do kids actually follow this stuff??

[EthiopianFood]

http://www.angelicum.net/html/the_good_books_in_print_list.html

 

Has anyone here read these books to their kids at the recommended ages, especially the Nursery and Preschool ages? I just can't imagine young kids sitting through, nevermind comprehending and enjoying, books such as these.

[Laura Corin]

We did Beatrix Potter pretty much from birth. By preschool we were definitely reading the original Winnie the Pooh books (stories and poems) and Pink Fairy book. We didn't do all the fairy books.

 

I don't know whether all children are able to comprehend these books at that age - I would guess that early training makes a difference, but I don't know.

 

Laura

[JaniceO]

My daughter is 3. She enjoys the Beatrix Potter stories. I read her Winnie the Pooh and she fell asleep. I don't know if it bored her or if she was just really tired, but I haven't attempted it again (in all honesty, I don't really like the stories much from Winnie the Pooh). I plan to, just haven't gotten around to it. She loves the fairy tales. Since she was about 2, she's been narrating stories back to us without any prompting. We'll read her a story and then she'll take the book and "read" it back to us. She's pretty good recalling the details on the right pages.

 

My boys at that age, I never read those types of books to them. I didn't know about Classical education and had no clue I would ever homeschool them. I read them what most here would consider twaddle. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

My daughter is 3. She enjoys the Beatrix Potter stories. I read her Winnie the Pooh and she fell asleep. I don't know if it bored her or if she was just really tired, but I haven't attempted it again (in all honesty, I don't really like the stories much from Winnie the Pooh). I plan to, just haven't gotten around to it. She loves the fairy tales. Since she was about 2, she's been narrating stories back to us without any prompting. We'll read her a story and then she'll take the book and "read" it back to us. She's pretty good recalling the details on the right pages.

 

My boys at that age, I never read those types of books to them. I didn't know about Classical education and had no clue I would ever homeschool them. I read them what most here would consider twaddle. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time.

 

I don't care for Pooh, either. And we like the *idea* of Winnie the Pooh, but not so much the stories. Most of the other stuff is pretty much on track, though, barring a personal preference or two. And a few I'd prefer to save til later, mostly because I think some themes are too intense for young children.

 

I prefer this sequence from Highlands Latin School. At little more age-appropriate (for my family) in the younger years.

Edited March 26, 2009 by Pam "SFSOM" in TN

[Jen in PA]

We have done the Potter and Milne at those ages.... we did 2 of the Little House books younger than mentioned in this list with no problems. Even my just-turned-3 DS loved Farmer Boy last summer! And the Stevenson and Mother Goose I have been reading since they were born. Strangely enough, DD has never enjoyed the fairy books.

[Bee]

My oldest dd, yes, I've read some of them to her. When she was old enough, she's read some to herself. My youngest dd has little interest in most of them.

[Spock]

My daughter would have been fine with those books for nursery (ages 2-3?) and preschool (ages 3-4?). I think my older two sons would have been okay with most of them, also. My youngest son would barely listen to Green Hat, Blue Hat at 2 (even though his older siblings loved it around 6mo). My youngest wasn't ready for her "nursery" level books until mid-kindergarten (age 6).

 

However, my youngest is now 7 and finishing first grade. Now, he listens to the books she has listed for 1st-2nd grade, even though he didn't listen to the others until much later. He also reads well for his grade (My Father's Dragon series, Littles series, Space Brat series). So, a "late" start in listening to those books doesn't mean late progress through the list. (I am using mostly AO for our reading list, though, not the list you linked.)

[dymphna57]

With some kids yes and some kids no. Some kids more and some kids less. Some kids earlier and some kids later.

My third grader has read or listened ( audio books are great for this age as she went through a phase of listening to Winnie the Pooh every day, and personally I would have gone crazy),

Complete Winnie the Pooh

Doctor Doolite

Wind and the Willows

Complete Beatrix Potter

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Looking-glas

Heidi

Little House books ( I am saving Happy Golden years for later)

Little Women

Little Men ( a real favorite!)

Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Pirates by Howard Pyle

Little Princess

Secret Garden

Princess and the Goblin

Princess and the Curdie

Elsie Dinsmore

Pollyanna

Anne of Green Gables ( and a few more of these)

Wizard of Oz

Land of Oz

Narnia Books

I actually skipped the Lang Fairy books as we didn't have them but I downloaded a few free on my iPhone. She keeps begging for another story from them Who can tell?

I know that she has plenty of head start on her brothers and sisters who read these more about fourth or fifth grade. She has a great imagination and vocabulary. I was just trying to get all the good books in before the end of eighth grade because there is so much more to read then. I also think a lot of these books were more enjoyed by her than her elder siblings so manybe the earlier is better We are planning of Treasure Island and Black Beauty next.

[Jenny in Florida]

I think a lot of this has to do with the child's personality and what they are used to. If they've been read to from the beginning, and read good quality stuff, none of this should be especially challenging.

 

My daughter LOVED to be read to when she was little. (Actually, she still does, but we rarely have time anymore.) We read A Little Princess and The Secret Garden and all kinds of other classics well before her fifth birthday.

 

My son was never as big into listening to read alouds, but we still read lots of good stuff when he was little. I remember a version of Robin Hood being a big hit with him when he was about four.

 

I don't think any of the books on this list would have tripped up either of them.

[Mom22ns]

I have a picture of my son when he was three sleeping with one of the original Pooh books across his chest. He fell asleep reading it. He is unusual in that he started reading at 2 .5. I had never heard of classical education or these lists of books then, but we read Pooh & Peter Rabbit in the preschool years and lots of the others on the list through the years around the ages listed, some earlier, some later.

[Melanie]

That list looks about right to me.

[FO4UR]

My oldest is only 6, but we read a lot of those listed under 1st grade and down - My dd4 LOVED Little House in the Big Woods (just finished this week), she quotes Beatrix Potter playing with her little stuffed animals (:001_wub:) - The Lang Fairy books are on the list for us soon.

 

Child's Garden of Verse by RL Stevenson is classic, must not miss!!! Swing, Block City, The Moon, My Bed is Like a Boat - are all favorites with my little ones (dd4 had "Moon" memorized at 2 or 3 yrs old - just b/c she loves it). Some of my favorite memories are of my kids asking me to repeat these poems with them over and over as they actually swing and play with their blocks and pretend their beds are boats.:001_smile:

 

We checked out Kipling's Just So Stories from the library and it's another my dc ate up! (I bought it to prevent tears when the book is due:lol:)

 

If you feed your kids a diet of superman and starwars, they will live to love superman and starwars. If you feed you kids a diet of poetry, fairy tales and character building literature, they will live to love it.

[Donna T.]

http://www.angelicum.net/html/the_good_books_in_print_list.html

 

Has anyone here read these books to their kids at the recommended ages, especially the Nursery and Preschool ages? I just can't imagine young kids sitting through, nevermind comprehending and enjoying, books such as these.

 

 

We've read almost all of the titles on the list from fourth grade and under and some from the higher grade lists. My boys aren't big on fairy tales, so we haven't read any of Lang's. They do like Anderson's tales. I think the recommended ages look good. I have found that my sons don't have to comprehend everything about a book to enjoy it. I am reading The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Pyle to them now. I don't follow every thing and I'm sure they don't either, but they still beg me to keep reading. We sometimes scratch our heads and say, "What in the world just happened there?" But, we keep on reading and they enjoy it very much.

 

They especially loved Edward Lear, Milne, and Hugh Lofting.

[sarahli]

We have read a little Winnie the Pooh and some of the poetry too. Every night after pajamas are on and teeth brushed I have a 30 minute window where ds will curl up with me and listen to almost anything I read. Usually he chooses Dr. Seuss or little golden books. During the day he's so active that he only tolerates one short board book.

I'm not comfortable AT ALL reading the Lang fairy books to a toddler that cannot talk well enough to verbalize his fears or ask about something he might not understand. I'm fine with reading them by age 4.

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, pretty much.

 

Becca has actually amazed me with what she'll follow on read-alouds. DH just finished a pretty complicated and involved book called The Lion in the Gateway. He stopped partway through and asked me if he should continue, so I asked Becca what he'd just read and she gave me an accurate summary. She truly enjoyed it!

 

Sylvia's attention span is understandably less, but she enjoys Mother Goose, fairy tales, etc.

 

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who likes the idea of Pooh, but not the actual reading. :001_huh:

[Karen in CO]

It depends on the child and the book, but the levels look about right. My dd will probably hate the Henty book so we probably wouldn't read those. She has read all of the Little House books by herself last year and some this year. We started with Beatrix Potter young. I can't believe you ladies don't like Pooh. I love Pooh and have read them all to my kids, but they put them right to sleep at night which seems to be a good thing.

 

There are many "good books" not on the list. I like the Highlands List too.

[Rhondabee]

My boys wouldn't have *at all*, in the younger ages. They thought books were for eating. I have felt so much guilt over this, I can physically get sick wishing I had known *what* to do differently. Then, I see my dd just so naturally taking to and loving being read to. It's just a different world! So, no more guilt. She listens to some on the list, and plenty of similar books at 3yo.

 

I'm guessing from comments here that these are Read-Alouds? If so, then I'd say my boys probably "caught up" to the list somewhere between 3rd and 5th grade. Some on the later lists I am planning for Read-Alouds when the boys are in middle/high school.

 

ETA: My 5th grader and 8th grader actually *enjoy* the Pooh books much, much more than my 3yo, because there are so many funny puns and jokes in the books that just fly over a 3yo's head. It really is a shame they have been relegated to "pre-school" because of the Disney cartoons.

Edited March 26, 2009 by Rhondabee

[SheWillFly]

Not all of them we are in the process of reading them right now.

 

We haven't read too many of the colored Fairy Books. We have read a number of fairy tails just not those specific collections.

 

My 3 year old wanders in and out while I read but my girls 5 & 7 sit and listen intently or want to try and read some on their own.

 

I see the list as a guide to shoot for by the end of each learning stage.

[Laura Corin]

ETA: My 5th grader and 8th grader actually *enjoy* the Pooh books much, much more than my 3yo, because there are so many funny puns and jokes in the books that just fly over a 3yo's head. It really is a shame they have been relegated to "pre-school" because of the Disney cartoons.

 

My boys first enjoyed them when very young, but we have come back to them again and again.

 

Laura

[Shasta Mom]

I think the list looks pretty advanced - but I realize all kids are different. One thing to keep in mind, is to not feel compelled to read a certain level of book to a child of a given age. There is a good chance that the child will enjoy it more later, and get more out of it. Also, if the child can read the book on his/her own later, there might be more value. On the other hand, if they are willing to sit and listen, I'm sure it's good for their brains.....Don't stress about it. We're individual people with different developmental time frames, interests, attention spans, etc. I look at that list and hope I could get through all those books somehow through the child's childhood..........

[Reya]

DS couldn't have. He had/has serious auditory processing problems.

[Strawberry Queen]

I read the ones on the nursery list to my dds, except for the fairy ones, as we don't have them and I don't like reading online. I wanted to expose them to more advanced language as well as some enduring stories. They both love to read and be read to. I suppose the appeal of Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh might have to do with your literary tradition. I'm from a strong british heritage, being from the southern colonies, and I absolutely loved Jemima Puddle Duck when I was little as well as The Roly Poly Pudding. Those books were high on my list as classic books to share with children. The poetry by A.A.Milne was also a must read in my house and I remember memorizing "Disobedience" when I was in 5th grade. I guess it's easier to share the books you love.;)

[Kelli in TN]

All of mine except my one child with learning challenges were/are at about the comprehension levels suggested by that list.

[Lovedtodeath]

I'd say it is very individual. About half of them are right for us. The other half aren't.

[Mary in MN]

I have such a sweet memory of reading Pooh to my son when he was in the bathtub--age 3 or 4--and listening to him laugh and laugh about Pooh bomping aroung with a honey pot on his head in the heffalump hole (or was it a hole for some other silly beast?). My other son didn't much like Pooh at that age, but just told me recently that he read it front to cover at the library when he was 8. (He used to go over to visit his librarian friend after lunch for an hour or so, and I never knew what he read.) Pooh's the best.

[musicianmom]

I can barely get through the Lang's Fairy Tales. I'm not reading them to my kid anytime soon.

 

Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne are huge hits here, though.

[~Jenn~]

We read most of these at the suggested ages and ds did just fine with interest and comprehension.:)

[HFClassicalAcademy]

We are doing Angelicum for 1st grade and my ds 6 follows along with the books just fine. Dd 5 also enjoys sitting in with the readings and we read from the kindergarten list as well.

 

I guess it depends on the child, but we haven't encountered any real problems with their suggestions.

 

Liz in NC