, it's a lot of reading. I'm a former English major, so to me reading lots of books is natural and makes for a richer existence. The morning reading with ds yields a couple benefits to us--hours on more advanced art or other projects (counted towards school), exposure to literature, builds a love of reading into someone who wouldn't otherwise be a reader, and gives us a warm, snuggly time together. It only takes 20 minutes but it sets up our day nicely.

[Rachel TX]

I start the day by reading aloud one chapter. It gives them something to listen to instead of having to work or write or recite first thing in the morning.  Our school work goes more quickly with less complaining because it fills them up emotionally and helps them ease into the school day with something they enjoy.

[daijobu]

I read aloud while the kids eat lunch.  I pick articles from the Sunday New York Times that I think would interest them.  Then I read aloud from their science magazines.