What’s inside: Here’s help to find Charlotte Mason living books lists can be a challenge, but here are my favorite sources.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you find my content valuable and make a purchase through one of my links, I will earn a commission at no cost to you, which helps me keep this blog going so I can help you even more! I recommend products I trust and/or use myself, and all opinions I express are my own. Read the full disclaimer here.
What’s the problem with book lists?
Charlotte Mason living books are a great tool to use in your homeschool. But where do we find them?
Sometimes, books get on “great lists” and you might be uncertain of the suitability of the book for your particular family.
Our rule of thumb
You have to make advice work for your family. Advice is nice, but it may not address your specific situation. With that in mind:
Disclaimer
All advice and lists are simply guides. Take what works for your family and leave the rest. All of the recommendations may not be a fit for your family. Find what works.
Who should read living books?
I’m biased, but I think everyone should read living books. When we expose our minds to great ideas it opens up all kinds of possibilities.
Don’t underestimate children
With children it is essential to feed their minds.
We sometimes underestimate what they are capable of digesting. For instance, Shakespeare’s stories (like Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare – free audio book link) can be introduced in the younger grades, and that preps them to hear the actual Shakespearean language later on in their schooling because they already know the stories.
And some moms report that their kids preferred listening to Lamb’s book over Edith Nesbit’s Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare (link to free audiobook) even though Lamb’s version has more details and higher level of vocabulary.
So don’t be afraid of challenging your children with rich stories.
TIPS
For free reading, help your children select books JUST BELOW their reading level if they are reading independently. For AUDIO books or Read-Aloud family selections, select books HIGHER than their reading level.
Why?
- Free reads should be easy and help the child achieve fluency, so you don’t want them struggling. Also, you want them to like reading because it is a super-important skill for self-learning.
- Read-alouds or audio books are for the ears, not the eyes. The imagination can run freely in more complex literature. And it improves vocabulary. This is especially important if your child is reading below grade level (where you think they should be reading based on their age). No sense in depriving someone of the great ideas found in many books just because of a reading glitch.
Note: If they are struggling “at grade level”:
- Maybe you need to rethink what “grade level” is.
Let’s take an example. You have a 4th grader who can’t complete his reading assignments in a timely fashion.
- 4th grade is the year when many kids start to be able to handle a LOT more reading, so many curriculums increase at this grade.
- You still need to be able to get them the content. Just in less time. Perhaps an audio book. I “accommodated” my struggling dyslexic son for several years with reading.
- Caution: Giving your slow reader books below his grade level for lessons usually creates boredom. (Note: This differs from free reading where it is a book of their choice.)
- You will need to find out the cause of the slow reading:
- Is he reading correctly but slowly?
- Then you can try methods for increasing fluency such as speed reading, or free reading easier books to cement easier vocabulary.
- Is there a vision issue?
- One of my sons had trouble with his eye tracking. Vision therapy corrected the issue.
- Vision therapists also check for dyslexia, which can be a factor.
- Is the child simply dawdling or daydreaming?
- This can be an attention issue which can be addressed by many of Charlotte Mason’s methods, but again, take care because sometimes dyslexics are “accused” of dawdling. Correction should be gentle so you can get to the cause without damaging the desire to learn.
- Is he reading correctly but slowly?
A long time ago, I heard an informative workshop by Dianne Craft who specializes in struggling learners. Her approach is to attack the issue on all fronts because everyone’s brain is different. And while there are typical patterns, sometimes a child matures at different rates. So if there is a vision issue, try audio learning. And crazily enough, sometimes if there is an attention issue, the brain needs more fat in the diet. (Note: this is a huge oversimplification, but my point is that a child has more than one way to learn.)
However, this is an area where you might need outside experts to help your child. I do recommend checking in on Dianne’s free assessments to see if it’s a cause that you can help fix yourself, or if you need stronger help. And it’s not a bad idea to attack it on many fronts.
Meanwhile, on to where you can find good books…
Have you seen some of the book ratings sites?
I often use two websites that have general lists of books with suitability ratings. These won’t tell you if a book is a living book, but it will tell you if it contains swear words, etc. I knew a homeschool mom who would mark pages “not to read” for her kid!
Hey, whatever works for you, great. I don’t think that would have worked for us 🙂
Ratings sites:
- Common Sense Media: I’ve been using this site since my boys were little, for movies at first. The site added books. It really helps when you can’t give a title a pre-read.
- Plugged In: This is from Focus on the Family. Again, it helps if you need specifics about a book suitability.
Both of these sites can help you if you’ve never heard of a book, but they won’t tell you if it is a “living book”.
Book List of Books
I’m mentioned it before, but Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook is excellent and has a long list of books detailing appropriate age ranges and genres. If I had little ones, I’d get a nice used copy of the 8th edition, which almost costs you the price of shipping plus a little bit.
Where can I find curated lists of living books?
Here are my top 5 websites for giant lists of living books. If you’re looking for a great book, usually these sources can help you out.
- Ambleside Online
- Our Journey Westward
- Simply Charlotte Mason
- Living Books List
- The Unlikely Homeschool
You can’t go wrong with any of these sites.
More Detail
Ambleside Online has complete free curriculum with detailed booklists for each age and subject. Now that my kids have graduated, I still enjoy using the lists to see if I’ve missed any great books. I’ve found a number of older titles that I had never read.
Our Journey Westward has multiple lists sorted by themes or ages.
Simply Charlotte Mason and Living Books List both have searchable databases, which can be really useful. Searchable large lists are so helpful when you are looking for really specific books, like “My 4th grader loves historical fiction about WWII.”
The Unlikely Homeschool has lots of different lists of living books and gives away a free “No Twaddle Book Lists” by age.
What about curriculum with living book lists?
As I mentioned, Ambleside Online has a full curriculum using living books free to anyone.
Other curriculums can be purchased that are based on living books. We always used AO because it let us tailor the curriculum to our needs and because I liked checking a book out of the library before it became a part of our home library (I wanted to make sure we liked it.)
But I’ve heard of people who’ve had success with “in a box” curriculum that was living books based. My Father’s World and Sonlight are the 2 that come to mind, but there are others out there, and more have grown since we were selecting curriculum. We did use Apologia for science for several grade levels, and that seems to be in the living book style.
Just my 2 cents.
Where to go from here?
Having a few good sources of living books lists can help you in a pinch when you want a good book to read or when your kids need a free reading book. The book lists are also great to use when you are at the library and want to check a book for approximate age or reading level.
Enjoy your next book!
