How do you know when you have succeeded in teaching your child English? When I was homeschooling, I was SO stressed out about literature analysis. It seemed like we always failed at reading comprehension and the review questions that were provided. I knew that I wanted my kids to LOVE reading, but I was still stressed about literature analysis. Every year, I spent so much time looking at Progeny Press, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, and other curriculum choices. Why was I failing? Why couldn't I teach literary analysis??? Every time I asked my kids "How did you like the book?" all I ever got was "It was great mom - where's the next one?" When I read aloud to them, they would laugh at the funny parts, and ask me to read more (or faster!) at the exciting parts. Still, we never really had a good discussion about the deeper meanings of the literature we read.
Last summer, when the kids came home from their first year in college, I felt like I could finally say I had succeeded in my goal of teaching them to love literature. "For fun" they went to the library to get some reading material. My son Alex read what seemed to be the entire Shakespeare cannon; my son Kevin read C.S. Lewis and some Dostoevsky.
In the Spring of their Sophomore year, I had one more piece of evidence suggesting that I had, in fact, succeeded. My younger son founded a Jane Austen Club at college. That spring he organized the "Pemberly Ball" at the college, complete with period costumes, decorations, and food of the era. It was a huge success! My sons both LOVE the Jane Austen books and movies, and they enjoyed the Jane Austen inspired Pemberly Ball.
How do you teach a love for literature? All that is required is to feed them great books! I may have been stressed out when they were in high school, but I can honestly say that I achieved my goal: my kids LOVE literature. Yippee! I win!
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