Guidelines for 9th Grade Reading Amounts (Content Subjects)

[Bev]

Is there a handy chart or guidelines somewhere for assigning reading amounts in a content subject for a 9th grader? I'd like to know what the average amount per term is or how many pages per year or something. I want to start in the middle of the average and adjust up or down after I see how my kid does. This is my first high schooler.

Specifically, I'm looking at history but guidelines for other subjects would be welcome. We are doing 1900 CE to the current day. I have portions of three books I'd like to assign, one is a comprehensive world history, one is a comprehensive U.S. history, and one is a collection of speeches and primary documents. Altogether (and not including OTHER work in history such as writing, timelining, documentaries, or the field trips I've planned) the total load would be about 841 pages over the year, and the weekly average is about 28 pages (scheduled over 30 weeks because I'd still like to add in a couple of biographies). Thinking about the reading my kid did last year, he covered about that same amount last year, but these books are quite a bit meatier. He took about two hours a week to read history last year aside from check-ins with me. I'm guessing this year will take a bit longer though. He'll be reading about 900 pages in literature but some of the readings are a little easier. Science plus geography will work out to just about 750 pages. And I'm still fuzzy on the whole credit hour issue to figure out if I'm assigning him the number of things that qualify. If I'm going on the general guideline that ~150 hours is a course then about half of that should be reading, with other stuff making up the other half. So that would be about 2.5 hours of reading a week to make 75 hours (or half the course).

Is this too much reading, too little, just right? I'm not sure. Am I thinking clearly about this?

[Lori D.]

Welcome to homeschooling high school! 😄

While it seems like a chart would be a great idea, it's just not possible. Every student, every book, and even the goal for every subject is uniquely individual. 😉 

I always had a tendency to plan for too much material, so in advance of the new school year, I would go through the booklist, and even the chapters in textbooks and put an asterisk next to a few things that we could drop if needed. That way, I wasn't overloading my students--or trying to race through material just to be able to finish and check off everything on the list. It was more important to me that we had time to really absorb, think about, and discuss material, and if that meant dropping a few things... well, NO one can realistically get through it all. That is what the rest of our students' adult lives are for -- keep learning! 😉

re: tracking hours and counting pages
That's helpful for making sure you're doing enough -- but not overdoing -- for a credit, especially if you're not doing a standard high school textbook or program. But it's also okay to adjust your expectations if a book is easier or harder than expected. Again, that's where having marked a few things for yourself in advance helps you adjust as needed.
 

As a side note: 
I'm noticing in your signature that your 9th grader will be covering Medieval Lit. Depending on what you are reading, be prepared for that to take longer than Modern Lit., as some works will be in translation, and some will be in verse format -- examples: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Canterbury Tales. And all Medieval works are going to be coming out of a time/culture that is very very foreign to our culture and mindset of contemporary time/place, so that takes extra time to research and understand the background of the author/work, in order to be able to think about it and discuss it. All that to say, I would take that in to consideration and allow for more time / fewer pages (however it is you assign reading) for Medieval literature.

All that to say: you've done some great prep work in thinking about your schedule and what is realistic for your student. I think you will be fine. And, welcome to both you and your student to homeschooling 9th grade -- have a SUPER year! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Lori D.