Do you do classic literature?

[MissRubyandKen]

Are you including classic literature in your homeschooling? If so, when/how? Dd, 10, and ds, 8, both read well. They pleasure read often. I've not asked them to do much reading as 'school', a few related picture books, and a bit of nonfiction. Dd has really only read a few chapter books alone, by choice. I've read quite a bit to them aloud. They both seem reluctant to make the leap to chapter books. I of course think they're missing out. They mostly have read comics and graphic novel type books. I'm reluctant to push them into reading specific books as 'school' because I don't want to dampen their love for reading. I've been considering asking them to start reading some classic literature next year. I've seen there are illustrated young reader versions. Has anyone used anything like this? I have encouraged them to pick their own chapter books, but its just not happening, aside from the few dd has read.

[One_Girl]

I don't use much classical literature because a lot of it is boring, but I do require my dd to read me books in different genres that she may not have chosen on her own. I usually just have her read a chapter to see if she likes it and then we go on from there depending on her opinion of the book. When she first started reading I just had her do what she loved to read, but now that she is reading very well I pull some books from different genres and have her give them a try because I want her to have the opportunity to try out a lot of different styles. She was resistant at first, so I started with short chapter books that were also really funny. Now that she has had success reading chapter books she is much more willing to do it and will often choose to read the chapter books on her own.

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by MissRubyandKen

Are you including classic literature in your homeschooling? If so, when/how? Dd, 10, and ds, 8, both read well. They pleasure read often. I've not asked them to do much reading as 'school', a few related picture books, and a bit of nonfiction. Dd has really only read a few chapter books alone, by choice. I've read quite a bit to them aloud. They both seem reluctant to make the leap to chapter books. I of course think they're missing out. They mostly have read comics and graphic novel type books. I'm reluctant to push them into reading specific books as 'school' because I don't want to dampen their love for reading. I've been considering asking them to start reading some classic literature next year. I've seen there are illustrated young reader versions. Has anyone used anything like this? I have encouraged them to pick their own chapter books, but its just not happening, aside from the few dd has read.

Myt sister is going though this with her 2 boys -- 2nd and 5th.

She is taking a two prong approach ... one is reading books to them a-loud that are more challanging (right now they are reading Huck Finn). Secondly she picked out 3 books for each of them at teh Lib and then let them choose one of the three to read .. and at night each night at dinner they each get a change to talk about the bookt hey are readings and hte others askons. (mom and dad too).

another thing you might do is print off a list of good books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._classic_books

http://materamabilis.org/

http://www.amblesideonline.org/

http://simplycharlottemason.com/

and then go thought the list and note ones you or your Dh has read and likeed -- make it a gaame to read though the lists together.

I personally see nothing wrong with required lit reading for school, pretty standard to me

[dannic]

I love classics! That is practically all we read. I think there are many great classics in each age group/maturity/reading comp level. Of course, it all depends on your idea of a classic? (or what "classic" means to you)
I think Dr. Suess and anything by AA Milne are toddler classics, for example.

Anyway, a couple of things we do: Pick a classic, read it together, then watch the movie. My kids are young (oldest 7) so we do most of our reading together. My kids have sat through everything from Charlotte's Web to The Swiss family Robinson, The Secret Garden, The Chronicles of Narnia, Little House series, Little Men, ect. My son was three when we began. I started with a chapter and let him play with toys on the floor while I read.

My son is not reading independently, but I have a friend who starts out reading a book aloud and ends at an exciting point in the book. her kids usually pick it up on their own to figure out what happens.
I agree with PP that picking books to read aloud that are interesting to you or that you enjoyed as a child is a good way to gain interest.

As an older youth I loved Anne of Green gables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Laddie, Little Women, Cheaper by the Dozen, Jane Eyre, Anything by Jack London, Louie L'Amour (western classics)ect.

I think once they get a feel for the classics from being read to, they'll jump on board. HTH!

[craft_media_hero]

Yes! We love classic literature, but we don't just read the "standard" stories (like what you'd find on the Ambleside list). Although we'll do those as bedtime read-alouds, too.

We read Grimm's Fairy Tales and lots of other fairy tales out loud, and I swear by them for how they have blessed her vocabulary and verbal skills; my girl can turn a phrase!

At the beginning of the year, I perused the literature on the Yesterday's Classics site and picked out 3-4 main books to serve as our "literature" core for this year (in addition to our bedtime readalouds). My daughter is 2 yrs younger, so what I picked for her might not apply for your los. But that site is great and has samples of every single book! My goal was a story from each of these books 3/4 times a week. Plus daily poetry.

I would not require them to read the classics independently for school. I would just pick a handful of books that you'd like them to be exposed to and read aloud as a family; that's just me. You don't want it to become a chore, you want them to love the literature.

Also, I haven't used these for my LO yet as she's too young, but when I was about your kids' age, I LOVED the "Great Illustrated Classics" series, you can find them in sets online (ebay, amazon, etc.). They are relatively inexpensive, shortened, and illustrated versions of the longer stories, large print, etc. Age appropriate for 8 and 10 IMO. These would be great to have available for free reading, but again, I would not require them, just "gift" them to the kids and see how they do.

Have fun! Classic lit is the bees knees in my book

[MyLittleWonders]

I was not exposed to any classics as a kid except a few assigned through school, so dh and I have tried to introduce them to our boys from a young age. They love listening to stories and appreciate the richness of classical tales and stories. Right now, based on their ages, classical literature is fairy tales, Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne, not Disney), Beatrix Potter, etc. They also love Arabian Nights. We read from 50 Famous Stories Retold, the D'Auraires' Greek Myths & Norse Myths. As they get older, I plan on including more chapter books - Wind in the Willows, Chronicles of Narnia, etc., increasing in difficulty as they get older. I am unsure if I'll require them to read any on their own for school - it will greatly depend on them and what we are doing in general. We do follow (with a bit of tweaking to fit us) the Latin Centered Curriculum, which has classic selections for each grade. So, we will see if we use them as assigned reading or as family reading (getting to where we can all take turns reading out loud).

Craft Media Hero - thank you for the suggestion of Yesterday's Classics. I had heard of it before, but never been. I love it!

[MyLittleWonders]

By the way, a resource for teaching/including classics in homeschooling is Classics in the Classroom by Michael Clay Thompson. I've been debating buying it.

[2xy]

I have always allowed the boys to choose what to read. We have many classic books here in the house and then of course there's always the library....DS1 has read many classics on his own. DS2 doesn't read for pleasure very often, and when he does read he tends towards non-fiction.

[Bluegoat]

Something I was enchanted by as a child that might appeal to kids who are intimidated by chapter books was a book of myths from around the world. It was very well written and had the themes and depth that real literature offers, unlike many things directed to kids.