Another literature question

She may be getting something from them, but she is not getting from them much that she can take with her for life.  I know, I used to “eat” books like this, and I wanted to be left alone with them too.  I was essentially eating candy.  I only took in what I wanted and left anything “hard” behind.  That didn’t serve me so well later in life–I’ve essentially forgotton completely probably 80% or more of what I read.  She is obviously bright–she CAN at her age narrate and discuss books, but she is likely not to WANT to, because it is harder work.

I was concerned about this exact thing when I began investigating Charlotte Mason’s ideas.  So I decided to set myself a test.  I read for six months just like I always had–gulping books in succession as quickly as I could.  Then I “tested” myself.  Then I set myself to read several harder books, but forced myself to read them slowly and do written narrations over them.  Then I “tested” myself over those.  I was blown away by the difference in what I remembered and in what I actually understood. I thought I was smart and remembered a lot–until I did it the other way and noticed what I’d been missing!  I quickly began to interfere in my sons’ preferred book-gulping too.  I do let them read the occasional “light” book quickly, but the “big stuff” needs to be lived with, thought over, considered, to be really internalized.  I want the truths of excellent literature permeating my mind and heart–not just a dusting of literacy on the surface of my skin. 

I encourage you to consider trying this same experiment yourself and also propose it to her.  Again, it is definitely more WORK and that may be daunting.  She may very well object.  Most of us would rather do something the easy way.  But I don’t think book-gulping is good preparation for college and life.  My kids balked a bit at first, although they were younger than 11 when I stepped in. 

I encourage you to try a “book group” approach instead.  Make a mommy-daughter date time and read a chapter or two of a book and have tea or treats or something and discuss.  Try to make it an attractive option and see what happens.  Discuss, and then set a time to read the next bit and discuss. 

Ha, I posted right after Bookworm and she’s full of wisdom as usual!

What great insights here – how helpful – I am dealing with and have wondered about the exact same issues with my 9 yr old.  I have been a little concerned that she is just skimming some of the books she reads.  This gives me a solution!

Alicia

What a great topic. I know that I retain more when I take notes. Thank you.

I am reading The Secret Garden with my 10 yr. old dd. It has been such a lovely experience. Each day I read some and she reads some. We discuss vocabulary while we read. Then I have her look up definitions and write them down later. After reading I ask ?’s about the characters, the differences between them, changes in them, the setting, and the wording of things. Dd planted her own little garden when we planted our big one, and she tends to it each day. She drew a picture of what she thought the garden looked like when Mary found it, all overgrown. She looked up some of the flower names that we did not know; research and drew pictures of them. She also wrote her own nursery rhyme, since “Mistress Mary Quite Contrary” is mention often. We looked at pictures of Yorkshire moors on the Internet. It has been a lot of fun. I definitely encourage you to make it a mother/daughter thing. And get creative with it.