Ending point for read alouds?

No way!  We’ll continue read alouds until the children are adults and then invite them to bring the grandchildren over to read to.  I remember my grandmother reading aloud to my family when we drove from Ohio to Edmonton Alberta Canada in my early teens.  Even today my sister and I discuss books together via phone or internet and sometimes read the same book aloud to our children so the cousins that are separated by many states can talk and email about the same shared books.

I really think that what they are refering to is the children’s assignments. We should not continue to read them as they become fluent readers because they learn to rely on that – and then the burden of learning is on you, instead of the child. 

I hated reliquishing some of the readings, but the more I do, the better school life is for me with both my older set and my younger set. It gives my older set some independence and gives me time to focus more directly with my little ones. 

I plan to continue reading aloud one literature book together that no matter how old we get – like Becca and Tristan, it is a shared link and memory for all of our family!

I think the SCM history modules are the perfect way to transition the 4th graders and up to a more independent learning style.  I read aloud the spine (unless if I run out of time, then the 4th grader (oldest) reads it on her own); I read aloud the 1st – 3rd grade book; and the 4th grader reads the 4th-6th grade book on her own. 

I think it will seem natural to do science the same way in the future – actually, even now, I sometimes require the 4th grader to read a supplementary living book on her own for science. (We’re using AiG God’s Design.)

But the family read aloud will stay forever!

We have a compromise right now. Both my boys are10 but the youngest of them was adopted from China four years ago. He’s working on building fluency with easy chapter books. If I have a book on the topic we’re studying that he can both decode well and narrate to me, we’ll do that but honestly, most of his school work is read by me at this point. So we usually have a book I’m reading aloud and I may give my other 10yo one that he reads independently, maybe a biography or historical fiction.

When my 23yo was up and coming we did much the same. I would be reading one aloud and he would have his own to read. I confess to reading to him more than I should have. When he was a freshman in college, his little brother was in first grade. I asked him what he wished I had done differently. He said I should have made him more independent. Of course that would have meant missing out on some great books! 🙂 But it would have better equipped him. So I’m trying to move the boys into reading more on their own.

And, like the others, we ALWAYS have a family read-aloud going in the evenings with dad.

My children have never thought of family reading as school reading. It’s just something we do together around meals and during cozy times throughout the day (all ages included). Like many of you here, we don’t watch TV apart from documentaries, so read alouds and audiobooks are our main entertainment. Yes, I categorize our read alouds as school lessons (family Bible, history, science, literature, poetry, picture/composer studies, etc) and use the SCM organizer to document it as such…But, Sh! Please don’t tell my children that it’s for school. Even my sixteen year old daughter has to listen to MOST books I read aloud. So, I hitch reading to meals and natural family gatherings. My younger children have more time with me reading their “school” books aloud while my older ones read for hours independently. All I need now is some more personal reading time for just l’il ol’ me.

Happy reading!