Would you still read history and/or science aloud to a 4th or 5th grader?

[Chloe]

I have been doing Ambleside Online's history suggestions with my two oldest (9 and 10). I was doing a combination of years 2 and 3, which increases the pace significantly. After a few weeks of that, I decided maybe my dc needed to be in their own years, especially since dd is really interested in studying American history and ds is interested in medieval history. I placed dd in year 3 and ds in year 2, which also corresponds to their interested time periods. Dc are enjoying the readings but admit that they preferred when we studied history together and I did most of the reading (with them reading supplemental books). Now I feel guilty having them read all their own history, especially since they also do their own reading for science. Basically, all we do together is a read-aloud, and that we only get to a couple of times a week. I really want my dc to be independent learners, but am I expecting too much too soon?

[Matryoshka]

I have still been reading non-fiction books aloud to my kids (5th and 3rd), the ones that are "spine-like" (we don't use one book or source as a spine), to give them an overview of the time period. I have them read biographies, historical fiction, and some other supporting materials themselves.

 

We still enjoy doing it this way, but I'm not sure if I wouldn't have transistioned more to them reading almost all of it themselves if I didn't have the younger dd that is listening along (I assign her different independent reading at her level).

[In The Great White North]

Well, I still read some of the history to my 6th grader. It's not like she couldn't or wouldn't, but it's more fun together. I suspect she also likes the "mommy attention" it brings.

 

She reads plenty of books on her own (both assigned and free reading), so I don't feel the need to "do" reading in every class.

 

I know she will be an independent learner eventually. I'm frankly more concerned that she enjoy learning and want to learn more.

[Prairie~Phlox]

We do all of our history and science together, I really enjoy it. I expect dd to be independent in her English & Math. I do go over stuff 8f she doesn't understand, but for the most part, she reads it herself (we use Saxon for this reason) We really enjoy all of the reading that we do together. I will read out loud for a long time. My SIL still reads out loud to her older children.

 

Phlox

[Lovedtodeath]

From what I understand Charlotte Mason said that children should read for themselves. After all, how can they copy great writing if they have not seen it? I cannot seem to find a link at the moment, but I will look for it.

 

My personal answer would be to do what is best for each child. DD hates read-alouds, so reading her own books or taking turns with me there to help her works much better for us.

[Michelle T]

Some he reads himself, some I read to him. He's been doing his own science reading lately, but we are getting ready to start a more challenging program, and I may very well go back to reading that aloud too.

 

I'm all for reading out loud as long as you/your kids like it. I think it's the best way to learn.

Michelle T

[Lovedtodeath]

A link and a quote from it: http://amblesideonline.org/LanguageArts.shtml

 

"The most effective way to teach language arts is to get your child reading their school books themselves as soon as possible. When reading aloud, your child's mind may wander. Also, he isn't seeing the words on the page, so he's not seeing the spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and he isn't being challenged to push his reading levels. When you read all your child's school books to him, he isn't learning to spell, you are. So read aloud a fun story to enjoy together, but your student should be doing his own reading for school."

[Peela]

My kids are 12 and 14 and they have said the same to me. I also tried to shift them to independent history spine reading, and I got the same response- it is so much more enjoyable when we do it together as we always have done. I also enjoy it.

They do do plenty of independent reading- there is just something about doing history together, the main spine, that we all enjoy, and I am all for what works, rather than following others' rules.

[scrapbabe]

We love reading together! My 3rd and 6th grader always read history books with me. I think I would cry if they wanted to read their own. They read plenty on their own - I never assign reading. But reading together is my favorite part of the school day. We are crazy busy with running our own business, so I really relish the times we can sit down and read a good book together.

That being said, you should do what works best for you and what you enjoy the most.

 

Smiles,

Shalynn

[LindaOz]

We do both. We are all in the same time period, and I read aloud some of our history (a spine and a biography or other book set in the time period). We discuss and narrate then each child has own history reading to do during the week at their own level. I figure that this way I can combine both methods :)

[Homeschooling6]

I still read our History & we still have read aloud time with my 5th grader. I enjoy this time. My kids read enough on their own too.

Blessings,

[Lovedtodeath]

Maybe you could read aloud history with each child every other day or some other "in the middle" compromise?

[Miss Sherry]

My youngest is almost 13 and I still love reading aloud to her. But she does alot of reading on her own so she is not missing out on developing independent reading skills. I think that reading aloud to them is good to help them continue to practice good listening skills.

[Laura Corin]

I read science aloud to Calvin (11) but he reads his history to himself.

 

Laura

[fivetails]

Lots of reading out loud here - dd11 has some comprehension issues (though she's greatly improved over the last year) and she needs the help to read and understand the material. :)

[VaKim]

My youngest is almost 13 and I still love reading aloud to her. But she does alot of reading on her own so she is not missing out on developing independent reading skills. I think that reading aloud to them is good to help them continue to practice good listening skills.

 

My kids are 12 and 14 and they have said the same to me. I also tried to shift them to independent history spine reading, and I got the same response- it is so much more enjoyable when we do it together as we always have done. I also enjoy it.

They do do plenty of independent reading- there is just something about doing history together, the main spine, that we all enjoy, and I am all for what works, rather than following others' rules.

 

Same as both of these, except mine are nearly 10 and nearly 14. They read tons on their own, but we like to do our history together.

[Laura W.]

My oldest is in 5th grade. I read aloud part of her history and science, and she does the rest on her own.

 

Last year I tried to move her to reading all her history and science, but (like others) she didn't enjoy it as much. There's something about the interactive nature of reading and discussing history and science that enhances learning in those subjects - I enjoy it too. Because I do want her to work toward independent learning, she is also doing almost all her math and language arts independently.

 

Blessings,

 

Laura

[8filltheheart]

I read aloud to my kids. I read from the main source so that we can dig in and discuss. They read the supplementary materials independently (historical fiction, Landmark books, bios, etc) My kids are all doing different history this yr. It makes for lots of reading time for me. But at the same time, I enjoy having one on one discussion with them.

[Melissa in Australia]

we do history all together, so I read it out loud for the younger children's benefit. I read each child their science, and we don't do it together.

I am hoping to shift ds14 to reading his own science soon. but he just finds it so much more interesting doing it with me, that way we can discuss things as they come up. he is a very lonely sort of guy, and still misses the discussion of other students.

I would read aloud for greater than 2 hours every day

[elegantlion]

I read aloud science and history with my ds. He enjoys it and we are able to have a lot of great discussions at that time.

[Mama Lynx]

I have been doing Ambleside Online's history suggestions with my two oldest (9 and 10). I was doing a combination of years 2 and 3, which increases the pace significantly. After a few weeks of that, I decided maybe my dc needed to be in their own years, especially since dd is really interested in studying American history and ds is interested in medieval history. I placed dd in year 3 and ds in year 2, which also corresponds to their interested time periods. Dc are enjoying the readings but admit that they preferred when we studied history together and I did most of the reading (with them reading supplemental books). Now I feel guilty having them read all their own history, especially since they also do their own reading for science. Basically, all we do together is a read-aloud, and that we only get to a couple of times a week. I really want my dc to be independent learners, but am I expecting too much too soon?

 

I think we learn more and have more fun when we do history together. My 7th grader is independent and reads his own assignments; my 5th grader sometimes gets overwhelmed with the amount of reading I assigned, and so I will read some to him.

[EKS]

I still read history/science aloud to a 7th grader. This enables us to have discussions about the material. He reads lots on his own too but I read, or have him read to me, the spines we are using for history and science. I intend to do this in some form as long as possible. Now, for our Lord of the Rings study, I am having him read the book on his own because I want him to get experience reading literature for himself. I then read the notes in the curriculum to him and we discuss it after he has read the book on his own.

 

I hope this makes sense.

[Chloe]

Maybe I'll go back to doing AO years 2 and 3 combined, at least just for this year. Then I can put them both in year 4 next year, but doing their own reading. That way I can do some lite history reading with my (then) 1st grader. I don't do any history with him this year, because we have enough to just get him up and reading.

[nutmeg]

 

I read aloud to my kids. I read from the main source so that we can dig in and discuss. They read the supplementary materials independently (historical fiction, Landmark books, bios, etc)

Same sort of thing here, with 12 and 10 year olds.

[Parrothead]

I'm reading aloud to my 4th grader. I'm hoping to transition to more independent reading next year.

[claire up north]

I have 3 kids and the oldest is in 5th. I read aloud about 75% of our history to all of us. The kids sit next to me and follow along. Often I will say, "B, this is your paragraph," and have him read it aloud. The other boys will take turns, too.

 

In addition to our group reading, I assign my eldest supplemental history and science books that the younger kids don't read. I have him do oral narrations for these.

 

I like to read aloud because it's more fun and also I interrupt frequently to discuss concepts & check comprehension.

[jamnkats]

My kids are 12 and 14 and they have said the same to me. I also tried to shift them to independent history spine reading, and I got the same response- it is so much more enjoyable when we do it together as we always have done. I also enjoy it.

They do do plenty of independent reading- there is just something about doing history together, the main spine, that we all enjoy, and I am all for what works, rather than following others' rules.

 

I think I need a t-shirt that says :iagree:

 

I agree with almost all your posts. I read to my 14yo and 12yo and we have amazing discussions about the stuff we read. Well, technically, *I* read. I am learning so much also - I never read a THINK about Ghengis Khan until we covered Ancient Mongolia and I now know the 5 pillars of Islam. They do supplemental historical fiction, Math and other reading on their own, but I love seeing and hearing how their minds work and engaging them. I haven't read CM but I did read a snipped of WTM and I seem to remember Bauer recommending reading to older kids if they'll go for it.

[Oakblossoms]

My 6th grader (11 and a January birthday) loves to read our "spine" books aloud. He loves to discuss though and I think it helps my 8 year old who is still having difficulty with stuff sticking.

 

Since we don't do tests, it helps me know what is sticking with my oldest and if he needs more on the subject.

[frogpond1]

but my kids read lots of historical fiction and biographies etc. on their own. I love our reading aloud time because it is shared knowledge and we can discuss it and have fun with it. I happen to have pretty auditory kids who love read alouds. DD-6th grade is sad that I don't read aloud her history anymore, but she is making the Middle School Jump and it is time. She is capable, but misses the fun of the read aloud.

[Melissa in CA]

A link and a quote from it: http://amblesideonline.org/LanguageArts.shtml

 

"The most effective way to teach language arts is to get your child reading their school books themselves as soon as possible. When reading aloud, your child's mind may wander. Also, he isn't seeing the words on the page, so he's not seeing the spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and he isn't being challenged to push his reading levels. When you read all your child's school books to him, he isn't learning to spell, you are. So read aloud a fun story to enjoy together, but your student should be doing his own reading for school."

 

Thanks for the affirmation Lovedtodeath. :D I have my son reading all his history now and it is going well. I completely agree that it is better for THEM to be seeing the words and engaging their minds in the reading of the material. It is not as much fun for me because, coming from SL, I am used to reading all his history books to him and thereby getting to learn alongside him. I think I was learning more than he was though and that is not really the goal. ;) With Tapestry of Grace my son does all his own history reading, but we then discuss what he has learned at weeks end. He's learning tons!

 

As for reading with him, we still have a read-aloud of our choosing that I read to him. We just finished The Hobbit, and are currently starting Rascal. My son enjoys getting to pick his own read-alouds now...and he loves that they don't have to be historical fiction; he was getting tired of that. They just have to be quality books. So, needless to say, we won't be reading Goosebumps anytime soon...:lol:

[sagira]

I think by the time ds is in 5th year I will have him read all his own history books. It will be a gradual process. First year I will read all but one to him, second year all but a few, third year half and half, and fourth year almost all of his books will be read by him.

 

I do like to be in on his studies and will be reading alongside him and hey, maybe he can read a chapter to me or a snippet here and there from one of his encyclopedias.

 

I will continue having literature read-alouds through high school. I think it will help prepare him for long lectures, being a good listener. I can also teach him to take good notes.

[sunflowerlady]

My dd prefers to read to herself. In a way it makes it hard for us to use a real book approach/narration/notebooking etc because I don't know what exactly she has read.

 

Due to that, this year we are doing worktexts. Next year we may go to real books and I will have to find a way to make it work. She loves to write, so written summaries may work.