Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

This topic has 10 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 11 months ago by clay1416.

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June 26, 2013 at 4:45 am
Kristin M
Participant
Please share how you keep your kids only reading good literature…
When I go to the library with my 4 kids, age 20 months to 8, its kind of crazy keeping up with everyone. Especially my boys have been gravitating towards Ninjago, Pokemon, Garfield, Geronimo Stilton, etc. etc. My oldest who used to love good books told me when I got him an Imagination Station book he hadn’t read, Oh, mom, I don’t like to read that kind of book any more. I immediately went through his library pile and took most of them out.
Do you all ban your children from reading those kinds of books? How do you keep up with their voracious reading appetites? He reads 2+ hours a day. Help!
June 26, 2013 at 1:29 pm
RobinP
Participant
I pretty much ban most twaddle. (I realize that will be defined differently by different people) but the same way I strictly limit junk food for the body, I am very particular about what goes into their mind. Thankfully we don’t really have that temptation because I never go to the public library. My boys have their choice of over 16,000 downstairs. But I wouldn’t feel badly at all about saying, “nope. Sorry.”
June 26, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Threekidsmom
Participant
When we go to the library, I tell my kids they may check out only one “silly” book. I didn’t think my youngest would know what I meant, but she figured it out pretty quickly!
June 26, 2013 at 2:05 pm
JennyMN
Participant
I’ve had to ban certain books if I see that my child is developing an appetite for them (it has happened with Calvin and Hobbes). But if they develop a taste for good books, they generally won’t want to read the twaddle. Now, how to develop that taste?
One way is reading aloud. Thoughtfully pick a book that will draw your child in. Generally, I don’t let my girls read ahead in the read alouds. But, sometimes I will start a book and then let them finish reading it to themselves.
I do think there is a vacuum of good living books in the beginning chapter book stage, which may be where your child is.
June 26, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Tristan
Participant
We try to keep twaddle out of the house mostly, with an occasional book allowed to be read (think of it like food, having dessert once every few weeks instead of living on a diet of it). But what that means is I have to make time to find wonderful living books and have them here in abundance on a variety of topics for my kids. I get online to order library books so I have a stack of quality ones ready when we show up, then we can browse for a book or two. We keep tons on our shelves too. And one thing that gets my children into a book I want them to read sometimes is to read the first chapter and then hand it over saying “if you want to know what happens get reading”. 🙂
June 26, 2013 at 7:06 pm
mama_nickles
Participant
We do like Tristan. I love selecting books online at my leisure rather than trying to pick with 3 small children at the library. I look at a bunch of booklists online, and also usually have amazon open in another window so I can read reviews and sometimes “look inside” to make sure I like it. Sometimes we just read the ones from the hold shelf, and other times I’ll tell them they can each pick 2-3. It’s funny that when I let DS pick, he picks ones he thinks he will like (boxcar children, for example) and then often doesn’t even end up reading them because he likes the ones I pick better.
Another thing to keep in mind is that they may prefer nonfiction to fiction. I know my DS really enjoys history books, and he would pick those over most fiction.
June 26, 2013 at 8:55 pm
junkybird
Participant
I do like some of the others. We never go to the library as a family. I find lists and suggestions and then I have them put on hold at my local library. I go all the time and pick them up. Our library has an awesome online tool for making your own lists. So, I have lists for just about every subject and Module already waiting for me to check the “request this” box. When I see a suggestion on this forum, or somewhere else, I go right then and enter it into one of my lists to check out later.
I found that when I would take my 4 kids, they would just pick out the books that were on display on top of the shelves simply because they liked the cover. So, we don’t do twaddle at here either.

June 27, 2013 at 12:16 am
kjdevore
Participant
I’ve just about banned modern fiction in our house. I exaggerate, but only a little. 🙂 The boys kept grabbing the most horrid books off the shelves, and I would put them back. I steer them towards the science section of our library now. I’m not saying there’s no twaddle there, but it seems a different kind of twaddle, if that makes sense, and it rounds out our science studies. We have lots of books here, and there’s plenty of old, free history and literature available online. I consider a cheap eReader worth the price for that alone.
June 27, 2013 at 2:47 am
jmac17
Participant
I’m a bit more relaxed than some others. I don’t outright ban twaddle, but I make sure there are plenty of alternatives. I also reserve the right to say no to anything based on questionable content. There are a few things that my kids just love, however, that I consider twaddle, but I let them read them. An example is a series called “The Puppy Place”, about a family that fosters dogs until they find their ‘forever home’. It’s pure fluff, but the message is good and they are fun. A little treat is okay. They have limits on how many books they can take from the library, however, so the twaddle is controlled. My DS will take out every “Puppy Place” books he can find that he hasn’t already read, but he is also working his way through “The Hobbit”, so I’m okay with that. DD loves Magic Tree House books, but just finished the “Among the … People” series and now working through the “Twins” books. I aim for a balance in favor of quality, but don’t sweat about a little fun. They are actually moving more toward the non-twaddle as they mature.
Another thing I do is require a certain amount of reading as part of ‘school’ that must be from a list I provide.
As someone else mentioned, an eReader is a great help. Each child has their own and they are chock full of great books!
Joanne

June 29, 2013 at 5:04 pm
cdm2kk
Participant
I have explained the differences of the books and just like food….What goes in….will eventually come out. So I probably would talk with my son and ask the question, “What is it about these books that you like so much? the adventure? the sillyness? the random thoughts that have no plot what so ever? LOL then I would try and find wholesome books that provide the same thrill so to speak if possible. My son age 7 likes fly guy & bad kitty. They are funny for his age, so for just the comedic sillyness, I let him read them, but he can’t just read them. Basically he isn’t allowed to ban the good stuff and I wont ban the bad stuff. That is the deal. 8-P
June 29, 2013 at 8:34 pm
clay1416
Participant
It’s so good to know that I’m not the only one who hates going to the library with my kids! Isn’t it sad? On one hand I want them to appreciate their local library, but on the other the library itself makes it so hard! They only have a little area for classics, dumb/twaddle books are everywhere! Before I knew about CM I used to go to the library every week and let my kids get anything they wanted (of course always checking what they got). I HATED those books with their repetitive words, no story, made only to sell…and for a while I resigned myself to that. Thank God I found CM in my quest of having my child read better books. But the library trips suffered from that. Now we don’t go as often, maybe once a month…and still I hate it. Maybe I should stop taking them altogether…until they can choose more maturely??