A new Passion.

Brian has been reading to us most nights after dinner for years! We absolutely love this family time. But as for me I have never been one to sit down and enjoy a good book! I don't enjoy reading and I usually find my mind wondering all over the place. However, since I started homeschooling I have completely enjoyed "Read Out Louds" with the boys.

I recently found a bunch of books called "the Great Classics for Children" at our Book store. They were an amazing price so I snatched up 6 of them. I must admit I had heard of all of them but I only know the story of 2 of them. Hayden immediately grabbed "The Wind and the Willow" and started reading. I was pleased with my great bargains and that Hayden jumped right into them.

Well today I ran across the following article and it made me even more pleased that I bought the "Classics" for my boys. The study was here in the UK but I can assume that studies would show the same statistics if it were done in the US.


CHILDREN’S CLASSICS ARE GATHERING DUST ON THE SHELVES,
ACCORDING TO RESULTS OF NEW SURVEY


Traditional children’s literary classics are in danger of disappearing from our culture,
a survey has revealed.


The survey of more than 2,000 parents across the UK revealed that 78% believed
their children were not being introduced to traditional literary classics.


And the findings of the survey, commissioned to mark the launch of an ambitious
city-wide Treasure Island reading project in Bristol, appear to justify their fears.

· Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous tale has been read by only 5% of
youngsters, although two-thirds knew of the story of Long John Silver, Jim
Hawkins and Squire Trelawney.

· Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden was less well known but
slightly better read – only 58% of youngsters had ‘heard of it’ but 6% had
read it.

· More children knew of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland –
74%, but still only 12% had read it.

· Peter Pan and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, were both known
by every youngster yet only 12% had read JM Barrie’s tale compared to 81%
who had read JK Rowling’s.

So the new Passion, I want to read all the Classics we have to the Boys! I don't want my boys to miss out on the stories our Parents and Grandparents enjoyed. I also want them to enjoy more then just the 2 hour DVD version.