How fast should my son get through books?

[Caroline]

I feel blessed to have this "problem" but our 8 year son LOVES to read, and reads very fast. Today was our first day using Bigger, (first day ever of HOD) and he was so surprised that we couldn't devoir more of the books than we did. I picked out a book for him on the 2/3 list of DITHOR, but honestly he will probably be done with it in 2 days if I let him. He tells me back the stories and I can tell that he is getting the story. I am reading him out loud his history and storytime book and we are sticking to the schedule on those. Should I let him go this fast? The books on the grade 3 list seem slightly easy for him as well....

[raceNzanesmom]

My oldest was/is like that. I kept school books on schedule. In high school he had more freedom, he just had to have x done by y. Free reading was just that, he could read as quickly as he wanted, and he read a LOT.

[LynnH]

Are you doing the DITHOR workbook with him? The point with DITHOR (well Charlotte Mason method actually) is to slowly savor a book, not devour it quickly. If you are doing the work book then you should make him stick to the schedule with those books. For free reading during non school time then he can read as fast as he wants. It really takes a different level of thinking to slowly read a book and be able to reflect on it as the DITHOR workbook asks you to do.

[luv2homeschool]

My son is the exact same way. He sits down with a boxcar children book and has it done in an hour. School books have to go by the schedule; I do not let him go ahead.

[wonderfilled]

We started Bigger recently, too, and are also doing DITHOR. I have three sons who love to read and for the most part I like to stick to the schedules in the guides and in DITHOR. However, we are only doing school three days a week right now and I thought that only having them read their DITHOR books on school days would be a bit unfair since it would take them much too long to get through the books. So for right now, I'm letting them all read in their books every day (Saturdays and Sundays, too) and we are planning on going through 3 different biographies for DITHOR. I thought this was a good compromise since it still makes them read slower than they would otherwise read and also lets them spend time thinking about what they have read and making applications, but it doesn't drag out the books for weeks. It also works well with how the plans are written in DITHOR, since Carrie had in mind that you might choose three different books. It wasn't hard for me to find the two additional biographies for each child among the books I have around the house or can get from the library.

I don't know what we will do once we go to schooling five days a week, but I just thought I would mention this in case it is an option for you.

[beverett]

I think I remember reading a thread on this before (I will see if I can find it, but I am not sure I can) ...there are activities and great reasons why Carrie has them scheduled at the pace they are. We have learned over the years that if Mrs. Carrie suggests a way to do things then there is always a great reason for it! I also have some boys who fly through books as well though, so What we have been doing is keeping the school books on schedule with the guide. Then I have started giving them a basket of "extra" books that they are welcome to read at their own pace and when they want (one at a time of coarse). These books are from HOD book packs that we are not going to be using. For example my 9 yr old, will be reading the extension books for Preparing this year just for fun. He falls within the age range of the guide without extensions (and certainly could not handle them plus activities), so I am letting him read the extensions for fun. I have also looked at getting the Dithor book packs for summer reading (like the girls packs or the classical or boy choice, whichever we are not using). They are quite happy with this!

[beverett]

Here is one thread where this is mentioned, at the very end Julie tells what she does for her boys.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11383&p=82709&hilit ... ast#p82709

At the very end of this thread Carrie briefly mentions what they do in their home:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8700&p=63648&hilit= ... ast#p63648

Hope these help!

[Caroline]

Thank you, this is fabulous advice! I will just have him go on schedule, and pick some other books for him to devour as he will.