Last summer, when the kids came home from their first year in college, I felt like I could finally say I had succeeded in my goal. “For fun” they went to the library to get some reading material. My son Alex read the entire Shakespeare collection, my son Kevin read CS Lewis and some Dostoevsky. I may have been stressed out when they were in high school, but I can honestly say that I achieved my goal: they LOVE reading. Yippee!
Blessings,
Lee
www.TheHomeScholar.com
Add this blog to your Technorati Favorites!
Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Lizzie says:
How refreshing to hear right now. I have a friend who is totally into it and really goes to town with her kids and I, well, I just haven’t yet. I just can’t bring my self to analyze books I love on the first reading. My dd read,To Kill A Mockingbird, because she wanted to, to tear it apart would have broken my heart and hers.
Especially since I am a WTMer, I had guilt.
June 9th, 2010 at 3:26 am
Lee says:
Hi Lizzie,
I found out after-the-fact that I was a WTMer as well! I went to her seminar and realized I was reading the books, doing the Latin… all that stuff! I just didn’t dissect the books, LOL!
I’m right there with you!
Blessings,
Lee
June 9th, 2010 at 5:29 am
KB says:
Oh, HOORAY!! I am SO glad to hear you say these things. Honest, good, hard-working Homeschooling Moms are doing the right thing when they don’t tear, claw, dissect and shred books the children used to love.
It is hard to get the children to read “classics”. You know, I thought “classic” meant “boring” until I was about 30. Suddenly it struck me that “classic” means that thousands of avid readers made a list of books they Loved and Highly Recommend. Comparing these lists resulted in a list of the “classics”. Talk about a lightbulb moment and a new discovery of Jane Austen!
But the kids most prefer Alex Rider, Young Bond, Redwall, and Maximum Ride series. Eventually they will hit more of the classics.
June 15th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Lee says:
I love what you said here, ““classic” means that thousands of avid readers made a list of books they Loved and Highly Recommend” – AWESOME!
Blessings,
Lee
June 15th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Colleen says:
You all have given me a great idea. We’ve had a reading incentive program going since my daughter started kindergarten — and she has logged thousands of books! But, she has gotten trapped in books that are of one genre and not too difficult to read. I will set up a new program for her this year that will allow her to double her rewards if she chooses to read from a list of classics.
Colleen´s last [type] ..Homework or Housework
January 23rd, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Melissa says:
Thank you for this blog! Our son is in 9th grade and we’ve HS’d since preschool. We have been a “living book”, “KONOS”, “Unit study” eclectic family and we decided to go with the “curriculum in a box w/ online streaming” approach this year simply because I thought he needed more structure and needed to get him ready for college. Well, I was wrong.
( We’re 56 days into the school year and he’s almost burned out. I’m tired of all the workbooks and tearing apart his reading every day. We are making a change!!!!!!!
I do have a question for you. Our son LOVES to read, however he loves the books that are in the middle school level, not high school. I will say that he just gobbled up “Fahrenheit 451″ this past month, but he seems to like the easier, middle school levels. Do you think it’s ok if I allow him to just read them? Maybe I should throw a harder one in there occasionally?
Thank you for all you do! LOVE! your site!
♥
Melissa
October 5th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Lee says:
Hi Melissa!
It’s a good idea to mix the reading level of books. Books below reading level can increase speed and fluency. Books above reading level can help keep kids challenged, and grow vocabulary. So in my opinion, give him a mix of books
I used Sonlight Curriculum, and that’s what they do.
Blessings,
Lee
October 6th, 2011 at 2:12 pm