Jeanine in TX Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I would appreciate any suggestions regarding how to conduct literature discussions with one teen. Ds will be a junior in the fall. I have tried Well-Educated Mind as well as the Socratic Method. However, my ds feels like I am interrogating him, since there is no one else to help carry the conversation. I had to ask several follow-up questions to get more than, "Fine", "It was okay", and "I have no idea." We also tried using Omnibus; but then he mainly focused on searching the chapters for answers to questions, rather than bothering to read the entire book. He had no interest in discussing the overall theme of the book; the characters' struggles; or the relation to any historical events and/or other literature. Selecting books to read is not a problem. It would just be nice to occasionally have a great discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch at Home Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Have you tried having casual conversations as you go along? I know that mine would freeze if I said that we were going to discuss our book today. But if I bring up an interesting point in the car or while cooking breakfast, we are able to have a good conversation. Sarah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I have tried Well-Educated Mind as well as the Socratic Method. However, my ds feels like I am interrogating him, since there is no one else to help carry the conversation. There's you. :) With my ds I have to drop the idea that I'm a "teacher" leading a "student discussion". It's simply not possible with one student, as you say. But we can absolutely be two readers having a discussion as peers. Actually, that works even better for me, because I'm no literature expert. So we approach it as very much an equal exchange. We have a list of questions (Well Educated Mind and Teaching the Classics questions, but I also look for free online study guides at places like Shmoop and Sparknotes). We often start with making a plot diagram -- we learned how to do that from Teaching the Classics DVDs. That can spark a discussion right away if we have different ideas about what the main conflict is or when the climax occurred. When it comes to answering questions, we both think about it and come up with our own ideas before sharing. Sometimes I go first, sometimes he does. Sometimes we both say, "I have no idea" and move on to another question. Sometimes we read a bit of analysis (at Sparknotes usually) and discuss whether we agree with it or not. Sometimes we don't! Anyway, we have good discussions when we approach it that way. My biggest problem is that it takes a lot of time. I often feel we could spend an hour (or more) discussing for every hour we spend reading but that isn't how we've chosen to allocate the time. So we don't discuss nearly everything that we could. There is always a lot more to talk about that we don't get to. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 We talk about books - but not as scheduled "discussions" or during scheduled school hours. The conversations happen, in the car, at dinner, while hiking. They are part of life. But a great conversation requires both sides to have an opinion, to be passionate, to want to contribute something. Using scripted questions would never have worked with my kids. We do not discuss a specific aspect on cue - we talk about what caught our attention, what we find discussion worthy. I trust my children to understand literature. They are able to pick out themes and see characters' struggles and think about them without me requiring that they voice their opinions at a specific time. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanine in TX Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thank you very much for the great suggestions. I looked up the Teaching the Classics plot diagram. I like the idea of us both doing it and then discussing similarities/differences of our diagrams. Periodic, informal conversations may also work too. I also asked my son if he would like it if we took turns selecting books to read. He seemed enthusiastic about that. Hopefully, that will translate to better book discussions later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 I struggle with this as well. The main thing I've found is that you have to come to the discussion as an equal with your child--and the child needs to perceive that you are an equal as well. What that means is that he should not perceive that you have all the answers, either because you are older and wiser or because you have the teacher's manual for the literature guide open next to you. This seems to get easier when they are in high school and the reading is adult level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 We often did book discussions at the dinner table, when my husband was home. Then, it became more of an interesting discussion instead of an interrogation. (And my husband would join in too.) Another thing you could do, is if it's a book that has a movie based on it, you can see the move after you read the book. It's sometimes easier to hold a discussion based on a film; you can even do a comparison between the book and film to get you going. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 (edited) Lit guides can be a good idea, if you come at the discussion as equals, as EKS said -- it sort of makes the guide the "bad guy", asking all of those questions of BOTH of you, rather than YOU being the "bad guy" asking all the questions and making DS feel "on the spot" to have to know all the answers. ;) However, if he's just going to search the book for "right answers", then toss the guides and go for open-ended, Socratic-type of questions: - list of Socratic questions - How valuable are Socratic discussions (examples of discussion in this past thread: ) - SWB's handout for Academic Excellenc: gr. 5-8 -- great questions under the Language Arts heading, 2/3rd down the page) - Teaching the Classics -- watch together A thread from this past spring, "When discussion/Socratic questioning goes badly", has great ideas in it. My favorite was AK_Mom4's idea: she handed the guide to her student, and had the student ask HER questions, to get them started with discussion. An extension of doing the Lit. together is both annotating as you read, and both bring your thoughts and questions to the table for mutual discussion book club style. Check out how to get rolling with annotation in the last posts esp. of the thread "Why does my DD have lots to say... (until I ask her to write it down)" What about doing some discussion as blog posts and comments -- one of you post your thoughts and the other comments; next section of the book or a different book, the other person posts thoughts and the first person comments. Or J-rap's idea of at the dinner table informally, catching up the rest of the family on what happened and DS sharing what he saw going on in the work. We did a lot of spontaneous discussion in the car, and after watching a movie / TV show which prompted comparison. What about either hosting or attending a bi-weekly Lit. discussion with other homeschool students covering the same book? BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D. Edited July 8, 2021 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 I love how Teaching the Classics teaches you to discuss literature (and gives you both the framework as well as lots of questions). I would recommend getting the dvds and going through them together - both of you being the students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I love, love, love The Art of Reading lecture series from The Teaching Company - my kids too, they totally fangirl Professor Spurgeon. It will not pertain to the specific books you might be reading, but it uses great examples and sparked a lot of literary discussion at my house. It teaches the general how of close reading. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanine in TX Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Okay, I wrote down a long list of books for us to read. We will never be able to read them all, but it gives us a variety of options from which to choose. I have read only a couple of the books, so my ds and I will definitely be equals. Realistically, we will be able to discuss the books in the morning during school or in the evenings on the way to and from sports and/or scouts. I work as a math tutor in the afternoon. My husband works quite a distance from home, so he returns fairly late. I try not to do any school then, so we can relax a little bit as a family. Lori, thank you so much for the links. I am eagerly reading them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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