Two Kid Schoolhouse

"Mom, sorry, I went over my time again!"

Jan. 18, 2007

Posted in Kids Reading

Most nights now the kids get some reading time in bed after prayers. Usually we just give them about 10-15 minutes. J is so active he's usually pretty tired out anyway; E has been having some sleep troubles so we often give her more time since otherwise she'd be lying there fretting about not getting to sleep.

It's hard to be stern in the morning when one or the other of the kids confesses that "I couldn't stop reading and went over my time. Sorry Mom." Oh, you're forgiven Honey, you're forgiven.

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Reading together

Jan. 18, 2007

Posted in Kids Reading

Though it seemed sometimes that it would never happen, both my kids are readers now, comfortable in what bookstores seem to call "middle readers" - books aimed at the 9-12 year old set.   And we are having some fun now.

Yesterday we finished a "reading together" project, part 1 anyway. We read the same book, but different versions, and discussed each chapter together. The book was The Pilgrim's Progress. I read the original and the kids read a simplified version: Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor. I had read part 1 of the book - about Christian - aloud to them a few years ago. (Part 2 is about Christiana - Christian's friend in the kid version, his wife in the original.) This time around, they read it while I read - ahead of them - the original and pulled together discussion questions.   I'd never read this classic and was anxious to finally do so.

Little Pilgrim's Progress follows the story quite accurately, expanding a few episodes and, naturally, leaving out a few. Some of the characters are toned down a bit, and a few names are changed, which made it easier for the kids to figure out the character. (The names of all the characters fit their personalities. Faithful is just that. Ignorance is.)

My version of the book included applicable Bible verses in the margins, which made it easy for me to add that into our study.   I had the kids tell me back the story, look up unfamiliar words, and read the verses. We talked about how each character fit his or her name, and about the implications of the story for our lives. For example, at one point Christian and Hopeful are walking through a dangerous area, designed to make pilgrims sleepy so the Wicked Prince can snatch them back to his kingdom. Hopeful wants to sleep but Christian encourages him and keeps him awake so they can proceed through the area. We talked about Jesus telling us to be alert at all time, and about the importance of Christian fellowship to help keep us on the right path.

I was not completely satisfied with the way I did this, and have some improvements in mind for part 2, which we will start next week. I didn't give myself enough time to prepare the "lessons." I started out with 1 chapter at a time, which was too little for them - chapters are only 1 1/2 - 3 pages long.   At some points I was reading my version and scribbling questions and verse references as they were reading theirs. Since part of the point was for me to study my version while they were studying theirs, that wasn't ideal.   So we are taking a few days off so I can be more leisurely in my preparation. Maybe I'll even get it typed up instead of just working off a yellow pad...

My older child really should be doing some writing, but he struggles with it, so rather than make this tedious I am leaving the writing out for now.   My little artist was going to draw a picture for each chapter and make a book, but that lasted about 3 chapters and it was done.   They really just wanted to read and talk. So that's what we did.   Maybe our next study will include writing.

This was a fun and useful project for all of us. I hope to find more books to do this with.

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