Historical fiction difficulty

[Julia]

I'm having issues with my son (9) with historical fiction such as "Ben and Me" and Others that have elements such as the mouse in this story. My son purely seems to pick up the fiction elements in these stories (like the mouse) and misses anything history related that I would hope for him to learn from them. We have also had this issue with natural history books recommended in other curriculums such as Burgess animal and bird books.

My question is whether it is worthwhile to read these books (at least as curriculum) with him or whether it would be better to make more concrete choices (still age appropriate) where he would be able to not be so distracted by the fantasy aspect for his history readings.

Just fyi, we are attempting a modified full mp4 rather than simply classical adjusted for pacing and other needs as they arise (And he seems to really like the MP program), so not technically simply classical, but he does have some special needs which is why I post here. He has adhd and a history of trauma/ developmental delay.

[cherylswope]

Hi, Julia.

It sounds as if you know the answer: If the primary intent is to learn about different genres, you can study such books with a view to helping him understand "point of view," "personification," "historical fiction," etc. However, if the primary intent is to learn history and science, he might be better served with more literal versions.

Consider the book lists from SC American History and SC 3 Science & Enrichment. Feel free to select any of these as substitutes whenever needed.

This is not to say that the books you already own will be of no value to you. You might read a book like "Ben and Me" as a bedtime story or at a later time after introducing literary devices. To stretch his mind you might first help him tell or write a brief story with such a literary device, e.g. telling about a day in the life of your family from the viewpoint of a neighbor or your family pet.

Thanks for the question --

[Julia]

Oh, I don't know why it hadn't even occurred to me to check on the simply classical history reading list - thank you!