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SeaStar
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I have just started Stories of the Child Jesus From Many Lands as our lunch time read aloud. I am having a bit of trouble reading this out loud... the language is somewhat old fashioned, and I find myself stumbling over some sentences. And coming on the heels of Robinson Crusoe,... Whew. I don't know.
For those of you who have been through some of these books (and we haven't even gotten to Shakespeare yet  )... how do you handle this?
Do you forge ahead with the book, doing the best you can? Do you look for an audio book version instead? I wish I had done that with Robinson Crusoe- though then it would have been hard to screen some of the gory parts (I had no idea it was so heavy on "savages" eating each other  ).
I am trying to gauge if my less than theatre worthy readings of the stories are going to turn off interest in them. As I stumble through some passages, I find that *I* lose track of what the point is. 
Thoughts? 
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kristinannie
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I know this takes more time, but have you thought about reading the harder passages out loud before you read it with your kids? I used to be a lector in church (before DH and I were outnumbered and I have to stay in my seat ). I used to read the readings out loud. Reading it to myself didn't help me pronounce the words. Sometimes I thought I could pronounce something, but I couldn't or there would be an unexpected tongue twister. I do think it is great that you are trying to read aloud. Your kids can see that you are doing something difficult and trying your best so that they can do the same. Hang in there!
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Mimip
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Melinda,
I guess I cheat and use audio books for anything I can that is free. 
I love Kristin's idea of pre reading aloud and I used to do the same thing when I was a lector but I understand the time constraint, there is no way I could read aloud beforehand everything I read aloud. Then again that is why I use so many audio books 
We are currently listening to 50 famous stories retold in the car and the kids love that some "southern mom" is reading it to them. The librovox recording we got is read by a woman with a very deep southern accent that the kids LOVE! After listening for the past few weeks they can now imitate it perfectly! So funny!
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stellamaris
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Melinda, are you feeling that you or the kids don't understand
the flow of the story? Or is it that the words are unfamiliar and difficult to pronounce? Is it the length or structure of the sentences? Are you enjoying the stories with which you are struggling, or is the reading challenge ruining the "fun" of reading aloud? Just trying to get a better for what the problem is...
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 02 2011 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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It is the sentence structure and some of the old-fashioned vocabulary that is getting me.
For example, Robinson Crusoe at times switched from past tense to present with no warning. That always threw me (says I ). He also had that darned "perspective glass' that was a tongue twister and kept popping up all the time.
I have to say that my kids don't seem to notice my problems reading- they are just in it for the story. It just bugs me.- makes me lose interest reading the book to them.
We are currently in Redwall book on tape jail and I don't see us breaking out of that anytime soon. But that is good, as I think I wouldn't often feel like bellowing "EULALIA!!!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs.
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stellamaris
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First of all, especially at the younger ages you are teaching, I would suggest that you read books that are interesting for you. Your love of the story will communicate itself to the children; this is part of that hard-to-define "atmosphere" of your home. So, audio books would be a good choice, IMHO, when reading the book yourself creates a negative feeling in you due to the trouble you have reading it.
Secondly, if you would like to read the more literary style of older books and enjoy it, I suggest beginning with books written 1) in the late 19th/early 20th centuries and 2) written more directly for children. I can't comment on Stories of the Child Jesus as I myself just got it for use next year, but Robinson Crusoe was written for adults in the early 1700's. Some better choices for beginning your literary adventure would be: The Wind in the Willows, Hans Brinker, any E. Nesbit books, The Secret Garden or The Little Princess, anything by Lousia May Alcott, Black Beauty, anything by .Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wonder Books by Hawthorne (if you don't object to Greek mythology). I'm sure there are more of the sort of "intermediate" choices, but the idea is to become progressively more familiar with the older writing styles and vocabulary so that when they are in high school a literary work like Robinson Crusoe doesn't seem so "foreign".
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JodieLyn
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Slow down. I know it's tempting to want to read quickly to get to more of the story.. but you miss the cues in the sentences and who is supposed to be talking and stumble over unfamiliar words if you go at a faster pace.. Older language for me has something of poetry.. maybe because poetry is often older language? But if you slow down your pace.. you'll find that the language and pronunciations and tongue twisters won't be near so hard.
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stellamaris
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| Posted: June 02 2011 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
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I really want to add something here, but I'm having trouble expressing myself- that's weird ! Seriously, the journey of teaching our children at home is a long and demanding one. As mothers, we so often have to sacrifice little joys and delights that make our own lives happy and pleasant. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, and can even be very helpful to our spiritual growth, there is no reason to inflict upon ourselves the burdensome toil of trying to teach our children material for which we ourselves have no enthusiasm at all. Sometimes our "enthusiasm" will come from knowing a particular subject is important for our child's future (for example, math, for which few moms have a real LOVE). Sometimes, however, we fall into doing things that we feel we OUGHT to do to keep up with others or to achieve that elusive "perfect" education. I can promise you that no matter what you do, your children will not be perfect, nor will they live up to the full potential, nor will they make it through life without sin or spiritual trials. So you are free to do what you love! Was it Augustine who said," Love, and do what you will?". Teach what you LOVE, and both your life and the lives of your children will be blessed.
There are so many wonderful things to learn in this world that we should strive to present to our children those things that delight us. Nothing can replace delight in the quest for knowledge.
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JodieLyn
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I apparently didn't finish my thought.. the reason I was comparing it to poetry is that poetry has a rhythm and you don't rush that rhythm or it sounds "odd".. so also you need to find the rhythm of the story/language and read to that and not try and crush older language into a modern reading rhythm.
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I was going to say exactly what Jodie said.
It really helps to slow down to what you think is even an exaggeratedly slow pace. I do this with that type of writing and it sounds funny to me at first, but the kids really like it. Going extra slow helps me to add even more emphasis to words than I normally would, and make the stories even more entertaining.
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Melinda
I'm going to be honest (ducking any tomatoes). That particular book, I've tried to read it aloud and it is too long and I fall asleep So I give it to them to read alone when older. Okay really honest I mostly forget to do that too.
Some books are hard to read aloud, Tom Sawyer was one I gave up as impossible.
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SeaStar
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I think it will really help me to slow down. I am in a rush most of the time, and that flows over into everything, apparently.
The Confessions of St. Augustine is one that I cannot read, either aloud or to myself. I have tried more than once...
Robinson Crusoe came to us as an adapted version, illustrated for children. My dc hugely enjoyed it. I cannot imagine reading the original!
I thought it was interesting, especially to compare to The Swiss family Robinson.
But I think I will pick something more delightful to read for our next book
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Karen T
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Interesting that you brought this up, Melinda I'm currently reading aloud two books - Cheaper by the Dozen and one of the Harry Potter books (no tomatoes, please)
I've noticed that I can read quite a few chapters of the HP book to the kids without getting tired, although I do have to make myself slow down sometimes, as I read very fast on my own and can end up rushing without realizing it. But the words flow easily, probably b/c they are so similar to our everyday language (well, except for the spells )
But when I read Cheaper by the Dozen, even though I like the book and it's quite interesting, something about the words and sentence construction just makes my tongue trip and falter repeatedly. It's not that the vocabulary is necessarily harder, but it does have more words which are not commonplace anymore; maybe that's the problem. We were supposed to finish it up last week in our last school week, but I couldn't make myself double up on chapters enough to finish, so we are still a few chapters from the end.
Karen
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JodieLyn
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The Harry Potter books would be very easy to read aloud.. if I didn't try and give slightly differing ways of talking to the characters but if you're doing that you have to slow down or you'll be reading in the wrong character
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Karen T
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I'm usually OK with slightly different voices until I get to Dobby - that one really takes concentration to say it right!
Karen
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 6:39am | IP Logged
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Karen T wrote:
But when I read Cheaper by the Dozen, even though I like the book and it's quite interesting, something about the words and sentence construction just makes my tongue trip and falter repeatedly. It's not that the vocabulary is necessarily harder, but it does have more words which are not commonplace anymore; maybe that's the problem. We were supposed to finish it up last week in our last school week, but I couldn't make myself double up on chapters enough to finish, so we are still a few chapters from the end.
Karen |
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I think that is what I have been trying to say My tongue trips, I frequently have to pause and reread a line, thinking maybe I've missed a word, etc. It just doesn't flow as smoothly. I'm glad I am not the only one having this trouble!
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I wanted to continue to encourage reading aloud these classics and books which may have different writing styles or ways of expression that would be found in a more modern book.
I immensely enjoy reading a book with different voices, but when a book's style/manner of writing challenges me I simply try to slow down my reading and read less in one sitting. The reading of these older books is more worthwhile than you can imagine now and the benefits will go well beyond the reading of them today!!
The first benefit - it is good to stretch my own reading chops!! Authors of classic literature, and most authors that wrote around 100 years ago wrote in a way that expressed a context or a line of thought(s) in a sometimes complicated way. They often choose a long, lovely, winding road to get their point across. Why? Because the journey of arriving at that point or conveying that idea was worthwhile to that author. And their manner of expression, while somewhat antiquated, has come to mean so much more to me. It is full of such rich rhythm and beauty. It's been more than worthwhile for me to learn to read this type of literature aloud because it begins to permeate my own ability to articulate and consider. After a while, it feels less foreign to read, more comfortable, and honestly, I now find such a delight in reading these authors.
The second and most important benefit is for the children - these manners of expression in older books, and classic literature especially, is so formational and influential in the construction of the relationship the child makes with that author/idea as well as the conveying of an idea. One of my FAVORITE quotes of G. K. Chesterton is, "What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder." This is SO TRUE!!! And hearing these books read aloud is no exception. There is a sense of wonder at the story, in the style, in the turn of a phrase. This wonder takes place quietly, subtly, but it does take place! Do you see evidence of this right away? Nope. But you will! You'll hear it in your child's narrations. You'll see it in the expression of their imagination. And when they begin to write, you will find yourself utterly astonished at their ABILITY TO WRITE -- they will write beautifully and in their own unique, distinctive style, but you WILL SEE evidence of these authors who wrote in ways challenging and more complex.
So...that's my perspective....my 2 cents. Difficult to read at first? Yes. So just as you take time to slowly and gently get to know a new friend, you extend a little more latitude in reading these new friends aloud. The wonder they convey is so worth the time to get to know them.
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CrunchyMom
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Picking up a bit on something Jen said, one Charlotte Mason quote I've read recently talked about only reading a bit at a time and stopping at the most exciting part--resist the urge to go one or even finish the chapter. When the child is forced to stop while excited and long before bored, he thinks more about what has been read for longer, wondering what will happen.
So, maybe in addition to slowing down physically, you can try only doing a few pages in a sitting. This might make it feel less overwhelming.
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Karen T
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Jen, I do agree with what you are saying. The richness of the vocabulary and sentence structure is often far superior to today's writing, and I know it is a great benefit to them. I guess I've been forcing myself to read further, thinking that b/c these are good books we should want to go faster and read more, but now i see that reading shorter amounts, slower, is not only OK, but perhaps more desirable!
Karen
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JennGM
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Karen T wrote:
Jen, I do agree with what you are saying. The richness of the vocabulary and sentence structure is often far superior to today's writing, and I know it is a great benefit to them. I guess I've been forcing myself to read further, thinking that b/c these are good books we should want to go faster and read more, but now i see that reading shorter amounts, slower, is not only OK, but perhaps more desirable!
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This reminds me of what I'm mulling right now...a bit off subject, but not exactly. There are so many good books out there. While CM method calls for many books, there still will be many that we might not read. And if we're slowing down to make QUALITY reading, then that means QUANTITY might be less.
Is that our aim and goal, to have perhaps fewer books read well and retained then a gluttonous diet of books not digested properly?
And Sonya from Simply Charlotte Mason was saying that even though there might 16 books used during a term, finishing them isn't always the goal.
Sorry, random thoughts. I'm not consistent with my read-alouds. I have difficulty reading aloud because my allergies make me lose my voice very quickly.
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: I'm having trouble reading aloud
