Reading Journals for Homeschoolers: A Path to Literary Exploration and Personal Growth

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18 Reading journal prompts to rocket your child into higher order thinking skills.

Using a reading journal in your homeschool classroom can be an effective tool for promoting reflective writing, critical analysis, and enhancing reading comprehension. 
Simply put, by using a reading journal, your student will engage with the text on a deeper level.  

What is a reading journal?

Reading journals incorporate writing, so they improve writing skills.
They also help to reduce writing anxiety; the student can be given a reading journal prompt to alleviate any feelings of pressure about what to put into the journal.
By recording their thoughts, children are actively engaging in self reflection and increasing their critical thinking skills.
They are also better able to remember the book and its events because they wrote about it.
These journals can be fun to read later, as your child grows to see not only their educational journey, but also what they felt was important in their lives through the connections they made.

How do I choose a reading journal?

There are a lot of different kinds of reading journals available.
First, consider your child.
How old are they?
What are their interests?
How do they best learn?
If your child is very young, you will want a simple journal with larger fonts and illustrated pages.
If your child is more creative, you may want a journal that encourages creative expression and has room for illustrations or drawings.
You may have a child who loves organization, there are reading journals designed with this child in mind, as well.

The big decision you will first need to tackle is digital or paper?
There are many apps and digital journals available if your child prefers technology.
Some journals actually offer online communities where homeschoolers can share their experiences and connect with others using the same journal.
To me, this says oversight.
You will have to oversee your child’s online activities even with a reading journal.

I like simple.

You can go out and buy a reading journal.
You can also just create one.
I love those composition books with the wide rule lines that are on sale at the beginning of the year.
I use them for almost everything!
Your child can decorate the cover and make it their own.
The only downside I see to this kind of reading journal is that there are no blank pages for pictures.

How do I use reading journals in my homeschool classroom?

In 52 Spring Writing Prompts, I quickly went over how to establish a writing routine in your homeschool classroom.
Many of the ways to develop continuity for writing are the same for developing continuity for reading.
With a reading journal you are blending the two.

1.   Establish a consistent schedule.
      I recommend that your child, based on age, reads a certain amount of minutes each day.
      It is helpful if your child knows this happens, roughly, at the same time each day.

2.   Create a dedicated space for reading.  
      Your child must have a specific space to read that they feel comfortable in.

3.   Know your goals and objectives.  
      This is key with the reading journal.
      What do you want your child to get out of the journal?
      Do you want them to reach the higher level thinking skills I discuss later in this article?
      Do you want them to engage with their reading?
      Do you want them to have a better understanding of what they read?     
      If your child has difficulty with reading, a reading journal that simply summarizes everything they read that day/evening is great because they can get  “caught up” the next day before they start reading again.

4.   Use reading journal prompts.   
      I like using prompts every fifth chapter or fifth day of reading.
      For the every day writing, have your child write an impression, thought, or quote they liked from that reading.
      This is also a great place for them to write any words they did not know.
      Use the once a week reading journal prompts to dive deeper.

5.   Talk with your child.  
      Have your child share their impressions and thoughts. 
      Let them know you value their opinion and are excited to hear what they are getting out of their reading.

6.   Let your child choose their own books.
      There are times when you need to encourage your child to read either a new genre or a certain classical book.
      However, when possible, allow your child to choose the books they want to read.
      This will increase their motivation and excitement about the entire process.

How is a reading journal different from a reading tracker?
This is a fabulous question!

Reading trackers are used to simply record the books you have read, when you read them, and sometimes they have a rating system.
Reading trackers are very handy if you are a voracious reader and cannot remember if you have already read a book or if you are reading a series and are waiting for the author to come out with the next book; you can check your tracker to see the last one you read.

Reading journals are very different.
A reading journal creates an interactive reading experience.
The student writes in their journal as they are reading.
They record any thoughts, likes, dislikes, questions, or connections to their own lives that come up while they are reading.

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Higher Order Thinking Skills

A reading journal can take “just reading” which is in the knowledge category, the lowest thinking level on Bloom’s Taxonomy to the highest level, which is evaluation.
I love looking at Bloom’s Taxonomy, so let’s veer over there for a minute.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different objectives and cognitive skills in education.

I am going to go through each one, give a brief description, and then give you an example of what that one may look like in your child’s reading journal.

Knowledge: This is the foundation of knowledge.

Words like recall and list are at this level.

Reading journal prompts for knowledge:
   • List the characters you “met” this chapter in your book.
   • Identify the setting of the story.
   • What are 3 new words you read? Were you able to determine the meaning based on context clues?

Comprehension: Now your child will demonstrate some understanding.

Words you will see at this level are explain and summarize.
All of those book reports where students just have to write a summary of the book-that is this level, no higher.

Reading journal prompts for comprehension:
   • Identify the problem or theme of the book.
   • Predict what will happen next based on what you have read so far.
   • Explain why you think a character made a certain decision.

Application: Learning is now getting exciting!

Your child has a foundation and an understanding, now they get to apply that knowledge.
Often this level starts with, “How would you…?”

Reading journal prompts for application:
   • What other way could your main character have solved their problem?
   • What changes would have to be made to this story if the setting were 200 years earlier or later?
   • If you were any character in the book, which one would you be, and how would you handle the situation differently?

Analysis: This is where we break the big down to smaller chunks and make connections to other things.

Compare and contrast or analyze are common concepts at this level.

Reading journal prompts for analysis:
   • Did this remind you of anything happening in your life or outside of the book?
     You are wanting them to make a connection between the book and something else.
   • Analyze the structure of the story. How did the author organize the events?
     Did they use flashbacks, foreshadowing, or other narrative techniques?
   • What motive did the main character have for doing or behaving the way they did?

Evaluation: Children naturally fall into this, it is their opinion. 

However, at this level you will want to help them develop it further.
You want your child to not only have an opinion, but to also defend why they have that opinion and to support it with evidence from the book.
Words like justify, decide, and assess are good words in this category.

Reading journal prompts for evaluation:
   • Is the title for this book/story a good one or a bad one, why?
   • Evaluate the effectiveness of the ending of the story.
     Did it wrap up the plot and leave you satisfied as a reader? Why or why not? Provide specific examples from the text.
   • If all of your characters were facing a natural disaster and you could only save one, who would you save and why?

Synthesis: Your child has taken in new information, now they need to create something new.

Remember those darn science boards?
At the very beginning you had to have a hypothesis and then try to prove it.
Hypothesize is one of the words for this category.
Your child will take what they have gleaned from their readings, connections, and their opinions and then they will hypothesize, or create, or think something related, but new.

Reading journal prompts for synthesis:
  • Create a new ending, or beginning, to the book/story that you like better, but that will also be true to who the characters are.
   • Rewrite the book from a different character’s view point.
     An example of this is “The True Story of The Three Little Pigs” by A. Wolf, a fun reading of this is on YouTube.
   • Design and illustrate a new book cover for the story.
     Consider the themes, characters, and important events. How will you visually represent the essence of the book?

Reading journals are invaluable tools that can transform the homeschooling experience.
By providing a platform for active engagement, critical thinking, creativity, and self-expression, reading journals ignite a passion for reading and lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
I would love to hear how you incorporate this valuable tool in your classroom and what benefits you and your children experience.

 “I is reading it hundreds of times,’ the BFG said. ‘And I is still reading it and teaching new words to myself and how to write them. It is the most scrumdiddlyumptious story.”

The BFG in The Big Friendly Giant (BFG) by Roald Dahl