Reading aloud is Edith Schaeffer's answer to fulfilling the needs of the inner drama queen in us homemakers.
She's right. And there's a bonus ~
Reading together
is one of the most important factors
in a growing family relationship.
My solution?
We listened to a lot of stories on tape while riding in the car.
Fortunately, we had an hour-long one way commute to school and I capitalized on feeding the minds of my captive audience.
Just queried 23 y o daughter who allowed that her favorite from this time period was the Let's Pretend Show.
To live through these books together,
to experience them as a family,
is something quite vivid and real,
much much more real than reading alone.
Book club hostess Cindy is the queen of *Morning Time*, a daily routine that follows Edith's formula for reading from three classifications (plus hymn singing.) It sounds like the Schaeffers did theirs in the evening.
I admit that we were no where close to achieving what is described in this chapter, but I believe I've reared a group of readers (as well as some drama queens.) That should be encouragement to the young mothers out there who think they're not doing enough.
It doesnt take as much and as long as we think.
Just a little bit every.single.day.
What are you reading in the picture? It looks fun.
ReplyDeleteI also am resorting to audio books more and more because I am not really a dramatic reader and it is great to take advantage of being in the car.
Cant exactly remember, Cindy :-\
DeleteHere's the link to the original post from 2006 where I detail that the next assignment. I guess I handed the girls stuff to read often....
http://hiddenart.xanga.com/525883717/she-who-reads-leads/
I really enjoyed the Let's Pretend stories as well! I distinctly remember the Cream of Wheat commercials they used to play. ;) I also remember listening to a taped series that incorporated stories into the music of famous composers (Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi). Do you recall what this was called?
ReplyDeletePeggyDee mentioned the composer stories, too!
DeleteHere's the link ;-)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_14?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=classical+kids+collection&sprefix=classical+kids%2Cpopular%2C173&rh=n%3A5174%2Ck%3Aclassical+kids+collection
We enjoyed reading aloud when our children were younger, and audiobooks weren't as prevalent them, but we listened to many an Adventure in Odyssey and other children's tapes in the car.
ReplyDeleteBooks on tape (or CD) is a really good part of this "read aloud" idea, and it is a huge help b/c it saves people's voices from reading for hours. Plus, it allows everyone to enjoy listening, and you get the benefit of some very good voice actors. Good point!
ReplyDelete"Just a little bit every.single.day."
ReplyDeleteexcellent advice, for young mothers, and for not-so-young mothers too.
I'm off to look up Let's Pretend!
I, too, am captured by your words "Just a little bit every. single. day."" That is such wise advice. A lot is accomplished by simply plugging away at it.
ReplyDelete