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If you have several older kids, do u pre read all thier narrated books?
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I may be making too much of this issue. Sometimes I panic for no reason. 🙂 We started school a few weeks ago, and it has become challenging for me to keep up with all the independent reads my two oldest (11 and 13) are doing. I thought of a few ways to handle this:
A. Combine more subjects so there is less for me to pre-read.
B. Buy my own copies of the material and just highlight main points or take notes in a notebook.
C. Plan for my kids to not narrate the assigned literature and trust my kids to not skip chapters and to not read ahead.
D. Figure out some way to read all their books.
I would love to know how others handle this – especially those with larger families!
I preread school books. So if I’ve assigned it for a child to read for history/literature/science/school then I preread it, even if that means I’m reading just a few chapters ahead of them. However, for fun reads I only preread if they might be questionable. So, for example, right now I’m reading a few chapters ahead of my 9th grader in Unbroken, but a few other books on her list this year I’ve read already so I won’t reread unless I have time (to be fresh for discussions).
Do I feel like you have to preread if you want to listen to narrations? No. You can tell from their narrations if they are understanding the book well enough to share it with you. But I do think that as they get older there are more times when socratic discussion (not just narration) is important to do with a child and to do that you really need to have read the book. (In that instance I will have the child narrate along the way as they read but then we set a date and time for a special book discussion once they’ve finished reading the whole book.)
Also, remember, that it becomes cumulative. Yes, I have a lot of reading to do to keep ahead of my older ones now, but by the time my 6th, 8th, or 9th child has become the ‘older one’ I will have likely read nearly every book I might choose to assign them. There will be a tipping point a few children in where I’ve read all the books I assigned to my first few children and so when the rest of the children read them I won’t need to pre-read those books again. I’ll just have any new books that none of the other children ever read to pre-read. 😉
I try to do a large portion of my pre-reading during the summer or on any breaks we take. It doesn’t always happen, of course, and then I try to just stay a few chapters ahead.
Thanks Tristan! Great tips! I had not thought about several of those things – especially the fact that my efforts will soon pay off for my younger ones coming up! That is very encouraging.
I do not pre-read everything. I do pre-read or read at the same time certain books for discussion, but there are several that the kids manage on their own. Ideally, I would like to have read everything, but realistically I have four kids to teach and many other responsibilities and I cannot get to them all. I do the best I can, but do not stress if I don’t get to them all. My kids do narrate them, however.
I pre-read some and not others. If I’m at all uncertain as to the content I pre-read whether it’s school, literature, or free read. You really can tell from their narrations if they are understanding the book! Of the books I do read (and I really try to read as many as I can) we sometimes narrate and sometimes have socratic discussions and sometimes just talk about them for fun. I lump my 14 and 15 year old together for reading lists, but not my 11-year-old. He’s not there academically or emotionally to read some of the books they read.
Sometimes, if I know the book is okay from other parents reviews and recommendations, I read it after them. I have them narrate or discuss and I let them see that their enthusiasm for the book made me want to pick it up.
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