I have an Ambleside Online success to report today! I began using parts of Ambleside for our curriculum last fall. The booklists looked so attractive. I jumped right in with parts of years 2 and 4 for my children. One of the books about which I was most excited was Kidnapped--I read it for the first time right before giving it to my oldest son. I was sure he was going to love it! He read it according to schedule, without complaint, but he was NOT as excited about it as I had hoped. He loved the science and nature type books, and gave relatively decent narrations from Kidnapped, but when asked if he liked it, he'd say "It's OK" and occasionally his narrations would make me wonder if he really got all the details sorted out or not. I was mildly disappointed but just figured he needed more practice.
When someone mentioned Masterpiece Theater was doing Kidnapped, we taped it but put it aside so we wouldn't be tempted to watch it until after Tallman had finished the book. So, finally, some time after he finished it, we popped the tape in last night. Imagine my surprise and delight when he excitedly began to fill his dad and brothers in on all the details, and also telling them about all the places the book differed. He remembered so much more than I thought he would, based on his narrations last fall and winter! I had been trying to "explain" things to the rest of the family, too, but after a little bit I had the good sense to shut up and just listen to my son. I was truly amazed at his understanding of the details and his enthusiasm! I asked him later what made the difference, and he admitted that he'd been thinking about the book ever since he read it, and liked it better all the time! It works! It really, truly works! :-) I am pretty happy right now, especially when I "broke" it to Tallman the other day, that one of the poets I had covered, out of order, was on his list of poets for Year 5, and I wanted him to repeat that poet, finding more poems. I thought that my science-and-nature guy would moan and complain at the prospect of repeating a poet. Instead, he said, "Cool! Kipling is my favorite anyway!" and went on to tell me about the poems he liked best. Astounding!
My only "problem"--my 9yo son who will be doing year 3 next year, wants to read Kidnapped NOW. He will have to wait for a while, however, because his dad has absconded with the book. :-)