what is a reasonable number of pages / week to have a HSer read?

[Nicole M]

I tried searching the boards, because I remember this being discussed before. But I couldn't muster up the right words to search, apparently.

 

We've been tanking in history & literature, partly because of unforeseen family emergencies, and partly because my son needs much more structure than I've given him. I'm trying to plot out his reading for the rest of the year, with very definite assignments (instead of the vague, "read this book next"). We're using the Human Odyssey and finishing up LL Medieval British Lit. I'd like to get through Unit 3 of HO, and am trying to pare down an over-ambitious reading list for that period (1550ish - 1850). As I was plodding through this, I realized it would be helpful to have a figure in mind "x number of pages" to help me prioritize.

 

Any thoughts? My son is in 11th grade, and a strong reader, if that information is pertinent. Thanks!

[Michelle in MO]

taken in studying literature: a school like Highlands Latin School, which takes a more focused literature approach, may actually read fewer pages per week, but study the literature much more in-depth, for instance, than an approach like Omnibus, with Veritas Press, which tends to read a lot of literature. Omnibus tends to cover more reading, some of it in-depth, but some of it more almost as an introduction or survey of a wide variety of Western literature.

 

Also, it may depend upon the book. I remember listening to a talk by Ty Fischer at one of the Veritas Press Teacher's Training Conferences, and he was speaking of the first time their students went through ancient literature, prior to the Omnibus I book project, he assigned 50 pages of Aristotle for the students to read! He had not read the book himself before (also a mistake) and when he sat down to actually read Aristotle, he realized that it could only be digested in very small portions at a time.

 

So, this doesn't exactly answer your question, though! I'm trying to remember from last year, when we did Omnibus II, but I would say we averaged at least 100 pp. per week. I'm thinking for college that we averaged more like 200 pp. per week. Re-reading your post just now, it certainly does help that your son is a strong reader. I would think 100 pp. per week would be manageable.

 

I hope somebody with a better memory than I have can chime in. We have some great lit. people on these boards.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I assign by "time" not pages. 45 to 60 minutes for each subject. Some days are spent doing written assignments, but most days are spend reading the material.

[Nicole M]

Thanks, Michelle. That helps me get the wheels turning, your reflections on this. I'm throwing in a few historical novels, and expecting that my son can get through, say the 200 pages of Silence, by Shusaku Endo, (awesome book, btw) in a week. I think that while the content is heavy, the style is more readable than, a-hem, Aristotle! I'll plan to give more time for something more weighty.

 

Would you include the history reading as part of the 100 pages, or count those separately?

[Nicole M]

I assign by "time" not pages. 45 to 60 minutes for each subject. Some days are spent doing written assignments, but most days are spend reading the material.

 

We were doing this, but did not seem to be making progress. My son is an incurable day dreamer. (I wonder where he gets that?!) So I would like to try more specific assignments.

[asta]

Another thing to consider is that history and literature are not the only reading that the student encounters.

 

I *completely* underestimated how much time DS was going to have to set aside to read biology (just as an example). His biology text is a very rich, engaging text, and the labs for it also require a great deal of reading.

 

Then there is math, philosophy (religion), art... you get the picture. I really think that the "X pages a week" format is not necessarily reasonable. The "X time", however, is. We are giving our kids such a rich curriculum, it is easy to give them too much in any given week. I strongly believe that even if we were to give them what we suspected was too little, it would still be far more than they would receive "at school".

 

One way to deal with a daydreamer is to say: "This chapter of Biology, this section of Literature, this assignment of philosophy, etc. all have to be done by Friday. If you get them done early, woo hoo for you. If not, your weekend is toast."

 

That is how we deal with it at our house.

 

 

asta

Edited November 22, 2008 by asta
added stuff

[Nicole M]

Another thing to consider is that history and literature are not the only reading that the student encounters.

 

I *completely* underestimated how much time DS was going to have to set aside to read biology (just as an example). His biology text is a very rich, engaging text, and the labs for it also require a great deal of reading.

 

Then there is math, philosophy (religion), art... you get the picture. I really think that the "X pages a week" format is not necessarily reasonable. The "X time", however, is. We are giving our kids such a rich curriculum, it is easy to give them too much in any given week. I strongly believe that even if we were to give them what we suspected was too little, it would still be far more than they would receive "at school".

 

 

asta

 

I totally see what you're saying. I guess I should clarify that my reason for asking is not so that I can assign X pages / week, but rather, so that I will be able to make a list that is reasonable and do-able. To hand him SWB's literature list of a gazillion books and say, "work an hour a day on that list and see what you can do" is not going to work for him. I want him to feel successful. Heck, I want to feel successful and right now, I really don't. Part of it is that I've been asking too much, and he's shut down. Really, I only want to compile a list that is reasonable.

[kate in seattle]

For the Ancients year I assigned about 100 - 150 pages a week for reading literature, plus another 20 or so of history ready.

 

For the other years I aimed closer to 200 - 250. It was more important to me to cover a wide amount of material. I didn't want to spend more than about 2 weeks on any one work (maybe a little longer on the epics, or reading some of two books each week).

 

kate in seattle

[Beth in SW WA]

After reading this thread I'm thinking I need to ramp it up here -- especially for ds. I have him read 1 hour of literature per day. He reads another hour of science & history combined daily. He is super ssssllllloooooowwwww.

 

Thankfully, audio books help him keep up a faster pace.

[Chris in VA]

Ds did Omnibus 1 and 2--most of the primary and hardly any of the secondary reading, plus we added in a bunch. I'd say for the Ancients year, he read, in a week, at least 100 pages of lit, 15-20 pages of Apologia bio (I'm guessing, here--completed about 1 Module every 2 weeks or so), 20 pages of Theology (used Know What You Believe and some others), and went thru the Bible in one year for a devotional. He was pretty proud of all he accomplished. I didn't let him screw around with the reading, and he had to write out most of the answers in Omnibus before we discussed them.

 

He just finished Moby Dick--he read it in 3.5 weeks. Did we go deep? Nah. I was lamenting this the other day, and he used my words back at me--"It's ok, Mom. We're just going for exposure." Had to laugh.

[Jean in Wisc]

I tried searching the boards, because I remember this being discussed before. But I couldn't muster up the right words to search, apparently.

 

We've been tanking in history & literature, partly because of unforeseen family emergencies, and partly because my son needs much more structure than I've given him. I'm trying to plot out his reading for the rest of the year, with very definite assignments (instead of the vague, "read this book next"). We're using the Human Odyssey and finishing up LL Medieval British Lit. I'd like to get through Unit 3 of HO, and am trying to pare down an over-ambitious reading list for that period (1550ish - 1850). As I was plodding through this, I realized it would be helpful to have a figure in mind "x number of pages" to help me prioritize.

 

Any thoughts? My son is in 11th grade, and a strong reader, if that information is pertinent. Thanks!

 

I like to sit down and read through the book for a while and see how many pages in an hour I can read in a given amount of time. Then I assign something under that amount. Many times, the harder lit comes out to be 20 to maybe 25 pages/day; 100 to 125 pages/week. The easier lit can go up to 40, maybe 50 pages per day--you know, the simpler stuff that is below their reading level but is still worth reading. It depends also on whether the child is suppose to take notes or answer questions--that may take them down to half that amount.

 

Jean

[gardenschooler]

I've gone to even further extremes. I've assigned only 10 pages in one day of what I consider the very tough literature (mostly the Medieval from TOG rhetoric level), at the most, 15. But for easier reading (something from the dialectic choices from TOG or TWTM), I also assign around 50-75 pages/day. This has worked out well for us - dd14 is reading a lot of the 'good books', but the literature that we are studying in depth for the first time is being taken in and absorbed, slowly.