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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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There are so many books that have specific ages suggested on them that we've enjoyed at a much earlier age. I think if one has been reading to her children from day 1, the kids naturally are more in tune with the flow of stories and can grasp "older" books. Of course there are words and nuances in some of these books that will be over their heads, but generally I can expect my 6 year old to appreciate literature that was designed for those with a couple more years under his belt. The first that comes specifically to mind is "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" (recommended age: 9-12). Another BIG hit with him (and my 4 year old even enjoyed it) was "The Princess and the Goblin" (9-12 again). Same with "Pinnochio."
We may very well read some of these books again when my son is older and the other kids are about his age... but I've really enjoyed introducing some of the older literature to him already. Winnie-the-Pooh just didn't do much for usunfortunately.  And James and the Giant Peach, Charlotte's Web, and other such light stories were fine... but there's not a ton of them out there.
I'm curious to know your experiences with disregarding the age recommendations... and what books specifically seem to go over well with younger folks. I love looking through the Bethlehem Books catalogue for example... but there aren't more than a couple titles for the 6-7 year old crowd.
Thoughts? Titles?
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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LLMom
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 6:42pm | IP Logged
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Ellie,
I tend to read books quite a bit above my dc reading ability so I tend to ignore those age suggestions for read-a-louds. I know that my dc will at some point probably read them again alone when they are older, closer to those recommended agees. Have you looked through a book list like Ambelside online, MODG reading list, etc.? There might be some good ones there. I will list just a few of our favorites (and we have many) to get you started.
Farmer boy and other Laura Ingalls Wilder books (my boys and girls all loved these)
Ralph Moody series Little Britches (some of these have some bad words and things they might not get)
The Hobbit
The Secret Garden
Heidi
The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Series
Hank the Cowdog series (these are hilarious)
Mr. Popper's Penguin
Homer Price
The Wizard of Oz and others in that series
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 6:44pm | IP Logged
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age recommendations I believe are for the child reading to themselves.. you can almost always read a higher level book out loud and have the kids understand it.
We really enjoyed Stone Fox as a read aloud. The Little House books worked for both my boys and girls.
Can't think of others right now.
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 8:06pm | IP Logged
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That's how I always understood it....the age rec was actually for the child to read to themself. Read alouds are different.
There are compilations of great read alouds in these archives:
Top Read Alouds ala 4Real
Top Read Alouds ala 4Real - MORE!
Read Alouds 2004
Girlhood Favorites
Boyhood Favorites
Literature that Spans the Ages
Top 12
family read aloud
Chapter Books for Boys
Chapter book suggestions please (books about animals)
Read Alouds Threads for Younger Children
need read aloud suggestions
manly read alouds for a little guy
read aloud books for 2 1/2 year old
Favorite First Chapter Books
favorite audio book for 6 yo boy
Sonlight gives two different age recs.....read alone, and then read aloud. Which helps.
Lots of fun read aloud titles at Tanglewood Education.
Stone Fox is GREAT!
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Suzanne in ID
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sunny
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 9:17pm | IP Logged
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We also have been reading more "advanced" books for awhile. I understand what is meant by age recommendations being for the child reading to himself. But even so, I doubt that most people read more advanced books aloud. An example of something we read quite early and they loved was Pagoo. So I hope I am not being rude and hijacking this thread, but it leads me to wonder how we will fair using CHC for ds just turning 6 in Nov? Everyone says it is so, "gentle" Does gentle mean we will be bored?
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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knowloveserve wrote:
I'm curious to know your experiences with disregarding the age recommendations... |
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It's so funny you mention this. I was taking some time today to look through the new SL catalog and, as you were saying about reading older books w/ younger folks, I realized that we still enjoy younger books for older folks. There are still books my 16 yr old has not read that I am anxious for him to cover...
What am I talking about? Let me rephrase that. 
...books that I haven't even read that I'm anxious to cover. 
I found myself paying very keen attention to what grade levels and ages they recommend particular books for and, as wide a range as they have, I wanted to just lump them into the various time periods and say "it doesn't matter if you're 6 years old or 16 years old or 46 years old. Read them anyway!"
And I realized why I've never been able to use any booklists that are segregated by age. I closed my SL catalog finally at peace that I had realized that I could still use SL's catalog recommendations but not worry about what grade level it is or what core it is or anything that suppresses the desire to read these books. 
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Cay Gibson
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 22 2009 at 11:09pm | IP Logged
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Well the thing that made me hesitate to begin with is a conversation with another hs'ing woman who is purposely refraining from some of these books (specifically the Narnia series) until her children are at least 9 years old... for fear they will miss the great analogies etc.
Good points about reading to themselves and age... didn't realize that. Thanks!
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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JodieLyn
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I think you will miss something in any book because of your age.. I think you can miss out if you don't read it as a child and if you don't read it as an adult..
The beautiful thing about Narnia is that it's so wonderful.. you want to go back to it.. over and over.. so they may first hear it when they're six.. and get part of the story.. and when they're 10 and get more of it.. and then when they're 16 they all of a sudden come to you and tell you about how neat this analogy is 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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Jody
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| Posted: May 23 2009 at 9:22am | IP Logged
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I agree with Cay and Jodie.
Read them anyway no mattter the age. You definitely miss out if you never read them and the more you reread the more you get out of the books.
Jody
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: ignoring age recommendations
