I recently picked up a high school textbook called "American Literature" to see what public school kids were reading these days.

First of all, it was HUGE - much bigger than the dictionary.  Yikes!  No wonder kids have back pain!  When I looked inside, I had fond feelings for my own high school honors English teacher.  I remember her reading aloud, and how fun she made everything.  I remembered reading Shakespeare plays as a  lass, each student taking a part.

Then I remembered reading only one or two books a semester.  Wow - really?? Can that really be all that was required?

The American Literature book I was looking at seemed very fun, but it did NOT contain whole books.  There were multiple books mentioned and  discussed, but the textbook only provided selections and excerpts from the book. Interesting.

When my sons got to college, and began the University Scholars Honors Program, studying the great books, they did have one complaint.   Excerpts. In our homeschool, we actually read BOOKS.  From beginning to end!  (I am not making this up!)

It's fine to include book excerpts on your reading list.  You can include the word "Excerpt" by the book if you like.  It's Ok to have a book list of 6 books a year.  It's ok to have a book list with 60 books per semester. Some parents choose to include textbooks as well as literature.  You can include all reading: for school, for pleasure, magazines, newspapers, current books,  great books, classics, and "fluff."

Including a variety of books on your book list is helpful.  I have had colleges say they want homeschoolers to show they have read at least some current books, to show they aren't too sequestered.



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