My daughter loves to read. If I let her she would read from sun up to sun down and then keep reading when she should be asleep. She is like me in this. We love books, well written books that catch our imagination and take us on adventures. My older boy is finally a reader, but a selective one. He will re-read books six or seven times. He too will stay past bed time reading if he could. My youngest is not like either of the other two. He does not want to read but go, run, jump, and go on his own little adventures outside.
With three different reading styles, three different kids, how do I assign reading?
There are two ways that parents tend to address
the yearly reading for their children. One option is to create a reading list for the child to work through that year. Some tell the kids what order to read them in and some do not but either way, the title and author of the books are written out for the children to refer to. The other option is just to have a reading log, a sheet of paper that the children write the title and author of books they personally choose to read. The log can be never ending or can have a specific number of lines for the child to fill in over the course of the year.
But which option is the better option?
There really is not a “better option” both are wonderful and have their pros and cons. The better question is which one would work best for your child? Lets have a look at my kids again. For my daughter I tend to have more of an unending book log for her. I will recommend books, on occasion, for her to read but she does a great job selecting books that are at or above her reading level and she records what she reads. For my older boy, I tend to have a blend of a log and a list. I will tell him a few books I want him to read to broaden his horizon but I try to let him pick his own books too. This allows for him to not resent reading, allows me to make sure he gets some great exposure and he learns a great deal. Finally, for my youngest, he has a reading list. I will allow him to pick what order he reads the books sometimes but because he fights reading so often, I do have to put my foot down and tell him specifically what book he will read and how much he will read a day.
Pick the option that best fits your kid and works for you.
As with any curriculum that you pick for your kids, it is important to make sure that the work will work for your child. This is the same with required reading. Weight the options, decide what your child would be more willing to try and then encourage and support them. Reading is not the most loved activity among children and if you have a child who struggles with reading, this can complicate the school year.
No matter what, enjoy the journey with your kiddos.
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is homeschooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah-ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we’ve been doing this for 9 years now. I am also a military spouse, so we have the added joys and some of the complications that come with it. As a family, we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have downtime, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs, or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.