On the Use of Real Books in the Secondary Curriculum.
Most of the books listed for history study in the junior and senior high levels are “real” books. They are not history
textbooks, but real books about history or science or philosophy or economics. Textbooks tell you what the main
points of a subject are; in essence, they tell you what to think about that subject. Real books require you to do your
own thinking, which is why they provide a superior education. But of course, that is also harder. It is easy to get
something tangible out of text books, but how do you get something tangible out of real books?
For example, in the secondary curriculum, we are faced with a list of “great books” to read, like Aristotle’s Rhetoric,
Cicero’s Orations, Augustine’s Confessions, or Madison, Hamilton, and Jay’s The Federalist Papers. They intimidate
homeschool parents. But we can read these works successfully with our children in our homeschools. I know because
we do it every day, with the greatest great book, the Bible. The Bible is a real book. It is not someone’s textbook
telling us what to think about spiritual matters and what the main points are. We believe we can read it for
ourselves, and our children can read it for themselves, and get something out of it. If we can do that with the greatest
great book, we can do it with lesser great books, and even other books that we might use that are helpful, but not
“great.” What follows is the plan we use in our homeschool to get the most out of real books in our curriculum.
Junior high children can do the following work with parental help and prompting. It helps for parent and child to
write the book notes together, especially in the beginning. High school children can do much of this work on their
own, with occasional parental help. Over the course of the six years, children will need less and less help as they get
the hang of reading and evaluating real books.
Begin with keeping a notebook, such as a spiral notebook, for each subject under study. Your notes and thoughts and
outlines of the real books you read will be recorded in the notebook. Reserve the first page for a list of the books
studied for that subject, adding to it as you progress in that study. Make each entry like an entry for a bibliography,
and save a space for the date that the book is completed. This first page, in essence, becomes the “table of contents”
for your individualized secondary studies in that subject. It will be of great help later when compiling report cards,
transcripts, or documentation records for college entrance.
To get the most out of each book, read it through twice. The first time through, read the book quickly, even
skimming it. This should take no more than a week for even the thickest book, and many times will only take a few
days. If it takes longer than that, you are reading too intently for the first time through. The goal should be just to
get the gist of what the author is saying, the big picture. You don’t want all the details yet, but just a general idea of where the book is headed—it will help later when the details might otherwise bog you down. During this first initial
reading, record the book’s table of contents in the notebook, leaving a little space to write in each chapter’s main
idea later. Be sure to read the author’s preface or introduction, if there is one, in this first reading. Good authors
don’t want to be misunderstood, and many times they will tell you what message they hope to communicate by the
book’s end. What the author thinks he is saying is of prime importance! Make a note of it in the notebook.
Now the real work of reading begins: reading the book through the second time, this time paying attention to all the
details. As you read, you will be making notes on the book, and keeping an outline of the book, chapter by chapter,
in the notebook. Begin each chapter’s notes on a clean sheet of paper in the notebook (neatness always helps).
Approach each chapter as you did the entire book, giving it an initial reading. If, as you initially read the chapter,
something the author says strikes you, make a note of it in the notebook. If he says something you find questionable,
or don’t understand, make a note of it. If you run across vocabulary that you can’t figure out, make a note of it. If
he uses a mystifying sentence construction that makes no sense, make a note of it.
When you have finished that chapter’s initial reading, go back to your notes. Your goal is to understand the author’s
message, so it is important to “get” whatever it was that was unclear initially. Look up vocabulary in the dictionary,
and write definitions down in the notebook. Re-read the unclear paragraphs and think about them until they begin
to make sense. Some convoluted sentence structures may actually have to be diagrammed in order to figure out the
meaning. Remember that the main point of the sentence is contained in the subject-verb-object-indirect object, and
all the prepositional phrases are window dressing. With older books especially, it may help to actually divide really
long sentences into several shorter ones. Do all this work in the notebook. Make a point to record the author’s
statements that you agree or disagree with. These points of contention and agreement make great starting places for
high school papers.
Once you understand that chapter’s message, outline the chapter. Look for the main idea of the chapter, and record
it. Under the main idea, record the points the author makes to support his main idea, along with any sub-points used
to support a point. Once the chapter has been outlined, finish the notes on that chapter with a one-sentence thesis
statement for that chapter. Remember during the quick first reading of the book, you recorded the book’s table of
contents with some space left under each chapter heading? Record the chapter thesis statement there. Now you can
go on to the second chapter, and so through the book.
When the entire book has been outlined, carefully go through each chapter thesis statement and try to identify the
overarching thesis statement for the entire book. In one or two sentences, state the author’s thesis, or premise. In
several sentences under that, state the author’s main points in coming to that premise. Rewrite the thesis statement
and its supporting points as a well-constructed paragraph. Now you have a succinct, very brief synopsis of the book
to use for future reference.
Once you know what the author was trying to say, you can determine what you think about his message. It helps to
discuss the author’s main ideas with someone, or write to someone about the book. Usually it is when discussing and
writing about ideas that they begin to crystallize in our own minds. Was the author’s message true? Was it partly true
and partly erroneous? Why or why not? It is not enough to just agree or disagree with the author based on some
vague feeling. Prove that his message is either true or not true. Realize that our ideas about whether his message was
true or not may change over time, especially if we are just beginning a study of a subject. We may want to adjust our
thinking as we become more learned in the topic. This is perfectly fine.
A real-life example from our own homeschool of chapter notes and chapter thesis statements can be found at our
homeschool website, Classical Christian Homeschooling. The Internet address is:
http://www.classicalhomeschooling.org/curriculum/realbooks.html
Much of the material from this section is a condensation, along with some of my own practical ideas, of the art of
reading described in How to Read a Book by Dr. Mortimer Adler. Dr. Adler’s book is really essential for homeschoolers
using real books in the secondary curriculum. Dr. Adler discusses analytical reading, note-taking, and evaluating the
author’s message in detail, and also includes chapters on adjusting your reading and evaluating for epic poetry, plays,
philosophy, history, etc.—different kinds of real books. I recommend it without reservation.
