Summer reading

Another example of schools extending their authority and being reminded they don't have it 24/7/365 over all of our young people.

The Bedford County Board of Education instituted required summer reading but were reminded that:

Requiring summer reading for students creates a number of legal problems. It imposes costs on families which some may not be able to pay; it creates an unequal situation for students who move into the school district over the summer and don't know about the required reading, and so on. School board members applauded the concept of summer reading programs but voted that all should comply with legal guidelines. Shelbyville Times Gazette

I'm of the opinion that parents ought to be requiring summer reading. I'm not found of the local public library's reading lists. A great list of '1000 good books and 100 great books' can be found at the Classical-homeschooling site. It is a Christian site but this list isn't limited to just Christian literature.

And in case you don't know many of the classics are available free on the Internet. Check Google.com or Project Gutenburg.

Summer is a great time for kids to read what they want and without the pressure of a grade or caring what is 'cool' or not. A little bit of 'bubble-gum' reading is fine but with a little encouragement (like mom and dad maybe reading the first chapter out loud during dinner dishes) you might be surprised at how fun the classics still are, even for 21st century families.

Oh, what are we reading?

Well, I'm reading: Men in Black by Mark R. Levin, Is God to Blame? by Gregory A. Boyd and The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto.

The children are reading: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolken. I promise, they picked 'em, I didn't assign them.