We are going into our second year of homeschooling and I am really trying to do a better job this time around! I was just happy to get through the basics last year. Both of my older kids love to read, but pretty much just read "fluff" Their current favorite is the Animorphs series... My son (3rd grade) LOVED Hardy Boys, he is a huge fan of mystery books. My daughter (6th grade) has always been more picky about what she reads. I miss having the school librarian who was amazing and would always work with us to find good books for her. I guess that is my job now. They are both relatively advanced readers, when they were in public school in 1st and 4th grade, they both tested 6 years above grade level. I really want to focus on them reading novels that are a bit more complicated, but not so much that it turns them off. I would love suggestions for books that we can either read together and discuss, or they can read on their own and do some sort of study on them. I don't want every book they read to be 'academic' but I do want to find several to fit in this year that will be assigned reading. Any suggestions would be very appreciated! Thank you!
For both: Anything by Roald Dahl. The man can WRITE and many of his books are great pieces of literature. We are doing James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate factory for 4th grade this upcoming year. EB White is another one - Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Trumpeter of the Swans - all good. We are doing Charlotte's Web this year. Scott O'dell has written many "true life" type adventure books, some with a strong enphasis on history - my 6th grader is reading two of his works this year, by 8th grade read "Streams to the River, River to the Sea" about Sacajawea last year. If you want a complete list, go to either http://www.sonlight.com/ or http://veritaspress.com/ The books are arranged by level and unit study -ie Early American History, Eastern Hemisphere, etc. I use their websites as "resource" lists of what to read for grade 1-8 or so. These are really good if you have a unit you want to focus on - you can tie the reading to reinforce the unit. Vertias press also has lists of just "good literature" independent of units as well. Jot down what you want to read and hit the library! good luck!
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry For your daughter, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE "Shadow Spinner" by Susan Fletcher and "Christie" by Catherine Marshall, MUCH better than you could ever guess from the TV show! Tom Sawyer Black Beauty A Wrinkle in Time Johnny Tremaine The Chestry Oak (VERY hard to find, do an Inter-library loan, but VERY worth it!!!) My Friend, Flicka fantasy books by John White The Secret Garden I will be reading "Around the World in 80 Days" to me children this fall. Your daughter might like Ann Rinaldi. She writes historical fiction mostly. You might also want to check out Total Language Plus or Progeny Press guides.
I have compiled a list of classics that my oldest son is going to read this coming school year. You can see it here. While I haven't read them, I have screened for content since my son is younger.
Great list!!! I found something interesting in it. It has the Prince and the Pauper at a higher level than 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I read The Prince and the Pauper last year to my kids when we were studying Henry VIII. It went very well, though it WAS rather long. My husband tried reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was by far one of the most difficult, tedious books I had ever tried. The descriptions went on and on and on, and made a tremedously BORING read! EVERYONE was complaining about it. NEVER AGAIN!!! We got that somewhat in Swiss Family Robinson, but there was enough action to make up for it.
Thank you, everyone! Those lists are very helpful and I am going to work on compiling a list, choosing some I will assign and possibly give an option for some of them. I am just thinking how much easier it is for us to homeschool our children, than when I was homeschooled. In addition to all the online resources, I can look up all the books online, see which local libraries have them and save a small fortune on gas, instead of driving around looking for them! We are very fortunate in this regard! On the other hand, there is SO much information, it is overwhelming.
I agree with you about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It looks so boring to me. I didn't even enjoy the movie. But I think my son may enjoy it as he loves all things related to science. My dh tells him how good the story is too. If he doesn't like it I have no problems dumping it.
We went to one of those re-telling versions, something I NEVER do. Rachael fussed that it was going from one extreme to the other! One was so tedious and drawn out, and the other was so void of anything other than the most basic language. I might add that my husband and I read "Around the World in 80 Days" to each other, and didn't find that tedious at all! I'm looking forward to reading it to the kids this year!
The Narnia series is another great one, and so are the books by Beverly Clearly and the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
My ds liked the Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit at that age. He also liked Robinson Crusoe and anything on Greek or Roman mythology. Your son might like Jack London books like Call of the Wild or White Fang. A more modern day boy adventure would be Hatchet. Your daughter might like exploring various authors and styles, like Thoreau, Steinbeck, Hemmingway, (or for shorter stories Poe or O'Henry??). I didn't like to read much at her age, either, because most of it was still "fluff". I found that I appreciated novels with a "bigger picture" application coupled with great writing.
