Ladies,
I'll just move this post over to the Main Board, as all new posts begin on the Main Board.
This folder is actually for testimonials for those who have completed LHFHG.
As far as your thoughts on literature goes, I'll share a bit more on our philosophy in this area, which will help you understand why we have set up LHFHG as we have!
We are most definitely a literature/living books company, as Drawn into the Heart of Reading was the first guide that I wrote. However, there is a difference between reading purely for pleasure and reading for a purpose. At HOD, we tend toward purposeful reading, because that is the type of reading that requires skill and discernment, even though we still want kiddos to take joy in their books too.
On the other hand, reading for pleasure is easily accomplished, and requires less thought and less focused concentration.
Each of our guides is very purposeful in gradually moving children toward the skills required for purposeful reading and for the more important goal of reading with moral discernment. In LHFHG the purpose for the Storytime box of plans is to move children toward listening to longer chapter-book style readings, with fewer pictures, and a more a difficult vocabulary.
We strive to move children away from picture book style reading, and nudge them gently forward toward listening to a longer continuous story, allowing them to live with characters for a longer period of time. This helps students get to know the characters and settings better, and allows students to make predictions about how the character will respond based on the knowledge the children are gaining about the character(s) as the children progress further and deeper into the world of the character.
This type of learning is encouraged through our follow-up activities that range from comprehension, to vocabulary, to cloze passages, to questions about moral discernment, etc. each and every week.
As you can see from the description above, we are planning for the important skill-building reading. (Although often the skill-building reading is filled with pleasure too!
) While we could put together a list of extra books to simply read for pleasure on your own, we find it more important to teach the area of reading the way CM advocated, with fewer books of a higher quality read more slowly over time. This is an area where we differ from many other companies. We agree with CM in this area, which is the focus you will see our guides take too.
If you desire more literature to read for pleasure, there is no shortage of sources that recommend such literature. At HOD, we are very selective about the books we recommend and carry, and each book is purposeful in the part it plays within our guide.
Blessings,
Carrie