Kody Hanner
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What should my homestead kids be reading?
Reading is a loaded question in the homeschool world. I get the questions on social media, have families ask me at conferences, and see the daily battles in homeschool groups on Facebook. Everyone has such different kids and different homeschool styles, and it can be a catfight, to say the least.
If you had heard or asked some of these questions, I might have some answers, insight, or simply some validation for you:
- Should we teach our kids to read before 8?
- Should kids only be exposed to classical literature?
- What are quality books?
- We were required to read Fiddler on the Roof as kids, and now they say it’s racist!
- Are graphic novels okay as long as they’re reading something?
- Is Harry Potter satanic?
- Are modern books considered twaddle?
- Where can I find clean stories with traditional families and values?
Our quest for good reading books
So, right off the bat, we are not crazy about graphic novels. There may be kids out there who can gain from them and ready enough of them that they’re getting some solid reading in. My kids, on the other hand, can not do that. I don’t know if it’s a lack of discipline or the mildly obsessive behaviors that come from them being neurodivergent; they will read the same graphic novel repeatedly until I literally throw them away. The best answer for us is to simply not allow them in the house.
However, teenage twins have always been avid readers who will pick up a nonfiction animal husbandry book or textbook on ag mechanics just for some “light reading.” And I have recently noticed my six-year-old son gravitating more towards foraging or bug identification books. This is great, but I also want them to be able to follow, regurgitate, or write a good story. This means that I am constantly seeking out books that might pique their interest and isn’t a romance novel that pushes the line of decency. I don’t even mind a romantic storyline, but some out there have made me blush. Let’s not even get started with the new lines of young adult reading material that include gender issues and non-heterosexual relations.
How do we choose reading books
For my younger kids, whom I am still reading aloud, finding some reasonable reading material tends to be a little easier. Either I can read through them quickly, or they are just simply age-appropriate. I still wish there were more books that related to the lives that homestead kids lead. Most books I find have a public school component, are set in cities, or discuss divorced parents. This is not the running theme for homestead/homeschooled kids. Not that there isn’t a place for these books, but I feel like topics such as divorce should be in books that I purchase to teach my kids about the topic. Our family is blended, but my goal is to teach my kids that these topics are the exception and not the norm. I’m even going to say that one of the series I plan on suggesting in this post starts right off the bat with a divorce situation. I still like the book because it is about hunting and the kid learning some great skills. But by the second page, I had to stop and explain to my five-year-old what divorce means, and now we worry that every time my husband and I have a disagreement, we are going to get a divorce. I could have skipped that part, but in my head, divorce was so common in my generation and life that I didn’t even think to paraphrase.
For my teens, I simply can’t stand in the store and read an entire novel to make sure that they aren’t going to read something inappropriate. Even more so with books I purchase online. Honestly, they have access to Amazon Unlimited and an audiobook app for dyslexic kids (Learning Ally), where I don’t question a lot of what they read. What I ask for, is that we chat about anything they are unsure or uncomfortable with so I can help them understand those feelings.
Books and Series we have read, or I know the authors and know where their heart is.
(I am not an English Teacher, so I can’t state grade appropriateness or if it meets a standard. My goal is to help you find books that interest our HOMESTEAD KIDS).
I will be adding new books as I find them and you can browse all of them in my Amazon store front.
Lower Grade Books
Homestead Education Stories
A set of 9 stories that teach kids about aspects of homesteading and rural life while encouraging positive character traits.
Amanda Radke Books
Her stories are related to commercial agriculture topics with a focus on beef consumption.
The Little Regenerative Farmer
The author has a regenerative farm in Virginia that she started after contracting Lyme’s Disease. She writes of a little girl who falls in love with regenerative farming practices.
Saw Dust Publish
Owned and operated by a homesteader.
Chicken Math
Margarita and the Beautiful Gifts
Middle Grade Books
Lane Walker Books
Libertarian Civic Books
Cajun Kids Books
Homeschooled kids living in the bajou
Hatchet Series
About a young man that gets stranded in the Canadian Wilderness.
Little House on the Prairie
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s treasured Little House series
High School
This gets a little harder for me to help with because so many “interest-based” fiction books are for younger students, and like I said, my kids would rather read The Storey Guides than a novel. So I suggest encouraging biographies by people in fields they look up to.
Another option is to integrate adult-level novels about hard topics into their learning. We use Prairie and Pine’s Curriculum to dive deep into hard topics through novels.
They have novel sets for Joel Salitin’s book “Folks, This Ain’t Normal,” 1984, Into The Wild, Fahrenheit 451, I am Malala, When The Stars are Scattered, and Brave New World.
Use code: HOMESTEADEDUCATION for 10% off
I am going to be on a mission to find some new reading material for my teens and would love to hear some input. However, I don’t think that we should shy away from reading about the hard things.
My reading list
I am on a mission to read as much as possible while creating for the next couple of years. I link them all in my Amazon Storefront and on my Good Reads profile. I will be diving deep into agriculture and child-rearing away from what was acceptable over the last 100 years.
