Emmy Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Or do you just choose good books? I am read aloud challenged - I read a lot to my kids from history or science books and we read a lot of "storybooks" (caldecott, fiar, etc) but we don't do the big chapter book read aloud thing as much as we should. And they love it - so....yeah, the problem is me. It's hard sometimes for me to find the motivation after getting through school to sit and read aloud for half an hour (that sounds terribly lazy as I type it). Anyhoo - we are a bit more than halfway through Detectives in Togas (chosen because we have been doing SOTW1) and I am not sure what to do next - something else related to history or no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 We kind of alternate. I have a lot of history-related literature books, and for those periods where I don't I use a "general reading" book instead. We are currently finishing up Anthony Horowitz's The Falcon's Malteser, then I'm planning to start Don Quixote as we move into the Anglo-Spanish war next week. I have a handfull of longer books related to our history studies, and I intersperse unrelated books as needed, these run a pretty wide range. I read to them at bedtime, half an hour to an hour. I read to them until at least my littlest has fallen asleep, I may continue if I have the energy, lol, or it's at a really engaging part of the story (I've always hated cliffhangers myself, lol). I'll also read during the day if they have some coloring or craft project to finish up, but that's not regular. hth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 My dh took over reading aloud at bedtime and he doesn't like historical fiction for the most part. He's currently reading aloud White Fang. Dh reads aloud what appeals to him! If the reader enjoys the book then most likely so will the listeners. Enjoy your read aloud time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Mine are 1st and 2nd - and we do mostly fun chapter read alouds. My kids don't like scary - so we stick with classic fun books (Mr. Popper, Dr. Doolittle, etc.). We do some history - and will do more later - but right now a couple of shorter, picture-type books with SOTW is fine for history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titus.Two.Five Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Some yes, some no. I try to make sure we do history related read alouds half of the time. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Not always. I do scope out Sonlight books, BF and Bethleham books for good read-alouds but we've done plenty of others that haven't been. We still read lots of Berenstain Bears and Curious George :001_smile: and we've read Uncle Eric books, C.S. Lewis, bios, etc as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Occasionally we pick a read aloud based on history, but not usually. My husband does the bedtime read aloud with our daughter who is 8. Right now they just finished up the Peter and the Starcatchers series, followed by The Great Good Thing (for the third or fourth time, it's a favorite) and now The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (an adult mystery/spy series that is quite good). I don't do a lot of read alouds because my voice won't last, especially after doing some during schoolwork. We get around this by doing books on tape/cd in the car almost all the time. We started this when my daughter was about 4 and we wanted something to keep her entertained on a 4 hour drive to the beach. She hadn't started reading yet and we are not fans of dvd players in the car, so we picked up some books on tape from the library. We've been hooked ever since. I do require that it be something *I* am willing to listen to. After about 5 minutes of one of the Boxcar Children I told my daughter she was welcome to read them, but I wasn't interested in listening to them. We've done lots of children's literature that way (some that have ended up being re-read for bedtime as well :)). We are currently working our way through Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, another adult mystery series whose protagonist is an English archaeologist in the late 1800 to early 1900s. Great fun and the reader, Barbara Rosenblatt, really makes the series come alive. My daughter's favorite character, who appears briefly in the second book, but takes a major role after that, is Amelia's extremely precocious (and verbose) son whose nickname is Ramses. He's out doing digs in the family compost heap at age 4 or 5 and exasperating her at every turn. We laugh a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) We have at least two read alouds going on at any one time, one or more of which is history related. However, these are read for, not in addition to, history. For grammar stage I'm very flexible as to what constitutes history, so we include myths, epics, legends, folktales, historical fiction, and biography. Edited October 23, 2008 by nmoira clarity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Nope. I like to read the SL read alouds, which aren't related to the history before core 3. And my littles still like to pick picture books also. We do add in some history related chapter books, but for the most part, like them to just be fun and random. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 We do a good book, and then we read a Hank the Cowdog book. We do our read aloud in the evenings as Family Time, and this is a compromise so we're all happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 During school hours our read alouds tend to be science and history. However, I read chapter books to my youngest 3 as bedtime stories. Right now we are reading the Doll People. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runamuk Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 We have several read alouds going every week. Right now, I'm reading Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends and Beatrix Potter to Mac (4) and The Tales of Despereaux to both of them. I have Aesop's Fables for next week, The BFG, and a few Pooh stories (books by A.A. Milne and not adapted by Disney). My husband prefers to read shorter stories at bedtime, but will treat the kids once or twice a month to a fairy tale re-enactment. He'll grab some stuffed animals or dolls and put on a little play using the toys, funny voices and some hysterical interpretations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Last year most of our read-alouds were history related. This year we are doing more of a variety. Currently we are alternating the Alex Rider series with historical books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hs4ze Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I read history-related books or science-related books aloud to our young child, and save the fun, fictional books for either audiobooks from the library (for breaks during the day or lengthy car rides) or when dh reads aloud during the evenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle T Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I've started reading the Harry Potter books to DS, and those are loooong books! So we've been having a break from historical fiction. I've tried getting DS to read historical fiction himself, but he doesn't usually like it much. Michelle T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melmc Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 We're doing BP so our read-alouds are the ones they have in the schedule. All ancient history. I don't know how to fit any others in right now so it might be until summer before we get some variety. The kids don't seem to mind since all this is so new to them. I also read to my youngest books from FIAR for story time, and I read to all three picture books from Catholic Mosaic when we're celebrating a specific feast day in the liturgical year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetbaby Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Most of ours have been history and science related. My sons love reading other books independently now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanaTron Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Not any more! Now I just read what I want to read to them. Just finished The Hobbit, now reading Charlotte's Web. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 We tend to go through phases...we'll do several history read-a-louds and then need a break and we'll switch to something else. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I select read aloud books from the reading lists in WTM. I read a book from the list, then the next book is one that ties in with history , then a Bethlehem book, then read another one from the list. I don't read aloud all of the list , just a selection of . the older 2 read all the list to themselves, I just read for the benefit of the younger ones, as the books on the list are a little hard for them. I read at tea time ( dinner , the main meal of the day) I am a fast eater, so I read until everyone else has finished eating, and while the children do the dishes. it is amazing how many books we get through in a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 WE go back and forth a bit. Right now we have Charlotte's Web and Heidi going. I didn't intend to do both at the same time, but CW was for my youngers. Heidi is a concession to my older - he was supposed to read it on his own and balked a bit. I offered to read Heidi aloud to him and let him pick an alternative to read alone. (He chooses history books a lot - so that may decrease our history read alouds some). Sometimes we grab an extra chapter at night - but usually I do it during the "school day." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBP Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 This year, yes, because we're studying American history, and there are so many wonderful works of historical fiction pertaining to our studies. In other years, I've just picked books I thought my children and I would enjoy and haven't worried much about whether they fit in with our history studies. We've enjoyed some great books under either system :). Best, SBP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAM Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 We tend to switch off between the WTM literature lists, Ambleside Online, a longer science read aloud, and history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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