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Read aloud questions
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I never questioned what read aloud meant when I began homeschooling..however, now with a fluent reader, a budding reader, and one starting to learn…I’m getting confused. How much do I read aloud? Do I have my 8 y/o read aloud…do I try to find books that they all will listen to, do I have separate read alouds for each, if they read independently how to I know they are comprehending if I’ve never read…etc. curious to know how others are doing this…
I am still new, but for us…
I have books I read aloud to all the kids (8, 6.5 & 3), I then have books that my older 2 read aloud to me (8 year old is reading at grade level and my 6.5 year old is still getting there with reading). My oldest then has books she reads on her own. So far they have been books that I have read (my mom kept her collection from when I was young, so I remember reading Mandie books and favorites) which makes it easy to talk about it. I also randomly ask “how is the book” and then she will open up and I can tell, even if a new book, if she is really reading it.
I never really understood the joy of reading to children even after they could read, I just assumed I would stop; but just this past week with summer break in swing, swim lessons happening… I have been reading aloud to all the kids more and it has been wonderful. It finally started to “click” about how important and fun it can be. I am always learning more about implementing CM methods, and it seems they “click” more the less I try to “force” them
For fluent readers, they should still read aloud to practice elocution. This can be reading aloud to you or to a sibling or grandparent or even a pet. They can be corrected on hard words or where needed, but it is not often necessary. It does not need to take long, five minutes is fine. Nor does it have to be daily. They can read aloud Bible passages, picture books, magazine articles or chapters in a reader, etc.
Those still learning to read would need to read to you from their reader. This does not mean they cannot read silently on their own though. They just need easier books for on their own. And I do not require narration on what they read yet. They are busy focusing on reading new words.
What has worked for us is for me to read aloud family books and grades 1-3 from the history modules. My older one in 4th grade reads his own history to himself too. I have him narrate to me and I can tell if he has read it by what he tells me and how detailed it is. Sometimes I ask for more information that is open ended (cannot answer yes or no but needs to explain further), like why did he leave or where is he going. The 5 W’ s and an H questions work great if I need to ask more.
And besides history, I read a Bible passage in the morning and a literature chapter book and one or two picture books and maybe some poetry at bedtime and my 10 yo still likes the picture books. Good living books will always be enjoyed, imho. But how much and what is read aloud will look different in each family and at different times. We also listen to an audio book on CD in the van most of the time when we go somewhere. I plan to always read aloud something to them until they have grown and left our home. And we do tend to enjoy unscheduled chapter books more when read at leisure when on break from school. Agreeing with Sarah above on how fun it can be.
At my house:
We have at least 1 family read aloud going at a time for our homeschool book club (right now it is Journey to the Center of the Earth). When we’re in the school year we usually have a history read aloud going too. I read aloud school books as needed to kids under 4th grade and begin transitioning them to reading their history/science books independently in 4th if they haven’t made the transition on their own.
We take turns reading aloud every day from the scriptures a few verses each.
We also listen to audio books together, which I don’t think of as the same as a read aloud really, but we listen to them every day in quiet time and at bed time.
Tristan, I would love to hear more about your homeschool book club. What age did you start that? What does that time look like? How many kids participate? Do you make up questions? Have snacks? Seems like a neat idea, I’d like to learn more about how you do it.
I’ve got a whole post about it on my blog from 2012: Starting Your Own Book Club. I can share more about how it works right now too, we only have 2 families at the moment. Just let me know if you want more information than you find in that post.
Great post, Tristan. Thanks for sharing. Love those ideas. When you have a chapter book, do you little ones still sit in the discussion with you or do you have another activity planned for them?
So just to clarify, history books, etc. that they are reading on their own once that is appropriate, you are not reading, just having them narrrate and maybe ask some questions?
I do have the learning & Living DVDs on the way…just thinking they might have some guidance on this as well…thanks for your help!
@ andream – Little ones listen to the chapter book and participate in the discussion. Right now we have 12 children ages nearly 13 to 10 mos. We begin by asking about everyone’s favorite part or character (or least favorite part/character) and go around the room sharing. Then we do activities and discussion beginning with an activity aimed at the younger children and working our way to the activities aimed at the older kids. The younger ones are welcome to participate in even those but often most wander off after their activity to play together.
Moving ahead we’ll be having a bit more socratic discussion with group, or that is the hope.
Sometimes the older students prepare an activity related to the book for everyone to do.
The current book we’re reading is Journey to the Center of the Earth (unabridged). I have to be honest, I wasn’t sure how the younger children would do, but they love it. Sure, they miss out on some of the references to things, but they follow the storyline and enjoy the characters. The next 4 books on our list are:
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- The Secret Garden
- The Railway Children
Of those, my children and I have only read The Secret Garden before, and it’s been several years.
One of the things we (the moms) have been discussing is possibly assigning the older children a book to read or read aloud for the month and repeating some of our past chapter books the younger kids missed out on or were way to young to remember. So the older kids would have one book discussion on a chapter book and the younger kids would have a different book to discuss. We could do these in the same meeting or even get together twice in a month. I suspect this fall we will try it out one month.
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