Though many of these come earlier in the year, they are unlikely read-alones, unless your child is ahead in his reading skills. The above book is 79 pages of what you see below. We have yet to finish it within the bounds of the scheduled assignments, however the online syllabi have it spread over four days. It’s a solid HOUR of non-stop reading aloud, without stopping to talk about anything. It definitely takes us around four sessions to get through it without going cross-eyed.
Let’s pause for just a second and talk about the online syllabus. There is a significant update to the printed one for this subject. Books are broken up over days in the week, and the dates to be studied are in every assignments. Supplementary reading is alternated between the text reading, and though the reading isn’t even day to day, every page is at least scheduled in.
The online syllabus has all of the 3rd grade books metered out for you. The picture books are all read aloud for us and I have them timed out according to normal adult read aloud speed. This is reading non-stop, no conversation. We find that 10 to 15 minutes is our limit for solid reading without going cross-eyed. The new online syllabus schedule keeps the reading between 10-15 minutes a day with the exception of:
If You Sailed on the Mayflower, 2 sessions is pushing it. Adding a third day is more comfortable.
If You Traveled West, 2 sessions that are about 2 times as long as we can stand. We do four sessions.
Gold Fever, 2 days (1 min) sessions, silliness. Only one session needed.
Lincoln D’Aulaire, 2 sessions is pushing it. Adding a third day is more comfortable.
If You Traveled Underground Railroad, 2 sessions is pushing it. Adding a third day is more comfortable.