How much reading?

[Elizabeth86]

I've asked before for whatever grade we were doing at a the time, but I kind of want a guide to have in mind for each grade.  I'll ultimately decide what works of course, but I was just curious what this looks like in your homeschool.

[HomeAgain]

I'm not sure what the exact question is. Do you mean reading across the curriculum, or reading as a subject, or independent-ish reading where a time is set aside for that?

[Elizabeth86]

20 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

I'm not sure what the exact question is. Do you mean reading across the curriculum, or reading as a subject, or independent-ish reading where a time is set aside for that?

I don't use any sort of reading curriculum.  Just give the boys books, sometimes it's history or science books related to what we are learning and sometimes it's mp booklist books or mensa book list books, sometimes it's book they have picked out.  They are currently reading 25 minutes per day. That's all the reading I assign.  So, I'm not really sure how to answer your question either.  I guess, how much total reading time should they spend per grade level.  You can break it down how you do it and that would be fine.  You could say they spend x amount of time reading on their own, another amount of time working on reading as a subject.

[HomeAgain]

In that case...

K-3rd.  Most subjects are me reading aloud if there is a reading portion. I don't assign much reading.  We started using the Elson Readers with this kid in 2nd, and he loves them.  For those, I assign a portion (a short story, a "chapter" of the story, or a poem) and we discuss it.  2nd grade is when the libraries begin book clubs, too, so those are mandatory reading.  For the rest, we go to the library weekly, pick out a stack, and some end up in the car, some in the living room, and some in his bedroom.  I don't assign these.  They're just "read if you want", but since bedtime is an hour earlier than lights out time, he spends a good hour in his room reading.

4th-6th.  This is where we are now.  I start bringing in novel studies, about 1 a year with in depth work.  He is responsible for reading assigned literature books that go with his English curriculum. We still use the Elson Readers as well, and there is more "reading to learn" across the curriculum.  He reads all his own schoolwork, learns how to take notes, learns how to decide what information he needs.  It's the end of the school year right now (5th grade, we have 4 weeks left).  I just looked at his work for this week and there is quite a bit of reading.  Here's today's assignments:

1 chapter in history

2 chapters in Around The World in 180 Days (and discussion)

1 section from his Elson Reader

1 chapter in science

He has already finished these today, btw, and chose to read more to put off his written work:

3 pages of grammar

2 pages of French

1 exercise in Latin

2 exercises in Greek

Final draft of his writing assignment from last week.

He'll do about half that after lunch and put off the rest until tomorrow when he doesn't want to go out to play.  It's why I gave him a weekly schedule.  He can pick and choose as long as he gets at least X number of assignments done each day.

Tonight he'll read for another hour, altogether reading for about 3-4 hours today.

 

Next year is 6th.  I have about 8 historical fiction books I want him to read, plus a few non fiction, the Elson Reader, and 2 textbooks. There is no more book club for his age group.  He'll do more independent work with daily check-ins before and after, though some subjects will be still parent intensive.  And lights out time will move back half an hour but bedtime will stay the same, giving him an hour and a half to read at night.  He will be entering 7th grade after that at the public school.

[lulalu]

Learning to read phase- we did a half hour tops together. This included the easy reader books. 

Beginning reader stage was half hour together reading books over and over. 

Independent reader started at a half hour and has moved up to an hour as stamina increased. Free reading I don't time. For this stage once or twice a week I have required reading aloud so I can catch things and improve the reading aloud skill. With independent reading I usually require one oral narration a week. And we discuss. I try to include a wide variety of subjects, and types of writing. 

The pandemic lockdowns really increased ds' stamina for free reading. So depending on the book he is currently reading during his free time, he spends a lot of his afternoon reading. 

I read aloud still for history, a novel, and some geography or science. These I require an oral narrations from. 

 

Next year for 4th grade I plan to have ds do more reading across the subjects. And then I plan to not time or give chapters for reading each day, but have ds do the planning of how long he thinks it will take him to read through a novel. And I plan to transition to written narrations of his reading. 

[LauraClark]

Ds9's assigned reading time is around 30 min (usually 1 chapter of whatever we're reading) but he spends a lot of time reading on his own.

Ds7's assigned reading time is probably 15 min of he reads a sentence, I read a sentence. Then he follows along while I finish the chapter. He's wiggly and I don't want to push the time longer at this age (plus I often need a nap after listening to him sound out every word-ha!).

We might do other reading things in other subjects, but this is what I classify as our reading subject.

[wendyroo]

I don't assign a ton of reading, but that is partly because my kids do a lot of free reading.

K and 1st:
Starting at 10 and building up to ~20 minutes of daily reading with me.
Plus 15-30 minutes "looking" at books each day which gradually evolves into more skimming/reading as they are able.
Plus ~2 hours daily of listening to me read aloud and/or audiobooks.

2nd and 3rd:
About 10 minutes of daily reading aloud to me until they finish Wise Owl Polysyllables...then this transitions into reading Spanish aloud to me.
15-20 minutes of daily independent reading from their book bin (a curated collection of appropriate fiction and non-fiction choices).
1-2 hours of daily free reading.
Plus ~2 hours daily of listening to me read aloud and/or audiobooks.

4th and 5th: 
20-30 minutes of daily independent reading from their book bin.
15ish minutes reading Spanish picture books twice a week.
1-2 hours of daily free reading.
Plus ~2 hours daily of listening to me read aloud and/or audiobooks.

6th and 7th (this is where my oldest is now): 
30-40 minutes of daily independent reading from their book bin.
30ish minutes reading Spanish literature three times a week.
About an hour a week reading assigned history books.
About an hour a week reading assigned science books.
2+ hours of daily free reading.
Plus ~2 hours daily of listening to me read aloud and/or audiobooks.
*I am strongly considering adding Mosdos Gold to my 7th grader's schedule next year, but otherwise haven't yet used a literature curriculum.

[Not_a_Number]

I don't assign reading. Anything I expect them to do for school, I read aloud to them, but otherwise, it's all free reading. 

Both DD8 and DD5 read for hours a day and think of reading as something fun to do. They do not think of reading as schoolwork. It was really important for me for them to feel that way, so I'm very happy about that. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Lori D.]

We did 3 types of reading each day. High school is so different, I'm not including it. Very roughly I would estimate we did:

literature, daily - done as read aloud together buddy-style (you read a page, I read a page):
gr. 1 = 5-10 minutes
gr. 2 = 10-15 minutes
gr. 3 = 15 minutes
gr. 4 = 20 minutes
gr. 5-6 = 25 minutes
gr. 7-8 = 30-35 minutes (plus discussion time)

solo reading, 3-5x/week, from book basket choices, or subject content material:
gr. 1 = 5-10 minutes -- or, read 1 "stepped reader" book at student's level
gr. 2 = 10-15 minutes -- or, read 1 "stepped reader" book at student's level
gr. 3 = 15 minutes -- or, read a chapter or two from gentle chapter book at student's level
gr. 4 = 20 minutes -- or, read a chapter from a "stouter" chapter book
gr. 5-6 = 25 minutes -- or, read so many pages, or a section, as appropriate
gr. 7-8 = 30-35 minutes -- or, read so many pages, or a section, as appropriate

read-alouds, daily, family books + subject content 
baby to gr. 4 = I'd guess 2-3 hours a day
gr. 5-8 = I'd guess 1-2 hours a day

DSs were not big readers on their own -- too interested in outdoor activities, imaginative play, lego-ing, etc. -- but they did enjoy nightly looking at books in bed with the light on as bonus time. 😉

[eternallytired]

Funny, I was just blogging about this (link in sig, if you're curious).  I've been pretty informal with reading/literature, since it was important to me that I not ruin the joy of reading by making it "work."  Once my kids learned how to read (which all of them did on their own, conveniently), they were allowed 15 (gradually increased to 30) minutes to read independently before bed every evening, and they could choose what to read.  We had no formal reading/literature time assigned, and I would read aloud pretty much all of our schoolwork because we were all doing it together. 

This is actually the first year I'm assigning any reading, and I'm still going light.  We have a weekly Family Book Club as a new element of our Fun Fridays.  Each week I assign 60ish pages (depending on text size/formatting) of a novel, and on Fridays we discuss what we've read--no required output yet other than thoughtful discussion.  This year my kids were 6th, 5th, and 3rd by age.  I wasn't sure what they'd think about having assigned reading to complete for the first time, but they really enjoy our book club meetings and asked if I could find more books for them to read once we finished my list for this year.

Other than that, I read aloud daily for 20-30 minutes from a novel (and have since they were little), and they do some reading as part of their schoolwork, but we're still doing a lot of that together.  I always keep interesting library books strewn about the house, and they often pick those up to read, as well as reading their own book choices in their free time.  That's it for us!

[madteaparty]

On 5/2/2021 at 10:08 AM, HomeAgain said:

In that case...

K-3rd.  Most subjects are me reading aloud if there is a reading portion. I don't assign much reading.  We started using the Elson Readers with this kid in 2nd, and he loves them.  For those, I assign a portion (a short story, a "chapter" of the story, or a poem) and we discuss it.  2nd grade is when the libraries begin book clubs, too, so those are mandatory reading.  For the rest, we go to the library weekly, pick out a stack, and some end up in the car, some in the living room, and some in his bedroom.  I don't assign these.  They're just "read if you want", but since bedtime is an hour earlier than lights out time, he spends a good hour in his room reading.

4th-6th.  This is where we are now.  I start bringing in novel studies, about 1 a year with in depth work.  He is responsible for reading assigned literature books that go with his English curriculum. We still use the Elson Readers as well, and there is more "reading to learn" across the curriculum.  He reads all his own schoolwork, learns how to take notes, learns how to decide what information he needs.  It's the end of the school year right now (5th grade, we have 4 weeks left).  I just looked at his work for this week and there is quite a bit of reading.  Here's today's assignments:

1 chapter in history

2 chapters in Around The World in 180 Days (and discussion)

1 section from his Elson Reader

1 chapter in science

He has already finished these today, btw, and chose to read more to put off his written work:

3 pages of grammar

2 pages of French

1 exercise in Latin

2 exercises in Greek

Final draft of his writing assignment from last week.

He'll do about half that after lunch and put off the rest until tomorrow when he doesn't want to go out to play.  It's why I gave him a weekly schedule.  He can pick and choose as long as he gets at least X number of assignments done each day.

Tonight he'll read for another hour, altogether reading for about 3-4 hours today.

 

Next year is 6th.  I have about 8 historical fiction books I want him to read, plus a few non fiction, the Elson Reader, and 2 textbooks. There is no more book club for his age group.  He'll do more independent work with daily check-ins before and after, though some subjects will be still parent intensive.  And lights out time will move back half an hour but bedtime will stay the same, giving him an hour and a half to read at night.  He will be entering 7th grade after that at the public school.

Does he read science independently? Is that a textbook? 

[HomeAgain]

6 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

Does he read science independently? Is that a textbook? 

Right now, yes.  He's reading The Story of Science by Joy Hakim.  It matches up with his history book pretty well.  We only have 3.5 weeks of school left for the year and we're taking it light.

For most of the year he used textbook/workbook combos, and we were establishing an 8 day pattern with:
1. Read and highlight important information
2. Create an outline from the reading the day before
3. Oral summary
4. Written summary
5. Comprehension check page (last day of the section)
and activities and exercises to supplement the written text activities above.  I want him to be able to establish a habit of preparing for the actual lesson, which is designed to build on and enhance written text.
 

[madteaparty]

3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Right now, yes.  He's reading The Story of Science by Joy Hakim.  It matches up with his history book pretty well.  We only have 3.5 weeks of school left for the year and we're taking it light.

For most of the year he used textbook/workbook combos, and we were establishing an 8 day pattern with:
1. Read and highlight important information
2. Create an outline from the reading the day before
3. Oral summary
4. Written summary
5. Comprehension check page (last day of the section)
and activities and exercises to supplement the written text activities above.  I want him to be able to establish a habit of preparing for the actual lesson, which is designed to build on and enhance written text.
 

Thank you. I also have this book, and decided I could not handle one more read aloud at the end of the school year. We are reading another textbook instead but zero output.  We are sort of done, now. . But may I ask, because I’m looking to do story of science  next year, along with SOTW2, what workbook you used? 

[HomeAgain]

5 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

Thank you. I also have this book, and decided I could not handle one more read aloud at the end of the school year. We are reading another textbook instead but zero output.  We are sort of done, now. . But may I ask, because I’m looking to do story of science  next year, along with SOTW2, what workbook you used? 

We were doing Ellen McHenry for most of the year.  Occasionally I'd bring in the Potentially Catastrophic Science book.  It's a book of science experiments and stories in chronological order.  Not quite as nice as Thames & Kosmos' Milestones in Science kit that they discontinued, but it's handy.

Next year we're doing Story of Science still along with medieval history.  I'm considering getting the Student Quest guide that goes with Newton At The Center (we're starting the year with ch. 22 of Aristotle Leads The Way, so I have time to make up my mind), but I'm not sure.  I haven't seen many reviews of it.

DS wants to do a general science year, but heavy in chemistry again.  So.........we're slowly figuring out what that might look like.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

My DS was an early reader, but struggled with tracking & convergence insufficiency early on. He enjoys it more now that those issues are resolved, but also has ADHD so it can be hard for reading to retain his focus. 

Independent reading as part of lessons has increased each year. During most of K-2 I did not assign any specific books. At the very end of 2nd I assigned one to see how he would react to that & it went well, so I may assign a handful of titles throughout next year (3rd). His assigned time each year has been:
PK/K: 10min or 1 book
1st: 15min or 1 book
2nd: 20min or 1 chapter
3rd: 30min or 1-2 chapters

We buddy-read his math text (Beast Academy) & this year worked on him reading the instruction sections independently as a transition to “reading to learn”. 

In addition to that I read aloud from history, science, & poetry texts during our school days as well as for 30min before bed each night. DS is allowed to stay up an additional 30min reading to himself, but is not required to. He goes through cycles of reading every night (sometimes in the car or throughout the day) & then not reading much for a while. 

Next year, in addition to incorporating more assigned books, I’d really like to start moving towards DS reading silently & writing narrations but he isn’t thrilled with the idea. 😅

Edited May 14, 2021 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[Elizabeth86]

On 5/2/2021 at 11:15 PM, Lori D. said:

We did 3 types of reading each day. High school is so different, I'm not including it. Very roughly I would estimate we did:

literature, daily - done as read aloud together buddy-style (you read a page, I read a page):
gr. 1 = 5-10 minutes
gr. 2 = 10-15 minutes
gr. 3 = 15 minutes
gr. 4 = 20 minutes
gr. 5-6 = 25 minutes
gr. 7-8 = 30-35 minutes (plus discussion time)

solo reading, 3-5x/week, from book basket choices, or subject content material:the 
gr. 1 = 5-10 minutes -- or, read 1 "stepped reader" book at student's level
gr. 2 = 10-15 minutes -- or, read 1 "stepped reader" book at student's level
gr. 3 = 15 minutes -- or, read a chapter or two from gentle chapter book at student's level
gr. 4 = 20 minutes -- or, read a chapter from a "stouter" chapter book
gr. 5-6 = 25 minutes -- or, read so many pages, or a section, as appropriate
gr. 7-8 = 30-35 minutes -- or, read so many pages, or a section, as appropriate

read-alouds, daily, family books + subject content 
baby to gr. 4 = I'd guess 2-3 hours a day
gr. 5-8 = I'd guess 1-2 hours a day

DSs were not big readers on their own -- too interested in outdoor activities, imaginative play, lego-ing, etc. -- but they did enjoy nightly looking at books in bed with the light on as bonus time. 😉

I know this thread is a bit old, but I was referencing it for next year.  I am curious if you focused much on reading level for the different types of reading? For instance, should the literature be above grade level and then the solo reading on grade level, or below.  

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth86 said:

I know this thread is a bit old, but I was referencing it for next year.  I am curious if you focused much on reading level for the different types of reading? For instance, should the literature be above grade level and then the solo reading on grade level, or below.  

I don't think hard-and-fast rules apply here -- every child is unique, so YMMV. 😉 Reading level seems to matter most for elementary-aged children, and mostly below grade 5-6, when children are developing overall reading skills. 

I would guess early reader children have mastered those overall reading skills earlier -- somewhere along grade 3-4 (and earlier for a gifted child). So in general, a book's reading level would likely not matter so much for elementary-aged advanced readers -- other than the *content* or subject/interest level. An advanced 3rd grader may not be ready for (or interested in) books that they can read that are at grade 6-8 level -- for example, The Giver (Lowry).

For the buddy reading, I shoot for the "Goldilocks principle" -- lol. Too many books above reading level can turn reading into a struggle and a chore and kill the enjoyment of reading. Too many books  that are well below reading level can make a student lazy and not want to "work" or "stretch" a bit for the next level of reading. I would shoot for having a "just right" (Goldilocks) balance of some below reading level books to promote confidence, endurance, and enjoyment + lots of at-level books + a few above reading level books for stretching. BUT... that's just what worked for our DSs. 😉 

Our experience, with 1 average developing reader, and 1 late-blooming reader:

For solo reading, esp. in the early elementary grades, I strewed books below and at comfortable reading level. If they wanted to tackle a more advanced book solo, I was happy to support them in that -- I just did not *expect* advanced level books as part of their solo reading. At that level, the goal for solo reading for elementary ages was to provide books that were not a struggle so they could build reading endurance, confidence, and especially enjoyment in reading.

For buddy reading, most of the works tended to be at reading level, with the occasional "stretch" book. We very rarely had a below level book as buddy reading, unless it was more "intense" or "mature" in content so we could discuss together. Most below-level books were part of the solo reading. I found buddy reading to work very well for "stretching" into reading above their level, as when I would read a page, DS could "catch his breath" in a way, and also catch up on the sense of the overall story. In general, when "stretch" reading, children often have to expend so much effort in decoding and figuring out the higher vocabulary that they can't also simultaneously hold the overall sense of the story in their head. Getting a break every other page with the buddy reading break helps with that.

I found that buddy reading really helpful all through middle school and into 9th grade, as DSs were stretching into harder classics. It not only gave them that "break", but buddy reading also allowed us to discuss in the moment -- vocabulary, literary elements at work, discussion topics, etc.

For read alouds, almost all were above reading level. Again, interest and maturity played a big role in book choice.

Enjoy your reading journeys and adventures with your children! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Lori D.

[Elizabeth86]

3 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

I don't think hard-and-fast rules apply here -- every child is unique, so YMMV. 😉 Reading level seems to matter most for elementary-aged children, and mostly below grade 5-6, when children are developing overall reading skills. 

I would expect early reader children to have mastered those overall reading skills earlier -- somewhere along grade 3-4 (and earlier for a gifted child). So in general, a book's reading level would likely not matter so much for elementary-aged advanced readers -- other than the *content* or subject/interest level. An advanced 3rd grader may not be ready for (or interested in) books that they can read that are at grade 6-8 level -- for example, The Giver (Lowry).

I shoot for the "Goldilocks principle" -- lol. Too many books above reading level can turn reading into a struggle and a chore and kill the enjoyment of reading. Too many books  that are well below reading level can make a student lazy and not want to "work" or "stretch" a bit for the next level of reading. Having a "just right" (Goldilocks) balance of some below reading level books to promote confidence, endurance, and enjoyment + at-level books for + a few above reading level books for stretching.

Our experience, with 1 average developing reader, and 1 late-blooming reader:

For solo reading, esp. in the early elementary grades, I strewed books below and at comfortable reading level. If they wanted to tackle a more advanced book solo, I was happy to support them in that -- I just did not *expect* advanced level books as part of their solo reading. At that level, the goal for solo reading for elementary ages was to provide books that were not a struggle so they could build reading endurance, confidence, and especially enjoyment in reading.

For buddy reading, most of the works tended to be at reading level, with the occasional "stretch" book. We very rarely had a below level book as buddy reading, unless it was more "intense" or "mature" in content so we could discuss together. Most below-level books were part of the solo reading. I found buddy reading to work very well for "stretching" into reading above their level, as when I would read a page, DS could "catch his breath" in a way, and also catch up on the sense of the overall story. In general, when "stretch" reading, children often have to expend so much effort in decoding and figuring out the higher vocabulary that they can't also simultaneously hold the overall sense of the story in their head. Getting a break every other page with the buddy reading break helps with that.

I found that buddy reading really helpful all through middle school and into 9th grade, as DSs were stretching into harder classics. It not only gave them that "break", but buddy reading also allowed us to discuss in the moment -- vocabulary, literary elements at work, discussion topics, etc.

Enjoy your reading journeys and adventures with your children! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Great advice. I always appreciate how organized and detailed your replies are! 

[Lori D.]

Happy that helped! 😄 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

On 4/8/2022 at 3:14 PM, Elizabeth86 said:

I am curious if you focused much on reading level for the different types of reading? For instance, should the literature be above grade level and then the solo reading on grade level, or below.  

Our approach is pretty similar to Lori’s.

The books DS has access to during lessons are at or just above his reading level, since I’m there to help him tackle unfamiliar words. I was planning to drop the reading requirement as part of lessons next year, but he just explicitly requested that we keep it, so keep it we shall. 

Until recently his bedtime free reading was at a lower level, but he’s now getting confident enough to wrestle with those independently. Series that gradually become more challenging are excellent for this! 

The literature we read aloud to him is of a higher level than he would choose to read himself; generally by at least one full grade level. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax