boscopup Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 2 years ago, when I started homeschooling my oldest son in 1st grade, I tried reading Little House in the Big Woods to him and his younger brothers (then 4 and 18 months). We didn't even make it through the book. They were bored. They didn't really "get it". They weren't used to read-alouds. I shelved it. We had similar issues with some other books that I tried. Funny thing was that my oldest could read them himself. He and his brothers just couldn't listen to them! Well, fast forward to today, in a new season (no more 18 month old!) and having practiced reading aloud a lot more... We started reading Little House in the Big Woods a couple weeks ago and finished it last night. My boys ALL wanted me to read the next book in the series AND record the Little House on the Prairie TV show. :lol: Sadly, we don't get the channel it comes on, but wow... I wasn't expecting my boys to be that interested in this book! We will continue with the series. I don't have Little House on the Prairie yet, so I started The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tonight. DS2 (age 6) asked me to read another chapter! He wanted to find out what happened next. :D He also was wondering if the White Witch may have sneaked into the wardrobe while Lucy was gone. He was paying attention and thinking about what could happen! So cool! It is amazing the difference between today and 2 years ago. Two years ago, I could not read a long chapter book without pictures. Today, we have 3 chapter books going, no problem! And the kids LOVE it! So I'm happy tonight about the read-aloud progress we've made. I'm loving this new season of homeschooling! :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 :hurray: What a sweet story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2TheTeam Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I am smiling with you. It sounds like how reading chapter books has gone at out house too. :) My oldest is a little over 7. I've tried reading him several longer chapter books and he was not interested at all. I also have 5 year old twins and they weren't interested in the past either. I started reading my kids The Jungle Book last week. They LOVED it and were constantly asking me to read. Even my 2 year olds were listening and asking questions! We finished it in a matter of days. I have to pick up a new book to read to them from the library now. I already got Mr. Popper's Penguins, but forgot that we have a Penguin unit in MFW K a couple months from now. So, I want to get something else for now instead. But, I can't wait to pick something up and I'm seriously wishing I had something at home. I'm also really excited to have progressed in this area. Nothing beats 5 kids all squishing up together and a nursing baby with me reading in the middle of it all! So awesome!! (My kids love it when I the baby wants to nurse because it means I can read. LOL!!) Congrats on the progress!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I am in the midst of that stage, so thank you for the encouragement! Out of curiosity, what books did you begin read alouds with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genny Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 We just finished "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Doll People" both were huge hits for my 2 oldest. We've just started "Gentle Ben". Another hit...man my book choices have been spot on lately :lol: :hurray: My 2 youngest are too young to be interested in our read aloud book choices (2 year old gets her own curious george time). I can't wait until they are snuggling together for read aloud time. Thanks for sharing such a sweet post :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 thank you for sharing this wonderful, happy, heartening & encouraging news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlessedMom Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Such a sweet story! Thank you for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 That is wonderful! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 :hurray: That's great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I am in the midst of that stage, so thank you for the encouragement! Out of curiosity, what books did you begin read alouds with? I think the first non-picture book read-aloud we did that the boys liked was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. Before that, I was reading fables, short stories, etc. James Herriot's Treasury for Children was a hit, especially with middle son. It had plenty of pictures for young ones, the stories were short, but the language was higher level - teaching them to listen. Great combo. This year, I'm running two Sonlight cores, and several of the Core P4/5 books are excellent for moving from picture books to pictureless - Uncle Wiggily, Milly-Molly-Mandy, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Now that my oldest is 18yrs old and I look back at where we began it is just amazing how our beautiful children grow and learn. My kids loved to be read to. In fact if it were my 18yrs old choice, I would still read to him his boring textbooks. My older kids have lost the love of reading hopefully temporarily as they have been in brick and mortar school far too long now but back when they were homeschooling they were devouring books, loving it and reeenacting them. With my 2nd and 3rd set of kids, reading out loud to them will continue on and I love WWE, Story of the World and TWTM /Charlotte Mason methods for just that. Hopefully I will have instilled an awesome love for literature. In praise of reading out loud and snuggling! There are many seasons of homeschooling. When something isn't working just yet it will emerge so don't give up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 It's a journey, isn't it? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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