Planning Tips Volume 2: 
Book Selection

1.  You do not have to fill every space on your plans.  Remember that we previously discussed weaving in subjects and not feeling compelled to teach a particular subject or skill every single day.  Many parents will do science only 3 days a week.  Some moms like to do all projects on one day each week.  Map and globe skills can be planned weekly or taught as you come to various geographic locations in your reading.  There is no one way to plan for your children.  I, personally, often have blank spaces and sometimes I fill them with extra activities that weren't planned or I leave them blank.

2.  Leave room for the unexpected.  Some of the most wonderful lessons are not planned, but those "teachable moments" may be overlooked if you're feeling pressured to get through the written plans. 

3.  Make sure you note any outside activities, lessons, etc. on your plans so you don't overplan on busy days.

Okay, let's move on to book selection.  I typically begin with history just because, other than scripture, it is the basis for my teaching.  I also try to stick with a specific theme for each week (Ancient Greece, Knights, a specific person or event, etc.), but I don't box myself in by requiring a theme.  I have just noticed that my children learn best when we have a general topic for history and a general topic for science each week.  They can identify with it and my themes typically have been those that can be used in any grade level.  You'll note that in both history and science we've broken up the units into themes to make this easier for you.   When I select science books, I follow a similar procedure but typically focus on only one book..

Generally, the following page guidelines are appropriate.  Remember that these guidelines include all of the reading that your child completes in a day whether aloud or silently, in every subject.  They are only guidelines...you know best how much your child can accomplish in a day.

K-2 Under 20 pp. per day

3-5  20-40 pp. per

6-8  40-60 pp. per

9-12  60-100 pp. per

Keeping these guidelines in mind, let's examine book selection by level for weekly planning.  You should not try to use every book in every unit as EK is written over a three year span.  Also, you will most likely want to read some books again throughout the years, especially in the elementary grades.  If there is a book that does not appeal to you, feel free not to use it.

K-2:  Remember that exposure is the key at this age.  Your children will be layering their knowledge throughout their educational years, especially if you continue using Epi Kardia, so don't feel the need to cover every topic or person, in history, science or art, every year.  Don't forget to review the goals you wrote for your children as you select books.  

    1.  Begin by selecting Listening books (your child will be doing the listening).  One historical picture book a day is fine for grades K-1, while in 2nd grade, your child may do well to sit for more content.  Longer picture books or those with heavier content, such as The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, may be divided into 2 or more days.  The goal is to hold your child's attention without frustration.  For a child who has particular difficulty sitting still, plan to read a little in the morning and a little in the afternnoon.  For children who love to listen to mom read, select more than one book.  Sometimes it is better to select 2-3 books and read a little each day rather than using 1 book and finishing it that day.  My son always wanted to finish books once we started them, so I had to keep that in mind when planning at this age.

    2.  Next, if your child is pre-reading (can read some words) or reading, select a Read Together book. Select a book that your child can read to you or with you at a rate of 4-6 pages per day.  As the average picture book is 32 pages long, with about 28 pages or less of actual text, most Read Aloud books will take 5-7 days to finish.  Just map out the book pages in your plans, so you have a goal for finishing it.

    3.  If you have a child or children reading independently, choose an Independent Reader next.  Your child should be able to read this book with little or no assistance.  These books are often the ones I used when asking my children to narrate, so I could measure their reading comprehension.  Using the general guidelines above and what you know about your child, divide the book over a period of days.  With younger children (K-2), it is best to choose independent readers that can be finished in one week or less, unless you have an advanced reader.

    4.  For science, select one book from one topic in your unit.  Divide the book over a week, or in some cases with very lengthy books such as Genesis for Kids, select portions of the book to study each year.  The goal is to expose your child to 1-2 science concepts and help them remember those concepts by doing projects or activities. 

    5.  Finally, if you want to include fine arts, poetry, etc., consider adding one fine arts book for the week to read and discuss.  Be sure to include it in your Listening books, so you don't have too many books to read aloud.  For poetry, one or two poems a week is plenty for exposure and fun.  For music, you can simply play it in the background as your child do copywork, math, etc.

3-5:  At this age, you are hoping to build on some of the basic history and science concepts that your children were exposed to in K-2.  The page guidelines are greater, but the selection guidelines are similar to K-2, with the following differences.

    1.  Rather than reading picture books, you'll want to read chapter books that are above your child's reading level for your Listening book.  You may need to plan one chapter book for the entire unit.  Last year, I decided to read a Henty book to my son for Ancients.  Well, we finished it by the end of Middle Ages and skipped a read aloud for that unit!  Henty is not best read aloud because of the massive amount of detail, but my son truly enjoyed it and remembered so much about Ancient Egypt because of it. It was worth having it cover two units. 

    2.  While you will still want your child to read aloud to you in 3rd grade, by 4th and 5th that particular reading time should be limited.  Evaluation of your child's reading aloud skills should not be done every day at this level, so you probably won't need a specific Read Together book once your child is a proficient reader. Just randomly ask your child to read a selection to you from his independent reader or choose poetry as a read aloud. 

    3.  Independent Readers become more significant as your child gets closer to finishing elementary studies.  More and more time should be spent on reading independently.  Again, follow the general guidelines to determine how much of a book your child needs to read each day.  My son enjoyed it when I gave him several options and let him select an independent reader.  Oral narration is essential during these years!  It is so important that you make sure that your child has competent comprehension skills.  Depending on the book and the length of the unit, you may choose 1-4 independent reading books per unit.  Be sure to give your child the opportunity to read undisturbed.  Reading in the car or while sister is at dance class may be okay at times, but try to provide your child with a quiet reading time at least 3-4 days a week.

    4.  Follow the same guidelines in K-2 for science except you may be able to cover 3-4 concepts in a week depending on your children.  As well, you may find that your children can read some of the science material independently, then work on projects or have discussion to reinforce the important points.

6-8:  In these middle years, children can vary widely in both reading ability and comprehension.  Just remember that you are preparing your child for a huge leap into high school.  The focus needs to be on strong reading comprehension, and utilizing both written and oral narration skills.  Select books that take your child toward higher level thinking, compared to the elementary years.  Even though there are books that overlap 3-5 and 6-8 in the unit booklets, do not feel compelled to use the easier books if you have covered them substantially in earlier years.  In publishing the curriculum, we had to consider parents that may not start with the curriculum in earlier years and provide some of those borderline books. 

    1.  While Listening books are still vital to your children, they should take up the least amount of their reading time.  Again, select one solid book per unit to read aloud.  If you have multiple children who are reading, select the most challenging book that your children can comprehend.  Younger children will often benefit from listening to older children's books.  We often underestimate our children's abilities in this way.  Also, have your 6-8th grader give oral narrations regularly after you read to him.  At this age, you are teaching him to listen with detail in preparation for high school and college lectures.  You may even consider having your child take notes, particularly if you are reading a book with detailed historical or scientific information.

    2.  Read Together takes on a whole new meaning at this age.  With this grade level, take opportunities to have your older children read together with younger children or just listen to their siblings read.  This type of activity develops maturity and helps your child learn to evaluate.  Be sure to model, if necessary, beforehand. 

    3.  The bulk of your children's reading on this level should be Independent.  However, as stated above, you need to constantly assess comprehension through oral and written narration, or other activities.  If you develop strong comprehension in these years, as well as strong accountability of what is being read, you will find high school to be much more enjoyable.

    4.  Science on this level is primarily working through the scientific method by applying and more thoroughly developing the concepts that were learned in the elementary years. If your 6th grader is struggling still with some of the concepts, use the easier to understand books from 3-5 to reinforce the basics, but also include the experiments presented in 6-8.  Do not feel compelled to complete every experiment in every book suggested.  Also, if you feel that you are uncertain about having covered the material properly, consider supplementing the whole experiment books with Rebecca Keller's Real Science for Kids.  Rebecca does with science what we do with history.  She layers and expands science concepts to make them easier to digest and retain.  Her books complement the Epi Kardia book selections nicely.

    5.  You will need to determine how much poetry and fine arts you want to commit to during these years.  For some families, these materials are vital and for others, they are non-essentials.  Just remember that any reading in fine arts should be included when estimating the number of pages that your child will be reading each day.

9-12  At this point, most students read as well as they ever will.  When selecting books for these grade levels, it is vital that you utilize the codes for Least Challenging (LC), Challenging (C) and Most Challenging (MC).  Most kids do well with a variety of levels.  Even the best of readers should not only read the MC books.  The other books have valuable information that happens to be presented on an easier reading level.  Another consideration when selecting books for these years is your focus on course credits.  Is your child needing World history, American history, British literature, etc.?  If you worked with your child on accountability concerning reading in middle school through oral and written narrations, you will find that your child can probably help select the materials to be read.  By 10th grade, I selected the books for each unit with my daughter and then had her map out how many pages a day she could read in each book.  If the page amount exceeded the general guidelines, we re-evaluated the books and the unit.  Sometimes we removed a book, and other times we extended a unit.   One concern that I often see in parents of high school students is that they worry that their child is not getting "everything" out of these books.  That would be a valid concern if it were possible for any child to get "everything" out of anything!  Don't let yourself fall into that trap.  Your child's quality of education will far exceed most if you utilize a majority of the books in the EK curriculum.

I realize that the science of book selection could be covered in a book itself!   I hope that this overview will help you get excited about selecting books for your children as you plan.  Feel free to email Dana or me at info@epikardia.com if you have specific questions about book selection not covered in this volume of Planning Tips. 

   Happy planning!

by Elizabeth Hempton

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Beth Hempton is co-owner/author of Epi Kardia Home Education, specializing in literature-based, unit study curriculum using Charlotte Mason methods for Kindergarten through 12th grade. Read more from Beth at the Epi Kardia blog: www.epikardia.com/blog. This article may be reprinted in its entirety, as long as it is accompanied by this information.