Ambleside Online Free Reading

This suggested additional reading is what we also refer to as 'free reading.' How you handle these is entirely up to you--the main idea is that these are generally done outside of 'school' reading. I usually include one of them in my children's school schedule just for fun, but it's not required. Some people use this list for family read alouds. Others just hand a stack of books to their children and tell 'em to read away, some probably add these books to school.

I choose one of the books for a family read aloud. Then I give my children the list of the remaining books and these are the books they read during their free time. When they finish the list, they can go on and select their own books--we alternate this way, going by feel as to when the time is right to switch. I choose their 'free reading' for a few weeks. They can read however much of these books they want, in whatever order they prefer, at whatever speed they like (Unlike their school books where we work through them at a slower pace). When they've finished my list of 'free reading,' they have a few weeks where they choose their own books. After a while, my children find themselves at a loss for what to read next, and they ask me for some suggestions. Then I make a new list of 'free reading' books. It happens to work out just perfectly for us, timewise. They always get through the suggested additional reading for each term.

Wendi