The Daily Planet - Classics are the Best!!

Published on June 10, 2007 at 2:09 PM
Classics are the Best!!

This Article was published in Homeschooling Articles

This post has been entered in Tiany's Homeschool Open House.

I am 17 and the oldest of 8 children. I love homeschooling. I have the BEST teacher in the world to teach me. I can't wait for the opportunity when I will be able to homeschool and train my children. I pray for wisdom as I journey to become the Wife/Mother/Woman of God.

One of my favorite subjects in school is READING!! I love to grab a book and delve into the world in it.
    I have learned that the best books you can read, for fiction, anyway, are the Classics. Not the junk of new fiction. I think that reading the classics helps you get a better view of life. I have been reading classics for a while now, and I would rather you hand me an old book than the newest fiction on the market.
    Most people don't care for the classics anymore. Most don't understand the impact they have on our lives. They are too busy wanting the newest book, when there are so many old book that are just plain better. With the classics, you will find that you can expand your vocabulary and knowledge of the world so much more, unlike the new stuff.
    Reading classic books will really make your homeschool fun. You can make reading them a fun thing that your children will want to continue doing. You get to put yourself back in a different period in time. I don’t know about you, but I love learning about the ‘old times’ and how much different it is from today.
    There are so many classics out there that no matter what you like, you will find a book you just can’t put down. The classics don’t have a genre usually... they have everything in them. So there is something for everyone.
    Not only can you learn to be well read by reading the classics, but you can incorporate most of your other subjects while you are reading a classic book.
    You can take one classic book and turn it into a short unit study. Using spelling, geography, grammar, history, science and whatever else you can think of depending on what book you are reading, you can make a little book study for how long it takes you to read it.

Here are a couple of my ideas for each subject I mentioned:
    For spelling: Read a couple chapters and have the children pick out words that are new or they don’t know how to spell or pronounce off the top of their heads, and have them make a spelling list to study. Then when they have learned those words, read on, and make another spelling list.
    For geography: Learn all you can about wherever the book is taking place. Most classics you will find that there is more than one place that the character(s) travel or live.
    For grammar: Take sentences out of the book, and type them up or write them out, and take out the proper punctuations, capitals, nouns, verbs, prepositions, clauses, adverbs, etc. Then have the child correct them.
    For history: Study what else was going on in that era. What battles took place, what king, queen or president was in charge where, learn what the fashions were or what they ate. What was acceptable or not.
    For science: Learn about what plants grew, how they lived in what climate. See what the weather would have been like in the specific place you are reading about.
    And my favorite part about reading a classic is that you can find movies based off alot of them. Make that a fun part of your classic unit study. When you have read the book all the way, go rent the movie of it, and watch it to see how close it was to the book, and then make up a list of what is not right or what is.
    Have your children tell you their favorite part of the book. Then maybe if they like acting you can have them act it out or if they like to draw more, have them draw there favorite part.

Some of my favorite classics are:
    Pride and Prejudice -Jane Austen
    Great Expectations -Charles Dickens
    The Robe -Lloyd C. Douglas
    The Big Fisherman -Lloyd C. Douglas
    Anne of Green Gables Series -L.M. Montgomery
    To Kill A Mockingbird -Harper Lee
    Stepping Heavenward -Mrs. E. Prentiss
    Michael O’Halloran -Gene Stratton-Porter
    Daughter of the Land -Gene Stratton-Porter
    The Lord of the Rings Trilogy -J.R.R. Tolkien
    David Copperfield -Charles Dickens
    King Arthur’s Knights -Henry Gilbert

Some classics I haven’t read yet, but are on my list are:
    Gone with the Wind -Margaret Mitchell (Currently reading)
    Persuasion -Jane Austen
    Oliver Twist -Charles Dickens
    Jane Eyre -Charlotte Bronte
    Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

    There are many more classics that I haven’t even mentioned that are really good, but maybe this can help you get started.

    I have enlarged my vocabulary and my speech so much by reading so many of the classics. I was once told that I “had my own language.” I don’t talk like normal teenagers, so when I get into a conversation with someone that is not around me a lot, I use words that they don’t hear too much. They think it is strange. But I don’t want to talk like everyone else. I want to have a mature speech. Reading has helped me with that.

    Reading is something you should really try instill into your children. It is the best education you can get. I think one Thomas Jefferson got his education by reading. I am not saying that you need to force your child to read, but let them want to read in their time. Caleb and Isaac LOVE to be read to. We don’t make them sit and listen to us reading. We just let them get books out and bring them to us to have us read them to them. If you have books around, more than likely your children will go and pick one up and start trying to read it. If they know their letters, they will want so bad to know what the pages say, that they will stare at the words til they come out right.
    Eric and Hannah were not taught how to read. They were just taught their letters and sounds and they sounded them out and learned how to read. Eric is ecstatic when he finishes a book. Hannah loves going places and reading things, and she loves to read to the Littles.
    They learned on their own, so that makes it even more special for them. They had help with words now and then, but for the most part they figured it out. That brings them such a feeling of accomplishment to know they learned how to read pretty much by themselves.
    Don’t force your children. The love of reading or any subject for that matter, will come when the child is ready. I am not saying that if your child is 15 and can’t read don’t make him, but when they are little, you need to just let them learn in their time.

    Reading the classics can be fun and beneficial to your homeschool. It is another world to explore, and your children love it.

Love...

Thanks for stopping by "Daily" at the "Planet"!!
©AmandaDixon2007

Leave Your Feedback Send to a Subscriber!! Trackback URL

Lookie here...18 have left their Feedback!!

Leave Your Feedback too

The Daily Planet Subscribers Feedback

June 10, 2007 at 2:27 PM...Untitled Comment

Commented by totustuus

What a great post!! I totally agree with you. Why waste time on all of the fluff that people are reading now?? Classic literature is so much more enriching. Some of my favorites authors are Charles Dickens (always a good one), Thomas Hardy, and Sir Walter Scott. Their books are well worth the time spent reading. I could name so many more, but those are some of the best of the best.
Regards,
Sylvia