LEARNING FOR LIFE WITH LIVING BOOKS,

by Cheryl Linebarger

     What is a “living” book?  The most common definition for a living book is this, “A living book is one that has been written by a single person who is very knowledgeable in the subject area that they are writing about. In a living book the author expresses their love of the subject.  As such the book has a personal tone and feel to it. This is why it touches your child's heart, emotions and intellect. “    

     As time has passed, and as I’ve talked to and shared with other homeschool moms, my definition of a living book has changed a bit.  It doesn’t matter to me if the book was written by a single author or a team of authors, so long as their knowledge and PASSION for their subject are demonstrated by their writing.  Most living books tell a story, but that does not mean that the book is necessarily fiction.  For example, there are many biographies that are written in dull, lifeless formats, and then there are biographies that are living books.  These tell us the story of their subject in a way that touches our hearts, causes us to feel with our emotions and stirs our minds to greater thought.

     How many of you are familiar with the artist Benjamin West?  Here’s what a textbook would tell us about him,

     “Benjamin West was born in 1738 near Springfield, Pennsylvania. He was a painter, principally of portraits, in Philadelphia, New York and Italy, until he settled in London in 1763. He was favored by King George III, who appointed him court historical painter in 1772, and made him a charter member of the Royal Academy in 1768. He is best known for historical paintings including Death of Wolfe and Penn’s Treaty with the Indians.”

     Okay, that was interesting.  Sort of.  If we didn’t know who Benjamin West was at all, that would give us just a snippet of information.

     However, there is a great little book about Benjamin West, called, The Boy Who Loved to Draw, written by Barbara Brenner. Though the book is written primarily about his growing up years and how he came to be an artist, I want you to read just a bit about his years as a professional artist from the end of the book so that you can compare it to the text book’s information:

     “When Benjamin was twelve years old, he sold his first painting, for one dollar.  By the age of eighteen he was doing a thriving business painting portraits in Pennsylvania.  But Benjamin decided he didn’t want to spend his life doing portraits.  He went off to Italy to study art and then settled down in England.  By the time Benjamin West was thirty, his work was well known on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  In the colonies, George and Martha Washington owned one of his paintings.  Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait he had painted, was his close friend and godfather of one of his children.
     In England, King George III was an admirer of the paintings of Benjamin West.  The king gave West studio space in the palace, and the two men became friends.  But when the American colonies rebelled, Benjamin West took sides with the rebels!  Some of King George’s advisers told him to arrest the American for treason.  Surprisingly, the English king stood up for his friend West’s right to his opinion.  The two remained friends.”

     See the difference?  Mrs. Brenner knew and loved her subject (Benjamin West) and that love comes through in her writing.  We now know why he left America for Italy.  We now know that he was a patriot living in England during the Revolutionary War, but was safe because of his friendship with the king.  We know who some of his close friends were.  This is really a great little book!!  From it we can also learn that Benjamin was actually a naughty little boy who plucked hairs from the family cat to make a hair pencil to paint with…..good story.  Definitely a living book.

     My husband and I homeschool our children primarily with living books.  We start by reading living books aloud to them when they are quite young, and we continue with living books all the way through high school and beyond.  One of the concerns I most commonly hear is whether or not living books can really teach a child what they need to know.  To that I will answer yes.  And no.

     Your child can learn scientific methods and theories from living books.  They can learn world and American history from living books.  They can learn proper use of grammar and punctuation from living books.  They can even learn mathematical concepts from living books.

     Your child cannot, however, learn mathematical computation or practice from a living book.  If your child aspires to one day be a physician, then he will need knowledge that is not found in living books.  However, if your child does aspire to one day be a physician, what a head start you can give him by putting living books about medicine, science, and doctors in his hands now!  Living books will deepen his understanding about being a physician and will deepen his love and passion for his intended profession.

 Which brings me to my next point:  How do living books inspire a desire for life long learning?  A child who loves reading will read.  A child who is given dull, lifeless textbooks or other books to read will not love reading.  Reading will be a chore, not a pleasure.  When he is older he will not be inspired to read for information because he has grown up knowing that reading for information is dull business.

     However, children who have been given wonderful, living books to read, will usually love reading and will generally grow up to be adults who love to read!  Adults who love to read, read not only for their own pleasure, but also to learn new things.

      My daughters often lament that I did not discover homeschooling with living books earlier.  However, they were both provided with lots of living books to read during their leisure, and they did complete their homeschool years with living books.  Today, they are both avid READERS!  When they want to learn a new skill, they know how to find a book that will give them the information they need.  When they want more information about someone in history, or a time in history, they look for a book that will give them the information they want.

     Living books are written for all ages!  Most of us assume that the term only applies to children’s books, but that’s just not so.

     I grew up hating biographies.  It’s ugly to hear that, I know, but it's true.  My distaste for biographies came from being given nothing but dull biographies as a child in school.  The assignment usually went something like this, “Read this biography of George Washington and then write a report on it.  Due Friday. “

     Since discovering the world of living books for my children, I have now discovered that there are MANY well-written LIVING biographies out there, written for children as well as adults.  If your only exposure to biographies has been reading the dull, lifeless sort, try a biography written by David McCullough for yourself!   Mr. McCullough has written several biographies, as well as books on historical events, that I consider living books for adults! I would highly recommend his work!  Mornings on Horseback, for example, is a treasure about the life of Theodore Roosevelt.

     Now that we know that living books are written for all ages, there’s no reason for us to give our high school students anything else!  Put great books into their hands for literature.  Put the works of McCullough, Peter Marshall and others into the hands of your older and high school age students for history.  Give them books from Dr. Morris, John Hudson Tiner and others to give then a solid footing in creation science and to understand all branches of science based on creation science.  Lab sciences, of course, can still be taught with a good Christian textbook approach if your children are so inclined, but be sure they still have good living books on scientific thought and discovery to read.

     Teach them to write by example from well-written books.  Pass along your theology by giving them books that reflect your own theology with passion.  If your child has hit a stumbling block with an advanced mathematical concept, don’t just keep struggling along with the practical exercises hoping he’ll eventually “get it”.  Believe it or not, there is a wonderful series of books, The Crowell Young Math series, that are, sadly, now out of print, that explain some fairly complex mathematical concepts in very easy to understand terms.  I own a few of these for elementary math principles, but there are others on Binary Numbers, Probability and Statistics that I will be buying to put into my sons’ hands.  A book like this can give your older student the conceptual understanding he needs in order to be able to do the practical aspect of his math.  There are other wonderful living books still in print that offer help, in a fun way, with basic math concepts.    

     I mentioned earlier that we use living books as the core of our curriculum through high school.  What does that look like in every day practice?  It’s a bit complicated to explain the entire process to you in just a few words; but quite simply, I assign each of my children the books that I want them to read during the upcoming term and then they read them.  The books I assign cover the subjects of history, geography, science, fine arts, religion and, of course, literature.  I don’t usually assign a particular number of pages to be read in each subject area each day, or make any other sort of assignment.  After their math, writing and a few other basics are done for the day, they just read for the remainder of our school time.  I don’t give tests of any kind until high school.

     I’m not a Charlotte Mason homeschoolers, so I don’t require them to narrate back what they’ve read.  However, my boys still come to me every day, and most often several times throughout the day, to tell me something they’ve just read!   I know they’re learning because I hear about it!!  I know they’ll remember what they’ve read because they are excited about it!!

     Things are a bit ,more structured for my older son this year as he has entered the high school years.  He will have quite a bit more accountability, writing and so forth, but the core of his curriculum will still be made up of living books.

     If you prefer a more traditional home schooling curriculum, you might also use living books as a supplement by giving your children one or two wonderful living books about the historical period they are studying, or perhaps a really good biography of a scientist whose work they are learning about.  Better yet, use the living book as a read aloud to enjoy with your children.

     Living books are a tremendous way to capture your children’s hearts for learning, and to give them the desire to be lifelong learners! 

(More information on living books can be found in the ever lengthening list of Library Builders posts.)