Tristan – Homeschool Book Club question

Okay Angie, I will copy and paste a post from my closed blog sharing how we started, etc.  It is several years old but the book club is STILL going.  The post is from 2012.  I’ll share a second comment with updates.  Here you go:

Why a Book Club?

When I only had 5 children ages 9 and under I was frustrated with the local co-ops.  They offered classes only for 1st grade and up (4 of my 5 were below that) and our studies never coincided with classes.  The younger children were not welcome in any class, just the nursery.  I firmly believe that learning as a family in a multi-age group is part of the power of homeschooling.  That the local co-ops reproduced the age-segregated public school environment negated the power of homeschooling!  After thought and prayer I decided to invite a few families into my home to do a monthly book club.

How to Set Up a Book Club

To start up the book club I emailed a group of families that could fit into my house.  That first year we had 5 families with 23 kids age 12 and under.  The three families who still attend (some moved away) have had more children and between us we have 16 with one on the way.

In the letter I set some groundwork. We would meet the same day of the month (ex: 2^nd Wed) at the same time (10:00am) at my house.  Each family was to read the book of the month before attending.  As a family book club all ages were welcome and one parent had to participate (no dropping kids off).  We would each plan an activity or craft based on the book and I would provide snack.  Snack would have nothing that any child in the group was allergic to.  In the original group the allergen list was egg, red dye #40, soy, citrus, gluten. Now it is just egg and red dye.

For our first meeting the kids brought a favorite book to show and tell, we made some bookmarks, and while the kids snacked and played the moms choose the first 6 books to read from a list I had prepared in advance and passed out. We set guidelines on what was okay in a book with each family before I made the list.

Adjustments Over Time

Since that time we’ve changed a few things, and tried a few things that we did not continue:

1. We rotate homes with those who are willing to host. The hostess provides snack for their month’s book club meeting (still allergy safe).  This works well.
2. The other two moms bring one activity or craft related to the book for the kids to do. Occasionally a mom chooses to bring two crafts/activities if one is much too difficult for the little ones, but we often let little ones just play nearby quietly.  This works well.
3. It’s not an open group, if we want to invite another family we talk it over first. I like the 3 family group we have now because 16 children is an easier group to manage. However, with only 3 families we’ve had a few winter meetings where 2 of the 3 families were sick so we couldn’t get together with anyone. When we had 5 families there was almost always at least 1 other family to meet with.
4. We met twice a month for a period of time. One meeting was about a chapter book aimed at the ‘school age’ kids. The second meeting was picture book week aimed at the younger ages, though the school age kids adored the picture book week every bit as much. We’re back to once a month because each family’s life is busy.
5. We also morphed into an art and geography club for a few months but everyone preferred the book club.  We are back to being just a book club.

What Does a Meeting Look Like?

After the first few months we found a rhythm for each meeting that works well.  It is a nice framework that balances the business of book club and the desire to have time for developing friendships.

• Arrive and gather the children on the floor in a group.
• The host mom reminds children of the book we’re talking about this month (2 minute reminder of main storyline) and asks for a show of hands on who liked this book. We talk about how it’s okay not to like every book.
• We go around the room giving every child a chance to talk about the book. They may tell a favorite part or character, a least favorite part/character, or anything related to the book. This takes a while with all the kids, but it’s worth it!
• Mom #1 with an activity or craft stands up and explains what we’ll be doing and leads children for that portion. If it’s a craft children may go play after they finish until everyone is done.
• Mom #2 with activity or craft gathers children again if needed and explains what to do then leads her portion.
• Snack time!  We invite a child to pray and then everyone eats.
• Free time.  Moms talk, children visit with one another and play. We often get treated to a spur of the moment play the children come up with and rehearse, or a talent show, jokes, etc. The kids love being together and we’ve seen sweet friendships develop over the last few years with these book club families.
• Generally families leave at noon making book club 2 hours long.

More Specifics

When do we meet?  We are a year round book club.  We meet every month that we can.  We tend to plan January’s meeting with a shorter book as many families don’t have as much reading time in December.

Who chooses books? Everyone submits ideas to me and I compile a list, checking reviews if I’ve not personally read the book to weed out those that won’t work well with our group’s preferences. I email the possibility list a week prior to the meeting with book descriptions and sometimes the number of pages or chapters included.  At the next book club meeting we each choose one book we really want to do, then 3 more as a group. The pared down list is really important to help us get this done. We pick 6 months of books at a time. Then I send out a follow up email listing when to read each book and when the meeting will be for each one so they have the schedule on hand. I did not choose picture books ahead when we did those 2^nd meetings, the moms themselves chose them.

What reading levels are the books? We have children from age 14 down to infant in the group.  The group is an even mix of 8 boys and 8 girls.  Usually we choose chapter books, not always.  The following list doesn’t include the picture book weeks we did for a while:

• The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (This was not a hit with most families).
• The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
• Beatrix Potter Month – Read The Tale of Peter Rabbit and any others you wish.
• Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Nobody liked this one)
• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• American Girl – Samantha (read Meet Samantha and if you want read the following books)
• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
• Thomas Jefferson: Third President of the United States by Helen Albee Monsell (Childhood of Famous American’s series)
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
• The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farm
• Paddington Bear Stories – families chose any of the Paddington chapter books.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (We meet this week about Mary Poppins!)

Our next 3 months of plans:

• Aesop’s Fables -Read as many or as few as you want.
• The Story Girl by L. M. Montgomery
• Fairy Tale Month – choose your own favorites! I think this could be a fun month to plan a theater day with the kids acting out fairy tales. Each family can come prepared for their kids to do one fairy tale, in costume if they wish.

What books have worked well for you? Each family has had different favorites. I think overall favorites from that list so far have been:

• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• Beatrix Potter Month – Read The Tale of Peter Rabbit and any others you wish.
• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll

Utilizing Older Students – We are swiftly reaching the point where we will let our older students in the group begin planning one activity or craft for the book club pick.  Another idea I’ve had is to have an older student or student pair plan a picture book to share with the younger children, complete with activity.

The blog is actually closed now, but I’m happy to chat here anytime!

So, updates.  We now are at 3 families meeting together.  By the end of the year between the 3 of us we’ll have 20 children (2 babies are due this year) ranging in age from 17 to newborn. Two of us take turns hosting at our homes (the 3rd family isn’t up for hosting, and we’re okay with that.)  Each family brings a snack to share (avoiding allergies of the group) and an activity.

We still have one book to read as a family (this month it is Misty of Chincoteague, last month is was The Book of Three).  Our teens now also read a second book to discuss amongst themselves (this month it is Where the Red Fern Grows, last month it was Oliver Twist).

The teens sometimes plan the activity for book club to go with the book, that is up to each family who does the planning.  So I may have my oldest plan the activity we’re bringing this month but the others may have the moms plan.  Each teen is comfortable with different things.

We still snack, visit, and play.  The friendships that have developed are wonderful.  They also have their own fun.  For example 3 of the teens play guitar together each time.  Several of the middle kids build with Legos together most times.  Or they put on plays for us.

Any questions?