Great resources Ruth, and thanks for the mention. Are you reading War and Peace with our slow read or at your own pace? We start again in January.
On the subject of difficult words and language learning, I think it is important for children and adults to develop reading confidence by picking up books slightly beyond their current comprehension. As a child, I'd read books full of words I didn't understand. It didn't matter as long as I was finding pleasure and satisfaction from the experience. The same was true when I was learning Spanish. Over time, exposure to complex words in their context results in greater comprehension.
So being relaxed about not understanding everything is a great life skill!
I have started on my own with War and Peace, but given that you'll start again in January I'll plan to join along with your slow read.
You raise a great point with regard to developing tolerance for words one does not understand. When I was learning English, I often used to experience it as floating along with the story and bearing with it, a bit like an experience of faith, where one has trust even without full understanding. And I agree that it most definitely is an excellent language learning approach and essential life skill.
I clearly recall reading Our Mutal Friend by Dickens and feeling rather fuzzy about what was happening for pages at a time. But as is always the case for me with classic tales, I got so engrossed in the story that I could harldy put the book down. Btw. Peco and I are watching the first season of Wolf Hall just now based on your recommendation and are greatly enjoying it!
I literally can't wait until l have kids so I can start homeschooling them -- don't ever delete your blog! I'll be coming back to this in the future!! This also reminds me that I need to finish my series on Classics that are Required reading in schools. I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts on it!
Wonderful that you are looking forward to it already :) I had a friend who attended her first homeschool conference before she was even pregnant! My neighbour recently borrowed some of my homeschooling books even though her daughter was just born. You'll love it :) What series of Classics are you reading?
I taught some of my littler siblings for a couple years, so I feel I've had a good taste of what it'll be like! I'm actually doing a series on why I think the Wrong books are required reading in school and the books I think ought to be required reading instead lol!
Thank you so much for your generosity and all the lovely resources! How kind. We also love reading "The Christmas Carol" at Christmas. We don't always get to it every year as we have a nice Christmas book collection.
I also really love "The King of the Golden River" by John Ruskin. It is a glorious story for young children with really beautiful language and a joy to read aloud just because the word usage is so descriptive. "The features of the face, however, were by no mean finished with the same delicacy; they were rather course, slightly inclining to be coppery in complexion, and indicative, in expression, of a very pertinacious and intractable disposition in their small proprietor." (pg 48)
I have the edition with illustrations by Juan Wijngaard which are a joy to behold. You can also listen to it for free on Librivox.
Thank you for being so generous and sharing these outstanding resources! Our family had such fun last year celebrating a ‘Victorian-style’ Christmas and enjoyed several CC dramatic readings (including sound effects and homemade props) with friends of various generations.
Ruth, thank you for providing all of these resources! I'm keen to start incorporating vocabulary practice into my humanities classes that I teach. I have several dictionaries that I refer the students too pretty consistently- Websters 1828 and the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology. The kids love cracking open the hefty books to look up a word!
Do you have plans for sharing the rest of the Latin Greek stems lists? So far I've found 6 on your Education page. I'd love to have the rest, if they're available!
Hi Astrid, so glad to hear that you have found the resources helpful. They took an immense amount of time to compile but did not receive much interest, and I thus did not continue after the sixth list. However, I'll add your request to my upcoming posts and will plan to publish additional lists in the new year :)
Thank you very much for your generosity in sharing these valuable resources. It’s so vitally important to know these classics . I am so glad you are thinking of joining Simon’s slow reading group. Thank you once again
I have read a lot of Dickens but have always relied on all the various movies for a Christmas Carol - you’ve inspired me to read it this year. Last year in search of some Christmas reading, I came across the Penguin Christmas Classics which included a very strange Night before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol but what can you expect from a man who let’s his nose wander around St Petersburg.
The no Shakespeare brigade are not just depriving students of vocabulary but also of the compassion and empathy which comes from grasping the universality of human experience- it does say more about the teacher than the student.
This is so encouraging and affirming, Ruth. I'm grateful to have been raised by a mother who greatly valued reading, and particularly the reading of good books. Despite the ebbs and flows of my time and energy for classics, the love of literature remained persistent in me. I've also been reading through War and Peace recently (though I took a long break after initially picking it up), and have been reveling in the routine of reading before bed. Truly, patience is a great help in reading such works, and I'm so glad I decided or push through the more difficult bits -- I knew it would be worth the effort.
I am just reading War and Peace right now. It has been on my "must-read" list for a long time and I am truly surprised how quickly I got engrossed in the story. What is on your reading list next?
Also, to respond directly to your comment about War and Peace -- it took me a good while to appreciate it, but being now more than 500 pages in, I've been struck by the incredible humanness of the characters that Tolstoy created. It seems to me that the great writers are often considered so because of their uncanny ability to formulate and and put on display for the reader not only one or two individual characters who seem genuinely like real people, but whole crowds of them. Having been raised to appreciate classic literature, I think I've often taken for granted just how incredible it is to be able to accomplish such a thing in writing. Victor Hugo in Les Misérables for example, who is so beautifully able to describe the inner workings of the soul of a young person caught up in the romance, and terror, of falling in love, war, youthful passion; and most incredibly perhaps, the arresting and powerful experience of redemption taking place in a person's heart after an encounter with divine love. That story will always make me cry.
Truthfully, after reading this piece I'd like to pick up something from Dickens. However, if I am to stick with the books I already have on my shelf, I do have two by Alexandre Dumas already waiting for me -- The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Three Musketeers. A habit I'm trying to build is, for starters, reading the books I own, but beyond that, simply walking about my local used book shop and picking a classic that piques my interest. There happens to be a shop just down the road from my home that is filled to the brim with old volumes and new.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorites! I found a copy at the recycling depot, and seeing that there were three, I only took one (wanting to leave the other two be enjoyed by someone else). I found the plot to be challenging and a bit confusing, but persevered only to discover that the book ended with “ End of Vol II”! I then had to go and get the complete novel and begin from the start again. Absolutely superb!
You put so clearly and succinctly the various ways that enriched vocabulary opens up our writing, reading, and reasoning pathways. I read Ivanhoe unabridged at age 12 (and Catcher in the Rye at age 62, haha) but, reflecting on it now, even more formative was (1) speaking two languages from an early age and (3) a rich religious life of daily King James (Shakespearean) Bible readings and 18th-19th century hymn singing. All that has been largely erased from the modern church for reasons you mention: richness and complexity are sacrificed to accessibility.
A side note: the 100 words are mostly Latin-based ‘high register’ vocabulary, so all but about 15 would be easily understandable by a Spanish high schooler. It’s the ‘low register’ Anglo Saxon words that they struggle with!
Thank you for these wonderful resources! We were fortunate to see a performance of A Christmas Carol with our children at the Old Vic here in London last year. The language was definitely simplified, however, so we’ll be reading it together as a family instead this year.
Great resources Ruth, and thanks for the mention. Are you reading War and Peace with our slow read or at your own pace? We start again in January.
On the subject of difficult words and language learning, I think it is important for children and adults to develop reading confidence by picking up books slightly beyond their current comprehension. As a child, I'd read books full of words I didn't understand. It didn't matter as long as I was finding pleasure and satisfaction from the experience. The same was true when I was learning Spanish. Over time, exposure to complex words in their context results in greater comprehension.
So being relaxed about not understanding everything is a great life skill!
I have started on my own with War and Peace, but given that you'll start again in January I'll plan to join along with your slow read.
You raise a great point with regard to developing tolerance for words one does not understand. When I was learning English, I often used to experience it as floating along with the story and bearing with it, a bit like an experience of faith, where one has trust even without full understanding. And I agree that it most definitely is an excellent language learning approach and essential life skill.
It's a lovely way to learn a language: get lost in stories!
I clearly recall reading Our Mutal Friend by Dickens and feeling rather fuzzy about what was happening for pages at a time. But as is always the case for me with classic tales, I got so engrossed in the story that I could harldy put the book down. Btw. Peco and I are watching the first season of Wolf Hall just now based on your recommendation and are greatly enjoying it!
It's great, but not as greatl as the books – which are wonders!
Thank you for these wonderful resources, Ruth! I will be using them!
Amazing, thank you!!
You are welcome :)
I literally can't wait until l have kids so I can start homeschooling them -- don't ever delete your blog! I'll be coming back to this in the future!! This also reminds me that I need to finish my series on Classics that are Required reading in schools. I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts on it!
Wonderful that you are looking forward to it already :) I had a friend who attended her first homeschool conference before she was even pregnant! My neighbour recently borrowed some of my homeschooling books even though her daughter was just born. You'll love it :) What series of Classics are you reading?
I taught some of my littler siblings for a couple years, so I feel I've had a good taste of what it'll be like! I'm actually doing a series on why I think the Wrong books are required reading in school and the books I think ought to be required reading instead lol!
Oh I would love to hear a selection of what's on your list :)
Incredibly Helpful
Thank you so much!
Grace and peace to you both.....
Thank you so much for your generosity and all the lovely resources! How kind. We also love reading "The Christmas Carol" at Christmas. We don't always get to it every year as we have a nice Christmas book collection.
I also really love "The King of the Golden River" by John Ruskin. It is a glorious story for young children with really beautiful language and a joy to read aloud just because the word usage is so descriptive. "The features of the face, however, were by no mean finished with the same delicacy; they were rather course, slightly inclining to be coppery in complexion, and indicative, in expression, of a very pertinacious and intractable disposition in their small proprietor." (pg 48)
I have the edition with illustrations by Juan Wijngaard which are a joy to behold. You can also listen to it for free on Librivox.
Thanks for sharing Lauren! I will add John Ruskin's story to our Christmas reading list :)
Thank you for being so generous and sharing these outstanding resources! Our family had such fun last year celebrating a ‘Victorian-style’ Christmas and enjoyed several CC dramatic readings (including sound effects and homemade props) with friends of various generations.
Wonderful! We are getting ready for hosting an Christmas Carol reading event in a couple of weeks and I am so looking forward to it :)
Also, my teen daughter and I are beginning the free Hillsdale College course on A Christmas Carol. Should be excellent.
That sounds like a splendid idea. Will take a look at this now...
I took this Hillsdale course last December and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you do as well!
Ruth, thank you for providing all of these resources! I'm keen to start incorporating vocabulary practice into my humanities classes that I teach. I have several dictionaries that I refer the students too pretty consistently- Websters 1828 and the Oxford Dictionary of Etymology. The kids love cracking open the hefty books to look up a word!
Do you have plans for sharing the rest of the Latin Greek stems lists? So far I've found 6 on your Education page. I'd love to have the rest, if they're available!
Hi Astrid, so glad to hear that you have found the resources helpful. They took an immense amount of time to compile but did not receive much interest, and I thus did not continue after the sixth list. However, I'll add your request to my upcoming posts and will plan to publish additional lists in the new year :)
How wonderful to find you and this captivating essay in my internet search today. Your insights are a treasure! Thank you!
As a young teen I fed my vocabulary with The Pickwick Papers and David Copperfield. Charles Dickens is a gift.
Thank you very much for your generosity in sharing these valuable resources. It’s so vitally important to know these classics . I am so glad you are thinking of joining Simon’s slow reading group. Thank you once again
I have read a lot of Dickens but have always relied on all the various movies for a Christmas Carol - you’ve inspired me to read it this year. Last year in search of some Christmas reading, I came across the Penguin Christmas Classics which included a very strange Night before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol but what can you expect from a man who let’s his nose wander around St Petersburg.
The no Shakespeare brigade are not just depriving students of vocabulary but also of the compassion and empathy which comes from grasping the universality of human experience- it does say more about the teacher than the student.
This is so encouraging and affirming, Ruth. I'm grateful to have been raised by a mother who greatly valued reading, and particularly the reading of good books. Despite the ebbs and flows of my time and energy for classics, the love of literature remained persistent in me. I've also been reading through War and Peace recently (though I took a long break after initially picking it up), and have been reveling in the routine of reading before bed. Truly, patience is a great help in reading such works, and I'm so glad I decided or push through the more difficult bits -- I knew it would be worth the effort.
I am just reading War and Peace right now. It has been on my "must-read" list for a long time and I am truly surprised how quickly I got engrossed in the story. What is on your reading list next?
Also, to respond directly to your comment about War and Peace -- it took me a good while to appreciate it, but being now more than 500 pages in, I've been struck by the incredible humanness of the characters that Tolstoy created. It seems to me that the great writers are often considered so because of their uncanny ability to formulate and and put on display for the reader not only one or two individual characters who seem genuinely like real people, but whole crowds of them. Having been raised to appreciate classic literature, I think I've often taken for granted just how incredible it is to be able to accomplish such a thing in writing. Victor Hugo in Les Misérables for example, who is so beautifully able to describe the inner workings of the soul of a young person caught up in the romance, and terror, of falling in love, war, youthful passion; and most incredibly perhaps, the arresting and powerful experience of redemption taking place in a person's heart after an encounter with divine love. That story will always make me cry.
Truthfully, after reading this piece I'd like to pick up something from Dickens. However, if I am to stick with the books I already have on my shelf, I do have two by Alexandre Dumas already waiting for me -- The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Three Musketeers. A habit I'm trying to build is, for starters, reading the books I own, but beyond that, simply walking about my local used book shop and picking a classic that piques my interest. There happens to be a shop just down the road from my home that is filled to the brim with old volumes and new.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorites! I found a copy at the recycling depot, and seeing that there were three, I only took one (wanting to leave the other two be enjoyed by someone else). I found the plot to be challenging and a bit confusing, but persevered only to discover that the book ended with “ End of Vol II”! I then had to go and get the complete novel and begin from the start again. Absolutely superb!
That is good to know! Hopefully the copy I own contains both volumes already, but if not I'll just have to go hunting for missing piece.
You put so clearly and succinctly the various ways that enriched vocabulary opens up our writing, reading, and reasoning pathways. I read Ivanhoe unabridged at age 12 (and Catcher in the Rye at age 62, haha) but, reflecting on it now, even more formative was (1) speaking two languages from an early age and (3) a rich religious life of daily King James (Shakespearean) Bible readings and 18th-19th century hymn singing. All that has been largely erased from the modern church for reasons you mention: richness and complexity are sacrificed to accessibility.
A side note: the 100 words are mostly Latin-based ‘high register’ vocabulary, so all but about 15 would be easily understandable by a Spanish high schooler. It’s the ‘low register’ Anglo Saxon words that they struggle with!
Wonderful resource. As a non-native speaker/reader of English, I will be delighted to use this!
Thank you for these wonderful resources! We were fortunate to see a performance of A Christmas Carol with our children at the Old Vic here in London last year. The language was definitely simplified, however, so we’ll be reading it together as a family instead this year.