Name: Teach Them Diligently (Branson)
Start: 2025-05-15T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Branson, MO

Tagged: reading list

This topic has 13 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by retrofam.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

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May 18, 2014 at 1:32 am
Tristan
Participant
I’m working on choosing a literature list for Makayla for 8th grade. I have the SCM lists and I expect we’ll do some of those. She’s a great reader so I’m considering Watership Down and Great Expectations from the 9th-12 lists but haven’t read them myself yet.

What books are must reads for literature for 8th grade? She’s also a fan of fantasy – do you have any favorites in that realm? (She’s read the Eragon books, DragonSpell series, Harry Potter, Pendragon series, and many more. The only ones I can think of she’s not done yet are Lord of the Rings). All ideas are welcome!
May 18, 2014 at 1:46 am
missceegee
Participant
Definitely LOTR. It’s dd13’s favorite! Dd just finished Oliver Twist & is not thrilled with it. I loved it. Maybe a Jane Austin? I’m working on my list and will post again when my brain turns on. Has she read Animal Farm? That’s a good one. Dd is doing that one next month. I have some narration/discussion questions from HUFI to go with. Hemingway, Hawthorne, Crane are some other author choices.
May 18, 2014 at 3:26 am
sheraz
Participant
I’m not a huge fan of fantasy, except one series by David Eddings called the Belgariad and the sequel series called The Malloreon. LOVED those – there are 10 books in all. I have re-read the whole set about 5 times over the years. 😉
You might consider the Prelude to Glory set about the American Revolution and concludes at the end of the War of 1812. It is set up similar to the Work and the Glory series – where it follows a family through the events. I loved those books too and I learned so much from them.

May 18, 2014 at 5:02 am
Sue
Participant
@Tristan,
How many books do you plan to have her read for literature in 8th grade? DD13 will be in 8th grade next year, but she’s not all that great a reader (sometimes a bit below average for her age), so it often takes her longer to read through a book.
Or maybe I should ask how many pages you plan to have her read? Just wondering….
Sue
May 18, 2014 at 11:34 am
Tristan
Participant
Christie – Yes, Makayla read Animal Farm this year and liked it. Thought it was weird too. I thought about Jane Austen. I’ll have to see if she’s interested in doing LOTR yet.
Sheraz – For some reason I remember not liking the Belgariad, something inappropriate maturity wise maybe? I don’t remember the details, I read it in my teens. We will probably do Prelude to Glory the next time she hits Early American History! It sounds good!
Sue – I don’t have a specific number of books or pages in mind yet. Makayla reads a lot and quickly, so to be honest I could assign her a book a week and she would still manage to read other books around it. I’m NOT doing that though. At the moment I’m thinking of assigning 8-12. Last year I gave her a literature list and she read most of them over the summer. We also will approach her literature list 2 ways. Some I want her to read just because the book is worth reading. Some we will both read and have a discussion of (Teaching the Classics style). I think 1 book per month to month and a half would be fine, or more or less! I’m just really flexible.
I’ll be tackling my 4th grader’s list next and he’s the opposite of Makayla, a very slow reader. His list will be shorter for reading himself, so I’ll be sure to read aloud or have audio books for any more books I would like him to hear/be exposed to for this grade. Then there is my 3rd grader who reads faster than her brother and really enjoys reading, so she’ll have more books. And under them is the 1st grader who has probably read 30 chapter books in the last year and a half. He’s one I have to keep in books but I also have to be sure they’re age/interest appropriate.
It’s always a balancing act to match the child to the book list because of the difference in reading ability, comprehension, and plain old interest!
May 18, 2014 at 12:35 pm
retrofam
Participant
I am a bit confused. Are you talking about an assigned reading list in addition to books during history and science, family lit. read aloud, plus books for personal development, and then a lit. reading list too? How do you fit all of that in?
May 18, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Tristan
Participant
Retrofam- I’ll try to explain. We have books we read aloud or independently for history/geography (next year I’ve created this World Geography and Cultures plan). For science my 8th grader will do Apologia’s Physical Science while younger children will use God’s Design for Science plus library books for reading/exploring. We do a family read aloud book or two at a time (one is for our homeschool book club each month, one could be from the SCM literature list or any other book we want to read together). Then each child who can read has a list of literature for independent reading. These don’t have to be history or science related, they’re just great literature. With 8 children I simply cannot read aloud all the wonderful books I would like to the kids, hence they do some of the reading themselves. I’m not sure what you would choose as ‘books for personal development’? The other main reading done here is scripture (both as a family and individually).
My children’s school day is over by lunch other than reading a bit in quiet time. They have the entire afternoon and evening for handicrafts, time outside, and exploring their own interests, which usually includes more reading.

Does that make sense or help? What ages do you have? I have four children who don’t read on their own yet in addition to the four readers who get literature lists. For these younger children I read books to them, older children may snuggle up and read to them, etc. As they get to the point where they can read independently they will start having an independent literature list to read from as well.
May 18, 2014 at 1:12 pm
missceegee
Participant
I’m not Tristan, but IMO it is important for kids to read their own literature at their individual level and speed. My dd13 spends 4.5 hours a day on school. Sometimes a bit more or less. Dd reads history, science, personal dev, Bible, literature and poetry. This is in addition to other subjects like math, logic, etc. Short lessons and good habits mean a lot is accomplished in a short time. Off the top of my head for lit. dd has read this year:
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
Oliver Twist by Dickens
Northanger Abbey by Austin
Animal Farm by Orwell (next book)
There are a few other lit books that she’s read that escape me right now.
She also read all of module 1 history books and extras
The Cat of Bubastes
Pharaohs a of Ancient Egypt
Tales from Ancient Egypt
Adam and His Kin
Mara, Daughter of the Nile (extra)
The Golden Goblet
Tirzah (extra)
Anything else I left out from the mod 1 list.
She has read lots of free reading books, too.
The Hunger Games
The Shunning
Fever
And several more in the past two weeks.
Now, dd is a strong reader, but not exceptional. I set her assigned list at 1-2 ch per day, one book after another mainly. The exception was Oliver Twist which she read 1-2 ch per week over the whole year. I try to keep my number of books/pages on par with what Charlotte did in her schools.
Christie
May 18, 2014 at 1:36 pm
sheraz
Participant
Tristan, I’ll re-read those soon with my kiddos in mind. Perhaps there is something there that I didn’t catch prior to having kids. 😉

May 18, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Tristan
Participant
Sheraz – let me know! I could totally be wrong, maybe it was a different series. It’s been so long ago!

Christie – great explanation and examples! Thanks!
May 18, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Katrina in AK
Participant
Tristan, I just finished reading The King Raven trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead. A retelling of Robin Hood set in Wales, and really enjoyed it. My boys are too young for it yet.
May 18, 2014 at 7:38 pm
Kristen
Participant
This site has a GREAT book list for each grade. It is listed by grade on the right side of the page. I love using this page as reference for good books.
http://www.perimeterschool.org/our-program/honors-reading-program.cfm

May 18, 2014 at 8:09 pm
crazy4boys
Participant
My 8th graders will be doing Lighting Lit which has them reading Treasure Island, A Day of Pleasure, A Christmas Carol, The Hobbit, My Family and Other Animals, To Kill a Mockingbird, My Family and Other Animals, then some short stories and poems. I’m guessing they will probably also do a quickl literature study of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They’ll also be reading whatever history books go with Module 5 and some science/geography books.
I really enjoyed Great Expectations and it’s mostly appropriate for her age. There is some sad neglect and beatings of a few of the characters; they don’t live happy lives, but it’s not gruesome or over-the-top. Very Dickens-ish! But well worth reading. Austen is amazing and I love her to death. My boys read Emma and weren’t overly impressed. Boys…*heaving a big sigh*

May 18, 2014 at 9:20 pm
retrofam
Participant
Thanks,Tristan, for clarifying. I have from highschool down to Kindy. At first glance this sounded like overkill on the reading, but if I consider that many of these count as a subject, I can see how I could fit most of it in.