Homeschool Mommy Ramblings...
We are starting to read The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank. 
Mind you this is not the book of choice of my young son...it is a
book I chose for him. We started this year with 12 books on a
list I made for him. These were books which I knew as a teacher to be classics, books my husband or I read as children that we know to be part of life skills or classics, books that come and go on the banned list for whatever stupid reason of the day.
The goal was to read 8 out of the 12 books minimally, but to aim for all of them. The homeschool association told me we might be biting off a bit much for our first year homeschooling. I figure we only have so many years to cram all these lovely gems of literature into his schooling and we need to get in gear. Thus far we have completed 4 of the books on the list...one of the books was two short stories rolled into one book/literature study. So technically, we are on target to be half-way through the list of books, if we want to have minimal achievement. For those who know me well...minimal achievement is never the target...In this house, in my world, I am an optimist...all or nothing. My plan is to read all 12 books this year!
Along with each of these novels, he has had vocabulary studies, papers to write, some research projects, movies to accompany them after the readings. We have done parallel studies and contrast studies. He has completed powerpoints on these books and book reports. He has taken tests on chapters and the entire novels.
In general, he helped to make the list of some books he wanted, some I wanted, and some that are grade level appropriate. He also has some books on the list that as a seventh grader, he should have read in regular school years before now...but that did not happen...Anne Frank was a book I wanted...Yes, it is one of my childhood favorites. I also think contains many life lessons he needs to be exposed to.
He only sees it currently as a girl book. Thus, I have decided to not test and do all sort of projects with him on this book. We are reading it together, bit by bit, nightly after dinner. Only a bit at a time, but we read it together on the couch in quiet, after our family Bible reading time. I figure this way, we can discuss it as we go along. I want him to enjoy the beauty of the book as it is written by this young girl in this tumultuous time of life, for her personally and for the world at war. I hope that without the pressure of tests and papers, he will enjoy this piece of literature simply for the beauty of the written piece.
But, my question is...how do you get a boy to be interested in the diary of a thirteen year old girl? Any thoughts?
Mind you this is not the book of choice of my young son...it is a
book I chose for him. We started this year with 12 books on a
list I made for him. These were books which I knew as a teacher to be classics, books my husband or I read as children that we know to be part of life skills or classics, books that come and go on the banned list for whatever stupid reason of the day.
The goal was to read 8 out of the 12 books minimally, but to aim for all of them. The homeschool association told me we might be biting off a bit much for our first year homeschooling. I figure we only have so many years to cram all these lovely gems of literature into his schooling and we need to get in gear. Thus far we have completed 4 of the books on the list...one of the books was two short stories rolled into one book/literature study. So technically, we are on target to be half-way through the list of books, if we want to have minimal achievement. For those who know me well...minimal achievement is never the target...In this house, in my world, I am an optimist...all or nothing. My plan is to read all 12 books this year!
Along with each of these novels, he has had vocabulary studies, papers to write, some research projects, movies to accompany them after the readings. We have done parallel studies and contrast studies. He has completed powerpoints on these books and book reports. He has taken tests on chapters and the entire novels.
In general, he helped to make the list of some books he wanted, some I wanted, and some that are grade level appropriate. He also has some books on the list that as a seventh grader, he should have read in regular school years before now...but that did not happen...Anne Frank was a book I wanted...Yes, it is one of my childhood favorites. I also think contains many life lessons he needs to be exposed to.
He only sees it currently as a girl book. Thus, I have decided to not test and do all sort of projects with him on this book. We are reading it together, bit by bit, nightly after dinner. Only a bit at a time, but we read it together on the couch in quiet, after our family Bible reading time. I figure this way, we can discuss it as we go along. I want him to enjoy the beauty of the book as it is written by this young girl in this tumultuous time of life, for her personally and for the world at war. I hope that without the pressure of tests and papers, he will enjoy this piece of literature simply for the beauty of the written piece.
But, my question is...how do you get a boy to be interested in the diary of a thirteen year old girl? Any thoughts?
Thank you for your kind words about my post. new follower. laura
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome, laura - i think it was a dyslexia homeschool post you made in the past that made me originally follow you. :) i found someone with a homeschool situation similar to mine.
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