I voted for "once a day" but we actually read a bit more than that, usually. I just didn't want to fiddle with the numbers too much by marking "several times."
Two thoughts:
(1) it's paying off finally. My oldest was slow in getting excited to read, but now he races through books like wildfire. I think I will start him on "Beowulf" in the original text next week. (....yes I am kidding.)
(2) It is amazing how many really crappy books for kids there are out there! Should you start a list for the best and worst?
How many times a day, indeed. How about how many HOURS a day!
Don't laugh about Beowulf. We did an illustrated kids version of Canterbury Tales when DD was 5, and now we are on an illustrated Iliad! Little kids don't know that stuff is supposed to be hard. If it's a good story, it's a good story.
It looks like you are seeing the same reading explosion we are seeing. It's so cool, isn't it? We hit the library AT LEAST once a week with a tote bag to pick up a foot-high stack of titles we've placed on hold. The librarians don't even ask for my name any more. They just say something like "Oh good, you're here. We need the shelf space." Last summer, DD finished a boatload of books -- we stopped counting at 200.
I can't talk about this subject with any of the kindergarten moms (like they talk to me that much anyway). Their kids aren't even reading yet, or are only into that God-awful Sponge Bob or other crap, and here's my kid asking their kids "Hey, did you read Heidi? Did you read Trumpet of the Swan?"
We do maintain a stable of bubble-gum books. DD will sometimes mix a Barbie book in with Greek myths, or some other incongruous concoction, which is fine with me. Since she is used to absorbing good stories with good characters and plots, the standard kids books just don't do it for her for very long and she self-regulates.
I teach SAT prep on the weekends, and I have to believe our kids' vocab will be in fine shape. My SAT students are years behind in reading comprehension and vocab, and I'm not talking about poor inner-city kids. These are upper-middle class private school kids who just do not read, and never have. They also have TVs and computers in their rooms and regularly stay up until the wee hours. I blame it all on idiotic parents.
Some things are better on CDs you can listen to in the car. We did all 9 books of Narnia that way, plus The Secret Garden, Charlotte's Web, and many other titles (DW has a written log of it all somewhere). CD books are great if you find a good narrator doing an unabridged version. Patrick Stewart doing Narnia was epic.
Get yourself a copy of "The Well Trained Mind" on Amazon. The book is a major homeschooling staple. While we do not homeschool, the things the author says about literature make a lot of sense. The best part is the reading list in the back -- all the great books your child will most likely NOT read in school. It's an absolute goldmine!
Other good book lists include The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, and Great Books for Girls by Kathleen Odean (who also wrote Great Books for Boys).
I have a gazillion book recs, but one unusual one is Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare by Marcia Williams. It's edited way down, and heavily illustrated in a Where's Waldo style. She also did a treatments for Chaucer and Dickens.
I'd definitely like to see a good book list here, or a dedicated topic for reviews and such.
That Canterbury Tales idea is a great one. I never thought about it for kids, but that's a great idea. I'm going to look for that.
And how fitting that you could put Barbie in the same sentence with Greek myths. Not nearly as incongruous as you think at first glance. There is so much understated truth in that one sentence. But that probably belongs in a different forum.
Do you have any specific info on the Canterbury Tales kid version? Author's name? (I mean the kids' version.) How about the Iliad?
Barbie and Greek myths? Heck, we mix and match like that every day. You should see DD act out Much Ado About Nothing with Polly Pockets!
The Iliad book is called Black Ships Before Troy, The Story of The Iliad, by Rosemary Sutcliff, ISBN 0-385-31069-2.
I'm a bit fuzzy on which Canterbury Tales we read. It might be the one by Geraldine McCaughrean, ISBN 0-528-82673-5, but I am not completely sure. She has done several interpreted classics, so that might be it.
That Narnia collection I mentioned is still available on Amazon for $75 -- ISBN 0-06-079326-0. 31 hours on 31 CDs. If you are planning a road trip anytime soon, get this one for sure.
I know this thread has been around for awhile, but I just noticed it today. I think it's great that your kids are reading such good literature. But I think it's ever greater to see so many dads taking the time to read to their kids. It's so important to do that! As a former teacher, I could always tell which kids had been read to and which hadn't. It was almost always the case that the child who hated reading had very seldom been read to when they were young, while the one who couldn't get enough books had been read to constantly. Yes, there certainly were exceptions to this, but 9 times out of 10 this was true. With my kids I have always had shelves of books for them to read, and it included the classics but also some of that stuff that really wasn't that great as far as literature is concerned but it got them reading. My oldest LOVES the Captain Underpants books which are incredibly stupid, but we have them for him because they get him to read. That's the important thing, getting him (and the other 2) to pick up a book and read.
I read to my two year old often throughout the day. Most often it's because he's asking for a book. We kept reading to him even though he didn't seem interested. Then around 17 months or so he got on fire for books and still does. He wakes from a nap and reads by himself for a while (often times but not the golden rule).
I started reading LoTR, beginning with the Hobbit, to my son when he was six. He loved it so much, he made me read it again. I finally got the pronunciation of the elves' names down that way. Narnia, of course, is great. But also try Treasure Island. We read that one twice, too. Soon plunged into Harry Potter, I'm almost sorry to say, because reading that one twice, as we're now doing, is boring in the later books which I think are overwritten. Still, we've had great fun comparing Dumbledore and Gandalf, Harry and Bilbo and Frodo. Based on what I'm reading here, I'm going to try the kid versions of Chaucer, Beowulf and the Illiad.
We got an idea from one of the past conventions to do a monthly storytime at the central library. They call it "Storytime with the Dads" featuring the NE-WI At Home Dads' group. I have been reading monthly for almost 2 years now and the kids really like it. We do some songs and when any of the dads show up, I ask them to read one of their favorite stories. Another bonus is that it is during the "daycare" hour when 3 or 4 daycares come in from around the neighborhood. This week I brought 8 puppies from the humane society and their mom (plus hand sanitizer). There are sometimes 70 kids there. Some of the kids don't have a dad around that can show them that reading books is cool!
Bruce Cantrall, dad to 3!
Northeast Wisconsin at Home Dads (Green Bay)
A little more than once a day
I voted for "once a day" but we actually read a bit more than that, usually. I just didn't want to fiddle with the numbers too much by marking "several times."
Two thoughts:
(1) it's paying off finally. My oldest was slow in getting excited to read, but now he races through books like wildfire. I think I will start him on "Beowulf" in the original text next week. (....yes I am kidding.)
(2) It is amazing how many really crappy books for kids there are out there! Should you start a list for the best and worst?
Read, read, and read some more!
How many times a day, indeed. How about how many HOURS a day!
Don't laugh about Beowulf. We did an illustrated kids version of Canterbury Tales when DD was 5, and now we are on an illustrated Iliad! Little kids don't know that stuff is supposed to be hard. If it's a good story, it's a good story.
It looks like you are seeing the same reading explosion we are seeing. It's so cool, isn't it? We hit the library AT LEAST once a week with a tote bag to pick up a foot-high stack of titles we've placed on hold. The librarians don't even ask for my name any more. They just say something like "Oh good, you're here. We need the shelf space." Last summer, DD finished a boatload of books -- we stopped counting at 200.
I can't talk about this subject with any of the kindergarten moms (like they talk to me that much anyway). Their kids aren't even reading yet, or are only into that God-awful Sponge Bob or other crap, and here's my kid asking their kids "Hey, did you read Heidi? Did you read Trumpet of the Swan?"
We do maintain a stable of bubble-gum books. DD will sometimes mix a Barbie book in with Greek myths, or some other incongruous concoction, which is fine with me. Since she is used to absorbing good stories with good characters and plots, the standard kids books just don't do it for her for very long and she self-regulates.
I teach SAT prep on the weekends, and I have to believe our kids' vocab will be in fine shape. My SAT students are years behind in reading comprehension and vocab, and I'm not talking about poor inner-city kids. These are upper-middle class private school kids who just do not read, and never have. They also have TVs and computers in their rooms and regularly stay up until the wee hours. I blame it all on idiotic parents.
Some things are better on CDs you can listen to in the car. We did all 9 books of Narnia that way, plus The Secret Garden, Charlotte's Web, and many other titles (DW has a written log of it all somewhere). CD books are great if you find a good narrator doing an unabridged version. Patrick Stewart doing Narnia was epic.
Get yourself a copy of "The Well Trained Mind" on Amazon. The book is a major homeschooling staple. While we do not homeschool, the things the author says about literature make a lot of sense. The best part is the reading list in the back -- all the great books your child will most likely NOT read in school. It's an absolute goldmine!
Other good book lists include The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, and Great Books for Girls by Kathleen Odean (who also wrote Great Books for Boys).
I have a gazillion book recs, but one unusual one is Bravo, Mr. William Shakespeare by Marcia Williams. It's edited way down, and heavily illustrated in a Where's Waldo style. She also did a treatments for Chaucer and Dickens.
I'd definitely like to see a good book list here, or a dedicated topic for reviews and such.
You rock my reading
That Canterbury Tales idea is a great one. I never thought about it for kids, but that's a great idea. I'm going to look for that.
And how fitting that you could put Barbie in the same sentence with Greek myths. Not nearly as incongruous as you think at first glance. There is so much understated truth in that one sentence. But that probably belongs in a different forum.
Do you have any specific info on the Canterbury Tales kid version? Author's name? (I mean the kids' version.) How about the Iliad?
OK, maybe this IS the good books forum...
Barbie and Greek myths? Heck, we mix and match like that every day. You should see DD act out Much Ado About Nothing with Polly Pockets!
The Iliad book is called Black Ships Before Troy, The Story of The Iliad, by Rosemary Sutcliff, ISBN 0-385-31069-2.
I'm a bit fuzzy on which Canterbury Tales we read. It might be the one by Geraldine McCaughrean, ISBN 0-528-82673-5, but I am not completely sure. She has done several interpreted classics, so that might be it.
That Narnia collection I mentioned is still available on Amazon for $75 -- ISBN 0-06-079326-0. 31 hours on 31 CDs. If you are planning a road trip anytime soon, get this one for sure.
My 2 year-old's
My 2 year-old's favorites...
- Goodnight Moon
- Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom!
- Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Very Busy Spider
- Moo Moo I See You
_________________
Dan Boles
SAHD / Part-time Minister
http://bolesfamily.blogspot.com
http://babiesandbeer.blogspot.com
Just Get Them Reading
I know this thread has been around for awhile, but I just noticed it today. I think it's great that your kids are reading such good literature. But I think it's ever greater to see so many dads taking the time to read to their kids. It's so important to do that! As a former teacher, I could always tell which kids had been read to and which hadn't. It was almost always the case that the child who hated reading had very seldom been read to when they were young, while the one who couldn't get enough books had been read to constantly. Yes, there certainly were exceptions to this, but 9 times out of 10 this was true. With my kids I have always had shelves of books for them to read, and it included the classics but also some of that stuff that really wasn't that great as far as literature is concerned but it got them reading. My oldest LOVES the Captain Underpants books which are incredibly stupid, but we have them for him because they get him to read. That's the important thing, getting him (and the other 2) to pick up a book and read.
Check out my ramblings on life at http://www.sahdguy.blogspot.com/
Loves it
I read to my two year old often throughout the day. Most often it's because he's asking for a book. We kept reading to him even though he didn't seem interested. Then around 17 months or so he got on fire for books and still does. He wakes from a nap and reads by himself for a while (often times but not the golden rule).
SeminoleDada
Lord of the Rings, starting with The Hobbit
I started reading LoTR, beginning with the Hobbit, to my son when he was six. He loved it so much, he made me read it again. I finally got the pronunciation of the elves' names down that way. Narnia, of course, is great. But also try Treasure Island. We read that one twice, too. Soon plunged into Harry Potter, I'm almost sorry to say, because reading that one twice, as we're now doing, is boring in the later books which I think are overwritten. Still, we've had great fun comparing Dumbledore and Gandalf, Harry and Bilbo and Frodo. Based on what I'm reading here, I'm going to try the kid versions of Chaucer, Beowulf and the Illiad.
Storytime with the Dads
We got an idea from one of the past conventions to do a monthly storytime at the central library. They call it "Storytime with the Dads" featuring the NE-WI At Home Dads' group. I have been reading monthly for almost 2 years now and the kids really like it. We do some songs and when any of the dads show up, I ask them to read one of their favorite stories. Another bonus is that it is during the "daycare" hour when 3 or 4 daycares come in from around the neighborhood. This week I brought 8 puppies from the humane society and their mom (plus hand sanitizer). There are sometimes 70 kids there. Some of the kids don't have a dad around that can show them that reading books is cool!
Bruce Cantrall, dad to 3!
Northeast Wisconsin at Home Dads (Green Bay)