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JennGM
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 9:38am | IP Logged
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As I'm delving into planning for my K son this year, I just wanted to bounce this question.
Picture books and living books, we read them together all the time. We have Catholic Mosaic, Christmas Mosaic, Before Five in a Row and now FIAR, Peak with Books. Then I haven't even touched Lapbooks, which are attractive, but intimidating.
While the ideas presented are fabulous, I tend to be a bit more independent. We read the books together, I'll point out vocabulary along the way, ask leading or guessing questions once in a while. And we'll discuss some tie-ins (like last night "Gift of Gracias" and "Brigid's Cloak" both had blue cloaks with stars). But most of the time I like him to savor the books and ponder them himself. After we read books I'll find him sitting on the floor, poring over the pictures and thinking. And then over time we'll have discussions but nothing in particular.
I can see spontaneous activity stemming from the books, like cooking/baking (I'm thinking of Elizabeth's dePaola Advent unit in particular). I guess the ideas have me scratching my head as they seem a bit stilted and awkward to present, but then again, is my son missing out?
How do YOU present your books in the home? Are there different levels of presentation, depending on the subject (for fun, for unit study, or rabbit trail)? When you have these lovely resources, do you incorporate all the ideas or just some? And how do you do it? Do your children want to keep on going or just read a book?
Just pondering questions, I don't mean to sound like I'm worried or trying to do it all. Just wanting to get a little window into your day.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 9:41am | IP Logged
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We don't do much beyond read the books together. I'm a big fan of strewing books and related materials, but I don't often create huge unit studies with tons of activities. My children do like visiting places related to the books they've read - that's how we got to Emmitsburg, to see where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived.
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missionfamily
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Jenn--I like to think of it this way--The book is the meat that you're presenting to him. It's the most satisfying part of the meal and takes the longest to digest. The conversations and bonding that happen with you as you read are like eating your veggies--very, very good for you and an important compliment to the meat. Sometimes after that, you're full, there's no room for anything else. And sometimes, there's a spark, a craving for a little something extra...your lapbook projects or book-related crafts etc...are like dessert--sometimes you're in the mood and sometimes you're just satisfied with the meal.
I think it also is a temperment issue to some extent. If you and ds are both more introverted thinkers, then quiet time to process is more satisfying than fever pitch activity. For people who tend to process by talking and doing, the activities provide a way to process ideas and information.
We a lot of both around here...sometimes Mom-inspired and sometimes kid-led.
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Willa
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 11:05am | IP Logged
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I tend to let the book stand on its own. We follow-up much the way you describe you and your son doing. But it's just like Colleen said -- I'm an introvert and so are my kids. We need pondering time and find extra projects a distraction. I know others are very different.
I do see a general need for my kids to have time spend working with their hands. But we usually do this separately, not directly connected with the reading.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 11:08am | IP Logged
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missionfamily wrote:
Jenn--I like to think of it this way--The book is the meat that you're presenting to him. It's the most satisfying part of the meal and takes the longest to digest. The conversations and bonding that happen with you as you read are like eating your veggies--very, very good for you and an important compliment to the meat. Sometimes after that, you're full, there's no room for anything else. And sometimes, there's a spark, a craving for a little something extra...your lapbook projects or book-related crafts etc...are like dessert--sometimes you're in the mood and sometimes you're just satisfied with the meal.
I think it also is a temperment issue to some extent. If you and ds are both more introverted thinkers, then quiet time to process is more satisfying than fever pitch activity. For people who tend to process by talking and doing, the activities provide a way to process ideas and information.
We a lot of both around here...sometimes Mom-inspired and sometimes kid-led. |
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Thank you so much for that analogy, Colleen! That was such a wonderful way to think about it.
That's exactly what we do in terms of picture books, and I always felt like I was not really completing the bigger picture by not adding on all the extras. I was content to leave things alone - it's just the way we work, and it seems to work well. We read, we talk, they continue to digest the books on their own. Occasionally, something springs from the book - a trip, an art project - but not all the time. In order to add something on, it has to happen almost naturally, spontaneously or it feels forced to me and then I get all stressed over the extra work.
How affirming to think of it the way you wrote Colleen. YAY! So, I'm just skipping desert usually!  But, we're still quite nourished. 
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Sarah M
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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We've done it both ways. I tend to feel like when I plan too many activities (like those from FIAR) based on the book- especially the math ones- it feels contrived. For us, it's much more natural to let the book stand on its own. I know Charlotte Mason felt that children could make the relations on their own without a whole hands-on unit-study approach, but I can't seem to find the quotes that I'm thinkiing of...
Anyway, I think the enrichment activities end up being more for me and my peace of mind  - not so sure that they are particularly helpful other than my feeling like "we did actually accomplish something today." For my part, I'm trying to be more disciplined in trusting the book to stand on its own.
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hylabrook1
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Jenn -
An idea for balance between leaving the book entirely on its own vs. the contrived feeling of doing the follow-ups: When you pre-read the book and, say, the FIAR lessons that are meant to relate to the book, select one or two of the ideas and then use those to plant ideas and extensions in your son's path. Choose the ones you think would most appeal to him or help him learn a particular skill. Mention those casually, maybe in question form, while reading. Give him some period of time to mull and process. Then maybe ask the question a second time with a suggestion of how to figure out the answer, practice the skill, whatever. In other words, you kind of do some other things that follow from the book, but don't interfere with his own pleasure in and processing of the book alone. Hmmm...let me try to think of an example. Say you read a book that takes place in another country. You comment, "That is very far from here. I wonder what it's near?" After he has spent some time on his own with the book, show him a globe, kind of half-casually, and tell him what it's used for, then try to find places on it, including the place where the story is set. (Sorry, just have to smile at the whole, "I wonder.." of it all; very CGS  ).
I wouldn't do this with every book; you don't want to seem always to have a hidden agenda when you read a book with him. Also, as he grows, he will probably begin asking some of the kinds of questions that give a lead about which extensions to use.
Just my 2 cents.
Peace,
Nancy
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 16 2008 at 12:23pm | IP Logged
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Oh thank you all for your responses! Very helpful. Colleen, I love that analogy, thank you. Nancy, very concrete advice. I was just looking at Peak With Books and saw all those "wonder" questions and was also thinking of CGS.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SallyT
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We're stand-aloners here, too. Sometimes I like to read things in juxtaposition -- we've traditionally read Sylvester and the Magic Pebble close to Easter, for example, and/or in conjunction with the story of Lazarus. And we might plant some seeds or something, or look at rocks . . . that's about my most elaborate plan. Mostly I just trust them to "play" the book, or for it to come up in conversation, maybe even months later.
I love the idea of planting things a little more purposefully in the kids' path, though. Usually I don't go beyond art supplies, which are always around anyway. Or we might cook something, if they want to -- I know we've made highly unsuccessful "Little House in the Big Woods" molasses/snow candy numerous times (and it's just as gross every time). And we do always have a globe or map nearby, so we can look up where we are in a book. But PLANNING for spontaneity -- I really need to do more of that.
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CrunchyMom
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SallyT wrote:
| I know we've made highly unsuccessful "Little House in the Big Woods" molasses/snow candy numerous times (and it's just as gross every time). |
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 When I was a child, I was completely enamored by the description in Farmer Boy of his putting the popcorn in milk. I tried it more than once, but it was SO gross--just really soggy popcorn and icky milk 
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hylabrook1
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Sally -
I don't remember the snow candy involving molasses. I always thought it was hot maple syrup. But I'm sure it's just as much a gross, sticky mess!
Peace,
Nancy
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SallyT
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In Big Woods, Ma pours molasses onto the snow, and it hardens into candy. In Utah, when my oldest was little, we tried the same thing, and it was . . . not cold enough, maybe? And no amount of cold could make it not taste like straight molasses?
I think maybe Ma boiled it with sugar or something first. I can't remember, and the book is packed. Whenever we've tried it, we've had the book propped open and done whatever Ma is described as doing, to the letter, and then filed the experience under, "Life was a lot simpler then, and weird things tasted better because you didn't have that many choices."
Sally
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MacBeth
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Stand alone. Almost always.
Except...when we read The Phoenix and the Carpet, the kids had just come home from London, and they wanted to map out the whole book and compare it to their adventures. It was one of those child-lead rabbit trails that cannot be duplicated. 
A few other instances like this make for Real Learning . And a very nice score on the Literature SAT subject test, without ever using a study guide...
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teachingmom
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Books stand alone here also.
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Taffy
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We generally let books stand alone here too. We did a Robert Munsch study this past year and made a poster on it where we put on vocab words, our family tree, list of books written by Munsch, etc. It went well enough but took a LONG time for us to finish. DS did get a lot out of it though so we may do something similar in the coming year but it would be very difficult to find time to do it regularly without neglecting other important areas.
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EmilyC
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This past year we did lots of projects with the books we read. I did a fairly elaborate unit on The Hobbit with dd, and the twins and I delved into Five in a Row and did several lapbooks based on the books we read. They enjoyed it, however, by the end of the year they were asking to just read the books, instead of doing all the "neat" projects I'd collected for them to work on.
I think I'm going to take a more relaxed approach this year, and try to just enjoy the books for what they are, and only go on rabbit trails when the children request them.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Do You Let A Book Stand On Its Own?
