I’m sure this has been asked. I just didn’t know where to find it.
How much reading, should my 8 yr old be doing on her own. She reads well, and narrates well.
Books we have in our basket, that we rotate daily during the week.
History :George Washington.
Geography: A book on individual states.
I rotate daily the History and Geography. I started reading History, but I think she could read out- loud with me. History can be hard to understand. She says there are some big words in the story.
Literature: McGuffey, Aesop Fables, Reading Literature second reader, Charlotte Web( I read this at night)
Science: Christian Liberty Nature Reader.
I loop Literature and science. She picks one of those books to read daily. I have them as read aloud but should I switch her to quiet reading. She would prefer to read quietly.
At night she chooses a free read of what ever.
I am shooting for about 45 min total a day for her to read. Would 3 books a day, at 15 min each, be to much for her to read a day.
At the begging of the year I was reading all the books, and she was narrating. But I feel she can handle these books we have scheduled on her own.
I am interested in this answer as well. I remember reading that SCM recommends that they begin reading some independently in 4th grade. I believe this recommendation was regarding the books for the History/Geography/Bible portion, but I assumed that around 4th grade they also want to begin to see children reading a little more independently in general. , My oldest son is 8 now, soon to be 9 (in a week) and I plan to start him reading independently next year, in his fourth grade year. Since he is my oldest, I am totally new to how much is too much regarding independent reading. I am interested in hearing what other moms have to say. I think knowing your child and starting with something that you know they can read without much frustration is important. I would say if your daughter is in 3rd grade and is solid in her reading and gives good narrations, I would go for it and see how she does. I think SCM gives the a good idea about the age for independent reading to being, but some kids are ready earlier and some later. It’s exciting to pass off some of that reading to them. I plan to always do some read alouds though because it is such an enjoyable time for all of us!
We use the SCM history guides. I read the Family and 1-3rd grade books aloud to the kids (kinder, 3rd & 5th). My oldest, when she started 4th grade last year, started reading the 4-6th grade books on her own and did oral narration with me (doing one written narration/week as well). I preread the books over the summer so that I could keep up with where she was at. We are doing the same thing this year with her in 5th grade and it works really smoothly.
I read science to the kids aloud and also a literature book aloud.
My 3rd and 5th grader read a chapter of their literature book to me aloud daily which usually takes about 15 minutes.
On top of school, they read for pleasure often. Those are free read books that they just pick up and read with out any relation to school.
No matter the age they start going independent I would encourage to continue with having them read aloud to you often. It is amazing what words they try to skip over 😉 but reading aloud will keep them in the habit of slowing down and really reading each work. Growing up I was an avid reader but I never had to read aloud to anyone. I had some really bad habits such as skimming books quickly but not fully reading them, and looking back I missed a lot of character development which would have made the books that much better. I think if I had had to read aoud it would have better taught me to slow down and really read the book. I know that has happened to me since reading out loud to the kids all the time now 🙂
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