First Book Club Meeting

I do a lot of reading about home schooling -- methods, philosphies, curriculum, etc. This spring I read about having a book club, and realized this would be a great thing to start with my kids now, for an easier transition as they do more independent reading and reports and such as they get older.

I decided to start small. I think it is better to work out the kinks with a few close friends and then cast the net wider if we see fit. I read that the first few meetings are usually pretty quiet as kids hesitate to participate. (This was not a problem for us!)

Our first selection: Pinocchio by Carlos Collodi

I read it to my kids, and they always asked me to keep reading. It is a much more interesting story than the Disney movie. But, then, most are.

Today was our first book club meeting, and it was fantastic! We covered:
* Story clues - I used household objects to remind the kids of parts of the story to get the discussion going.
* Character discussion - The good, the bad, the in-the-middle (which they were smart enough to pick up on!), comparisons to Aesop's Fables (their idea)
* Favorites, characters and parts - The kids drew pictures of their favorite parts, we discussed who they were most like, etc.
* Quotes - I read and we discussed what to learn from key quotes from the book
* What next? We ran out of time before the kids could write the next chapter to the story, but I left it as a homework option. I hope they all complete it because I'd love to hear what they come up with!

Now we have to pick the next title. I think we may assign different scenes to different families to do some charades. And I definitely need to plan for more time!

Yippee!