I plan to alternate my eighth grader with Arrow and Boomerang. My fifth grader is doing Arrow.
This month I selected books to go along with lessons I purchased last year but never did put to use.
My eighth grader is reading Moccasin Trail
by Eloise Jarvis McGraw(lesson focus: alliteration).My fifth grader is reading Soup
by Robert Newton Peck (lesson focus: metaphors).The kids are protesting as I am "forcing" them to read these books rather than letting them do all the choosing when a book is fiction. I explained that first I want them to read it then we will do some language arts lessons to go along with it and with this program the lessons tie in with the book.
My eighth grader is complaining that Moccasin Trail uses too much descriptive language. He dislikes the use of vernacular and dialect. He doesn't care for this subject matter.
My fifth grader just doesn't like Soup, says it's boring. It is a lower word count book and it's easy for him to read so the reading part is not the issue.
This fall I attended a great workshop given by Julie Bogart of Bravewriter. In it she explained that we don't have to use her Arrow or Boomerang, that we can use these same methods of teaching with any book the kids want to read. However to create our own language arts lessons based on literature takes work.
Let's think about this for a minute. I'd have to know to touch upon metaphors at some point and I'd have to brush up on metaphors. Then I'd also have to read the same books my kids are reading and be on the lookout for metaphors. The fact that I'd also have to read every book is a challenge as I just don't have that kind of time right now. Reading whole books looking for one language arts element to teach seems ineffective so I'd probably have to have a list of concepts that need to be taught then keep all those in mind while reading the slew of books that my kids pick, and hoping that I'd find illustrative example of the concepts I want my kids to learn.
If that didn't work I'd then go to the Internet to search for books that illustrate these concepts and wind up forcing them to read those anyway.
Or I could just pay about $10 for the Arrow or Boomerang lesson and force my kids to read the book.
Or I could forget the whole learning concepts through experiencing them and teach the concepts in isolation such as using a textbook or workbook curriculum. However the opinion that kids (and adults) rarely retain concepts learned in isolation apart from experiencing them in abstract ways or in artificial learning environments comes to mind, so forget that.
Well the kids are reading the books against their will. The best I can hope for is that the book improves as they get into it and they wind up enjoying it or learning something.
Next week we'll do the lessons and I can check off the list that we covered those topics.
The goal is to cover one book a month for the whole year. Since I've skipped some months that we were too busy doing other academic work we will double up on these lessons on the months we do this.
2 comments:
My kids just loved Moccasin Trail! I did it as a read-aloud and did all the voices.It was funny trying to get all the accents. We do historical fiction along with our history studies to really make history come alive. And like you, add LA assignments to go with the book. Oh and by the way my kids range in ages from 5th-11th grade. Maybe you can do it as a family reading in the evening. It can be a ton of fun!
Having to read material one would rather not read is good preparation for life. What a good mother. :)
Seriously, I'm all for interest-led learning because I see the retention from it. But occasionally we need to be forced out of our comfort and/or interest zone to learn things we'd otherwise not learn.
For example, to get theological, if you believe in a Supreme Being who has put you on earth to learn and grow, occasionally illness/job loss/tornadoes/etc. will come along to make us learn lessons about charity and faith that we wouldn't have necessarily sought on our own. Few truly seek adversity.
Just like few children seek opportunities to analyze metaphors in a book. Yawn.
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