Fifth Grade Reading List

This is the first year I am implementing required reading books for my boys. 

For fifth grade these are the books my son will read.
Most of these he will read alone but a few are part of our History read alouds.

• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• Cabin on Trouble Creek by Jean Van Leeuwen
• Sir Lancelot The Great by Gerald Morris
• The Silver Balloon by Susan Bonners
• Escape By Night by Laurie Myers
• Cora Frear by Susan E. Goodman
• Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
• Squanto Friends of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla
• Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
• The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
• The Beatinest Boy by Jesse Stuart
• The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angela
• Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff
• The American Twins of the Revolution by Lucy Fitch Perkins
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan 
• A Penny's Worth of Character by Jesse Stuart
• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

I chose them from The Good and The Beautiful book list. 

I decided to use this list as I wanted to give my kids books with good morals and values.

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Summer Learning

We are on our Summer break and will be until September 5th. Our Summer usually involves a lot of swimming, more electronic usage then usual, and lots of playing with friends. This year it includes all of those but we are also reviewing materials learned this previous year. 

We started our Summer by taking a break from the normal learning aspect and just really enjoyed our pool and time away from the homeschool room. As July hit though I realized we needed to implement a little review in to our days as I didn't want them forgetting important aspects from the last school year.

My youngest son is focusing on memorizing all of his multiplication facts. He is also working on his handwriting as it was a struggle we faced this past year and I really wanted him to work on controlling his pencil. I knew if I told him he was in control of how it looked he would do better and so far I have noticed a huge difference in his handwriting. He is also working on Summer reading. I don't give specific books to read but I do ask that he reads 30 minutes a day. 

My oldest son is mainly just focusing on Summer reading. He knows his math facts and I really just wanted to see him curled up with a book. I did assign him 3 books to read this Summer as he is entering 6th grade and I want to start some assigned reading this year. The books he is reading are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Dork Diaries book 11. 

I feel it is important for them to have free time to enjoy being kids and exploring. I also want them to have plenty of time with their friends, but I  want to see them learning and remembering what they learned the years before. I think that without some sit down time I would find myself having to remind them of what they know and be in a struggle when it came to certain aspects of homeschooling the next year.

What are your Summer learning plans? Are you still doing school or are you taking a break?