Reading List Necessary?

[Kassia]

Is it necessary to keep a reading list for our teens? I am finalizing my daughter's school year with course descriptions and a transcript, but don't know if I really need to document her reading for the year for college admissions later. I have the titles/authors written down, but don't know if I should type them and save them with everything else.  

 

 

[LisaKinVA]

I include all texts/books read/lectures as part of a "long" course description/syllabus.  I don't know if it will be 100% necessary or not -- but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry!

[SparklyUnicorn]

I've never heard of anyone saying that a college asked for a list of books read.  So I'm leaning towards it not being necessary.  But I suppose it's a relatively simple enough thing to keep track of.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2016 by SparklyUnicorn

[quark]

I'm including a list but not everything he read. Just a selection to give them an idea of his eclectic taste.

[Kassia]

Thanks.  I'm not even sure what to include.  For example, she reread all of the Harry Potter books for fun.  Would books like that go on there?

 

[quark]

Thanks.  I'm not even sure what to include.  For example, she reread all of the Harry Potter books for fun.  Would books like that go on there?

 

I'm not an expert but would leave out anything that could be considered YA (and I think many do consider HP that) unless the books were used for very high level philosophical discussions, for example.

 

Edited to add that I should have said this was just my personal choice/ opinion!

Edited June 12, 2016 by quark

[quark]

To give you an (non expert) idea, I've split the list into 3 short sections -- one on non fiction, one on literature (all the extra classic and modern lit read that I couldn't package into lit courses) and one for websites/ blogs that he loved for math articles and political/ current events. The non fiction section includes Great Courses he listened to for pleasure.

[Kassia]

To give you an (non expert) idea, I've split the list into 3 short sections -- one on non fiction, one on literature (all the extra classic and modern lit read that I couldn't package into lit courses) and one for websites/ blogs that he loved for math articles and political/ current events. The non fiction section includes Great Courses he listened to for pleasure.

 

Thank you!  Very interesting.  She does do a lot of research and reading online and I didn't think to include that even though she does a lot of reading that way.

[EKS]

Here is an example (that I found here) of where I've seen something that could be interpreted as needing to list everything.  It's from Reed.  I find it annoying that students in traditional schools don't need to provide the same level of detail.  

 

Applicants enrolled in home-school programs follow the same application procedures as first-year or transfer applicants, with the following additional requirements:

• School Report Form, available on the Common Application website, completed by the applicant’s parents or the home-school facilitator and submitted with the application
• Comprehensive list of the books and texts read over the four years of high school, including novels, textbooks, and other resources
• At least one letter of recommendation from a tutor, evaluator, or teacher who is not a family member

[Kassia]

 

  I find it annoying that students in traditional schools don't need to provide the same level of detail.  

 

 

 

 

I agree!  My older three children graduated from public school and had some classes where they did absolutely nothing, but colleges didn't question their credits.

[Luckymama]

I've decided not to worry about keeping a reading list. If a school wants to reject my qualified dd due to the lack of a reading list, I think that would not be the place for her to spend four years.

[SparklyUnicorn]

 

Here is an example (that I found here) of where I've seen something that could be interpreted as needing to list everything.  It's from Reed.  I find it annoying that students in traditional schools don't need to provide the same level of detail.  

 

Applicants enrolled in home-school programs follow the same application procedures as first-year or transfer applicants, with the following additional requirements:

• School Report Form, available on the Common Application website, completed by the applicant’s parents or the home-school facilitator and submitted with the application
• Comprehensive list of the books and texts read over the four years of high school, including novels, textbooks, and other resources
• At least one letter of recommendation from a tutor, evaluator, or teacher who is not a family member

 

 

Annoying on the one hand, but interesting that they'd bother to look at it.  In a way that makes me feel like they pay attention. 

[JanetC]

Reading lists (of all books read) drove my kids up the wall. We gave up. My course descriptions did include textbooks and book-length course required reading. I did not list every piece of literature, only "short stories and poems from <anthology name>" or, if from too many places, "from American literature."

 

My graduating senior got into college, but that's a sample size of one.

Edited June 12, 2016 by JanetC

[EKS]

Annoying on the one hand, but interesting that they'd bother to look at it.  In a way that makes me feel like they pay attention. 

 

I think they actually mean that they want to see course descriptions with a full list of resources.  But they make it seem like they don't care about the actual coursework and instead want to see a list of books.  As though homeschoolers don't do actual coursework and just read books.

 

Just my disgruntled interpretation.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Is it necessary to keep a reading list for our teens? I am finalizing my daughter's school year with course descriptions and a transcript, but don't know if I really need to document her reading for the year for college admissions later. I have the titles/authors written down, but don't know if I should type them and save them with everything else.  

 

I listed the books used for each course on our course description.

 

One college did ask specifically for a reading list.  I think it was submitted as one of the supplemental questions on the Common App.  DS put together a list based on what I had for his courses as well as scanning his shelf and an evening of brainstorming with the family.  It ended up being an interesting mix of military, science fiction, school related history and literature and computer science books.

 

It would have been far easier to maintain one as he went along and then trim it to remove books that were fluff or that he didn't want to mention.  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I wouldn't have a problem including YA literature.  Partly because I think that high schoolers are part of the YA market, so why not list them.  Partly because I think that YA books often explore strong themes that are hard to tackle in more literary fiction.  Science fiction has a similar ability to create a construct that removes factors that would otherwise get in the way of the theme or plot.  

 

What makes Hunger Games a YA book but Station Eleven a literary fiction read?  

 

 

[quark]

I wouldn't have a problem including YA literature.  Partly because I think that high schoolers are part of the YA market, so why not list them.  Partly because I think that YA books often explore strong themes that are hard to tackle in more literary fiction.  Science fiction has a similar ability to create a construct that removes factors that would otherwise get in the way of the theme or plot.  

 

What makes Hunger Games a YA book but Station Eleven a literary fiction read?  

 

Sorry, that was my misinformed use of the label YA.

 

For us, a personal choice...since the boy will graduate at a younger age, I do want to show some mature titles in his list vs HP just in case it happens that they won't take him so seriously if he lists books he read at a much younger age.

 

If listing HP is not an issue I'm all for that! More power to homeschoolers. :laugh:

[Brad S]

A few years ago, I remember a local group of experienced homeschoolers passing along college application experiences to us then-younger homeschoolers; a couple of the experienced homeschoolers said that they'd experienced colleges asking for a list of books read -- at least one was a highly selective smaller liberal arts college.  It didn't sound common, but it does happen.  I've also heard of a student being asked a question about a book on the list at an interview. I don't know if this was specific to homeschooled students or not.

 

The few admissions reps I've heard talk/talked to have been fairly positive about homeschoolers, but they're looking for a little something to validate the application.  Clearly there are some places that have picky, useless hoops to go through, but I don't have any problem with colleges looking at the details of our home school.

[Joules]

Thanks.  I'm not even sure what to include.  For example, she reread all of the Harry Potter books for fun.  Would books like that go on there?

We had lots of schools on our original list that asked for a variety of things, so I included most everything.

 

Subject specific books were listed under the course in the "Texts and resources" section.  For example, he read Quiet and several other non-fiction books while taking psychology.  The rest were under his yearly English class, which had two sections, "Texts, reading list, and other resources" and "Other reading."  The former had important literature related to the class (American, British, etc.) and the latter had everything else.

 

So many of the young adult books came into literary analysis or informed his fiction writing that it was hard to parse out.  I eventually chose to just list it all.  Plus he'll have a great list for his kids when he is my age. Maybe it will tickle his brain and he won't say things like: "There was this book you would love.  There was an elf and a troll...."

[Joules]

 

 

It would have been far easier to maintain one as he went along and then trim it to remove books that were fluff or that he didn't want to mention.  

 

This is true for everything.  From those of us to scrambled to reconstruct stuff near the end (despite being warned!), just create a big Word document to keep track of everything you might need.  It would have been so much easier to do it from the beginning.

[Ellie]

 

Here is an example (that I found here) of where I've seen something that could be interpreted as needing to list everything.  It's from Reed.  I find it annoying that students in traditional schools don't need to provide the same level of detail.  

 

Applicants enrolled in home-school programs follow the same application procedures as first-year or transfer applicants, with the following additional requirements:

• School Report Form, available on the Common Application website, completed by the applicant’s parents or the home-school facilitator and submitted with the application
• Comprehensive list of the books and texts read over the four years of high school, including novels, textbooks, and other resources
• At least one letter of recommendation from a tutor, evaluator, or teacher who is not a family member

 

 

Warning: rabbit trail

 

From the college site: "Home-schooled applicants who intend to apply for financial aid should note that federal regulations require that students receive a high school diploma, a GED, or a state certification in order to be eligible to receive federal financial aid funds." I hope the school is not under the impression that high school diplomas issued by parents are not acceptable when applying for federal aid. 

[EKS]

Warning: rabbit trail

 

From the college site: "Home-schooled applicants who intend to apply for financial aid should note that federal regulations require that students receive a high school diploma, a GED, or a state certification in order to be eligible to receive federal financial aid funds." I hope the school is not under the impression that high school diplomas issued by parents are not acceptable when applying for federal aid. 

 

This is another thing that drives me nuts.  

 

Here is what the regulation actually is, right from the horse's mouth.

 

To be eligible to receive federal student aid, you must:

• Be a citizen or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
• Have a valid Social Security Number. (Students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau are exempt from this requirement.)
• Have a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) certificate, or have completed homeschooling. If you don’t, you may still be eligible for federal student aid if you were enrolled in college or career school prior to July 1, 2012. Go to http://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility/basic-criteria for additional information.
• Be enrolled in an eligible program as a regular student seeking a degree or certificate.
• Maintain satisfactory academic progress.
• Not owe a refund on a federal student grant or be in default on a federal student loan.
• Register (or already be registered) with the Selective Service System, if you are a male and not currently on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. (Students from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau are exempt from registering; see www.sss.gov for more information.)
• Not have a conviction for the possession or sale of illegal drugs for an offense that occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (such as grants, work-study, or loans). If you have such a conviction, you must complete the Student Aid Eligibility Worksheet to determine if you are eligible for aid or partially eligible for aid.

[SparklyUnicorn]

It gets even stupider in NY.  NY specific grant rules specifically say if one doesn't have a high school diploma (homeschool diplomas do not count) they can take an ability to benefit test.  However, a lot of schools just make the rules up as they go along and say you can't get the aid without the diploma.  So that paired with the state schools and CC's inability to understand the homeschool regs, it is extremely difficult to go to many schools here in NY as a homeschool graduate.  Some private schools don't grasp the concept either.  Why did I move to NY.....

 

*sigh*

 

 

 

This is another thing that drives me nuts.  

 

Here is what the regulation actually is, right from the horse's mouth.

 

To be eligible to receive federal student aid, you must:

• Be a citizen or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
• Have a valid Social Security Number. (Students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau are exempt from this requirement.)
• Have a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) certificate, or have completed homeschooling. If you don’t, you may still be eligible for federal student aid if you were enrolled in college or career school prior to July 1, 2012. Go to http://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility/basic-criteria for additional information.
• Be enrolled in an eligible program as a regular student seeking a degree or certificate.
• Maintain satisfactory academic progress.
• Not owe a refund on a federal student grant or be in default on a federal student loan.
• Register (or already be registered) with the Selective Service System, if you are a male and not currently on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. (Students from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau are exempt from registering; see www.sss.gov for more information.)
• Not have a conviction for the possession or sale of illegal drugs for an offense that occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (such as grants, work-study, or loans). If you have such a conviction, you must complete the Student Aid Eligibility Worksheet to determine if you are eligible for aid or partially eligible for aid.

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

This is true for everything.  From those of us to scrambled to reconstruct stuff near the end (despite being warned!), just create a big Word document to keep track of everything you might need.  It would have been so much easier to do it from the beginning.

 

Even starting a few months early would make it easier to come up with a nice book list.  DS had to produce his in a couple days.  He would write down what he could remember, print it and pass it around for familiy members to look at.  Then we'd remind him of things he read, which would remind him of still more things to add to the list.

 

But it is far easier to just make a list as you go along.  I've been keeping a list of books read for the last two years and I still tend to forget to add things, even when I just read them a couple of weeks ago.

 

And as a word to the wise, it is way, way easier to revise course descriptions that you roughed out when the course was fresh in your mind than it is to remember what you did 3+ years ago.

[quark]

Having a running Word or Excel booklist is a great idea. I like doing mine via Google Forms linked to a Google Spreadsheet (because I love filling blanks/ forms etc). :D  I park the Google Forms link on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar so it's just a click away and I am less likely to forget.

Is it necessary to keep a reading list for our teens? I am finalizing my daughter's school year with course descriptions and a transcript, but don't know if I really need to document her reading for the year for college admissions later. I have the titles/authors written down, but don't know if I should type them and save them with everything else.  

 

I don't think it is necessary, but I do find it useful. Using a web site like goodreads or librarything makes it easy, and allows us to remember books that the older ones have read that now a younger might now like, or to look for favorite authors that might have new books out, or to share recommendations with friends and peers.

[Grantmom]

Having a running Word or Excel booklist is a great idea. I like doing mine via Google Forms linked to a Google Spreadsheet (because I love filling blanks/ forms etc). :D  I park the Google Forms link on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar so it's just a click away and I am less likely to forget.

 

This is a GREAT idea!  What line entries do you have on the form?

[quark]

This is a GREAT idea!  What line entries do you have on the form?

 

Thanks! :laugh:

I call it ___________'s media list because I also use it for Great Courses and other things he watches/ reads. I won't be sending all of it off to colleges. Some of it is just for my ref.

 

For labels, I have:

Month & Year (single line)

Title (single line)

Author/ Director/ Channel (single line)

Type (radio button with the following choices -- Novel, Short Story, Nonfiction, Magazine/ Article, Audiobook, Documentary, Movie, Lecture Series)

Genre (single line)

Leisure/ Assigned (radio button with those 2 choices)

 

I've shared it with him so that he can fill it in himself too.

[Nancy in NH]

Chiming in late, and I haven't read all the posts, but I wanted to comment on our experience.  Ds applied to 8 schools (in NY, PA, and ME) and not one of them asked for a reading list.  I submitted course descriptions that included the resources we used, and nothing was requested beyond that.  I did keep a reading list, though, including the books ds read just for fun.  I am doing the same for my other two teens, just in case.

 

Nancy in NH

 

[angela in ohio]

Older dd did a Great Books program throughout HS (per WTM) and I included a list of the books she read for that in a separate page after her course descriptions. It was mentioned positively when she discussed her admission with the Dean of Admissions at her school.

 

For second dd, who read less literature and took more CC courses, I just listed the materials used (including works read in literature courses) with each course description.

 

I didn't and wouldn't list free reading outside of the work completed for credit. That isn't something that would be in an application package from a traditionally schooled student.

[BlsdMama]

Is it necessary to keep a reading list for our teens? I am finalizing my daughter's school year with course descriptions and a transcript, but don't know if I really need to document her reading for the year for college admissions later. I have the titles/authors written down, but don't know if I should type them and save them with everything else.  

 

 

I don't think it's *necessary* but we did do it with DD (20) because her reading lists were out of the ordinary.  It was her special area of emphasis, especially British Literature so we felt it was relevant.

DS(17) has a totally different emphasis with college credits and extra-curricular activities and so we do not keep a reading list for him. :)

 

DD(14) has begun her list.  It's pretty simple, just documentation on GoodReads and if we find it pertinent later to add to her applications then we'll make it!

Edited June 13, 2016 by BlsdMama

[ikslo]

DS is only going into 4th, but I have a running list in Excel of books read to him, and a separate list of books he read himself.  I started keeping track when we started homeschooling when he was 5. 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

FWIW, I think there are two different things being asked for in different applications.

 

Some schools seem to be asking for a complete booklist from homeschoolers.  There is an example of this in a previous post.  This is different in my mind from asking for course descriptions or a list of books used for each subject.  In my mind, one is asking for a description of the course so they can make an assessment of the level of preparation the course offered.  (An English course that works through a dozen novels may be viewed differently than one that works through two novels, one of which is lightweight.)  A science course that Conceptual Physics may be viewed differently than one that uses a text known as a common college level book.  (*Not a knock on Conceptual Physics if that is where the student is and if that meets the goals of that particular course.)

 

I didn't run into colleges in the 6 ds applied to that asked for a complete reading list, as a requirement for homeschool applicants.

 

What he did run into was a supplemental essay from Carnegie Mellon that asked something like this (copied from an admissions blog since I don't have access to his CA account questions):  

 

List the books (if any) you’ve read this year for pleasure. Choose one and in a sentence describe its impact on you. 

 

His list included a wide variety of books.  Some were science fiction, some were history or military related.  Some were science or computing books (things like The Circle fell into multiple categories).  Beyond the list itself, his comments weren't long - just a sentence that explained why it was significant to him.

 

Some board members have recounted that their kids submitted reading lists that were longer in titles or time covered.  

 

[AppleGreen]

I can't imagine a college wanting a list of books for free reading! Do they really want to see the hundreds of graphic novels my kid read? Not to mention the multiple readings of a given book. My kid reads a ton, so many are rereads, some from elementary school and sometimes from last month. I actually think the list would be interesting to us, but not so interesting to a college. I did list all the books read for a particular course when I wrote up the course descriptions. I do try to assign read across the curriculum, not just for English.