When did you start "assigned reading" (x-posted)

[SereneHome]

My oldest is finally getting to the point where I can trust him a little bit to do assigned reading.  What I mean by "trust" is that he is not making as many mistakes any more

 

I still want to keep doing "us" reading - where he reads to me so I can make sure that his mistakes are getting corrected.

 

So, when you started giving your kids assigned reading...

 

1.  What method did you use to pick the books?  Did you allow them to do it?  Did you use the classics?

2.  What was the time period that they were required to do it for?

3.  If they were still reading to you at that point, did you have them read you books they read on their own?

 

Anything else I am missing?

 

thank you!

[Rosie_0801]

I'm sure others will give you better quality answers, but no one has yet so I'll drop in my pennyworth. :)

 

I've only just started assigned reading with dd, half way through grade 3. She reads plenty on her own, but I've been assigning the occasional book for geography and having her write a few sentences about it. How often rather depends on whether I can get easy enough books. She does fine if it's something short she can read in one sitting. She struggles a bit if it's too long to read in one sitting and I ask her to flick through and find an interesting bit to write about. 

[Guest]

When they can read silently and still understand what they are reading.

 

So at first, it would be a picture book we've read hundreds of times together.

 

Then it would be something I HAVE read beforehand, that's well below his reading level, that is new to him, so that he can tell me about it after he reads it, and I'll know if he understood it or not.

 

Then it's on to regular assigned reading. Staying below actual reading level for maybe two weeks.

 

I started with ten minutes....to fifteen...to twenty...to thirty...amping up from first through second grade so that now in third he's required to read for an hour a day. He now reads aloud to me doing "elocution"  from McGuffey 3 for school time (short pieces requiring perfect timing, pronunciation, etc). I don't require anything else, but I would if he didn't read on his own for fun/elucidation and tell me about it throughout his day. Plus he has some short reading for his LA program (Cottage Press).

 

I'm following the same pattern with my second son as well. He just started first grade and reading clicked with him a few months ago, so he JUST started his  very short read-to-himself books. In his case, by way of example, usually from a box of Rescue Bots phonics readers. Yesterday he did the board book "Some Bugs." His actual reading level is toward the end of the primer books (Treadwell, Elson, McGuffey), so see we are taking it back for the skill of reading to oneself. It takes practice, but ime, at least, actual reading level and reading to oneself level converge relatively quickly.

[Guest]

Oh I did not answer this:

 

1.  What method did you use to pick the books?  Did you allow them to do it?  Did you use the classics?

 

 

I have a list of books I want to have read each year. This list is the backbone of our whole homeschool. I include some history, some science, some picture books, some great/good literature, some contemporary books I just know the boys will LOVE. All these books are shelved separately from the rest of our books at home. Once he can read to himself well, as described above, he chooses anything he wants from that shelf. If he is indecisive, he reads through whatever Elson reader he's in for a few days until he picks something else.

 

Only occasionally have I let him quit an "assigned" (from the shelf) book. When it was really, truly, maddeningly too difficult for him. Now he knows to choose wisely though, from those experiences. IIRC, Nesbit's dragon book was one such.

Edited August 22, 2016 by OKBud

[Kat w]

We do that too, what okbud said.

[SereneHome]

Oh I did not answer this:

 

 

I have a list of books I want to have read each year. This list is the backbone of our whole homeschool. I include some history, some science, some picture books, some great/good literature, some contemporary books I just know the boys will LOVE. All these books are shelved separately from the rest of our books at home. Once he can read to himself well, as described above, he chooses anything he wants from that shelf. If he is indecisive, he reads through whatever Elson reader he's in for a few days until he picks something else.

 

Only occasionally have I let him quit an "assigned" (from the shelf) book. When it was really, truly, maddeningly too difficult for him. Now he knows to choose wisely though, from those experiences. IIRC, Nesbit's dragon book was one such.

 

Thank you for such detailed answers.

 

Would you mind sharing this list?

[Guest]

No I don't mind at all. How old/what grade are your kids though?

 

And keep in mind one of my kids is gifted and one is not, so I had to find a hopefully-happy medium with each kid doing his own thing a bit with lots of in the middle stuff for everyone.

 

I know it's super helpful to pour over lists though and take what you want from them. For me anyway!

[SereneHome]

My kids are in K, 1st and 3rd, but I would take lists for whatever grades you have.

 

Thank you!!

[Dinsfamily]

Depends on the kid for me. My first 2 had assigned reading at the beginning 2nd. They were both early and good readers who read a lot on their own. I assigned them Sonlight readers and add some extra books in there. They are very fast readers. Ds#3 isn't ready for that yet so he still reads his readers aloud to me. It takes more time at his level since the books are getting longer, but I just don't trust him to go off and read by himself yet. He does read a lot of library books of his choosing on his own.

 

They don't get any say over school reading. The read so much in their spare time that I am happy making school book decisions. However, this last year was the first time I've let any of them drop a book. Ds#1 absolutely hated "Around the World in Eighty Days." He read about half of it and I let him quit. He reads A LOT of good quality books on his own so I had no need to torture him through it. I even offered to let him finish it using an audiobook and he didn't even want to do that.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Dinsfamily

[MinivanMom]

I started assigned reading in 5th grade. I mainly chose books that aligned with our history studies (3-yr cycle using K12 Human Odyssey), and I assigned a mixture of classics and historical fiction. I think 5th grade was pretty heavy on the historical fiction with just a few adapted classics thrown in, 6th grade was a mixture, and 7th grade was mainly classics with a few historical fiction thrown in. Our reading list for 8th grade (American history) is going to be all classics, but it has been a gradual process to get to this point.

 

I generally assign a book a week except around the holidays when we get super-busy. If it's a classic then I will give them 2 weeks to read it unless it's long enough or difficult enough to really need a full 3 weeks (Robinson Crusoe, Romeo & Juliet, etc). The only books I have them read aloud to me now are Shakespeare plays - cause it's Shakespeare - and that's really us reading the play together.

 

As far as no longer requiring a child to read aloud to me daily, that was different for each child. My standard was that they needed to be reading chapter books fluently and with expression before I let them quit reading aloud. This was usually somewhere in the post-Magic Treehouse stage. I just had a silent reading time each day (usually the hour after lunch & the hour from bedtime to lights-out) and generally kept an eye on what they were reading. I like giving my new-readers the freedom to choose their own books, but sometimes they needed a nudge toward a new author or genre.

[ikslo]

3rd grade

1 chapter/day

We used Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus for a booklist

[ALB]

I started around 3rd grade for my dc, too.  I have a few different things I assign.  One is an assigned chapter or number of pages from a specific book I want them to read on their own.  Another is a short amount of timed silent reading from our designated book basket, which holds library books about our current history and science topics.  Finally, they have timed silent reading of anything, their choice.

My 5th grader does more than that since I also assign history and science readings for her to do independently.  We still do the meat of those subjects all together, but I have extra resources that I want her to use.  Independent reading allows us to cover so many more books and topics than I could fit in if I had to read it all aloud.

[SereneHome]

Thanks everyone.

 

I would love to see everyone's lists - may be I start a separate post for that.

 

 

[Rachel]

I'm starting this year for my third grader. Our lists will come from TWTM and I have a couple science biographies as well. He is a voracious reader already though, I'm just looking to steer him toward more high quality books.

[My3girls]

We started in the 5th grade.  We went from Story of the World (read aloud) to History Odyssey which includes literature selections and writing assignments.  I probably won't select their English reading until next year, and I still accept requests through High School as long as it is a quality read.  For example:  my oldest requested The Hobbit in 8th grade.  It was not on the reading list I had prepared, but since it's quality literature, I agreed.  This year she has requested Harry Potter.  I encouraged her to read it for free read, but it won't count for 9th grade English.

[Ariston]

I started when my kids were enjoying reading chapter books on their own.  Once that was solidly established I felt comfortable assigning them things that they would not necessarily pick up on their own.  They have to read from my assigned book at least 30 minutes per day.  (They are 10 and 12.)  9 times out of 10 it turns out being something they really like and they start reading it on their own time.  Occasionally they hate it and I have to decide whether to force them to finish it or not.

 

I keep a spreadsheet where I list all the books I want them to read before 6th grade or so.  I use Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook as a guide, along with Sonlight and a few other sources online.  I keep track of the suggested reading levels and then look at that every week when its time to assign a new book.

[LMD]

I started in about 2-3rd when they are reading well. We have an assigned reading time as part of their school day where they must read a chapter (or decent amount).

I have a yearly list for each old enough kid. Taken from places like WTM, AO, sonlight, mensa, honey for a childs heart/read aloud handbook whatever I run across and take note of. It's generally a mix of classics and modern, some history or science themes. I add to the list as I find things through the year. It's also a mix of easy to read and a bit of a stretch. They read a fair bit on their own and listen to audio books as well.

I generally let ds gr3 choose for himself from the list, he's just about finished with Redwall, his last book was Peter Pan, he'll probably choose The Time Cat next.

Dd gr5 and I take turns to choose her books. She chose Gulliver's Travels last and I chose her current read - The Sword in the Stone.