For the Love of Literature

I have always had a passion for literature.

Growing up, I could sit in my room for hours reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. I loved reading about times past, exciting characters and storylines, and would often mourn when I finished a book.

Needless to say, my library card was well used.

As I got older, I began to fall more and more in love with classic literature, and I dreamed that one day my future children would love it as much as I did.

Much to my dismay, once I reached motherhood, my three boys were far more interested in Legos, video games, and scootering outside than sitting down with a good book.

And oh, how I tried!

I would stand on my head and clap like a seal if it meant they loved reading.

What they did love, however, were the stories. My youngest, the actor of the group, would often dress as various characters and would embody said character for an entire day.

And I would often catch all three of them acting out different story lines amongst each other when they thought I couldn’t see or hear.

Oh! How my heart shivered with hope!

My desire had long been to instill a love of literature within my children, whether it be by reading aloud together as a family, or during quiet reading time during our homeschooling days.

I needed a solution.

Then one day an idea hit me!

We would study one book per school year, adding a lot of fun, cross curricular activities and field trips into our study, as well as art, crafts, scenes to be acted out, play, and research projects to really grasp their attention.

(This would shift and adjust as they grew.)

And, this is what we began doing. It started off small, with just our brood, taking our time with each book and adding fun activities as we went, little by little.

I even began writing and cultivating our own literature guides, piecing together projects and activities that worked for our guys.

Then something wonderful happened!

As I shared our literature studies with our homeschooling friends, the idea of them was so well received that our small family literature study became a full blown literature class!

Our little group started with my favorite book, “The Wizard of Oz”, and grew from there.

We adventured through the Narnia series, laughed with Tom Sawyer, journeyed along the mighty Mississippi with Huck Finn, got stranded on a deserted island with the Robinson Family, and so much more!

Our sweet little group eventually grew, and one day it even transitioned into a full blown class at our local co-op.

Our guys loved diving into these books. And still talk about the projects and trips we took while studying each one.

A whole new world opened up to them each and every time we began a new unit.

They even began to get excited to read ahead on their own.

This excitement continued well into their high school years as we continued to journey through various novels together.

It was amazing to see how far they had come!

Those are days that I truly treasure. My dream had become a reality!

I share all of this for one reason :

There may be a subject or subjects that your kiddos struggle with, or are simply not into. And that’s ok!

The beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility to find a way to make those subjects engaging for them.

There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to education.

Does your child love to dress up and put on plays? Use that creativity during your school day!

Does your child love art? Have them draw their lessons.

Is your child an aspiring chef? So many fun Science and Math experiments and lessons can be had in the kitchen while cooking and baking!

You’ve got this! And oh, how wonderful it is to see your child fall in love with learning!