Fellow Homeschoolers...Let's Try this

Nikki Here: Found another article I wanted to share....


This morning my oldest daughter and I read several pages from The Law by Frederic Bastiat. The Law was published in 1849. Frederic Bastiat puts forth several arguments for small governments, and why citizens have to watch their government. After reading a couple paragraphs I would talk with my daughter to make sure she understand the main points. One of my goals from this exercise is to teach her to mark up books. As I mentioned almost a year ago, one of the important parts of really mastering a book is to mark it up, to make the book yours.

The brain processes the information deeper when you stop and think about the main points of a book, and add your notes. Just adding a few comments on a page makes the reading much more active. About ten years ago I was reading The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.
One of the references mentioned in the book was How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler. I had never heard of the book before. I bought the book. I read the book. I read it again. There was a little light bulb which went off in my mind. It was OK to mark up books! In fact, it was a good thing. Marking up a book helps with the processing and mastery of the book. I wish I had been taught this sooner.
One of the things I love about homeschooling is teaching ideas and skills to my children. From both nature and nurture I have always been distrustful of large government. The Law helps articulate why we need to be careful. But I was pass 30 before I learned to mark up a book. My oldest daughter is learning this important lesson at twelve. The next books on the schedule are John Adams by David McCullough and The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. I'll buy these books for her. She'll add them to her personal library. Some times we'll read parts of them together.
We always discuss the books. And I encourage her to mark up the books. If she goes light, I'll go back through the book with her and tell her about some of the points I thought were important.If you haven't taught your children to mark up a book, check out How to Read a Book from the library, or buy it, and read it yourself, with a pen in hand. Then you can work with your children to help them learn how to mark books up.




Nikki Here----- How many times were YOU told in school to NOT write in your books....

Ok, get a good book and mark it up really good....

You might want to start a book club with fellow homeschoolers and see what different things the kids come up with in their own copy of their books....

This MIGHT require the parent to read the book with their child too...hmmmm.....do we DARE? Hahahaha....

Ok, getting an idea here....

Anyone else on board?

Nikki