We were trying to list all the books we read aloud as a family in the last year and couldn't believe how many there were—and how many we forgot. We also tried to list the ones we listened to as audio books. All the girls read their own books, but we always have one (or two) books we are reading aloud or listening to as a family.
We wait until the timing is right for everyone, so no one misses out on the story. Sometimes these are library books, but I try to buy them eventually because the girls go to them repeatedly to read by themselves. I bought the box set of the Percy Jackson series after listening to them, just so they could go back and read them on their own, which they do. They really get into them, sometimes for months. They let these stories, vocabulary, and worlds envelop them in a way that is magical and allows them to go so deep. It makes me happy to see them go back to something over and over again. I need to fight my natural urge to throw new things at them every day. (This is especially true for math. They learn so much when they hang-out and revsit what we did last year, when it's no longer hard, but just a puzzle. That's when it all clicks for them.)
We decided to customize a notebook, with room for notes and comments by anyone who cares to add any, to keep track of these books. We printed out all the book covers (or audio book covers) we could remember from the last year. We made sure there was room to write on each page, or kept a blank page in-between.
We read this book when we were in Hawaii last year, they reminded me. They enjoy looking through it and discussing the books and what they remember. Then they go looking for the actual books on our shelves—or under beds, crammed in corners, or tossed under sofa cushions. The older girls are in charge of maintaining this, they love printing out the covers and gluing them in.
This one is from our Family Library. We also read To Kill a Mocking Bird this year, which was a questionable choice on my part for all 3 girls. There's some very heavy themes in that book that required some quick edits I needed to make for my youngest. Later, I went back to re-read these parts with just the older girls. They really loved that book.
We have many more in here, like all seven Harry Potters, which is so satisfying.
