Would you have considered yourself "well read" as a child/teen?

[Sue G in PA]

My dh and I got to talking this evening while my dc were at a neighbors playing. We actually got more than 2 words in! :D Anyway, we started talking about reading and books we'd read as children or teens. My dh, whom I always assumed was much more "well read" than me...admitted to only "skimming" the majority of the books assigned to him in high school! :001_huh: He said he was just really good at getting the jist of the plotline based on discussions in class and could "read for the test"! Here I always considered him this literature "guru"! I thought back to my own high school days and had to admit that I "skimmed" the books as well...using the comprehension questions we often had for homework as a guide. So, how many of you would consider yourselves "well read" as children/teens? AND, how many of you are playing "catch up" now and reading, for the first time, those great literary works that we're making our own dc read? :D Come on now...fess up! It's time to come clean! LOL! I'll start: I never read Tom Sawyer, Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Scarlett Letter, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, Lord of the Rings series or Chron. of Narnia, etc. Only book I remember reading cover to cover is Watership Down! I'm so bad. BUT, I'll say that I'm interested in reading them NOW!

[chiguirre]

I read most of the literature assignments, mostly in excruciatingly boring chemistry lectures:D. I remember reading The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter and loving them. Actually there were very few books that I didn't at least like. I do remember ditching the Iliad after the catalog of ships (what was my freshman English teacher thinking????) and sticking with the Cliff's Notes.

 

Now that I'm an adult, I'm glad I read those books when I was young. They did shape my thinking and taste a lot more than I would have credited at the time. I wish I had been given more thoughtful guidance in my reading as a teenager and I do plan on doing that for my kids.

 

I once sat next to a highschool girl on a flight who was madly trying to skim Madame Bovary before we got to Miami. I gave her the Chiguirre Notes version (to be helpful) and recommended that she actually read it once her paper was done (to be really helpful). I hope she took the advice, because Madame Bovary is a wonderful book and definitely shaped my personal philosophy.

 

Geez, this sounds pretty pretentious just to say that a lot of those "classics" are actually great reads and you'll never forget them. You might even learn a thing or two about living your life to the fullest.

[Ottakee]

I read a LOT as a child/teen. My grandmother took me to the library but not my mom. We had a poor school library---very tiny K-8 school with 65 kids. I did read some from our teacher's library. I also ordered lots of books from those book order things---most not great literature though.

 

I wish I would have had more guidance though as a teen as I read lots of books that were not the best for a young impressionable mind. There were many other great books I could have been reading instead.

[Antonia]

No. I looooved to read, but was given no guidance as to what good literature was. We read a bit in school, but not much.

[In The Great White North]

I read all the assigned books. And tons of others. By 2nd grade, I was adept at holding the book just under my desk so I could read in any class (not just chemistry lectures) . I listened with half an ear, so I could answer if the teacher called on me. It worked really well til I got caught in Freshman English in college! And at my college, they actually cared!

 

Looking at the Great Books lists, though, I do think I missed a few:001_smile:. My reading level has dropped because I've spent so much time pre-reading books for my dc. I really need to read "real" books again!

[Kate CA]

No, not really. I read and enjoyed (for the most part) all the assigned books I had to read in high school, but I didn't read quality literature for fun. I did understand things like Shakespeare and The Scarlet Letter when my peers mostly didn't but I only read those kinds of books when they were assigned (sadly). I think I would have really enjoyed many of the books my own children are now reading had I been directed (or forced-LOL) to read them. :)

 

FWIW, I don't have to force my oldest two to read much as they do love to read and have made some very good choices on their own. Only this year have I finally said, OK, you have to read _______ because I just cannot read them all out loud anymore! :) I think it helps that they see me now reading a great deal. I love love love to read and that can be contageous. :)

[Tracey in TX]

I was a voracious reader, yet did not read the classics other than a select few for an excruciatingly difficult lit class. LOL Hope to introduce good literature to my children at an early age, so when they're required to read the classics it's not intimidating.

[ncmomo3]

I'll confess with you Sue. I wasn't required to read very many books in high school - Scarlett Letter, House of Seven Gables and a few Shakespeare plays. I am doing MAJOR catch up now and loving every minute of it. I've read Jane Eyre, Dracula, Iliad, Great Expectations, Tom Sawyer, Old Man and the Sea this year. I'm slowly getting there.... it is just wonderful.

True confession over. --whew --- I feel better.

[Carol in Cal.]

I moved away from the classics completely and did not read them willingly until I was in my 20's. This was because of two horrible experiences.

 

One was being coerced to read "David Copperfield" when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I hated that book with all my might. I thought it was unbearably dark and depressing, and I did not enjoy any aspect of it at all. When I read "Little Women", which I loved, I could not believe that LMA's characters actually liked Charles Dickens. It was inconceivable to me. I refused to read anything else he wrote until I was forced to study "A Tale of Two Cities" in 9th grade; and although I enjoyed that very much, I still have not read his other well known works to this day.

 

The other was being forced to study "The Scarlet Letter" in 7th grade. The teacher was an English major just out of college, who had a passion for American literature but was unable to teach it at our level. We were completely overwhelmed by his treatment of this book. Again, the darkness and the analysis paralysis stopped us from appreciating and enjoying the good writing. He also had us read and study a collection of Hawthorne's short stories, which were even more depressing. I didn't read any more Hawthorne until I saw the actual house of the seven gables in Salem and decided that I should read the book just for completeness (I was 23 at the time.) I still haven't read anything else he wrote.

 

So, starting in 8th grade, I made a considered decision that I just wouldn't read anything that was termed a classic unless it was required for a class. And I stuck to that for many years, and missed out on a lot of great books in the process. I still got a 5 on my AP English exam though! And I still read avidly, far more than anyone else I knew, as I had done since I first learned to read.

 

But I was not well read anymore. I read trashy stuff, and non-fiction, and a few lightish 'better' pieces here and there like "Cyrano de Bergerac." Looking back on it, I wish that I had had someone to talk about books with, so that I would have been able to get better guidance at my own level. And now, I am providing that for my DD. With her, if I say, "You are going to LOVE this book," I have great credibility because I really, really know her and I really, really know books. I am being for her the person that I wish I had had for myself.

[JFSinIL]

YES! Once I outgrew the Bobbsey Twins I went straight into Steinbeck, Twain, Dickens, Betty Smith, and everything I could get my paws on (including The Godfather, which my mom thought she had hidden! ;) )

[dangermom]

I was a big reader, but if anything said "classic" on it I wouldn't touch it. "Classic" was a synonym for boring, as far as I knew. Which is sad, since I actually loved the books I had that no one had told me were classics. It was the label, not the content.

 

I read a heck of a lot of fantasy, though. I'm really good at fantasy!

 

I went to a pretty bad school and I skipped the American Lit year of English in high school (I went abroad). So by graduation, I knew Fahrenheit 451, 3 Shakespeare plays, Beowulf, and some poems. I loved Anne of Green Gables. And then I went and became a literature major with no idea of how to do it!

 

To this day I'm very weak in American Lit--I took exactly one college class in it, and it was very modern (On the Road! Howl!). I read the Scarlet Letter, though.

[Rhonda in TX]

But I also read a lot of trash. I did not skim (still don't). I remember reading:

 

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Great Gatsby

A Tale of Two Cities

The Prince and the Pauper

Alas, Babylon

For Whom the Bell Tolls

My Antonia

The Scarlet Letter

some Steinbeck (but not Grapes of Wrath)

 

I'm sure there are others I can't remember.

[chickenpatty]

No. I looooved to read, but was given no guidance as to what good literature was. We read a bit in school, but not much.

 

Same here. I only remember reading excerpts of books in my Literature textbooks. I'm making up for lost time now, though.

[nutmeg]

Does Peanut comics, Trixie Belden, and teenage romance qualify as "well read"?

 

Yeah, I didn't think so. :tongue_smilie:

 

So, yes, I am playing catch-up right now, joyfully reading along with my daughters all of those books I missed the first time around.

[Stacy in NJ]

I not only read all the lit assigments but usually read ahead and finished the book well before the class. As a Freshman in high school, my study hall classroom was the room of the Junior/Senior English teacher. He left copies of their reading assigments in the room. I read them all, including Peer Gint and The Doll House by Ibsen.

 

I'm a life long book buff, but I still wouldn't consider myself "well read".

[elbac]

I read constantly when I was a young. Unfortunately, I don't remember much of them being classics - I am however, admittedly horrible about remembering names of books. I do have a lot of books I'm reading for the first time with the kids though. I am glad that they'll be exposed to them, and as much as sometimes they'll grumble before we get started, it is so gratifying when at the end of the book, they excitedly tell me, "that was a good book!" While in my head I'm thinking, "neener, neener, told you!" lol

 

Unfortunately neither of our kids seemed to have inherited my love of reading. I remember telling dd about how in 5th grade I came across Gone With the Wind at the school library and read it (in addition to going to school) in 2 or 3 days. When she saw how thick the book was she stated something to the effect that she thought I was crazy. But you know what, I loved every moment of that book, even at the age of 11 or 12.

 

My mom used to get upset with me, because she knew if I started a book Friday night, and didn't finish it before I went to bed, that I'd as soon as I woke up Saturday morning, I'd have my nose in the book until lit was finished. Hey, at least I was staying out of trouble! :D

[JennifersLost]

Yes. I read everything. As a teen I probably went through a dozen books a week or more. I loved reading classics and read many more than assigned "for fun". I've always loved language and the older the book, the better the language as far as I was concerned.

 

I also used to go to the library and grab books from the stacks that were so old their titles were rubbed off the spines. I would go home and see what I'd found - kind of like a treasure hunt.

[angela in ohio]

I have pockets I am missing, but overall I was. I took honors courses all through high school and college, so I read many, many classics in those. My freshman English class was a year-long great books class (at a plain old public university.)

 

Also, when I was young, the small town library actually carried classics (can you imagine!) and not much junk, so I really had no choice but to read good stuff. I rode my bike up and checked out a stack each week.

 

I did get Sweet Valley High from my cousin and read pretty much the whole series. I also had a jag of sci fi books in middle school. :001_smile:

[Mom2legomaniacs]

I think fairly well-read. I certainly read a lot! I read all the literature assigned to me and actually enjoyed almost all of them. The one I remember having the most trouble liking was The Return of the Native. It seemed to take forever for something remotely interesting to happen. Then it was fine, but the beginning was dreadfully boring to me. One of my favorites was Crime and Punishment. I loved reading the classics they assigned. Good stuff.

[mysticamethyst]

I guess I am the odd one out here. No, I did not read at all as a child/teen. Even the required reading, I couldn't even tell you what they were or if I read them. However, that has all changed as an adult I love to read. I read just about anything anyone suggests; I am trying to make a list from what others on this board say they are reading. Three of my kids are very different from me and love to read, only one is a reluctant reader but I make sure he is reading something.

[H0MEFree]

Absolutely.

We lived out in a farm/country area.

I read all kinds of books and repeatedly.

I did read classics like Watership Down, 1984, White Fang, etc.

I also read more "fun" stuff.

But interestingly, I read books like Walk Across America, Animal Farm, and Never Cry Wolf.

[Luanne]

Maybe moreso as a teen, but then I really wasn't interested in it. I did read what was assigned at school, but just kind of half-heartedly. I read The Scarlet Letter while in school and again a few months ago with my teenage daughter. I didn't enjoy it in school and didn't a whole lot more a few months ago.

 

I did just finish reading Seven Daughters and Seven Sons though and found it totally gripping and difficult to put down to do anything else. I am hoping I will enjoy the more advanced level classics more when I have increased my reading level. I keep trying to convince myself that I am capable of this (even though a lot of the time I don't believe myself). Oh well ... if not, I will at least enjoy the books that are on the level I can understand. I am going to finish reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet someday.

[nancypants]

I would say I was fairly well read though I know it will pale in comparison to how well read my oldest (at least) will be since he's gotten a much earlier start on it and has already established such a love for it.

 

As a small child I just read stuff like Ramona Quimby and the like. I didn't really love reading until I was in high school... not that I count all those years as a loss. I loved the outdoors, loved playing... loved being a free spirited child and I had a great imagination so no regrets there.

 

I loved most of the books we read for school... I'll try to list them just because I want to jog my memory of what we read. I never skimmed... as it was, I always struggled to do well in school (I got average grades at private school through tenth grade and above average grades at public school in honors and AP courses through 12th grade.) so I knew that skimming was not an option though I remember being tempted by Cliff Notes a few times. :D

 

 

• The Scarlet Letter
  
• Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
  
• Great Expectations (loved it)
  
• Great Gatsby (loved loved loved)
  
• Brave New World
  
• Native Son (loved it, believe it or not)
  
• Wuthering Heights
  
• Romeo and Juliet
  
• Othello
  
• MacBeth
  
• Catcher in the Rye
  
• Anna Karenina
  
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
  
• A Wrinkle in Time
  
• Canterbury Tales
  
• Robinson Crusoe
  
• Silas Marner
  
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  
• The Turn of the Screw
  
• Daisy Miller
  
• The Screwtape Letters
  
• Diary of Anne Frank
  
• The Pearl
  
• Hamlet
  
• Call of the Wild
  
• The Red Pony
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird
  
• You Can't Take it With You
  
• Cheaper By the Dozen
  
• East of Eden
  

 

 

Took me about 20 minutes to remember all of that! LOL

 

It's funny because I've gone through several years where I really just didn't feel like reading... perhaps it's the "the baby stole my brains" excuse or something but now that my youngest is 2 1/2, I feel my brain coming back and I have started reading much more voraciously than I have in years. It's good to be back. :)

[Karen sn]

Definitely well read. I love to read. Never too many classics assigned in high school - just read whatever I could get my hands on....but read from cover to cover! I also loved/love Reader's Digest - does that count?

 

I read as many yard sale books with the "Oprah Book Club" label as I can find - they are usually good. I have always read quality books - not into romance....too depressing!

 

Now at 35 I am taking on more classics.

[Sue G in PA]

I will say that I read a ton as a child and teen. I read romances, Danielle Steel, V C Andrews as an older teen and lots of Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume and books of that caliber as a young "tween". It was the classics in high school that I didn't really get into. I did remember reading a few more (as I read your posts, it jogged my memory!): Island of the Blue Dolphins, Call of the Wild, White Fang. AND, I did read Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Hardy?) and remember enjoying it as well as (are you ready for this?)...The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand in 10th grade! My father is a HUGE Ayn Rand fan and practically begged me to read it. Then he suggested her Atlas Shrugged. I politely declined. :D Not a big Rand fan here. So, you see, I loved to read...just not the classics! I'm coming around...for the sake of my dc!

[Lady Katherine]

Yes. We didn't have a TV, so I read ALL the time. Around 5th or 6th grade, I started reading classics (starting with Gone With the Wind and Tom Sawyer) and got hooked. I just went down the list -- no book was too long or had print too small to deter me (although now, I must admit I prefer large print -- LOL). I also tried to read all the Newbery Award books. I couldn't get enough. I tried to read any book that "I heard was good."

 

The only problem was that I often got into subject matter too mature for my naive mind. I blush now to think of the many things that just went over my head. :blushing: In early middle school, I read Sybil, then read and did a book report on The Three Faces of Eve. I was fascinated by the idea of multiple personality disorder; but the abuse that caused it was so out of my realm of experience that I didn't understand the real point of either book. Looking back, I think that English teacher must have thought I was really an odd student.

 

I also read some sci-fi stuff that I'm SURE my mom would have been horrified to find in my room.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

In fact, I don't think it would be boasting to say that I was probably the most well-read teen in my high school. I didn't realize it then.

 

I owe it all to one of my English teachers who gave everyone in the class a list of "classic" literature as a reference for choosing books to read. I took that list seriously and attempted to read my way through it. It never occurred to me that no one else was doing that but me.

 

John Hersey visited my high school and my 11th grade English teacher chose a few students to meet him in a private session. I was elated. When he asked if anyone had read his book Hiroshima my hand popped right up. I was shocked to see that noone else had. Then when he asked if any one had read the Bridge of San Luis Rey, because he had used the same pattern when writing Hiroshima, again only my hand went up and a lot slower. I was actually embarrassed.

 

I did a book report for English on the Scarlet Pimpernel, the other girls did theirs on some of the latest popular teen romances. Another awkward moment, who did I think I was anyway? And what in the world is a PIMPernel? giggle, giggle. :tongue_smilie:

 

That same year my History teacher walked by me in the library while I was reading A Brave New World and gently chastised me for reading that particular book. :001_huh:

 

I think that's one of the reasons I homeschool. All of my children will read Hiroshima.

[lovemyboys]

So, how many of you would consider yourselves "well read" as children/teens? AND, how many of you are playing "catch up" now and reading, for the first time, those great literary works that we're making our own dc read?

 

I read everything from a pretty early age. And somewhere around 9th grade, I decided that I should read the classics, so I got a list of the "great books" and started to read my way through. Of course no one I knew was doing this or even cared, but I was determined to do more with my life.

 

The benefits were that I got great cultural references and got exposed to a lot of different ideas, time periods, vocabulary, history, and plot lines. Unfortunately, since I was doing it myself, I probably missed out on alot of the nuances, symbolism and significance of various works.

 

Then I got busy with work and travel in my mid-20s and didn't read nearly as much. So now, your second comment is also true, I'm getting back to great literature with ds. And I think it's true that a lot of the studying and work we did in school was for the very short-term goal of the next test, it sure was for me. That's also one of the big reasons we homeschool here.

 

(I've appreciated using the WEM as a resource for getting back into good literature too. It's encouraged me to enjoy it and make time for it. ;) )

[Jean in Newcastle]

I read voraciously as well. I read many of the classics for class. I also read many of the classics (as well as anything else) on my own.

 

The only time I didn't read something all the way through was when I had to read Kafka. (I've blocked out the title! LOL!) I complained to my older brother. He told me the whole point of the book was in chapter 3. So I wrote a paper, my first sentence said something like , "The point of "________" can be summed up in chapter 3." Then I proceeded to "prove" it. I never did read any farther than chapter 3....

[lovemyboys]

In fact, I don't think it would be boasting to say that I was probably the most well-read teen in my high school. I didn't realize it then.

 

I owe it all to one of my English teachers who gave everyone in the class a list of "classic" literature as a reference for choosing books to read. I took that list seriously and attempted to read my way through it. It never occurred to me that no one else was doing that but me.

 

I think that's one of the reasons I homeschool. All of my children will read Hiroshima.

 

This is so much like I was in high school. And, likewise, one of the reasons we homeschool too!

[Peela]

I think I read most of them cover to cover. Except the Odyssey. I just never could get my teeth into that in grade 10! We were jsut expected to read it. Ha. There was no Fagles version then, either!

 

But mostly, I loved the books in highschool. We read The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. We read the Hobbit. And others like P&P, Jane Ayre, Tess of the D'urbavilles, Catcher in the Rye. 1984. Actually, we did 1984 for my last year in school....which WAS 1984.

 

What I didnt read thoroughly was those comprehension passages where they have a chunk of writing and a whole lot of questions underneithe. Yuk. I was good at skimming them just for the answers.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I loved reading as a child/teen and often spent my money on books. I loved Dickens, Austen, Montgomery, Alcott, Poe, Sinclair Lewis, CS Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, and just about any poet you could throw at me.

 

I often heard my mom and dad say, "Will you put that book down and find something active to do?" I miss the days of reading, just for the pleasure of it. It seems that all I do these days is read to teach. But, at least I still get to read!

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

Does reading all of the Nancy Drew books and Cliff notes qualify being well read?:lol: Oh, I guess not then.

 

I only read the bare minimum of what I had too, except for nonfiction books. I remember reading about Thomas Jefferson and Eleanor Roosevelt and loving it. The funny thing is that as an adult, I still only like nonfiction when reading for myself. But I read out loud to my children every day and love the books I read to them. My kids have a healthy appetite for all books!

[MySerenity]

I was a big reader as a child and teenager, but even know feeling that I seriously lacked and feel I have to catch up. There are just too many great books I want to read. As a child I read Huck Finn, The Secret Garden, Around the World In 80 Days, many Greek Myths, Anne of Green Gables, The Little House books etc. In high school I got into a little harder reading... Brave New World, Catcher In the Rye, I discovered Jane Austen. I practically wore out my copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets and my Spoon River anthology. I also enjoyed plays by Throton Wilder (I still cry over Our Town, and I every time I think of it I try to enjoy all the small things we seem to take for granted). I also read more modern books... nothing you would consider great literature but still fun to read. And now I still find myself seeking out the classics. I find I feel I didn't read enough of Dickens, or that I want to read the entire Canterbury Tales not just selected ones, or I want to read the philosophical works of Plato, Aristotle, or Cicero. I want to read The Prince or Utopia. (Can you tell I love, love, love to read? I hope this wears off on my children.)

[Kim in Appalachia]

I did read a lot, but it was Nancy Drew or Stephen King. I would have enjoyed more classics, but honestly, I didn't know they existed. We had no books in the house (except for mine), and we didn't read that much in school. But I did enjoy every book we read in school (except Wurthering Heights. :ack2:)

[Jenny in Atl]

Yes, but already I can see my two dd's will pass me by easily in the breath and scope of their readings. My dh is also very well read, so the environment is there to support their love of the written word.

[Colleen in NS]

I would not consider myself to have been well-read as a child or teen. That's why I love WTM style homeschooling so much! I'm finally getting a basic understanding of all those stories I'd heard the titles of as a kid (using grammar stage versions of classics here).

 

I read Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, and probably some other light books here and there (although I did read Little Women and the Little House books with great enjoyment). In high school, I read whatever I HAD to read for English class, but even then, it was skimming so I wouldn't look stupid in the class discussion, but I found it so boring.

 

Just to give you an idea.....I had to read Orwell's 1984 for a lit. class and write a report on it. It was due on a particular day, and for each day late, a whole letter grade would be deducted. I read half the book, wrote in a panic and bluffed my way through somehow, turned it in one day late, and got a B!!!!!! A "B"!!! So I could have gotten an "A" just for turning in a report on time on a book I only half-read! I couldn't believe it. It just reinforced the bluffing on my part......true confessions!

 

In my early 20s I had a friend who introduced me to the local library and to a couple of good books (by Chaim Potok) and he gently talked to me about getting started with some decent reading again. He was influential in getting me started reading again, and I did enjoy those Potok books. (This guy recently earned his PhD in English somethingorother, too, and I've no doubt he's influencing others in his love for literature)

 

I'm working my way up to reading the classics now and looking forward to enjoying the journey this time.

[Marie in Oh]

Like your dh, I got the point and was good at discussion. I wish I wasn't so lazy back then, but there you go-- 20/20 hindsight. I did better in college, but even so, sometimes it was impossible-- 13 Shakespeare plays in 10 weeks, 6 Jane Austen Novels in a 4 week mini semester. Vicotian Literature kicked my behind and then some. I think I only did half of the required reading.

[Tess in the Burbs]

we went to the library as young kids but when my mom signed up to teach ESL at the library we had to go with her. So for half hour to an hour every week we were in the library hanging out. I read while there, I took more home to read. I read all the night long, lol!

 

One reason I still believe is b/c we were taken to the library and had time to search for interesting books and spend that time reading. My husband can't ever remember his parents going to a library. he only read if forced to for school and still hates to read. So I do think there is a correlation to how books show importance in a family.

[PineFarmMom]

No. I looooved to read, but was given no guidance as to what good literature was. We read a bit in school, but not much.

 

Yes, that is my story. I was an avid reader...most of what I read during those years, in retrospect, was just nonsense. I read all the time, but stupid little teen romance novels or horror stories, Danielle Steel (Blech!!!) I could have read the comics and been better rounded than that. lol

 

Teresa

[Ericaand4kids]

I actually read the required books, I've never been good at skimming! But I don't feel I had a lot required, or at the least there are still plenty out there I've not read! SOme I remember 'having' to read are the Scarlet Letter, Grapes of Wrath, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, Hamlet. I read the Green Gables books as a young girl. I read the Lord of the Rings books for fun right out of high school. I used to read a lot of junk in school too, like VC Andrews! Things I don't want my kids reading LOL! Currently reading the Harry Potter books :D!

 

~Erica ~ I've always enjoyed reading!

[lovemyboys]

I read while there, I took more home to read. I read all the night long, lol!

 

One reason I still believe is b/c we were taken to the library and had time to search for interesting books and spend that time reading. My husband can't ever remember his parents going to a library.

 

We lived in a small town and the library was 1/2 block from the elementary school so little class groups would walk over sometimes, and my mother would take us every few days. I remember these little alcove areas in the shelves where you could just sit quietly and read.

 

Then we moved out of town and hardly ever got to the library. I think one of the hardest parts about moving was losing my precious library time!

[E_Edgerton]

Yes, school was easy for me growing up and surprising...maybe it was the older friends, but being well-read seemed very cool to me...I look back and I am really thankful...I get a lot more references and trivia questions than DH. He he. :lol:

[RebeccaC]

Between the ages of 12 and 17 I read the Russian classic and loved them, devoured them and Russian history, read most of the British classics and British history, read almost everything C.S. Lewis ever wrote, Quite a few of the American classics and some US history, lots of theology, ethnography, and archeology type books. Plus books like The Gulag Archipelago: by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn and a huge Chinese ethnography type book written in the early 1900 full of photos and with a chapter on foot binding with lots of photos :eek: Read War and Peace when I was almost but not quite 13 and fell in love with all things Russian. Tried to learn French because of W&P but self teaching a foreign language was not easy and I did not stay with it but did stay with the Russian classics which some I read more then once.

 

I was unschooled in the worst way. I chose what I would study which was me reading books that interested me and doing no writing, math, grammar, hands on science at all :001_smile: My parents had nothing to do with what I studied other than to say no books by Hemingway or other authors who might have done themselves in. Folks took me out of school in the middle of 9th grade to help out at home, did about 3 months of ACE paces and then unschooling. Aced the GED as soon as I turned 16 and got a scholar level score on the ACT when I took it. However when I went to secular college I had to take a course on writing and math before I could take the freshman level courses.

[my2kidsmom]

Does reading the Cliffs Notes count?:DI was in AP English and the loaded on the books and gave us, yes GAVE US copies of the Cliffs Notes. Scarlett Letter, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Tale of Two Cities, Silas Marner, and lots of others that I don't even remember. I don't consider myself "well read", but would like for my children to receive a better education than I did.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I would have considered myself well-read back then, but I would not say so now. Looking back, I only thought I was. I had no standard by which to accurately judge myself back then.

[Diane]

I don't know what kind of school I attended, but I never HAD to read a book. I'm not kidding. I mainly read magazines and such. It was the terrible education I received that inspired me to homeschool, and give my children a much better start with their education.

[sleepy]

Well, at the time, I thought I was. As an adult I became aware of all the awesome books I had never even known about. I wish someone had been there to introduce me to the wealth of wonderful children's lit. available.

[enigma]

No. Certainly not. My high school was pro busy work. By the time I finished the pointless rubbish, the last thing I wanted was to pick up another book.

[Remudamom]

Yes, we had a fantastic high school lit teacher. Who btw, hated that guy that sings Danke Shein. Wayne Newton??