how much time do you set aside for read alouds?

[babygemma]

with multiple kids with different interest level? my 7 yo ds LOVES to read and often he reads independently and there isn't time left for me or his dad to read aloud to him and he does get upset.

[Ohdanigirl]

I began reading to my dc as babies. We have always done read aloud before bed, and now that they have gotten older they make sure to remind us. Also there are three adults in the house. (myself, DH, and 18 yr old BIL) so we each have a book of our own. I assigned them since they are home at the moment and they each pick a time of day to read.

 

After eating is a great time to read. Just today dh was reading Where The Side Walk Ends at the table to the kids. This isn't his read aloud book, but ds4.5 loves hearing it. If you have a hard time keeping up with read aloud, I would suggest doing it in the morning after breakfast. It's a nice way to start the day. I try to get my kiddies to read to me as well, ds8 really enjoys this. I had a hard time getting everyone on board at first, but now it seems to get done and is fun for the family. When we are really busy though, I also have books on tape. To answer the question on time, at least 15 min a day. When all is as planned about 1hour. Also, my children are dif ages as well. Right now we are doing James And The Giant Peach, The Reluctant Dragon, The Trumpet Of The Swan, and (w/the older dc Rail Way Children. My youngets dc listens in a bit when we do some older books, but is free to walk away or play with his tangrams, board books or something else that is quiet.

 

Hope this helps.

[MamaT]

I try to read to them while they are eating lunch. If that doesn't happen, then right after lunch. We read for about 30 minutes. My 15yo is too busy with his own independent work to join us, but I read to the other three.

[Amber in AUS]

I struggle with this one too! I do read to them mostly at bedtime or after lunch but i never feel like i fulfill their need/want of me reading to them.

[Mom0012]

I read to my kids while they are eating breakfast, but I only have 2 children and I don't have any babies or toddlers.

 

Lisa

[Chris in VA]

I only have one who listens, so ymmv, but I've found the amt of time we spend varies with the book--if it's really interesting, we will read to the exclusion of other things, often 2-2.5 hours a day. Keep in mind I'm not schooling right now--dd is in gone for school from 8-3:30, and we have multiple evening obligations. That said, we would rather read aloud a great book than watch TV, play games, or...do the dishes and laundry! :D

We just finished Peter And The Starcatchers in about 10 days (sometimes 2 or 3 sessions a day) of reading aloud--it's 451 pages.

OTOH, some books are so hard to get thru. We tried THe Westing Game for 3 weeks, and didn't even finish. It was a terrible read aloud for us, and it's less than 200 pages, I think.

 

Generally tho, I'd set aside at least 45 minutes, broken up if need be.

[daybreaking]

We try to read aloud to each child for 2 hours a day. Some of that time is individual and some of it is joint. Basically, we've interweaved our read aloud time throughout the day, so part of our day is the traditional "reading, writing and arithmetic" textbook-type learning and part is our read aloud time. Here's our current schedule of read alouds (which tends to be revised often, in my attempt to find the "perfect" schedule! :tongue_smilie:)

My two year old gets up early, so my husband reads aloud to her for about 1/2 hour before he goes to work. After breakfast, I've scheduled an hour and a half "morning gathering" time, during which we do educational activities, part of which involve my reading aloud an assortment of books to both children. Later, while my son is doing independent homeschooling, I do activities with my daughter, a 1/2 hour of which is reading to her. After lunch, my son takes a quiet time for an hour and listens to books on tape. In the afternoon, when the children rise from their nap/quiet time, we have "teatime," where I read aloud for another 1/2 hour. Before dinner, we have an "afternoon chore time" (i.e., clean up time), where I also try to read aloud to both children. In the evening, we have two 1/2 hour blocks scheduled; the first block is family devotions, where my husband reads from the Bible and a devotional book and the second block is where I read "living books" to our son, while my husband reads to our daughter. Lastly, before bed, my husband reads a 1/2 hour to our son. It sounds like a lot, but the children love books so much, they just can't get enough! :)

[Ellie]

I read aloud to my dc right after lunch, one chapter a day from a good book, every day. After that they were on their own. :-)

[hferguson10]

We usually read in the evenings and I choose a book that will appeal to the greatest chunk of the masses - ds13, ds11, dd11, ds10, ds9. We just finished The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, and my husband had started Swiss Family Robinson a bit ago, so he wrapped that up, so now I have begun At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald. Not everyone likes every book, but they all tend to like the time and it helps to do it all together. Every once in a while I will read a book with my daughter, since she is all alone in a house full of boys and she is the girliest girl ever created. But it is hard to find the time to do both, so most of the time I just try to make sure the book would be appealing to all - fairy tales actually tend to work the best.

 

Our read-aloud time has become one of our favorite times together.

[KAM]

We spread it throughout the day, we do about 2-3 15 minute sessions throughout the morning, usually 1 lit, 1 history, 1 science or something else for the 8 & 6 year old. I read to my 4 yo for 45 min. at the end of lesson time while my oldest is finishing up, and we do a family read aloud over lunch. Then everyone has a book at bedtime that we read to them from. So probably I spend at least 2 hours per day reading to someone!

[Ashkraw]

I read to my kids in the morning during and after breakfast. However, my kids are 4th and 6th graders. I read a chapter a day, sometimes two from a book that follows our history curriculum. Ex: right now I am reading the biography of Martin Luther. My kids also read to themselves an hour everynight before bed. :)

[Laurel]

45 minutes to an hour, on a good day. I would like to incorporate more, and am working on it slowly.

 

We read every day for half an hour after lunch and before quiet time. Lately I've been starting a bit earlier, while they are finishing up their lunch after I've eaten, I can usually get a chapter in.

 

I'm trying to create a routine for reading aloud in the afternoons as well. After afternoon outside play, and clean-up time, we may read for 15 minutes or so.

 

I try to take every opportunity to read aloud to them as well. For example, we brought books with us to the dentist's office this afternoon, and read a chapter there.