Incorporating Read Alouds into Curriculum by: Ashlee Baker @tribeoftwelve

I grew up moving about every year. I never really minded it much. One house we lived in for 2 years, during elementary school, was directly across the street from the library. This was heaven. I would go to the library right after school, and sit and read until my mom got home from work. My grandma used to take me to Walden Books, and we would wander around for hours smelling the books (if you know, you know) and looking at the beautiful pictures they contained. But I was never a fiction reader, almost exclusively non-fiction. I wanted to know facts about things. I wrote my senior paper on the differences in the early and late year Volkswagen Beetles. Fast forward to when I became pregnant with my first child at the ripe age of 20. I started to devour every single book on pregnancy and childbirth I could get my hands on. Parenting books, gardening books, herb books, books on dyslexia, books on creating a cozy home—You name it, I wanted to read about it. It wasn't until I discovered Ambleside Online in the mid 2000's that reading fiction entered my life—And it was through read-alouds. I still remember the first book I read to my kids, Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. I was so drawn in by the story that I couldn't get enough. Through the years I have often read ahead at night because I just had to know what happened next in the story. Read-alouds are my favorite. If I could read every subject aloud to my children, I would. The stories we are able to share in this format are so impactful. The discussions we have and the different perspectives they give are striking. So naturally, I try to incorporate read alouds into every subject I teach. There are so many wonderful literature based curriculums out there, why should we limit ourselves to just using one at a time? I often use two or more curriculums at one time for a subject. I feel like it offers such a broad scope in one particular area. I want to give you a glimpse into how I incorporate read-alouds into our daily routine, and how we utilize multiple curriculums for a single subject. Lets begin.
I am a mom to 10 children. My oldest daughter is 22 with 2 children. My 20 year old daughter is in her 2nd year of college pursuing nursing. My 19 year old son is in his first year of college pursuing psychology, he wants to be a police officer. My 18 year old senior is one math credit shy of graduating, he will enlist in the military in July. I currently I have an 8th grade son, 5th grade, 4th grade, and 3rd grade daughters, and Kindergarten and preschool sons. I teach my 6 youngest children all together for every subject except math and language. We use read alouds for every single subject—History, Geography, Science, Nature, Art, Music, and Bible. We have been studying Early American History for the last 2 years. When we dive, we dive deep. My History spine is from Beautiful Feet books. I am using both their Primary and Intermediate curriculums simultaneously. We are currently doing the read alouds from both levels. We are also using the America study from Simple Studies. She wrote this amazing, but simple curriculum based on The Children's Book of America by William J. Bennett. I plan ahead which lessons will correspond with our timeline for history, and we read them accordingly. These studies are absolutely wonderful. If you haven't seen them, you should definitely check them out. When I am planning a term I get both these curriculums out and mark in my planner which lesson from which book we will do each day. It's not complicated as both are written quite well. I put our read-alouds in order on the shelf so I know which one is next. I'm not great at executing things if they are not in order. I also assign map work, copywork, and narration based on age and ability.
As I am planning our terms, I evaluate what period of history we are in and hunt for other read-alouds to add to it. For example, this term we will study the period of American History when the constitution was written. I found several books to supplement this era. We will read-aloud the Who Was books on the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We will use the Interactive Constitution book for another vein of understanding.
I also coordinate our morning time read-alouds to our history era. Over the last 2 years we have read the entire Little House series as well as the Rose Years series by Roger Lea MacBride. We have also been reading through the Anne of Green Gables series and we just started the Little Britches series by Ralph Moody. All of these have followed our early American History timeline. Reading so many different stories from the same time period of history gives my children a multi-faceted view of life in this time period. From many different stations in life and levels of hardship. Let me also say, my little boys do not sit still and listen to our reading but they are always in earshot. They often ask questions or make reference to something we read in a way that I am aware how much they are absorbing.
If you are torn between two curriculums this summer as you are planning, maybe go for both! It takes a bit of planning but utilizing more than one curriculum can offer your kids an excellent scope on a single subject.
To be honest, read-alouds are as much for me, as they are for my children. I love the stories and seeing History through these eyes. When I am teaching my kids, I like to think the details and stories of History will stay close to their hearts because of the way we choose to learn them. If you're not incorporating read-alouds in your homeschool day, give it a shot! There are so many wonderful books out there that are just waiting to be shared. I promise you will be rewarded for doing so.
Resources for great read-aloud lists:
Amblesideonline.orgreadaloudrevival.com