VP literature guides or do something else?

[ExcitedMama]

My DS is a voracious reader who loves modern fiction which I have no problems with but I want to add in more reading for school which I haven’t done. When I was his age I read a lot of fiction and a lot of classics but they were more girl centered like Anne of Green Gables, Secret Garden, Little Women, etc. I know those won’t appeal to him. My DH loved boy and his dog type books when he was young which don’t interest DS. DH also enjoyed Tolkien when he was young. VP has a literature guide for The Hobbit and recommends it for 4th grade. I never read Tolkien and I was bored out of my mind when dragged to a couple of those movies years ago on LOTR so I have no desire to read any of them. I feel like a guide could be a good schooly activity and verify he’s reading at all let alone carefully. We have done these guides before and DS hates reading comprehension questions. I get it. I’m more of a big picture person myself. DS hates the little questions like those in WWE. I want him to love reading like I do and he is now so I’m torn about how to add in more classics and do more assigned work with reading. What do you think?

[Lori D.]

Just me, but I shy away from doing formal studies with books until starting beginning formal lit. studies in 7th/8th grade, and even then, doing it at a gentle intro level, and NOT with *every book*. And the for late middle school/high school would, questions would be for discussion and guided literary analysis -- not comprehension questions of the "Who blew down the first little pig's house?" type.

I don't see Reading in your signature as part of DS's school line up. What about reading good books and working with them through Moving Beyond the Page, or, Build Your Own Library? Or just select good books from the VP, Sonlight, and other reading-based curriculum vendor booklists? Or from the 1000 Good Books list?

And, you could also include solo required reading a few times a week since DS is a book lover, and you want him reading more. Fill a basket with a variety of good books (check out all the great booklists out there for his age) and let him choose from that, and require that he read for 30 min. 3x/week. At the end of the 30 minutes, have him give you a 1-minute summary of the section of the  story (which would allow you to see if he is actually reading, and if he is understanding). Another option is to just schedule 1 book per quarter that the 2 of you read aloud together "buddy reading" style ("you read a page, I read a page"), and enjoy discussing as thoughts come to you. That would also allow you to see for yourself DS's reading level, comprehension, and involvement with the reading.

If you really want to do a guide, at the 4th-6th grade level I'd suggest looking at something like Lit Wits, which is more about extension activities to help bring alive the world of the book.

And finally, I think VP is *completely* off base calling The Hobbit a grade 4 book (unless they possibly mean a *read-aloud* -- parent reading it aloud to children). The Lexile reading level places The Hobbit solidly at 7th-8th, and I most frequently see The Hobbit listed in formal literature programs for grades 7-9. If your DS would enjoy reading The Hobbit *for fun* on his own -- then let him go for it! And if it's too much for him right now, then either switch it to a family read-aloud, or let DS set it aside until a later year.

(And as a quick side note: the movies are NOTHING like Tolkien's books. The films are largely about surface-level spectacle -- costumes, setting, fighting -- while the books are complex, rich, deep, inspiring.)

Edited February 21, 2019 by Lori D.

[acresoft]

You could use readers without doing the questions, if he doesn't like the questions.

Maybe narrating what he's read would be more enjoyable. Whatever the case, you want learning to be something he enjoys, and feels motivated by.

Mosdos Press has literature.

Christian Light Publications, and Bob Jones both have nice readers.

[domestic_engineer]

In my opinion, I don't think a Literature Guide is going to instill a love of classics in a typical child, boy or girl. Yes, it's school-y, but is that your goal?  If your goal is to get him into reading the classics, maybe do the first couple as a read aloud with him and with no output required.  

There are lots of other ways to check that he's reading .... Oral Narration, make a movie trailer for the book, make a stop action movie of a part of the book, make a cartoon summarizing the book/section (even just a stick figure drawing), create diary pages written by the main character.

or --- have him practice reading comprehension with non-fiction texts.  You don't have to learn to read carefully by using classic literature.  Reading Detective, Science Detective are the first things that come to mind.  

[Junie]

I think loving literature is more important than being able to answer questions about it.  If you allow your child to just read for the fun of it, he will continue to read and the comprehension will come.  I think some literary analysis is good in high school, but in the younger years I just try to foster a love for good books.

[domestic_engineer]

Another idea for introducing classics .... do it as an audiobook with an awesome narrator.  He can be building with Legos (or some other thing he enjoys doing) as he listens. 

[RenaInTexas]

We read an 'on your own' book and a class book. We discuss the class book in depth and do literature guide type stuff. The 'on your own' book is where they can read for fun - they choose - they orally summarize each chapter for me. 

This has worked for us and I like that they experience the -sometimes I have to read certain text because of a need-, but that doesn't stop me from reading for enjoyment on my own. They often enjoy our class books though - even with the literature guide activities.