If you follow the Charlotte Mason method strictly, then you already know about what she called “twaddle”. Mason felt that kids should avoid books that had no educational or intellectual value. Instead, kids were to read “living books” – works that enlightened them and taught them new concepts.
Even though I love the CM method, I believe that there’s a place for “twaddle”. I’ve always been of the opinion that I want my kids to develop a love for reading. We can help them choose challenging selections later.
Eventually, however, it is definitely time to ease away from twaddle and into books that are designed to make kids think or dream. And that’s where we are with Tigger. So – here’s a look at our fifth grade reading list homeschool picks!
Choosing Our Reading List Picks
This year with Tigger, I wanted to encourage her to focus on some of the classics. She likes modern books like the Ramona series and “Smile” by Reina Telgemeier. And those are great books, but for her school reading list, she needs to be challenged.
During our public school experiment last year, Tigger got tested with the LEXILE reading system. Her score was within the 10th-grade range. However, she’s not quite ready for the advanced topics covered by high school books, so classics it is! I also added a few books featuring characters of color so she can have some figures to whom she relates.
I’ve only included 12 books on our “official” list, because I want her to finish one per month. We’ll be doing unit studies for each one (stay tuned!), so that will give us time to drop anchor and really explore each work.
Our Fifth Grade Reading List Homeschool Picks
1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
4. The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond
6. Black Beauty
8. Little Women
9. Kidnapped
And those are our fifth grade reading list homeschool picks! To get a look at our other reading lists for this school year, visit the posts below!
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What’s on your homeschool reading list this year? Share your picks in the comments!
This post is part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!
I will be getting most of the books on this list and have him start reading I am thinking Christmas presents. My son is in the 4th grade now but I want him ready for the 5th early
I’m glad you liked our picks! And I hear you on early planning. I’m already choosing books for sixth grade, which is A YEAR AWAY…lol.
My oldest is also going into the fifth grade, whatever that means, lol! She too, reads well above her grade level but I want to guard her heart and mind away from some of the concepts and life issues intended for more mature audiences. We live in a rural area with no neighbors and she is very outdoors-y. She has a super adventurous spirit so I thought we might pick literature along those lines, both to encourage her love of the outdoors, feed her sense of adventure and maybe even teach her a thing or two on the sly. They will get her “wheels roll’n” anyway. I want to give her more titles than I particularly want her to read so she has some choice. My problem with her is that she reads SO much I have to limit how much time per day she is allowed to read! :-0
Some of the titles I’ve been thinking about are: Julie of the Wolves, Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, Rebekah’s Diary: One Girl’s Record of Sharing Her Faith at the End of the Earth, Ann of Green Gables (librivox has a wonderful audio of this that we’ve already been enjoying!) and we’re also including the Herb Fairies, though not so much for literature as for learning herbs in a fun way. Herb Fairies is quiet a bit below her but she still finds them enjoyable (so far) and then we all have fun hunting for the specific herb we’ve read about. There are a couple of other missionary stories I’d like for her to read as well, like Bruchco (not sure if I spelt that one correctly), and maybe a biography of Jim Elliot. I don’t have my list in front of me, but these are the few I can recall. I hope I get to explore these books along with her! It’s been SO long since I’ve gotten to really enjoy reading as pleasure/leisure. I’ve not read all of these books so I’m unsure of the details in them. Perhaps I should enter them on the CM bookfinder and see if they come up??? Maybe that will speak for the books’ reputation?
The CM bookfinder is an excellent tool, so, yes, you can definitely use it to find out if they’re twaddle-free. 😉 Robinson Crusoe and Tom Sawyer are on our list for next year!
My daughter would probably be more outdoorsy if I was an outdoor person, which I’m not…lol. And we have to limit reading time here too! She’d stay in her room all day with a book if I let her. Of course, I’d stay in my room all day with a book if the kids would let me. 😀