Finding and Keeping Track of Read Alouds (with giveaway & printable) - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Ten Days of Reading Aloud.

Have you made the commitment to read aloud to your children?   If so, I hope you decide to link up this Thursday and next Thursday with what you are reading aloud!   I've challenged some friends in our homeschool co-op to read aloud to their children and I'm challenging my readers, too!

The most frequent questions I hear about read alouds is where to find them, or what inspires what we read aloud?

There are three big ways I choose read alouds:  Correlation with History Studies, Word of Mouth,  and Read Aloud "Handbooks"

Let's go through each of these.   Then, I will provide you with a free printable log for keeping track of what you read aloud to your children and you will be able to enter a giveaway, too!  

Correlation With History Studies

• We use The Story of The World.   In the activity guide there are recommendations for read alouds.   I also find myself researching the time period we are in and inevitably read aloud suggestions appear.   
• If you are a Classical homeschooler you might be interested in the correlation of Sonlight read alouds with the cycles in the Well Trained Mind.  LOTS of great information here.  
• Ambleside Online provides excellent booklists as well. You have to do a little research to figure out what year AO your studies coincide with, but we use many AO recommendations so it's easy once you get started.
• Heritage History - We have been using these eReader ready living history books this year and they are wonderful! (you can get a discount by using the code MARYHOME at checkout) Best of all, they coincide with time periods in history.  At the end of this post you can enter to win either a Library or a Curriculum.   I will be able to choose FOUR WINNERS! 

I'm sure there are many other resources to correlate your read alouds with your history studies.  These are just the ones we use in our homeschool.

Word of Mouth

I listen and talk with other homeschoolers a lot.   I like to get to know librarians and teachers.   You can find read aloud suggestions in your every day life.   

• Librarians - Get to know your librarians!!   Many times they have a huge wealth of knowledge and can instantly suggest books for you.  Our local librarian knows me by name and always greets me with, "So, what are we learning about this week?"
• Homeschool Moms - When I sit at co-op and eat lunch with my friends I learn so much! (My sweet friend Hope blogs and gives me many suggestions!)  I also like to solicit advice from our local homeschool group via our email list.  
• Blogs - Oh my goodness... I could get lost forever on blogs.  My favorite read aloud blog is Hope is the Word. Just look at her chapter book read alouds page and you will get many ideas.  Good Reads also has an extensive list of read alouds, as well as Simply Charlotte Mason.   

I'd like to think that we've read aloud A LOT in our homeschool.    Maybe you can find some suggestions and ideas in some of my read aloud posts!  I think my favorite might be when we read a book in a day. 

 Read Aloud Handbooks

It's good to have at least one of these books in your personal library.   You will NEVER be at a loss for what to read aloud.

• The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
• Read for the Heart by Sarah Clarkson
• Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt

There you have it.   I hope this post has answered the question about how we choose read-alouds.

Now, for keeping track.   I've created a simple printable for you.  There is room for you to log ten books on this one sheet, so print a bunch and put them in your homeschool binder.  Better yet - post it on your refrigerator or bulletin board so your children can see the progress!

Printable Read Aloud Reading Log

As promised, I am giving away either a Library or a Curriculum from Heritage History.  I can choose FOUR WINNERS.  Please use the widget below to enter... no need to specify which you would like now; when you win you can choose!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post is a part of the iHomeschool Network's Homeschool Hopscotch... you can access many great blog series by clicking on the image below!

Comments

[cristy c]

No ebooks here. Just lots and lots of good old fashioned paper books.

[Sherry]

I've been reading aloud to my kids, and now grandkids, for 30 years. I love the reading list at http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html and the book from Trivium Pursuit at http://www.triviumpursuit.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16144&cat=251&page=1. I even read "A Tale of Two Cities" to a two year old. I love reading!!!

[Kym]

Thank you for the printable log & the chance to win. I would love to have more history read-alouds.

[Melissa]

We recently recieved a Kindle Fire as a gift, but I have yet to incorporate it for read alouds - I need to tho.

[Julia]

I have not used e-books for read alouds. I just love having the paper book in hand. But I DO use e-books for my avid reader daughter!

[RG]

I have never used an ebook as a read aloud.

[Thaleia]

Thank you for a wonderful series about read alouds. We need to do more in our house! We do have LHP audio on my ereader and trying to get everyone quiet enough to enjoy or enough freebie printables to occupy them can be a challenge to this newbie blogger mom:)