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How to get modern day kids interested in older books?
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So I have been HSing for 2 years now with kids coming out of traditional schools(part christian, part public) and I absolutely LOVE all the old books that are great for our kids to read( yesterday’s classics, living books curric, and all the great living science books that just got posted. I don’t really know how to get my kids interested in reading these types of books, much less books in general:( I was planning on using SCM mods for history but I am wondering if there is a better curriculum to merge my kids into reading more and reading older books. Or should I just jump right in and require them to read whatever I assign? I could sit and read all day so I am just so upset with kids who don’t want to read. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Binky
Binky, how old are your kids? I do believe you should require them to read what you assign, but do make sure it’s not stretching them too much in terms of language. If you feel it’s too much of a stretch, don’t be afraid to go back a year or two in the book suggestions, as you get them used to the more formal language and style; I’ve had to do that for one of my boys who’s struggled with language and speech.
On the other hand, it might be a nice idea to make sure you have some colorful things in there too, with more modern language, to break things up a bit. Not twaddle, you understand, but it’s possible to find good, solid material in living book style that’s not as old or formal as some of that good stuff you mentioned that we love too. You may be able to draw from different booklists (Sonlight, AO, SCM, Higher up and Further In, Heart of Dakota) to find living books for their readers that might appeal to their different interests or sensibilities.
That said, I have kids who have varying degrees of interest in reading (which I could do all day). One is a voracious reader who will read any and everything; another loves his schoolbooks and sometimes reads for fun, and two who will read what I assign, but not much more. So we keep setting their “feet in a wide room” and trusting the good books will do their work. 🙂 Will your kids listen to you read? We do always have a read-aloud going and that may help whet their appetites for some good books as well.
Don’t know if that helps much.
Blessings,
Aimee
I use somewhat of a combo. I like the SCM history readers and my kids enjoy reading those on their own. For literature, I use mostly AO. They usually have a few scheduled books per year on their schedule that stretch (but don’t frustrate) that they are required to read during school time. Then before bed reading is a basket of AO free reads (lighter) or SCM, etc. books that they can pick in any order and don’t have to narrate. Good luck, I know it can be challenging:) Gina
Aimee,
Thank you so much for your heartfelt reply. I have been feeling really overwhelmed trying to make curriculum choices for next year. My kids are 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 2. I hav elooked at all those book lists but feel really lost in when and how to schedule readings so I generally lean towards programs that spell it out for you I.e. boxed curriculums but they are so expensive. At this point I would like to combine my kids as much as possibly to really encourage more family bonding as well as maybe reducing the costs each year.
My 15 yo and my 10yo are girls. The rest are boys. They tend to be very rambunctious and noisy for read alouds and the youngest cries a lot if I am not reading the book he wants to look at or doing something for him. I think he will mature and grow into this as he sees us doing this on a regular basis. They all love for me to read aloud to them in a one on one setting but it’s not family togetherness and when all together they get rowdy. And I don’t really have all day to do 1on 1’s. I must add that my 10, 8 and 6 year olds are not strong readers yet so I can’t really turn them lose with a book.
Right now I have two read alouds going Little House in the Big Woods for my 10 yr old daughter and my 8 yo sometimes sits in. Little Britches for my 8 yo and my 6 yo. My 10 yo has no desire to listen. They all(my youngers) love our bible story read time 🙂 should I be trying to read books they ALL will like or make others sit in even if it’s not their favorite book? Maybe it doesn’t matter as long as they are all being read to.
Thanks so much for your help,
Binky
I had the same thought when I started last year. But it proofed to be only my concern, not my children’s. I started with stories they are familiar like Winni the Pooh, Alice in Wondrland etc. For the boys you might start with Narnja or the Hobbit. So don’t worry to much about a certain list and go with what you know may catch your children’s interest.
Blessings Christine
Gina,
I like the basket idea. But do you require them to read out of the basket or just if they want to. I read somewhere else of a mom who put together quiet time baskets that had books and different learning activities for them to do so they they would learn independent learning and researching I think this is a fantastic idea But I would be at quite a loss of what to put in it.
Changing the subject a bit…I know that doing these curriculums are going to cost money but I am like someone else said a book snob and I like to buy more than library or ebooking but does it really come out cheaper than buying a curriculum boxed already? Do you have recommendations on where to find books. We have goodwill bookstore and one old paperback store. Do you come out cheaper still if buying through amazon do you think?( as opposed to running all over to find books) I have 8 kids and can barely get done what I need to do everyday.
Thanks Gina for your thoughts.
Binky
Binky, I do feel for you on that! One thing that may really help is to look at SCM’s book Laying Down the Rails on habit training; it’s helped me hugely around here to put some of this stuff into practice. The idea of sitting together quietly for read-alouds is a habit that you’ll likely have to build up to if they’re not used to doing it nicely together, maybe starting with smaller chunks (so that they can behave nicely during that time) and gradually building. Perhaps littlest can have something special like a puzzle he doesn’t usually get to play with during that time as he learns this is quiet time for him too.
Our kids don’t always agree on the read-alouds; there is one during the day that I read, which usually correlates with our history studies, and another, in the evening, which my husband reads and is usually a classic, things like Little Britches or Pollyanna, or a missionary story. It is tricky for your age range, and it’s possible you might want to split into two groups, with the oldest three, and youngest, listening to different books. The daytime read-alouds, I require narration for and it’s schoolwork, so they have to listen. The ones most inclined not to listen get to narrate first :-).
I get the rambunctous boys! 5 of my 6 are boys, 4 homeschooling now. At one point I realized I was raising my voice more than I liked during those times when they’d horse around during read-alouds, and I needed to break the cycle. I did two things. One, I became more stragetic about where I placed them in the room (thankfully I don’t have to do that anymore), and two, I would just stop reading, put the book down in my lap and wait quietly until they stopped. They knew this gig from driving – if it got too noisy, I’d pull over to the side of the road and sit silently until they settled down, and they’d start to say, “Ready! Ready!” And then I’d sit for one or two minutes more, silently, with them silent, before I’d drive. Thankfully I don’t have to do that anymore either! In any case, at reading time, I’d put the book down and sit quietly, and whoever was being attentive would look up and start elbowing or signaling whoever was goofing around, or I’d clear my throat for attention, ’til that child would look up, apologize and stop. The “goofer” might lose a privelege if he was really pushing it, and that started to sink in. A funny thing, if I have a cold and clear my throat, I get the immediate attention of any of my children in the room now, including my 19-year-old daughter LOL, I apparently have them trained.
I totally get what you’re saying about programs that spell it out for you. I am recognizing more and more how challenged I am in executive skills (planning, etc) and how much better school goes when it’s planned out and I have the books on the shelf. This year we combined our two 11-year-olds and our 14-year-old in a Heart of Dakota program for that reason (the older boy with extension reading) and it really helped me stay on track, and for me, was worth the money. Our 9-year-old listens in on their scheduled read-alouds and can draw or work on handwriting during that time, but he also has his own read-alouds we do together at another time.
Blessings,
Aimee
Wow. Thanks Aimee! Is hod good for high school level? Do you have a high schooler yet?I have looked at it several times and really like it. I especially was interested in the living books chemistry for my 12 yo son But didn’t want to buy the guide just for that. Could I use hod for ALL of my kids or would I have to run an older and a younger program for it to work for us? I guess I will have to go back in and look at it. Does it tend to combine the older books with the newer books or do you have time to add others in?
Binky
Binky, you’d have to run several programs but could likely combine a few of your kids in levels; they’re not big on combining but we had good luck with it this year. They have charts to help you decide. Many people do use HOD for high school, you would just have to adjust the math, science, and LA assignments, and there are several threads on their message board about what different people have done. It does seem to combine both older and newer books, and we’ve used their history and read-alouds as written, but I’ve scheduled in my kids’ own literature reading assignments from lists like SCM and AO. SCM’s history modules might be another choice for you, and then everyone could be on the same “page” for history; I hear great things about it, and it’s also less expensive.
Blessings,
Aimee
HI Binky, I am now schooling my youngest five kids… 11 yog, 10 yob, 7 yog, 6 yog, 3 yob. We do lots of read alouds here. Here’s a few things I have learned:
- Ease them into it. We started out by reading Story of the World during breakfast. These were short, interesting, and did not challenge them too much as far as vocabulary and writing style. This got them into the routine of listening to oral reading. I chose to do it during breakfast while they were occupied because this was 3 years ago and I had two very young ones. I would then do Science reading while the little ones took naps later in the day. When they were very little, this was all the reading aloud that I could manage. My husband read to them at night while I put the little ones to bed. As the little ones grew, I would usually have an older kid sit with them with some quiet toys while we read.
- Give them something to occupy their hands. I always make sure they have something to keep their hands busy. This helps a lot. I have several “quiet boxes” that they can just go grab and sit down with while we’re reading. My girls like to do handwork, latchhook, knitting, scrapbooking, etc. while we’re reading. My sons usually color in Dover coloring books. I buy those because older kids like to color them. Especially for visual and kinesthetic learners, it is very hard to just sit and listen to a book.
- Make sure that you are reading good books. Not every book is good for reading aloud. Some are better reading to yourself. If we start a book and I see that it is becoming drudgery, I just tell the kids that it’s not a good read aloud and that they are free to finish it on their own if they so choose.
- Not every book will be loved by every kid (or mom, for that matter). All the kids have to sit and listen to whatever we’re reading. Occasionally, someone doesn’t particularly care for a book. I just remind them that they will probably love the next book we’re reading.
- Let them read in bed. Give the kids a clip-on reading light and let them read as long as they want to before going to sleep. You will be surprised how much reading they do when they realize they get to choose for themselves when to go to sleep. They are required to stay in bed.
- Let them choose some of their own books. You will notice that the more high quality books you are reading to them, the better their own choices become. My older kids can’t bear to read lame books anymore. If they check them out, they quickly realize they’re no good and decide not to finish them.
- This is probably the biggest thing I have noticed. I have been around a lot of kids in the last few years because we have done several co-op activities. The kids who don’t like to read are the same kids who are constantly talking about movies, video games, and tv shows. We have all of those things in our house, but they are very limited. I almost always tell my kids to try something else first before resorting to one of those things to entertain themselves. I am not against those things, but I do believe that a little bit goes a long way. If you are used to easy entertainment, I believe it is very difficult to engage with a good book.
We are at the point now that I tell my kids, “We’re reading in 10 minutes,” and they just go get their quiet stuff out and meet me in the living room. We all enjoy our reading now, most of the time. As far as them liking older books, they don’t always like them. And I don’t either. The books in the SCM guides are very good books, and I can’t imagine a curriculum that would be easier to use with many different ages of kids. When you have so many levels to keep up with in Math, Language Arts, and other basics, I think you should do whatever you can to make the rest of the subjects easier on yourself.
Shani
Binky, what we do is before bed most weeknights the kids read for about 1/2 hour from the book basket. In the summer, I try to have 1/2 hour of reading during the day sometime. I prefer for them to read these books, but if they are just plain not interested I am willing to sub in something else, as long as it’s a classic/living book. The basket just has books…mainly AO free reads or some SCM choices. I like the other learning activities idea. We just have that sort of thing around the house.
I do think it’s cheaper to hunt around for books, but yes, it does take more time!! I look everywhere. I have a wish list and post books on Paperback Swap (works out to only a couple $$ per book…but have to plan ahead and be patient). Whenever I’m at Half-Price books I browse their cheap rack where they often have classics for .50 or so. I garage sale and belong to the CM Yahoo Group (books often pop up there). I’ve also found a couple good sellers of cheap classics on VegSource. I find some things on http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com. I also re-sell my materials when done. I buy years ahead if I see a good deal and am pretty certain I’ll eventually use it. By doing this, when it’s time to buy for the upcoming school year there’s often not a whole lot I need to buy….and I’ll check the above sources or Amazon, or Half.com to see who has what I need the cheapest.
However, I only have 2 kids. If I had 8, I honestly don’t think I’d be able to do all this. And you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck since you’ll be re-using w/more kids. If you have time to shop around and that’s what you need to do, that’s great. But if it’s too stressful and you can afford to buy w/o comparing prices I’d do that:) I don’t particularly care for packaged curriculums because I end up tweaking too much and I think the instructor guides are often over-priced…but that’s just me:) SCM guides are so inexpensive in comparison to most I’ve seen. Sorry to ramble! Hope something was helpful! Blessings, Gina
Thanks Aimee! Thanks Shani! I like the SCM for history for that very reason but then I am stumped for Literature. should I just follow, for the first year, the Lit provided on the SCM guide. Is it too much to use HOD for lit, science, etc and SCM for History, Bible, Geography? Also, is there anything wrong with doing a writing program like IEW to help kids write better in their written narrations. My 12 year old is a horrible writer and I don’t really know how to teach it. We will begin this year doing oral narrations for the first quarter then move into written narrations but along with that I thought I would give him a year with the IEW student intensive program just for some guidance.
Binky
I don’t think I’d use HOD just for the lit and science. NOEO science has some similar science packages if you like that style of science, and you could easily choose some of the books for lit from the HOD or any other list and schedule them – or use the SCM lit guides. I use them loosely as my kids have read some of them from different modules, but they have great suggestions. I don’t use the literature analysis program from HOD; we just read and narrate and that can be done with any books. I don’t have any experience with IEW; we’ve used Primary Language Lessons for our younger kids, followed by Intermediate Language Lessons for grades 4-6. Years ago I used Wordsmith Apprentice with one of the kids (cute). Maybe some of the other gals will have more suggestions.
Blessings,
Aimee
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