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Letters from Egypt discouragement
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Is there a good book with which to replace Letters from Egypt? I loved the idea of it, a missionary in Egypt. But the language is so difficult that even I have to stop and figure out what and why she is saying something. There are just too many words and phrases that need explaining to make it feasable to read, even to my 9 year old. Am I missing something? I am new to the Charlotte Mason method.
I gave up on it after the 3rd letter for the same reason…love the idea of the book, but found the writing very dry, boring, and at times confusing…neither me nor my son were getting anything out of it because it just didn’t keep our focus….we haven’t replaced it yet.
Some have used Sojourn in Africa in its place. I have dd12 reading Letters from Egypt and I plan to read Sojourn with my younger kids.
Here is just my HO:
You can also try reading shorter portions at one time. One of the most helpful things that I have read on the Charlotte Mason Help website is that if the book is a little challenging, allow it to stretch your brain by just reading a page or two per day. This is how our minds can GROW to appreciate higher levels of literature.
That being said, one can only have so many of mind-stretching books on your list -we only include about two per term out of all the dozens of books we have going.
I hope that this is an encouragement to you, Janessa.
Lishie, it does help. I was going for that, but at this moment, just a paragraph is baffling us 🙂 We’ve had a lot of transition around here, so I will tuck your thoughtful idea away for another year when there isn’t so much new going on!
I read it last year with my (then) 10 and 8yos. The 10yo enjoyed it, but I don’t think the 8yo got much from it. A few of the readings were over my 10yo’s head, but she wanted to continue with it when I gave her the choice.
We read a biography on David Livingstone as well as Mission Stories with the Millers to add to their geography studies…I think either of these would be nice options.
Actually I’m feeling that way about this book as well. We are in the midst of Letter 4 and I am reading out aloud to my 7 and 9yo, with 4yo listening in. (I read it over a meal so they are all a captive audience, lol). It is definitely not a favorite, and one of those “stretch” books.
Just yesterday I was thinking about posting something here about it. lol But it always seem like just when I think it is dry, something cool comes up, like today when she was describing how the sycamore fig tree must have been similar to what Zacchaeus climbed up to see Jesus because of its proximity to the road and its lower branches spreading out making it easy for someone short of statute to quickly climb up.
So…I don’t know. For now, I guess we will press on, but I am going to look at the other book mentioned.
(And because it says “Simply Charlotte Mason” on the back cover, my kids all think that THIS is what CM books are all like. lol I had to explain that one!)
@ original poster: One of the great things about SCM is that they heartily recommend that you use only books that speak to you and your children and that you all are actually enjoying.
Sometimes it does take a few chapters to get the rhythm of book or an author’s style. But no book choice is set in stone, and you shouldn’t ever feel bad about replacing something that isn’t coming to life for you.
We tried this book when my oldest was 8 and got about halfway through before I stopped reading it. He said he liked it but, I’m not sure that he got much from it. As long as we were cuddling, I could read the phone book and he’d enjoy it. He’s always liked cuddling and reading. I just could not make myself reading anymore. We’ve read other “high level books” that we’ve both liked.
I agree! It wasn’t a fit here either. Perhaps if we had been doing CM all through the years and was using this for 6th grade then it might would have been a great book, but not for a couple of newbies lol.
Thanks! This is all great. Can I say I am so so thankful, more this year then ever, thankful for forums when it comes to homeschooling. Even if people can’t give me the answer I want, you help me think through it and not feel like a crazy person.
“Just yesterday I was thinking about posting something here about it. lol But it always seem like just when I think it is dry, something cool comes up, like today when she was describing how the sycamore fig tree must have been similar to what Zacchaeus climbed up to see Jesus because of its proximity to the road and its lower branches spreading out making it easy for someone short of statute to quickly climb up.”
–sorry about the quotes, I’m not sure how to quote on here. I love this comment! This is exactly how we felt about the book. I loved the part about Zacchaeus and also the families sleeping in the fireplace to keep warm in the “winter”…and several other similar passages. Those are why we kept going with the book, even though it was a bit dry in places.
If it weren’t for those interesting passages, we wouldn’t have continued…and I have a feeling if my 8yo were my oldest, we would have skipped it as well.
We enjoyed it when my dd were 10 and 11. It was hard because we weren’t used to some of the words, or making our imaginations work to “see” it since we had just started HS after textbooks at the PS, so I did break up the readings occasionally. But we did persevere and we learned a lot.
I had them draw pictures of the gardens she described, or the women with their veils and their jewels, what the bazaars looked like, etc. while I read and they listened.
Like HollyS, we learned several things that made Bible passages more interesting and understandable.
I think that children about 5-6th grade and up might get more out of it. If you truly can’t make it work for your family, then stop and find another book. You are teaching a child, not the curriculum.
I could read the phone book and he’d enjoy it.
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I just had to say this gave me a good chuckle! 🙂
I love the interesting tidbits thoughout the book as well. The way it made since of the passage in Deut. 11:10 where it talks about watering the seed with your foot. And casting the bread upon the water.
The part about the water being bewitched gave us a good chuckle.
My dd is 8 yo. We take our time with the letters in this book; spreading them over 2-3 days each.We do the same with the commentary books. The reading are just way too long and though not quite as complicated as LFE, still too much for one setting. I have long since given up on using Gen-Deut as a school curriculum as it would take up FOR.EV.ER to get past Egypt. We are mostly using it as a Bible/History curriculum.
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