The Secret Garden

Shari, personally we simply read the book as written and discussed as we went along. We do this with all of our books. I try to preread books my kids read individually so we can have good discussion, but because every family is different it’s hard to give specific advice like this bc what offends one is not offensive to another, even amongst conservative Christians. Our family has read or listened to most of the SCM selections up through year 6-7 and we have no problem reading and discussing these books. My best suggestion is that you preread and determine what you are comfortable with AND edit on the fly as needed.

Blessings,

Christie

I am agreeing with Missceegee. We read aloud and discuss everything. We talked about how she came from India and this is what she had learned to do instead of prayer. People still do these things and, being from a missionary family, I want my children to know how to think about these, spiritual, cultural and religious issues from a Christian point of that will also help to point others to the one true way. We discussed how we use prayer, not mindless chanting, to communicate with God, among all sorts of other issues that were brought up from this chapter. I am not sure if I communicated my true thoughts on this clearly enough for my satisfaction, but this is the best I can do right now! ; ). I sincerely hope you are not offended by my comments.

Blessings!

-Miranda

We’re only about 8 chapters into listening to The Secret Garden (thank you, Librivox!). But I read it as a child — I can’t think where the chanting occurs.

What chapter is that in?

For the record, I’m in agreement with the “read it and discuss it with your Biblical explanation” camp.

There was an article in the classical magazine from the Memoria Press people about how reading lots of books is not nearly as dangerous as only reading a few….and this was one of the reasons why — here is an opportunity to teach your children as you wish them to be taught. Personally, I’ve found that exposure (through reading) to viewpoints different from my own has provided me with the wherewithall to explain why I find it objectionable. Not that I’m questioning my beliefs; or flirting with the occult or anything like that. But as these objectionable things come up, I find that because I’m reading a lot of books, I can pull ideas from everywhere and come up with reasoning and explanations easier.

Did that make sense??

I would also like to add that even though I skipped the actual section when I read it aloud (since they were so young and I don’t repeat stuff like that), we still discussed what I had skipped.

So later (as in current time, 5 years later) my dd has reread it on her own and the subject matter wasn’t a surprise to her, she knows it is against G-D; as we have discussed the occult when it’s come up; like when Saul called up Samuel using a witch and even someone in our own family who is a practicing neo-pagan.

And knowing the viewpoint of an author is always relevant, IMO. An author’s or an artist’s personal worldview mattters. Helps with teaching discernment.

I know many people don’t like abriged verisons of books – but just in case anyone might like another option, there is an abridged verison of the book published by Dover. I have not seen it myself, but for some families it may be worth checking into. (And hats off to Christie – well said!)