RAR # 46: Assigned Versus Free Reading
In this brand new episode of the Read-Aloud Revival, we tackle one of the most frequently asked questions we get at the Read-Aloud Revival…
“How much reading should I assign?”
I’m chatting with Mystie Winckler about just that, and I think you’re going to get a nice deeeep breath after hearing what Mystie has to say in this episode.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- how to find balance with your kids’ reading
- what to do when we need to push a little more
- how to know that we can back off
Click that play button below:
Books from this episode:
(All links are affiliate links.)
Links from today’s show:
- Episode 14 with Mystie: For Parents Who Don’t Like Reading Aloud
- Episode 42 with Greta Eskridge: Inspiring Parents in Children’s Literature
- Episode 43 with Daniel Willingham: Raising Kids Who Read
- Episode 13 with Marie Rippel: Learning to Read – What to do with Your Struggling Reader
- Sarah’s post, Series Books that Will Turn Your Struggling Reader into a Voracious Reader
- The RAR Guide to Great Conversations with Your Kids About Books
- The RAR Booklist
The link that is to go to “The RAR Guide to Great Conversations with Your Kids About Books” goes to the blog post “Series Books that Will Turn Your Struggling Reader into a Voracious Reader.” Could you direct me to the correct post, please?
I love your podcasts, Sara! I am a homeschool alumnus (yep, all twelve years) who plans to homeschool my son. I really enjoyed Misty’s insight and agree that books read in free time are sometimes the most memorable. However, I would add that assigning a book doesn’t automatically make it boring. My mom would hand me a book to read for school (maybe something like Marguerite De Angeli’s “Skippack School”) and if it caught my imagination I would just devour it – many times Mom would graciously allow me to just keep reading all day long and skip my other subjects! Also, looking back over the family bookshelves as an adult, sometimes I wish she DID assign more of the wonderful books she bought and left lying around, hoping we would pick them up. There were a lot of gems that I simply didn’t have the willpower to make myself read all the way through, even though I know I would have enjoyed them if the time had been made for them.
Help! (If you can ;)) I’m still floundering with assigned reading. I’d like my kids to read books that I recommend instead of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and My Little Pony. I can’t seem to get my “recommendations” to cross their radar, and when I make it “mandatory” – they still manage to ignore me.
Yikes. Any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks for another great podcast. I still feel like I have questions about this topic after listening to the podcast. How would Mystie handle it if strewing history and science books around didn’t work? I know she mentioned that she subtly encourages them to choose to read a wide variety of genres. I think that she mentioned that she leaves a place on their school checklist to write in three different types of books: Story, History, and Science. How would she handle it if they just only read their “story” book and never made any progress on their history or science picks? Does she allow them to pick any science topic or history topic to read from? (library) Or are they encouraged to pick from a shelf of books she has ready for them at home? Inquiring minds want to know! :) :)
This was an excellent encouragement! Thank you so much!
I would LOVE to know what you talked about but do not have time to listen to a 53 minute podcast. :( It would be super helpful if you could offer a quick condensed version to read!
I love to listen while doing the dishes or laundry- plenty of time!
Thank you Sarah and Misty for your great insights! I was just musing over this very question!
So…what about your listeners who are using Ambleside Online? I mean, that whole curriculum is pretty much built on “assigned” reading…and we love it, but I do also want my kids to *choose* to pick up books on their own…so do you think this sort of free reading philosophy you’re talking about here is incompatible with that sort of curriculum?
Great question! I was wondering the exact same thing.
Great minds must think alike, because that was my question too :)
Here’s how I have worked it out so far in my few years using AO. My kids have scheduled “Free Reading” time each day. This just means I don’t require a narration from that reading. With this free reading time, they can choose from the AO or other approved by mom free reading books. If they want to read anything else, it’s on their own time. So far that is working and seems to make sense.
“Oh that’s what we are doing right now. We’re reading.” YES! BAM! Modeling. Modeling. Modeling.
Love this one, Sarah!