**This list is rough, and more details are coming soon!
I have always wanted STAR to be a “choose your own adventure” style curriculum. With that in mind, I have been studying literature like crazy–literature by Form (grade level group), literature by Cycle, and literature by word count. I started focusing on word counts because assigning chapters per week was not a consistent way of doing things. In our first year at STAR Homeschool Community, I saw that all chapter books are not equal, when parents thought the assigned chapters in Gone Away Lake felt way too long, compared to the other books we’d read that year. After that, I started assigning readings by page counts–but even that isn’t consistent, because one book might use a smaller font and a bigger page layout, and then it will take much longer to read than an average-sized book with the same page numbers.
Analyzing read aloud books has taken a lot of time, because I’ve researched the word counts for 491 books–so far!! Then, after finding the page number, I figured out how many 10-minute sessions it would take to read the book, allowing a couple of minutes for narration.
If you follow the Whole-Family Schedule for Purists (see Welcome & Getting Started), you will read aloud for 10 minutes at a time four days per week, and then 10 extra minutes on one of those days, for a total of 50 minutes over the week. You will want to choose books from Read Aloud: Four Days, 10 min each, and Read Aloud: 1 Extra Day Per Week, 10 min.
If you choose to do school for five days per week, you will want to make additional book selections in Cycle 1 Read Aloud: 1 Extra Day Per Week, 10 min.
The number in front of each book is the recommended form to read aloud to. Since I am a huge advocate for whole-family learning, I suggest choosing a book that you think all of your children will enjoy. I’ll be adding links and the author’s names very soon, and hopefully that will make your research a little easier.
I tried to choose several book options that are available for free on either Project Gutenberg, Heritage History, or LibrVox, though some of the books listed will need to be purchased. I will mark the free titles in the near future!
After you choose the books you would like to use this year, divide out the pages by the number of days listed. For example, for the First Book Choice, divide a single book’s pages by 34, or divide two book’s pages by 17.
Feel free to comment below with questions!
Cycle 3 Read Aloud: Four Days, 10 min each
Book Selection One: 34 DAYS
Choose One:
1- A Little Princess
1- Blue Fairy Book (½ of book)
1- The Red Fairy Book (½ of book)
2- Little Women (Part-finished in Book Selection Two)
2- The Wheel on the School
3- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
3- Madeleine Takes Command
3- Puck of Pook’s Hill
3- The Witch of Blackbird Pond
3- The History of King Charles II of England
3- Tree of Freedom
Or Choose Two:
1- Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
1- Toliver’s Secret
1- Landing of the Pilgrims
1- Blue Fairy Book (¼ of book)
1- The Red Fairy Book (¼ of book)
2- Sign of the Beaver
2- The Swamp Robber
3- A Gathering of Days
3- Om-Kas-Toe
3- The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
3- By the Great Horn Spoon
Book Selection Two: 53 DAYS
Choose One:
2- The Lost Prince
2- Little Women (Part-started in Book Selection One)
3- Robinson Crusoe
3- To Have and to Hold: A Story of Virginia in Colonial Days
3- Won by the Sword: A Story of the Thirty Years’ War (Part-finished in Book Selection Three)
Or Choose Two:
1-
Or Choose One from Column A and One from Column B:
| Column A (41-43 days) | Column B (10-12 days) |
| 1- The Secret Garden1- Heidi1- Impunity Jane: The Story of a Pocket Doll1- School of the Woods2- Little Britches2- Freckles3- On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness | 1- Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims (choose 2: 5 days)1- Phoebe the Spy (choose 2: 5 days)1- Little Pear (choose 2: 5 days)1- When We Were very Young2- Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children (choose 2: 5 days)2- A Lion to Guard Us2- Sarah Whitcher’s Story2- Mary Jones and Her Bible2- Bears on Hemlock Mountain2- Corn Grows Ripe (choose 2: 5 days)2- The Courage of Sarah Noble2- Socks2- Guns for General Washington2- The Rescuers2- The Cricket in Times Square3- The Family Under the Bridge |
Book Selection Three: 25 DAYS
Choose One:
1- Charlotte’s Web
1- The Saturdays (The Melendy Family #1)
1- The Four Story Mistake (The Melendy Family #2)
1- Then There Were Five (The Melendy Family #3)
1- Spider Web for Two (The Melendy Family #4)
1- All of a Kind Family
2- The Princess and the Goblin
2- Pinocchio
2- The Singing Tree
2- Stories of the Pilgrims
2- The Moffats
2- The Bears of Blue River
3- Captain’s Courageous
3- I, Juan Pajera
3- Pioneers of the Old South: A Chronicle of English Colonial Beginnings
3- Won by the Sword: A Story of the Thirty Years’ War (Part-started in Book Selection Two)
Cycle 3 Read Aloud: 1 Extra Day per Week, 10 min
Select from this list for each additional 10 minute chunk of reading planned.
25 DAYS
Choose another book or two from Book Selection Three: 25 Days.
3 Days
Choose One:
1- Matchlock Gun
1- Pocahontas (D’Aulaire)
1- Benjamin Franklin (D’Aulaire)
1- George Washington (D’Aulaire)
1- Christopher Columbus (D’Aulaire)
1- Aesop for Children (¼ of book)
2- Romeo and Juliet (Lamb)
2- Perciles Prince (Lamb)
3- Factory Girl
Or Choose One from Column A and One from Column B:
| Column A (1 day) | Column B (2 days) |
| 2- Merchant of Venice (Nesbit)2- Twelfth Night (Nesbit)2- Twelfth Night (Coville)2- Romeo and Juliet (Nesbit)2- Perciles Prince (Nesbit)2- Paul Revere’s Ride2- Kids on Strike! | 2- Two Gentlemen of Verona (Nesbit)2- Two Gentlemen of Verona (Lamb)2- Merchant of Venice (Lamb)2- Twelfth Night (Lamb) |
Cycle 3 Free Reading
Choose any of the books you have not used from the list above (go down a Form to make the reading easier and more enjoyable for your student). Or, choose from the following:
Form 1
a
Form 2
Bulletproof George Washington (Barton)
Buttons for General Washington
The Lost Prince
Noel Streatfeild books
The Melendy series
Emily’s Runaway Imagination
Frindle
Form 3
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Kenilworth
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Just David
Stories from Grandma’s Attic series
Andrew Peterson books
The King’s Book