Do you read all your kids' books?

Nicole,

Personally, I don’t read all the books my kids read–as much as I know I would probably enjoy most of them very much. I rely heavily on the word of ladies I trust on this forum and on the SCM Bookfinder when I’m going to be buying/assigning books for my children that are unfamiliar to me. In fact, we discovered the Crispin series of books by Avi this way. It was another mom on here who had her son read them during their study of the Middle Ages, so I bought them and my son has loved them and is currently halfway through the second in the series. There are some books that I insist upon reading, so I save those to be family read alouds so that I make sure I have the opportunity to discover them alongside my children. But goodness, my son is the most avid reader in our family; he would never have anything to read if he had to wait on me to pre-read!

NO !  I should but I have 7 kids and barely have time to read any of my personal books.  I trust this family of forum friends, other personal friends and other reviews.

I wish I could cause I also would like to read them, but not enough time.

I’m in Lindsey’s camp.  My sons are such avid readers I would be seriously depriving them if they had to wait for me.   Having said this, I do as much “digging” as possible in many cases where I haven’t read the book.  (especially if it’s a meaty book)  In addition to info on this forum, literature lists from other “living literature” curriculum providers, Christian book lists, Honey for a Child’s Heart and such sources, I have also found when in a pinch I can usually find a book review or even a full plot summary via Wikipedia or other book review sites.  As much as getting recommendations from the forum, friends and other sources helps (a lot), I have found it is ideal (for me) to at least know the plot and main characters/main message of the books my boys are reading.  Helps us to have better conversations about the books when they choose to chat with me about them… 

Note, this is my rule for “leisure” reading.  For books I assign to them for school silent reading and chapter by chapter narration I try VERY hard to read myself as I find this gives me a better understanding of the quality of their narrations (although I don’t “correct” their narrations I find it fascinating to observe what they see as important in a reading versus what they choose to leave out or emphasize less). 

HTH…  Angie

I try, but it’s just not always possible, and I’ve only got one reader so far!  If something is really new to me or I don’t have a lot of information about it, I will definitely read it, or at least skim it.  But most of the time I go by reviews from other sources.

I’m glad Nina posted above and asked this question on whether reading our kids’ books impacts our ability to assess their narrations.  I hope we get some answers from the other CM experienced Moms on here as I’d love opinions on that point in particular.  I do see that most on this thread are saying that we don’t need to read all of our kids’ books, and that we shouldn’t stress over it.  I agree in my heart…

But most often, in my head, I can’t see a way around it… I feel this need to read/skim my kids’ reading assignments (for school) because I don’t seem to assess the strength of their narrations as well without having done so.  I’m not trying to make work for myself; it would certainly free up my time if I didn’t have to do this!  (and believe me I don’t do it for every book…because really, who can?)  But having done it both ways (some books I read/some not), I feel as though the narrations don’t mean as much to me when I haven’t got a good handle on the book.

Overall, on narrations – I think my kids are quite strong (particularly the oldest two, age 9 and 10).  I see both of them stating a lot of details, speaking in complete and nicely composed sentences, and giving incredibly vivid descriptions.  The oral narrations can go on for upwards of 10 minutes sometimes!  Clearly they are “living” their books.  But… if I haven’t read the book myself, as much as I THINK the narrations are strong, I never truly know what they choose to leave out;  I never see/know which plot developments or other descriptions are not memorable to them. 

So, the question is, how do I know how strong the narration is if I don’t know what the child left out on an assigned chapter/book?  Is it really as simple as knowing that they did well on the narration if it is detailed, well-composed, lengthy and enthusiastic? (believe me, I would love it if someone would say yes)

I really, really love that a CM education places so much value on what our children observe and make connections with in their readings; I don’t sweat it at all if I hear a narration where some of the chapter content is left out.  To me, whatever is left out just happens to be whatever they connected wtih “less”. 

But somehow, even though it doesn’t matter a great deal that they left it out, I still feel as their teacher I’m supposed to KNOW what they chose to emphasize versus omit, or what moved them deeply versus what struck them as nonsense.   I would love it if the others here on the forum could tell me whether this is truly unnecessary, or whether it’s the ideal but not necessary all the time. (or any other comments!)

I started out reading everything they read.  It was ok the first year, but after that there were just too many books to pre-read and I felt my time was better spent doing other planning / work on their behalf.  All of our History, Science, Shakespeare, Plutarch and Poet/Picture/Hymn/Folksong are all done together as a group.  I don’t see an issue.  I have them read aloud their written narrations often (to me, to one another) and I ask questions if I don’t follow what they’ve narrated.  Or their sibling is aloud to ask a question in the same manner.  That seems to be an effective way to show them the strength of a their written narration.  They’ll often make notes on it either of the questions asked or of details they really meant to include that were important to them. 

My children were in school for a time.  At first narration was puzzling to them too.  They will still sometimes ask “Don’t I need to prove that I know this or that?”  I assure them if they read it and have absorbed it and created a “hook” to hang more and more on in later years then that’s awesome.  “What?!”  But in schools we ask them to tell us back very specific ideas and details that some “we” somewhere has decided are the best ideas and details about any said subject.  You can see how this goes …

I always wanted to know who decides on what the Amercian cannon of education should be anyway?  Who cherry picked the things we hold so near and dear as true measures of an educated child?