2015-2016 Read Aloud List

In the years past, I have always planned out my read aloud list for the year.  I am a planner.   It is a sickness I cannot control.  :)   I typically lay out 36 weeks of read alouds that correspond to our history or science studies---and sprinkle in some "for fun" books from the Sonlight literature lists.  However, in all of the years,I have homeschooled, I have NEVER stuck with my plan.  Never.   I always add in books and skip books.   I am always in some sort of flux of running "ahead" or falling "behind" my arbitrary schedule.    I started to realize that all of my planning does nothing but make me feel guilty when I fall short of the plan.

This year, I have decided to be more laid back when it comes to reading aloud.  It's all part of my new 'schole' mindset.  I have decided to purposely try to "teach from a state of rest".   (SERIOUSLY.   Go read that book.  It is life changing.)     For some people, rest comes naturally.   I am not that person.

 SO---Instead of planning and scheduling everything, my plan is to just find a good book...and read it!  I still have a list of books that I want to read--but I will no longer suffer from the guilt of being "behind" or "ahead".

For that reason, I will be keeping a running list of the books we have read together as a family on this page.   I will be updating it often as we finish a book.

Fiction   

At the Beginning of the year, we fell into sort of a "Ramona Quimby rabbit hole".   My children love Ramona's character.  As an adult, I find that Beverly Cleary is a genius when it comes to capturing the heart of a child at all of these various ages.   Reading these books is like growing up all over again.  I am not sure how she can remember so accurately the way children think or feel about the world at all of these different ages, but she does a wonderful job.   As a mother, I found that these books helped me to remember what it can feel like to be a child.   It has helped me be more understanding and look for the good intentions in some of the seemingly crazy things my kids do!   (Yes, my kids sometimes DO act like Ramona!) 

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary

Next, we moved on to the Little House series.   My third-grade teacher read these aloud to me, and I loved them.   I have been saving them to read to the kids.  

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On The Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (Sophie Only)

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Fable and Myth

D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d'Aulaire and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire (Only part of this book)

Jataka Tales (Part of English Lessons Through Litterature) (Only part of this book)

Aesop Fables (Part of English Lessons Through Litterature) (Only part of this book)

Shakespeare Retellings

 The Young Reader's Shakespeare:  Romeo and Juliet by Adam McKeown

The Young Reader's Shakespeare: Hamlet by Adam McKeown

Julius Caesar by Adam McKeown

Biography

Columbus by Edgar Parin D'Aulair and Ingri D'Aulair

The Bard of Avon:  The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

Cleopatra by Diane Stanley

Poetry

(Various Poems by reading a poem per day from English Lessons Through Litterature)...

Plus, 

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Science and History

We finally finished Story of the World volume 1.  We started this book in 2013.  (Blush)  But it felt SO good to mark this as complete!

Child's History of the World by V.M. Hilyer (Only part of this book)

We also finished Quark Chronicles Botany.   This was such a great book.   We had a lot of fun reading it together this year.