I'm trying something new this summer. Ambleside "slow reading" has been such a good experience in the homeschool that I'm trying to overcome my usual inclination to devour a book apace, remembering only a general atmosphere and a few vague details, and instead, make myself a sort of "course of study" with a variety of different books which I read a chapter or so at a time. I'm even trying to narrate to myself after reading, though that's sort of like pounding my head against a wall.
How is it working, aside from the headachey effect of attempting mental narration? I'll let you know. I'm working against long-established habits here, but I do enjoy the time and space to ponder when I go through the books more slowly. It's something like walking along a road rather than running full pace. Sometimes running full pace is exhilarating, so I will try to occasionally include the "read in a 3 hours sitting" type books. The last one of that sort I read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, mentioned by laughingstars. I have to remember to finish everything that needs doing BEFORE I start on one of those, though.
Brilliant. That is just simply and elegantly brilliant - the kind of brilliant that makes me slap my forehead and wonder why I haven't already been doing this. I mean, think of the benefits! Not only have you really digested the book, but you've also gotten all the advantages of the CM approach for yourself - you've absorbed the "living ideas" of other people, you've got a written record of your journey and thoughts, you will probably end up quoting passages so you're really doing a lot of dictation style work ...
ReplyDeleteBut the best advantage of all has to be that when you can't remember where you read something, you'll be able to look it up in your own notebooks!!
I feel the same way. I devour books in one quick gulp, and can barely remember enough to give a roundabout summary when recommending it to someone else. I've tried mental (and written) narrations, and.... ouch. You're right. It does feel like pounding my head against a wall!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally inspired to try again, though, after reading this.