Help in appreciating the classics

I have the same problem! I have not read many of the books that I am reading to my children so I will be glad to hear what others say. I do know that I tried reading Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson twice, not to my kids but to myself, and I had to stop both times. The second time I was 3/4’s of the way thru but just couldn’t take it any more. I told myself that I am not going to like every single book and I shouldn’t let it bother me.

I did read a version of Robin Hood to my kids that was very difficult for me to read as the language was old English but they loved it! Lol. So I kept going and we finished it. I also read Swiss Family Robinson to them and while they enjoyed it it got long and tedious to me. Maybe it was just the version or maybe it is just those authors.

Well that link did not work and when I typed it in it did not link.  If you go to charlottemasonhelp.com then on the left side click on Mother Culture, then click on the article titled “Mother Culture What it is and What it Isn’t”

Hope you find it helpful.

We incorporate lots of audio books into our day, too.

My 9YO has listened to four or five different classics this year.  Currently he’s listening to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Even my 13YO, who often has a lot of books going at once, listens to some audio books.  His current selection is Kidnapped.

Librivox.org is such a great place to find quality audiobooks for free!

It may just be the book 🙂 we tried to read that aloud quite a while ago and it was a bust. My middle boy who loves books with animal characters did not care for that book, either. He may try it again but we’ll see.

I think that sometimes when we can’t get through a book it’s the way it’s delivered.  For example, I couldn’t READ Pride and Prejudice — I just could NOT do it!  But, I borrowed it on CD and listened to it – what a difference! I thoroughly enjoyed it…..and I had the same experience with the Scarlet Letter.

With my girls, I tried to read aloud Anne of Green GAbles – I never even finished the first chapter!  And yet, I had read and re-read all the Anne series.  I loved them as a 5th, 6th, 7th grader.  So, we found Anne of Green Gables on Librivox and listened to it — again, that was the ticket.

I have tried to read Wind in the Willows out loud, but my girls must not be ready for it – they begged me to stop.  So I did.  And I’ve heard that several times about Wind in the Willows – to not read it too soon.

If I were you, I wouldn’t give up!  If, when you’re pre-reading, you think your children won’t enjoy you reading it aloud, then get a dramatized version (Little Princess, Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, etc. are all done by Focus on the Family Radio Theater.  Others are well-done by Lamplighter Theater.).  And then, after they know the story line, you could have them read it to themselves or read it aloud or listen to it.

We’ve also watched the movie first and then read the book (and had a discussion on which we liked better; what the similarities and differences were, that type of thing.)  We’ve also compared and contrasted Anne of Green Gables by FotF Radio Theatre and the audio from Librivox – – I think Radio Theatre adds some things.  (I hate it when they do that!!)

Good luck!

I think that it’s just a process. I know for myself – being raised on the junk that public school had to offer, plus their over-analysis rather than enjoyment of the books and the real junk that teens of that time period picked up for fun – I had to really work to grow my ability to read the classics. It’s been so much easier for my kids who were exposed to the good stuff right away. Plus they didn’t have the added issue of balancing the learning with all the rest of the stuff that can take over our brains as homeschool moms or the fatigue that we frequently fight.

What I did: I read as many aloud as my brain could do – starting with the easier classics and working my way up to harder ones. I assigned those that I couldn’t deal with yet to my kids to read to themselves.
Eventually my older kids did pass me in their ability to read and understand some of the harder books but I was still able to converse with them about the hard things since I had been reading and improving myself. And I’m finding with my youngers that I can keep up and I can understand more now than with my first few.
It’s been a hard process but so worth it! And it’s proved to me the value of having them start with the “harder” non-twaddle books (harder in parenthesis since, interestingly, they haven’t been hard for my kids).

Recently, we finished our first Shakespeare play – A Comedy of Errors. I HATED Shakespeare. In high school, we had analyzed Romeo and Juliet until it was dead. But we did ours the CM way. It was great! My oldest 5 (ages 18-10) thought it was hilarious even in the original language. My next two (ages 7 and 5) liked the story form of it although they didn’t understand all of the original language one. And I enjoyed it too, enough that we picked another one to do next year.

-Rebecca