Our Read-aloud Book List for the 2024/2025 Academic Year

“I’m curious what your top three favorite subjects are,” I asked the kids one day over lunch.

We were nearing Christmas break, which put us roughly six months into our homeschool journey. Things were feeling a bit more natural and a bit less clunky, but I knew there was still work to be done.

Everybody’s second and third favorite subjects were unique (and always give insight into each of their personalities, which I love), but the vote for first place was unanimous.

Read-aloud.

I had a hunch that’s how it would land. Our time spent reading aloud together was my favorite, too.

It fostered our richest discussions and provided space for grand imagined adventures. It also gave me the opportunity to choose literature for specific content: characters with upstanding character, books with advanced vocabulary and word usage, a variety of new and old, fiction and nonfiction books, stories that challenge the way we think and expand our minds.

At the time we only had the opportunity to read aloud together when the littles were asleep for their afternoon naps. Hannah was two at the time of our conversation, and Martha was one. Long, uninterrupted stories are not yet their forte. But they’ll get there. :)

Knowing that reading aloud was one of our favorite ways to learn together, Bailey, Jensen, Hudson and I started thinking creatively about how we could sneak in more reading time during the school week. I began to think through what subjects we were doing independently (or not doing at all), that we could approach from a literature-based prospective.

Ultimately, we decided to start a tradition called Morning School.

Instead of rising together at 7:30 a.m., they began setting their alarms for 6 a.m.—an hour to an hour and a half before the littles normally wake up. They sneak to the kitchen table in their pajamas (“as quietly as little mice,” Hannah always says), and we read together for an hour and a half by candlelight with mugs of tea.

We cover four subjects together—Bible, Personal Growth, History and Literature. During Bible and Personal Growth, the kids take notes, writing down a favorite verse from our chapter in Scripture, and important points from the personal growth book we’re in. While we read for History and Literature, they generally color.

It was a transition, and it required a bit of a sacrifice from all of us as we wake early and make an extra effort to be quiet, but it’s been one of the very best adjustments we’ve made since we began school at home. And it exponentially increased the time we’ve been able to spend reading.

Between July and December of 2024, we spent just over 65 hours reading together. From January through the end of May (based on the amount of time we’ve currently logged), I expect to nearly double that.

I asked the kids again last week, and we collectively agree—read-aloud is still our favorite subject. :)

Here is a current list of titles we’ve read aloud together during the 2024/2025 academic year. I’ll update again at the end of the year to include what we finished over the next couple months.

1.     The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Literature)

2.     The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (Literature)

3.     The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (Literature)

4.     The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (Literature)

5.     12 Rules Bootcamp by Connor Boyack (Personal Development)

6.     Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Literature)

7.     Make Your Bed by Admiral McRaven (Personal Development)

8.     American Pioneers and Patriots by Caroline D. Emerson (History)

9.     Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Literature)

10. Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (History)

11. The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (History)

12. Tirzah by Lucille Travis (History)

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (Literature)

14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Literature)

15. The Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson (History)

16. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (Personal Development

17. The Young Carthaginian by G.A. Henty (History)