What to read aloud vs assign WTM Lit recommendations

[cintinative]

I guess I don't fully understand this and was hoping for input.  The WTM has a list of literature that corresponds to the historical time period (for example, this year was ancients for us, so we have read a lot of Greek myths and books about Egypt so far). I have done some of those books as read alouds and some I assigned to my oldest for reading. How do you do this? Part of what I struggle with is that my youngest doesn't get assigned reading from the list yet due to reading level. So I don't want to make them all assigned reading because there are too many and because I want him to also benefit from it.  However, trying to decide which I should read aloud versus assign can be hard for me. We are getting to the point where my oldest could almost read all of them without issue but his comprehension might be better on the lower lexiles, so I go for those.  Honestly, though, I have no idea what I am doing.  How do you all manage this?  Suggestions??

[tmstranger]

I don't really have a system for deciding...If I think a book will be particularly interesting to my older child, I assign it.  If I think he'll hate it, I read it aloud.  It seems to make it less horrible if I read the book. :)

[ALB]

I mostly read aloud history related novels.  The books I assign for independent reading are what I'd classify as "literature," just great age-appropriate books that may or may not have anything to do with our history time period.  I pull books from various sites and curriculum providers (Sonlight, AO, VP, MP, etc.) for these.

[Milknhoney]

I decide on a book by book basis whether I think my son can handle the book on his own, or if he'll need help with comprehension. So far this year, I think I've managed to assign most of it to read on his own, and I've only done a few of the suggestions as read-alouds. A couple I decided would be over his head either way and we skipped.

 

I don't know what I'd do if I had to worry about a read-aloud being appropriate for multiple ages. My kids are far enough apart that I don't even try to combine them. However, dd7 occasionally listens in to ds12's read-aloud and understands what's going on. Naturally, she totally followed the whole incident where Gulliver puts out a fire by urinating on it. So I guess my only advice on read-alouds could be to stick with scatology, and everyone of all ages is sure to comprehend and enjoy. :lol:

[2_girls_mommy]

You've got one in the grammar stage and one in the logic stage. So I would assign independent reading from each separate list either from the Well Trained Mind or from Story of the World reading lists for the younger or something similar. Then I would read some aloud to both. 

For us, also in an ancient year, I have one in logic stage who is not a strong reader yet and one in high school. So for Egypt I read aloud a novel set in the time period just for fun, a few pages from a colorful encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt and an art book we use. To themselves dd14 read and wrote about a couple of books from the Old Testament including the stories of Egypt. DD13 read a Theodosia book. I am using the booklist from Classical House of Learning Literature blog logic stage ancients for her and the WTM for dd14.

For Babylon I read a picture book of the Epic of Gilgamesh aloud to dd12. DD14 read an adult translation to herself. And to both during that time I read from unrelated to history books. At the time it was advent, so we read from an Advent study from church and some other Christmas books.  And dd12 read from her Golden Children's Bible and a novel of her choice at the time. 

Now for Greece, dd12 is reading Aesop's Fables to herself. Dd14 is reading the Illiad. And aloud we are reading DuLaire's greek myths and a book called The Bible Through the Ages which covers a lot of ancient history alongside the Bible history. And we are reading several art books. One is art history. One is How Pictures Work on art composition. 

 

Hope that helps. I have a reading list for both. Sometimes I pick one from the reading list to read aloud. Other times they both read from their own lists and I pick something related to read aloud from. We usually have a couple read alouds going at once. 

 

Other examples. Last year during modern studies we had a book from the library that we used as a guideline through our studies of each war. So during the Civil War I read aloud from the library book I chose. Then on their own they each read their history books, plus literature. One read Frederick Douglass' Narrative. I read a picture book on Douglass to the younger. The younger read Little Women I think at that time on her own. Older had already read it during her logic stage.  Together we memorized the Gettysburg Address and Constitutional Amendments during this time. 

[Momto6inIN]

I read aloud fun books that we can all enjoy and have become part of our family culture (think Harry Potter and Narnia and the Hobbit) to the whole group, no matter what their ages.

I don't read anything g else aloud to my middle schooled and above, it all goes on their assigned reading list.

To my elementary schoolers, I read aloud or buddy read or assign reading based on the reading level of the book and if I think it requires more on the spot discussion Vs. after the fact discussion. Example: Trail of Tears book requires on the spot, Bound for Oregon is fine to discuss afterwards.

 

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[cintinative]

Thanks everyone.  I had never thought of checking the SOTW activity guide for ideas for my youngest--we read a lot of them a few years ago as read alouds but I know we skipped some longer ones.  

 

My two are only a grade apart so we do combine for a lot which is helpful in some ways and in other ways I get confused on stuff like this.