Think Outside The Book

There once was a lady who lived in a trailer. After marrying her high-school sweetheart, she was somewhat confined to this trailer. Her husband didn't want her to work or go to school. They didn't have kids for many years. What did she do? She read books! She read every science fiction book her husband had. This woman was my mother. When I was a kid, I always wondered why my mother loved sci-fi TV shows and movies. When she finally told me this story, it all made sense. The Star Trek, Stargate, Atlantis, Hercules, Xena, Star Wars, and many more all made sense.

My mom was a big inspiration to me when it came to reading. When I was in high school and college, we would buy different book series and read them in tandem and then talk about them. It still is one of my fondest memories with my mother. Even now, I'll send her new books that I read after I fall in love with them. My mother still reads books all the time. There's always a book on her bed.

When I was in college and the last Harry Potter book was released her and my dad waited in line for 2 hours to get me a copy. I was working graveyard shifts at a hotel at the time, and I spent all of my downtime at work reading that book. I read that book every spare moment I had. It took me about 5 days to read it. My mom and I read many books together including Harry Potter, Twilight, and other Christian based series. It took a long time for me to be passionate about reading, but once that passion was there, my mom kept it going for me!

Reading was always a struggle for me as I was growing up! Public school made me dislike reading altogether! I owe a lot to many teachers for igniting inspiration in me! Writing is something I owe to my teachers. I had a few really great teachers that taught me writing through a lot of long papers and red ink! Lots of years of corrections, and I'm still not perfect! Great teachers inspired a love for science, and music, but reading on the other hand was a different story! If you didn't understand what you were reading, then you weren't good enough at reading. If you didn't read fast enough, then you weren't good enough at reading. It's true that the books themselves were left to inspire and yes, you had to actually read them to be inspired. Having someone there to read with me was more helpful than anything else. Learning is different for everyone though, and there will always be critics no matter how something is taught.

In my opinion it's more important to know and understand what you are reading than the speed at which you read it! Classic literature was not taught at school. They made us read long and daunting lists of books and write reports, but no one actually taught anything about it! There were 3 classes I remember studying specific books, or plays, but it wasn't a lot. We learned Lord of the Flies, some Shakespeare plays, and I don't even remember freshman English. There was no one there to help give us insights into understanding these classic literature books. We were not allowed to use SparkNotes. At the time, SparkNotes was like AI is today. We could buy book reports, but they also gave summaries of the book that I would have found extremely helpful. I hated classic literature because I didn't understand it, and I wasn't allowed to use the internet for help.

Being a home school mom has given me the opportunity to design a classic literature class that is what I would have wanted! I would have loved literature if someone was willing to teach me through it. SparkNotes is the basis for my curriculum. Not only do we summarize the book, but we also talk about the author and the time it was written. We discuss the reasons why it was written, its importance to its time and society as well as today's time and society. All books are written for a reason, and many are written to critique something in society! I give the class visuals in the form of costume as a character from the book, and I usually give them some kind of item that applies to the book to help them remember it. I also give them food that is related to the book, country of origin, or time period of the book. Sometimes I give object lessons too.

My goal for the students is for them to learn about the book, be inspired to read the book, and/or be inspired by the book itself. I give them a digestible version of the book focusing on the most important parts of the book, the reasons for the book, and its place in society. My hope is that they will read the book, but if they don't, at least they know about the book and why it's important!

My love for classic literature began when I first read Crime and Punishment. It had a great impact on me! I have come to love classic literature as I have revisited many of the greatest books ever written! I've listened to many on audio and grown to love and appreciate them more and more! Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky are my favorite authors, but I love many others! I have learned so much teaching this group of kids. It was their idea to focus and learn a new Grimm Fairy Tale every class time in addition to our classic book. It has been interesting and fun!

I really can't explain how much I love classic literature. There are books out there on every topic imaginable. There are plenty of people willing to tell you what to think and how to think. There are plenty of philosophers with all sorts of ideas. What I find so valuable in classic literature are the morals of the stories, the timeless ideas, the clever way they are told, and how they make you think. They don't tell you how or what to think but cause you to think very deeply on certain matters. Their themes can be applied to different times and societies.

Who knew that The Nutcracker and The Mouse King was about critiquing the parenting norms of the time? It was written out of concern that children were losing their imaginations. Who knew Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was making fun of the education system and commenting on parenting of the time? Who knew that Dickens and Dosteovsky were highly critical of politics and society in general of their time? Their writings were very much centered around reporting conditions of the time and calling society to action. They were first and foremost activists and reporters. Alexander Dumas and Harper Lee based their stories off of real-life experiences of their parents and themselves. Dumas used real crime cases in his famous book, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Lois Lowry wanted to explore a society controlled by loss of collective memory, having no fears, and no pain, and wondered if that would be a good thing. She had the idea while watching her father suffer Dementia. Who knew Charlotte's Web was based on the author's experience as a child with a pig he didn't save? E.B. White wrote Charlotte's Web for his own amusement and to give his childhood story a different ending. He also loved animals. Who knew that George Orwell was a card-carrying socialist but still critiqued dictatorial powers, totalitarianism, and communism extensively and accurately. Louisa May Alcott was advised to write a book for girls. She based it on her own experiences of growing up during the Civil War in Massachusetts. Her family were transcendentalists. The character Beth represented the death of the old feminine heroine. Beth represented the heroines of Dicken's time. Meg, Jo, and Amy represented the new heroines in books. They were more forward thinking and represented the rise in feminism in society.

As the end of this school year approached, my class requested we study Project Hail Mary. I agreed! It gave me an excuse to go to the movie and finish listening to the book. I loved both the book and the movie! Some of the kids in my class were on waiting lists to check out the at their local libraries, so I ended up purchasing 3 copies and giving them out to members of my class that wanted to read it. It was a great listen, and I was pleasantly surprised by how closely the movie followed the book. For class, we discussed what makes the book Project Hail Mary a potential classic. What about the book would make it stand the test of time? It was a wonderful way to end the school year!

I'm deeply grateful for the kids; they made it fun and exciting! I was met with high compliments from them, which mean the world to me. I loved watching them be so excited for my class and always looking forward to the next adventure! The highest compliment was, "I think you are the Ms. Frizzle for classic literature!" Another amazing student told me how much he appreciated my class and how much he loved the great discussions we had. He told me he regretted not taking the class all year long. He was only in the class for the 1st half of the year. I am so excited to teach another group of kids to love classic literature and its important place in society and learning! I'm ready....I hope they are! Here are pictures from the 2nd half of the year.

Project Hail Mary