Okay, enough cancer talk. Let's move on with life, shall we?
I wanted to start having more literary discussions with Mia this year. I didn't want these discussions to be formal or complicated but I wanted us to start just talking about the books that we were reading. I had visions of introducing literary elements and just getting into the habit of discussing. Discussing is something that I am not good at. I am good at thinking, boy, I can think up a storm but talking about what I am thinking is a whole 'nother ball game. I was hoping that these book talks would help both Mia and myself.
It's hard to tell whether these are helping or not as we haven't been able to have consistency. We have been reading Little Women since the beginning of Sept. It has been slow going and our discussions have been a bit stilted but I have hopes that, in time, the stiltedness will disappear as we both become used to this format.
In a perfect world, Mia is to read her book on her own from Mon. to Thurs. That usually translates to a chapter a day. Then we get together on Fridays for our talk. I use Teaching the Classics as a jumping off point for our discussions. At the back of the syllabus, there are lists of questions for each of the literary elements. For Little Women, I am concentrating more on character as this is an easy book for that.
I am also using the suggestions in The Well Educated Mind (Susan Wise Bauer) to teach Mia how to read a book well. For this year, I am having her write out narrations for each chapter. I am stressing to Mia to just write out the main happening or idea in each chapter as she is notorious for telling each and every detail a la Charlotte Mason. I don't want detail for this exercise, I want main idea.
I have been thinking about what I want her to do at the end of our reading. I want to start having her write out papers for each book. When I say papers I mean a paragraph about the book. I don't want her to write a standard book report (I like this book because....) as I think these are useless but I do want her to write about some element in the story and to be able to back up her words. I am only expecting a paragraph for this year. I think that for LIttle Women I will have her write a paragraph about a character of her choice. I just want her to describe that character and use examples from the book that back up her thoughts.
Even though this book is going slower than I had anticpated, I am happy with how things are going. This is a good test run for both of us. If slow and steady wins the race then I think we are in a good place right now. I think if we continue on with the discussion, it will become easier for both of us. Consistency is key.
We have 3 more chapters to read in LIttle Women, then I think we will move on to The Christmas Carol by Dickens. I don't want every book we read to be up for literary discussion. I want us to be able to enjoy some of those books without analyzing them to death. So our more formal book talks will be for every other book. We will just read The Christmas Carol for enjoyment. I am sure discussion will come up on its own but there will be no formal discussion. I haven't decided what book we will use for our next book talk, though. I am thinking either Prince and the Pauper by Twain or Oliver Twist by Dickens. I have a few weeks (at the rate we are going it might be a few months) before I decide.