"Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education." ~ Charlotte Mason

Friday, February 22, 2013

Weekly Wrap Up: Book Club Book!


This week has been difficult because we have all been so sick.  The flu struck hard and has been taking a while to leave. :(  Seat work was scarce due to illness.  I ended up reading a lot (in between coughing fits).  We were able to finish up The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, which is this months pick for book club. We've had great fun with this book.  I am constantly amazed by what a brilliant author Lewis was.  The imagery he uses to draw out deep spiritual truths is incredible.  I love that he values children enough to write this way.  Children pick up on these themes far more then we give them credit for.

The kids love the Narnia Series, and I have read a loud most of them together with the eldest two.  The last couple novels, I had them listen to an audio version of the books.  Heather has listened to the The Silver Chair on audio but I am having her sit in on the readings anyway.  She bucked me at first saying she had previously read it but true to form, she is absorbed in the readings as I do them (I knew that would happen! hehe).  I also wanted to add in ROAR by Heather Kopp with David Kopp.  This book came recommended to my by a friend and after having a look through it at her home I knew I wanted to add it to our library resources.  You can get them new or used on amazon. We paid around $10 for ours. 

 This is a beautiful companion book to the C.S. Lewis novels.  It has five different sections, including some biographical information on Lewis, thoughts and reflects for each of the Narnia books from The Magician's Nephew to The Last Battle broken down in chapter by chapter format, final review or 'exam' for the books, a section devoted to explaining why Narnia is an allegory, the use of magic etc and lastly, Roar Fact Files. I have been reading through parts of the book this past weekend.  The more I read it the more I love it!  In terms of our read a loud time; we'll be reading the chapter from The Silver Chair first, ending it with the companion chapter from Roar.  The chapter from Roar gives a synopsis from its Narnian chapter along with definitions of words from the chapter, 'grown up' thoughts, a verse containing wisdom related to the chapter and some stimulating questions to chat about.  I don't usually do read a louds in this format as the kids have obtained excellent narration skills but this book is worth it!  I wanted to draw more out of C.S. Lewis' works.  They are jammed packed with illustration, imagery and critical thinking skills, beautifully written and incredibly thought provoking.  I may have them do some journaling with this one too.  I haven't completely thought that through as yet.

This is also an eye catching book, its lay out and illustrations are pleasing to the eye.  I really am impressed all the way around.  I am also hoping that I get some inspiration from the book for an activity to do at book club. :)

We are linked up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap Up & HammockTracks: It's a Wrap!  I hope you have all had a great week. :)

2 comments:

  1. We have used ROAR and enjoyed it. I am glad you made me think of it because I think my youngest is ready for it. I hope you'll add this post to HammockTracks.

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    1. Thank you! I posted it to your Wrap Up. I had already posted something though. Is that okay?

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