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Lit. (overall reading) expectation for a slow reading 9th grader
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My up and coming 9th grader is not a strong reader. He enjoys reading, or at least enjoys the book selections, and gives good oral narrations (written are getting better, as well). It just takes him a long time to get through a book…I know the goal isn’t just to “get through” a book and 1-2 good quality lit. books is probably better than 5 twaddle-y books, but it’s making me a bit nervous for highschool. As of right now, the books that are assigned 1 x a week with some form of narration, is fine, but the literature books are a different story.
I’d like to know what I should expect, what I should assign, and how to show him how he will get it all done, without completely overwhelming him and causing him to hate the process.
I’d like to give him a list of lit books to read throughout the year (we usually choose the next as he finishes the current one) but give him a goal for them. I’m thinking 1-2 per term, depending on the subject/length of the book, is that too much, not enough?? I know it is our decision but I would like to challenge him, but not overwhelm. I plan to include audio books of one or two of them that he did not want to use this last year (although he enjoys them, he declined).
He will also have books assigned for:
history
logic
personal development
along w/ text for science, health, foreign lang., etc.
I’m in the same place with DD15. She enjoys reading for the most part, but she takes a long time to get through a book. I recall when she was reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, someone suggested using an audio book for that because it there might be added difficulty due to the dialect of the characters’ conversations.
I think that is part of the problem for him, the more difficult words and dialect of the characters. He seems to have problems getting a rhythm going, he does have some sort of processing issues going on between his eyes/mouth, even though he has never been formally diagnosed. And, I could be completely wrong and nothing is really “wrong” with him, it’s just simply how he reads.
I will incorporate more audios, as he does well with when I read aloud, but I still want him to read most of it himself…maybe I’ll do every other book. Hmmm….thinking, thinking.
Thanks for letting me think this through; maybe someone will have advice for both of us
.I’m okay with subjects like history only being read twice or thrice a week, maybe with one narration per week, but I really want literature to be four days per week. (Actually, I’d personally like to see literature five days a week, but I fear we’d neglect other subjects.) I suppose I just want her to love reading for pleasure as much as I do.
I thought I had read somewhere that Charlotte Mason herself did not require narrations for literature books. Is that true? Was that for all grade levels, or did she require them as children got older?
@my3boys, I think perhaps giving your son two or three of the literature books you’ve chosen, letting him read a chapter from each and then having him decide which one he prefers might help. Assuming you are a faster reader than him, you could read a chapter yourself to see how long it takes you and then have him read the same chapter to see how much longer it takes. If you’re sure he’s not distracted and hasn’t dawdled, figure out how much he should read per day based on that.
I would not schedule a certain number of books until you see how long it takes him for the first one. Then you can choose whether to schedule 1 or 2 per term. As you said, it would be better for him to read even just one longer, quality piece of literature than to read 5 that are “dumbed down.”
I was going to suggest a daily reading time from his literature book. That’s what we do for all my readers. Right now it is a mandatory 30 minutes reading their lit book for my 7, 8, and 11yo. The 11yo loves reading so she usually blows through books, the 8yo struggles.
I’m not keen on the idea of just reading a book once a week, though I know that is how Charlotte did many. If I have a child going too fast through a ‘school’ book I will limit them to 1 chapter a day sometimes. But one per week would drag things out insanely long. I wouldn’t want to read a book that slowly myself, so I would be less than enthusiastic stuck reading from it every time it came up.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’m going to try them out asap.
I already have him read for a certain amount of time for both lit and history, usually 30 minutes each, everyday. How far he gets in 30 minutes, I do not know, yet, but I will find out
, that will be helpful. @Tristan, the only books he reads from 1 x week are Personal Dev., Uncle Eric books and a Science reader. One has exactly 36 chapters and I meant for it to be used all year long, the science one is to give him a break from Gen. science, and because he’s not a naturalist by nature, I wanted to incorporate a living science book into his schedule once a week. The Uncle Eric books are great, but I used them as an intro to economics which he doesn’t actually need for awhile but I didn’t want to miss these books or overwhelm him. (Some students have already read them all in jr. high, but we are behind the 8 ball!)
Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
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, that will be helpful. 
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