Read Alouds Above Grade Level

We recently discovered that Buddy is reading fluently at a third grade level and I was immediately overwhelmed by the responsibility to teach him.  I also realized that he needed a challenge with new books.  While researching ideas for homeschooling, the idea that was repeated over and over was to do chapter book read alouds as a family above your children's reading level.  So I decided to give it a try with Buddy and Sweetpea.

I decided to start with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  I decided to read one chapter a day at either lunch or supper.  I am still doing Highchair Reading even though Sweetpea no longer sits in a highchair and now loves to sit and read.  Meal times gather us around the table and reading a chapter keeps everyone quiet and happy while they eat.

Before we read, we discuss what happened in previous chapters for Sweetpea's benefit and to work on the reading skill of retelling with Buddy.  As we read, I explain any hard to understand words or concepts to introduce new vocabulary.  After we finish the chapter, I ask Buddy and Sweetpea to make guesses as to what they think will happen.  We are currently over half-way through and both  remind me if I start to forget.

I've already have several choices lined out for when we finish this book and I'm glad we started this read aloud journey!