Literature: age appropriateness/difficulty? AO….

I don’t have older children but I did a Bible study with a friend who was not a strong reader and would ask me to read oub loud and she would follow along. She grasped so much more of the material that way. She was obviously an auditory learner. I have observed in my children that my middle child is a visual learner and can simply read the words and get it, but my oldest (while he can read fine and as you said enjoys books that he chooses) learns better if he hears it out loud and follows along. I think with more difficult literature it really enhances their understanding if this is their learning style. Perhaps you could try some audiobooks? This would also increase her reading ability as she hears the correct words being spoken as she follows along. I have another friend who listens to audiobooks a lot too and she is a very intelligent and well educated person who happens to be an auditory learner.

Tara

I wasn’t knocking the AO lists, I have them and refer to them as well, but they are geared rather high.  I just think that slowing it down a bit and using the free audiobooks from librivox would help her enjoy it more.  =)

I agree with you Bookworm, even if my previous posts don’t sound like it.  I DO NOT think that Kidnapped or Oliver Twist should be skipped – if they are too hard now, save them for next year.  I just think that we need to try to keep our children in mind and not so much the lists, or maybe I should say scheduling of those lists – my almost 12yo would probably collapse if I handed her one of those to read, she’s simply not quite ready.  She probably will be in a year or so.  If I slowed down the amount read and allowed her to follow along in a book for a set amount of time, she’d probably finish it at a much slower pace than recommended.  And I agree that being a real resource is important!

I think that listening to the books while following along can greatly enhance a person’s comprehension.  I find that I enjoy several books more if I listen to them aloud, especially Shakespeare.  He just begs to be auditory! =)  I also agree with Tara about auditory learners.  Does it really make a difference if you read it silently or hear it aloud, as long as you are learning from it?

Although, I think Gina’s question is basically this: if I replace the book, what do I use of equal challenge that she might enjoy more (and finish, lol) right now?  

My oldest is 12 and if I had not started reading aloud or using audiobooks with him, I don’t know where we’d be with the reading/comprehension process.  He is definitely an audio/hands on learner.  He has such difficulty decoding words and would miss out on so much (that he actually enjoys) if I did not read to him or have several audiobooks to choose from.  Now he does read alot to himself but for the lit, like A Christmas Carol, which we’re reading right now, I find he gains much more pleasure having it read to him. 

Now my middle boy prefers both (depends on the book/time of day, etc).  He usually comprehends best when he reads to himself, but since he’s on the young side (he’s still into imaginary friends, etc.) he’s not quite ready for most lit geared for his age.  I read aloud to both of them and use many audiobooks to cover more ground and learning styles.  

I don’t want to say that I’m glad that they need me to read to them so much, but I will say that I enjoy our time together.  It does give us more reasons to be together, and the years are slipping by so fast, sigh.

We also love to listen to the Lamplighter Series of audiobooks (haven’t read any yet, just listened) and they’re always set in some time period in the past, it seems anyway.  My kids love to listen to those, especially my oldest. And, they seem to have some Old English going on…correct me if I’m wrong, ladies, please.  We just finished Sir Malcolm and the Missing Knight and my kids loved it, although it seemed shorter than Charlie’s Choice, it was still wonderful.  I’m ready for another one, but we have One Wintry Night in audio and my kids want to listen to that for now.

The girls have enjoyed Dickens and are both avid readers, I have always aimed the bar quite high in literature, but should also say the girls are avid readers and are huge CS Lewis fans and have been reading him for years – those who do not like reading as much may need to wait a little, but Dickens is a wonderful writer and hopefully they will enjoy him later if not now. The only books my girls really did not like were Treasure Island and Moby Dick, but everything else they have really enjoyed. As Bookworm says, as a parent I think it is important that I have read these books as well – for me I had Shakespeare and Dickens and Chaucer in high school in England, so I just needed to jog my memory, but it does help if you are familiar with some of the books. So my suggestion would be, put it aside if she is having a really hard time with it, choose something else – but then you read it now, so that later when she comes back to it, you will have the familiarity. I would not let her skip too many books though, that can make a lazy reader….she should be challenged a little and we often in life have to do things we don’t enjoy:)))