Today we'll visit a much lighter topic! I remember when we had a few young children and the evening culminated with the much awaited story before bed time. As those few kids grew older, we decided to delve into more challenging reading, such as the year it took us to read the entire Little House series outloud! I think it was somewhere between baby four and five that the reading aloud dissappeared. By then we had some independent readers and quite frankly, by bedtime my husband and I were just too tired to read aloud anymore.
It was about two years ago when we rediscovered reading aloud. Now we incorporate it into our daily school schedule. After lunch everyone gathers around and we read a chapter or two from a novel. We try to tie the book into something we are studying in school, or the book we are reading may lead us into studying some new topic. I personally like to pick novels that have movies that were made of them so that we can watch and compare them to the original book. Most often we are quite dissappointed. The first book we read aloud was "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis in anticipation of it coming out in the movie theatres. Even though many of the kids had already read it on their own, everyone still looked foreward to that daily time. (This time we weren't disappointed by the movie!) It still amazes me that I can capture the attention of everyone, from my highschooler to the youngest toddler, just by reading out loud. The one rule we have is that no one, not even me, can read ahead. Let me tell you, that has been hard to do at times!
So, if you are interested, here are some of the books that we have read and the subjects that we have tied them into. If you also read aloud as a family, please feel free to pass any of your ideas on to me so I can pass them on to others. If you don't yet do this, or if it has gone by the wayside, I would like to encourage you to start. It has been a great experience for our family.
U.S. Geography - "The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clarke Tribe"; World Geography - "Around the World in 80 Days"; Civil War unit study - "The War Within"; Survival Unit Study - "My Side of the Mountain", "The Other Side of the Mountain" and "Frightful's Mountain".
God Bless!
Hi Laura! We, too, have been trying to read aloud as a family but we're too tired at night. Thanks for the suggesion. Does your high schooler listen to the read aloud after lunch, too? Also, for you and anyone else reading this comment, there is a lovely, small, museum at Wheaton College for C.S. Lewis fans, George McDonald and Dorothy Day, too. "The Stup" (snack bar) has the best ice cream around. And in the warm weather (what's that?) it's a lovely campus for the children to run around. Parking is the only challenge, but not impossible. Keep 'em comin' Laura! God bless, Dolores H. And, let us know when you come to Wheaton College!
ReplyDeleteYes, my highschooler is usually one of the first ones sitting down, although I'm not sure if it's because she wants to get out of other work or because she enjoys it so much!!! (Just Kidding, Amanda)
ReplyDeleteThat is a really great idea! Yet another one to stash into my brain til later :). Oh, also, I just noticed your intercessors - one being Our Lady of Perpetual Help. That's one of my mom's too. When I got back from Austria, I had brought back a beautiful icon of OLOPH, and I was SO excited to give it to my mom for Christmas. Well, about a week or so before, I happened to be looking around the living room and noticed right in the middle above the fireplace sat a nice looking icon of OLOPH! So, I let out this half yell, half exasperated whine and Mom asks me what's wrong. So, I told her that I what I bought her in Rome and she laughs a little and points to yet another one in the kitchen, one in the dining room, another one in the den, and says she thinks she might have one in her room. So, when I got married, I took one with me :). Anyway, I just wanted to share that humorous story with you :)! God bless!
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