Inspired by reading challenges offered by many public libraries but limited to people in those specific communities and the success of our 2023 Reading Challenge, GSHE is organizing a 2025 Reading Challenge for NH’s homeschool community!
It is just for fun, to help young readers explore new authors, subjects, and genres. Our monthly challenges will be very broad so families may choose whatever book they wish and feel is appropriate for their children.
Participants are not required to complete book reports, give oral presentations, create a formal project, or send in anything to GSHE. Families are free to incorporate our reading challenge into their child’s learning as they see fit. If you choose to keep a record of participation, it can be part of your child’s homeschool portfolio!
Participation
For 2025, GSHE will not collect reading logs, track participation, or issue a year-end prize. Families are free to extend the Reading Challenge in any way they wish; perhaps provide a monthly incentive to encourage your child’s reading such as a new book if they complete all monthly challenges.
For kids that are not reading independently, audio books and books you read together are perfectly fine. Any reading ability is welcome to participate.
Let’s get started!!
For March, the reading challenge is to read some fairy tales!
Fairy tales have an important role in literature: they cultivate the imagination; address moral lessons and values; speak to basic human conditions such as love and loss, good vs evil, responsibilities and consequences; impart lessons of hope and redemption; and share fundamentals of how the world works. They can teach children a variety of important lessons in simple ways that are easier for them to understand and remember, such as how to solve problems and be resilient.
They may also be one of the earliest types of literature introduced to young children and many originated as oral stories passed from one generation to another. Because these stories are relatively brief, they are accessible and memorable.
Fairy tales often have multiple variations, perhaps because many originated as oral stories, so it could be an interesting study to read different versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, or Rumplestiltskin.
Although many fairy tales are introduced to children, they have deeper and richer meanings that make them appropriate for older readers, too. The layers of meaning are what make fairy tales enduring and culturally significant.
Fairy tales also are found in all cultures and span the centuries – Ancient Greek and Roman mythology may be the oldest examples. There are anthologies of Irish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and African fairy tales and folk stories. It might make an interesting study to read several from a variety of cultures.
Hope you enjoy this month’s challenge!
Suggestions
Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Aesop’s Fables
Arabian Nights
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Greek and Roman mythology
Into the Woods
Jack and the Beanstalk
Little Red Riding Hood
Mother Goose
Peter and the Wolf
Rumplestiltskin
The Princess Bride
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs