A while ago Charlotte chose 'Malory Towers' by Enid Blyton as part of our reading. I decided to stop and chose another book for her. The book I eventually chose for Charlotte to read was one which I thought she should read, one 'approved' by me as being 'educational enough'. However, the pace was too fast for her and she couldn't understand the politics within the story. I had initially rejected 'Malory Towers' because I thought it wasn't interesting enough. I've since been having nightsweats at my stupidity! How arrogant to halt the reading of Charlotte's book, one that she had chosen herself..... just because it wasn't doing anything for me!
'Malory Towers' may not appeal to me now, but I remember enjoying Enid Blyton's school series as a child...... which is what Charlotte still is. I realise that I had taken the power from Charlotte to choose what she wants to read and had acted in a controlling manner. It seems that I, too, am learning lessons during our homeschool journey. From now on Charlotte is free to choose her own literature. We've gone back to reading 'Malory Towers'!
One thing I do is 'stack the bookshelf' which actually means strew books on the table ,so that they can make a choice from them.
ReplyDeleteThey'll still want to read serialized adventure fiction of the Percy Jackson variety, but do pick up the more 'topical' ones too.
Choice is very important, but preparing the options is very useful :)
Have either of you tried Stephenie Meyer?