Do you plan too many books or is it just me?

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  • January 16, 2012 at 7:16 pm
    ebcsmom
    Participant

    I am starting to think I am very quilty of planning too many books for  each semester. How many books in general in history do  you plan for your child to read? For example I have a daughter that is in 9 in 4th grade and a son that is 7 in the 2nd grade, we are currently doing 1600-1700 time period using the book list from here and another little american history book I have. However, I have several books on her reading list for this semester. I am having a hard time choosing “which” books to let her read. For example, in read alouds right now we are reading “The Landing of the Pilgrims” by James Daughtery, we are also reading “The Mayflower Secret” a trailblazer missionary story(we do missionary studies as well),and “The Childrens Light and the Glory”. All of these books have similar stories, 2 are fiction and one is not.  Do you choose one book about that time period and read or is it ok to read these three books? We may read one thing in a book, and the other book tell it different. Have any of your encountered this in your readers/read alouds?  My daughter has read Benjamin Franklin Landmark Biography, and I have her scheduled to read another Benjamin Franklin book as well, should she read two or just pick one? I am having a hard time deciding if its ok to read these different books about the same event? What do you suggest? Am I confusing enough? I am sorry if I am being too confusing I will try to explain better if I need too. Thanks!

    Joy

    January 17, 2012 at 4:06 pm
    ebcsmom
    Participant

    bump Embarassed

    January 17, 2012 at 4:21 pm
    MelissaB
    Participant

    I understand what you’re asking, but am not sure the answer and it probably depends upon the situation and how keen the child is about what you’re studying.  For example, we read aloud several books on John Audubon when we studied him earlier this year.  One was probably enough, but I had found a few so we read them all.  The kids enjoyed learning about John Audubon so I think it was fine reading several.

    I haven’t encountered any conflicting info (yet) when we’ve been reading so I’m not sure what the answer is to that.  Possibly do a little more research to see if one is inaccurate.  Perhaps you’ve read different things be they are all true, one book might have left out something and the other did not.

    Hope this helps you.  We just started hs’ing last school year and this is our first year using CM so I’m still working my way through and trying to implement everything properly.  The bottom line is you should probably do what is best for your children and if they like the subject, they’ll crave more books, but if they find the subject uninteresting , you’ll probably want to limit the amount of books they have to read.

    Hope this helps you.  Not sure I have the “right” answers, but that is my 2 cents on the topic.

    Melissa

    January 17, 2012 at 5:47 pm
    Wings2fly
    Participant

    My answer for number of books is also “It depends on the child”. If your son likes cowboys and Indians, I’m sure he could read books on the topic outside of school time as well. I hope someone else answers here. I can’t remember which post I read it on, but one mom on our forum put a selection of readers in a book basket for nightly reading. Her son could choose which book out of 4 or 5, I think. This was in addition to reading for school. I am planning to try this. Certainly there is minimum number of books you’ll need to assign, but additional books could be made optional with some children, it depends on the child. Teach to the child, not the curriculum.

    As far as histoy goes, you’ll find a lot of versions of how it was. For that matter, you may find issues in science as well depending on the author’s beliefs. The biggest example here is evolution versus Creation or Intelligent Design. Many differences in history come from differences in perspective of the author. Ben Franklin has an autobiography. I haven’t read it, but it may be too difficult for your dd. You could turn these differences into an assignment for her to think about why those differences exist and do some more research at the library or on the Internet to explain which one she thinks is right and why, either oral or written, whichever you think she is ready for.

    Well, that’s my 2 cents, too.

    January 17, 2012 at 7:38 pm
    simple home
    Member

    I know exactly what you’re speaking of. It really does depend on your child. If they are wanting more, then give it is my opinion. But keep in mind that more is not necessarily better though. CM speaks of allowing time for the child to mull over their readings and letting ideas to process. Some kids need this, and I’m sure there are other children that gobble up info quickly and need further resources.

    Does this help?

    January 17, 2012 at 9:13 pm
    chocodog
    Participant

    Yes, it really depends on the child and the subject. My son could read a ton of dinasaur books. I have found that if he is interested in a subject he would read it no matter what.  My other son on the other hand if he has read a book about a subject he feels like an expert. He doesn’t want to repeat extra material. He already has gone over that. They both love reading books. They can’t get enough. However, they are totally different when it comes to this area. So, if you can get her interested then I say go for it. If she seems reluctant you might add a comment like. ” See if you can find some more information that you never knew. Different books tell different information.” Maybe you can find it and do a lapbook with all the info.   Just an idea! hope it helps…. 🙂

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