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New to CM: How many books are recommended to read each year??
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Hi, I’m new to homeschool and to Charlotte Mason (currently learning and implementing narration and copywork). For now, I’m homeschooling the younger two (8 & 11) of our four children. We have been through a couple of homeschool changes since leaving public school and I finally found something that fits us so comfortably. I feel like we’re at home with CM. I love it! This may sound odd to some, but I feel so much at peace using CM methods in our home. I’m already starting to see results!
I have several questions in reference to the number of books to read each year…I read a post where someone wrote that CM suggested to read one or two books a year. I need clarity on how to implement this? The reason I ask is currently I’m reading a leisure book (“The Boxcar Children”) to help them learn and practice narration, history (“Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille”), and books for their individual reading (“Clara and the Bookwagon” and “The Phantom Tollbooth.”)
With the variety of books we’re reading, I’m not sure how to implement this suggestion or if I need to or should do this? What are the one or two books per year in reference to? Is it for a subject like history, leisure books, or individual books? I am still learning CM methods so I hope what I’m asking make sense. Also, I would like to know am I incorporating the books correctly…are they too many or fine the way it is? Thanks!
Hi and welcome! I don’t think Charlotte Mason focused so much on the number of books as the number of pages. This would make sense, seeing as how books can vary greatly in length. I know that she definitely recommended more than two books a year. It seems like I read something recently where someone mentioned that she recommended 2 literature books a year for very young children. I’m not sure how accurate that is but even if it is true, we have to remember that the majority of books recommended by Charlotte were pretty hefty books.
I know there are web pages at amblesideonline.org that give more detail concerning exactly how many pages she tried to schedule each term and year.
There is a link on this blog post about recommended page numbers: http://wildflowersandmarbles.com/the-paper-stuff/charlotte-mason-classical/
It comes out to quite a bit more than 2 books per year! 😉 I will say my younger DC are way over this amount since many of their books are picture books. A page of a picture book isn’t equivalent to a page of a chapter book. After adding in our family chapter books, they are actually over the amount, but I don’t feel that it’s too much.
We have several books at once going. Each day we usually have a science reading (a few pages or a short chapter), a family history reading, individual history readings (usually 1 chapter or short reading per child), individual literature books (3 chapters per week), and usually at least one poem or short story. We also have some other readings throughout the week (phonics readers, Bible passages, Shakespeare, geography readings, etc.).
There is so much variety in length/difficulty of books, reading speed and comprehension ability, that I think each family will be different and each term or year will be different. I’ve never read the ‘2 books per year’ recommendation. I know Charlotte Mason had several books happening at once and some books would be spread over several years. I think you just need to find your balance for what is appropriate for your family at any given time.
As an example, my kids are 10, 8, and 6. What works for us right now is that I read aloud 2-3 chapters each day (depending on length of chapter), and my independent readers each read 2-3 chapters each day, varying among literature, science, history, geography, religion, and sometimes others (such as something for Christmas.) When we finish a book, we start the next one in that subject area. 6yo DD and I also read a little ‘beginning reader’ type book each day.
This doesn’t include personal free reading (my 10yo DD probably reads 2-3 books per day,) scripture reading, and family bedtime reading, which is usually a chapter or two from a lighter type book.
Depending on where you go for CM curriculum plans you may see them only schedule a book to be read once a week, each week for months (which means it takes a long time to get through that book!!!). But what you have to remember with schedules like that is the student may be reading 3 books per day with different books each of the 5 days of the week. That equals 15 books they are working on!! They just go slowly so they can read them all at the same time.
A different way to do it, more typical maybe, is to take those 15 books and read daily from just 3 of them, finish in a week or two or three, and then start the next 3 books, and so on. You still get through all 15 books, just finishing a few at a time instead of stretching all 15 out to last for a whole term (12 weeks) or year (36 weeks).
What appeals to you? Do it that way!
We have tried both ways. We usually read a literature book daily (1 chapter per day, or even half a chapter if the chapters are long). We read a history chapter book 3 days a week. We read a science one 2 days a week. But we have a book called Story of the Orchestra that we do once a week, so it is lasting a lot longer. It’s up to you.
The Wildflowers and Marbles blog post outlines it well (the link is above).
My kids usually have 6-8 books going at once.
We mix it up, depending on the subject.
Our Geography book (Book of Marvels) we are reading 1x/week, so it will take the whole school year to get through that one.
Our literature book we are reading 2x/week, so it takes 2-3 months to get through each book.
At night, when they read their literature book with DH, they read about 5x/week, so those books only take a month to get through.
Books that are assigned for independent reading are generally read daily, so those books only last a couple of weeks.
We just finished Charlotte’s Web as part of our morning readings, and all of them are a bit disappointed to see it end, since we’ve been reading it for two months. They are anticipating what will be next, though.
Thank you Ladies! Great feedback! As I was reading your responses, I’m really beginning to see how rich I can make their reading/learning experience. Their learning is truly made up of multiple living books which is exciting to me! So much better than using textbooks.
I’m finding myself having to change/adjust my mind set to implementing this method of homeschooling…wondering if I’m going to cover everything they need (for each grade) within the year…thinking I may be moving too slow…am I missing something they need, etc. I’m learning to give myself time to adjust, transition, and take my time with learning CM methods…taking one day at a time :). This is truly a different way of learning…I enjoy teaching them CM methods. I feel more connected to their learning…feels like their learning is intentional and not loaded with a “to do” list of random information.
I hope you don’t mind, but I have more questions to come LOL! Thanks again…I greatly appreciate it!
Tristan great point made! 3 books a day/5 days a week equals 15 books…reading all at the SAME time…I NEVER thought about it like that! LOVE IT!!
Another thing you may discover as you play around with how many books to be reading from at a time is that your kids do better with less or more. I have one child who doesn’t do as well if we have 10 books going each week. They struggle to keep track of the various storylines. They do better with just 5 books done a few times a week instead. Most of my kids keep track of multiple books just fine.
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