Books that Raised Me | ep103

TD Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley discuss the importance of fostering a love of reading in children. They share personal anecdotes about their favorite childhood books, such as "Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss and "I Can Read" books. They emphasize the value of making reading fun and relatable, suggesting libraries and bookstores as affordable resources. TD recalls the impact of Judy Blume's books on her understanding of personal growth, while Lauren highlights the joy of poetry and the creative process. They also discuss the benefits of integrating reading with creative activities, like comic books and storytelling, to engage children and enhance their learning experience.

Transcript

TD Flenaugh: 0:05

For the love of reading. So today we are going to talk about our beautiful memories we had as readers, and then how you could recreate some of that with literature, and we're going to get into all the details about our range of our reading history. Okay, stick around and get them tips you need to make sure your child can fall in love with reading. Hi. Thank you so much for joining the Falling for Learning Podcast. We have this podcast to help parents and caregivers with having the resources, strategies and tools needed to make sure that their children are on track for learning and to stay on track for success. Welcome Ms. Moseley for coming on to our show. We're gonna get into a conversation about the love of reading and all of like these beautiful books that we used to read when we were kids. So what was one of your like favorite books as a kid,

Lauren Moseley: 1:10

you know, um, I was, I think I shared with you before I was not the best reader, but I loved Dr Seuss. I think that was one of the first books that I could read. I think it was Cat in the Hat. And I really loved it because it rhymed and the characters were silly, and the notion of a cat in a hat and, you know, green eggs and ham and just the ridiculousness of it, so it just kind of took the pressure off of me, feeling like reading had to be serious and you had to read correctly, and you had to have the right pacing, and you had to say all the words correct. It just made reading fun and okay pressure. It was just fun, good old fun, silliness

TD Flenaugh: 2:01

that is such, like a key ingredient, right? I think, you know, there was an author that I heard speak, and he was saying how, a lot of people, you know, if they're choosing books for kids, it's, it's like serious books or like important information or important message, and when they were, you know, asking kids like, what do you want to read? It was like, funny, gross stuff that is, you know, fun, gross, entertaining. That's the stuff that they like, you know, maybe a little scary, like things are on the edge. So I think one of the key ingredients for helping your child to fall in love with reading, and especially in the summer months, when they have more extended time to read, is just thinking about their choice and thinking about what might be fun, interesting, funny and even gross, right? Don't think in terms of like, I'm not interested in it. Like, not about what you're interested in, what they would be interested in, taking them to the library and being able to explore taking them to bookstores. I say the library. I mean, keep it cheap, you know. But if they if you have to buy it, you know? I guess so. But I would say library. There's unlimited and then you'll get tired of the book, or you'll read the book, you look for another one and there's more. So, yeah, that's really, what was your favorite? So I really, like, if we're thinking about early readers, I was a, I can read books, person, right? Like, what we didn't have, like, remember, I grew up in Alaska, we did not have, like, the sweet pickles books or whatever. But when I watched, um, PBS or whatever that was, I was watching, and they were like, sweet pickles books or something, I was like, Mom, I want those sweet pickles books like I wanted it. I even said, like, Thanks, mom, sweet pickles. And my mom hated it. Later on, she told me she hated it, but I loved saying that and but I never have the sweet pickles books. I found some in a library or, like, in a school library before, but we didn't have sweet pickles books. But I did get the I can read weekly readers, Weekly Reader books. So I did convince my mom to get the book $7.65 per pack or whatever. I don't know that we got the little books. They came in a little box. So that was really exciting to me to get, like these Weekly Reader books. And maybe they came once a month or twice a month, I don't know, but I love those books. There was like a little bear and we there were several little bear books. I can't remember. Was it a series of No, no. They were like book makers. You know how they have, like those golden books? And. Had, like, the little So, yes, there's little golden books, but these were called Weekly Reader books, and you could just, it was kind of like, I don't know if you guys know about like those CD, but the once a month CD, right? But these were like, once a month books, or they call it weekly readers, but I don't think they came every week, or if they I guess you could choose the the frequency or whatever, right? So that was what I really liked. I really liked those Weekly Reader books, and they were like and I can read book like they were leveled. And then I also was able to my mom and I were talking about how to bump it up when it got a little when I got, you know, to a different stage of my reading development, right? I was like, Oh, these are kind of easy. So now I could do my own, like, book, because I'm good at it, you know, I'm better at reading. So I know little bear was part of them, but for what, oh, the frog and toad. Frog and Toad was in that set as well. So those were a couple of the, you know. So it wasn't a book series. It was kind of like a book maker or a publisher or something like that. And so I got those books, and those kept me engaged, as well as the library.

Lauren Moseley: 6:20

Yeah. So do you remember, um, getting highlight books? To remember the highlight magazines, I specifically remember going on Saturday to the beauty shop with my mom, and they would have all of the magazines, and sometimes in those magazines, they would have in the magazine rack, it would be highlight books, and it was basically a kid's magazine. It had articles about, I don't know nature, and then sometimes it would have cartoons and it would have puzzles. Yes,

TD Flenaugh: 6:53

you threw me off. Yes, you threw me off. When you said, Do I remember getting the Highlight books? And I was like, No, I didn't get those books. So now, now what you're saying, Yes, I would see them in different places. So I feel like maybe my teacher had it in there. Maybe they were in the dentist office. Yes, there are different places. So yes, I do remember that. But when you said, when you said, Do I remember getting them like, no, no, I can't believe I got the Weekly Reader books, because I feel like we were like, a little struggling, you know, but my mom, I mean, that was one thing that I could kind of guilt trip my mom into, and I've talked about this a little bit before, is like, I need these books. Like, Mom, I need the Weekly Reader I need. And I was not a kid that asked for a lot of stuff, either. And my grandmother was also one who pointed that out, like, you don't really ask for a lot of stuff. So like, if you ask me, I'll give it to you, because you don't ask for a lot of stuff, you know, because I kind of feel like, I felt like, okay, we're struggling a little bit. But when it came to the books, I was like, I need this book, this book I need, and pretty much, if I asked for a book, they gave it to me. But I did do a lot of library books, right? But certain books I liked getting in the mail and stuff like that. So, yeah,

Lauren Moseley: 8:14

I remember we had the and I think they still have the where you order the books you you send in your money and you give it to your teacher.

TD Flenaugh: 8:23

Yes, book orders. I love that. Every once in a while, like Scholastic, or something like that, it was scholastic. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think scholastic has cornered the market, and Scholastic, if you want to sponsor us, we're here. Let's do it,

Lauren Moseley: 8:41

because I know I got a lot of every time there was a Scholastic Book order, yeah, I ordered tons and tons of books. And again, I wasn't a great, great reader, but I remember being very interested in and I understood that reading and writing had power. I remember being super young, and my neighbor next door this little old lady, I think her name was Mrs. Gordon. And I told my friend, hey, I'm gonna write a letter to Miss Gordon and ask her for candy. Now, again, barely knew how to read, barely knew how to write, but I took a piece of paper and I wrote loops of what I guess were cursive ease. And I just said, Miss Morgan, we have been very good today. Can we please have candy? And I just figured if I spoke while I did that, that's what

TD Flenaugh: 9:30

it said. Hold on. Hold on one second. No, why was Miss Morgan the one you were asking for candy?

Lauren Moseley: 9:38

You know, she was always home. She was the little old lady that lived next door, and she was always at home. She was always outside on her little front porch, and, you know, sitting out there sweeping. And I just would always see her, and I just felt like she should be able to get candy. He looked like some you may have given me candy at one point, and I just

TD Flenaugh: 9:58

figured she's now the. Source of candy,

Lauren Moseley: 10:04

motivator for me to learn how to write.

TD Flenaugh: 10:06

Because I did, yeah, I was very fluent in the loops as well, right? That was cursive writing at one point, the loop, loop, loop, and this says this, and you just explain it to people, right?

Lauren Moseley: 10:21

And I realized that it did not say what I thought it said, because when I gave this, she looked at it and smiled and closed the door and didn't come back out with candy at all. So I figured I need to really learn how to write, because

TD Flenaugh: 10:37

the power, the need to communicate was there, right? Because you did not get your request fulfilled. Okay, okay, all right,

Lauren Moseley: 10:49

books. Books were my thing. And I even have my mom keeps everything, okay, if you go and look in her attic, or, you know, open up some of those boxes in the garage. Some of my old books are still there. Okay, literally keeps everything

TD Flenaugh: 11:07

so an early author, okay, we're hearing more about your gifts. Okay, so I talked about early books, like those weekly readers, but what really was, what really helped me with reading like really drew me in. Further into reading was like those Judy Blume books I did go through the I did go through, like the Beverly Cleary books, like Ramona and bees Beezus. They were very funny. But I think Judy Blume, you know, she would write about things that I wasn't ready to talk about. But, of course, I was thinking about it. I was curious about it. You know, are you there? God, it's me. Margaret, one of, like, my favorite, my parents were like, arguing at the time. And I have this book where people's parents are are, you know, divorcing. And, you know, I even, it even helped me like to like, as my parents were arguing, there was, like, a split between my parents. For a little bit, I was feeling a little bit, matter of fact, like it's kind of happened. Sometimes it happened differently in my family. Obviously, then, you know, obviously, there's going to be differences, but it made me feel like I could handle this, or like, you know, this happens to other people, you know. So I think that, you know, liking boys, you know. I think there was even a chance I must, I must, I must, my best. Yes, yes, yeah. These are things that little girl, I didn't I did not, you know, no, but just knowing that someone else out there, you know, because that's very embarrassing to talk about, that you want bigger boobs, or you want boobs, right? And then, like, just the weight, right? And then, you know, other people are, they're popping them out, and you're, you're not getting them popping out, not not, but you could just see them developing, is what I'm trying to say, yes. And I was waiting to develop, you know. And it was like taking forever, and, you know, of course, forever, maybe, you know, six months when you're 12, or, you know, you're like, is it here? Are they here yet? Are they coming yet? Are they, you know, but I didn't have any growth spurts. I'm a pretty small person. I've been small, and I'm the person who grows out, wears out my clothes. I don't really grow out of clothes, like, once I'm Yeah, yeah, once I am done with them, I've had them so long, you know, when I was a kid that usually nobody else would have them, because I don't. I didn't really have growth spurts. I was, I grew small me, you know, a little bit. So it was a lot of waiting. I didn't have a growth spurt, you know. So it was a lot of waiting for and I would feel like other girls were just overnight, you know? I felt like I noticed that they had some development. And I didn't, you know, my wife was very snail pace, snail pace for me. So Judy Blume helped me, you know, writing about it, talking about it, because I'd be definitely, like, definitely afraid of talking to anyone about that, you know, development and all of that. Another book, Philip Hall likes me, I reckon, maybe right. Another book, not Judy Blume, but you know a black girl, and you know, again, you have an idea. You know, you know, when you're attracted to someone, they're attracted to you. Are they attracted to you? Maybe they are, I think perhaps, maybe. And that title said it all. All right? Philip Hall likes me, I reckon maybe, like, I'm sure he does, but I'm not sure, like, you know, in that just how to deal with that and just how to think about that, and also, like, you're not crazy, like, other people are having these same kind of thoughts and these same kind of feelings, right? And again, it just helps you to, like, deal with things, right? Because I'm was a fairly quiet kid, like, very much, like internal dialog driving myself crazy, right? Because I also have perfectionism, and then also just, you're the star in your own life, and you just think, this is the only, you're the only person in the world that's dealing with these things, right? Feeling this, and then reading about it, you're like, Okay, this is kind of normal, right?

Lauren Moseley: 15:51

Oh, I remember, I remember those. I think my favorite one was, was either tales of the fourth grade nothing, or what's the one where he has the little, the little super fudge. And I remember doing a book report on Super fudge, and as part of my, I don't know, I wanted to give out, I think it was chocolate covered worms. That was something in the book where the kid ate some worms. And so I literally made, I took some Tootsie Rolls and rolled them out to look like worms, and I passed them out my classmates to pretend like they were eating worms, all into not only did I want to present my book report, but I wanted to make it memorable, and I think so creative. Yeah, I do remember doing I'm impressed. Yes, I was quite theatrical in my presentation. That was great.

TD Flenaugh: 16:46

I would have thought about that. Me, I'm like, the type that will start talking about the book, and then TD tell you all about the book and like, and then in chapter two, and then what happened in this like, so I've told you the whole book, so that was more me and my brother was like, be quiet, you know, like Ana, let's talk about some real things that happened, like, but this book, um, and I still really like stories and stuff like that too. Um, so thinking about, like, how to, like, recreate some of this for your kid, right? Like, have books right that have like crazy stuff in it, like, you know, the the worm sandwich, or whatever it was, I remember, I don't exactly remember what they're called, but yes, they had, like worms, recreating some of the things in the story exactly with my daughter. I love the library, and because we could get two of those books, so I could read a book and she could read a book, I feel like it's so important for them to own the book. Owning. Owning means that I'm not holding the book for them and pointing to the word for them. She has her own book. She is looking at it. She's pointing at it. She's reading it. I read a little bit. She reads a little bit. You know, it's not a big deal. She makes a mistake. Help her with the word, just creating a fun environment. And then, you know, as teenagers, or pre teens, right? Because a lot of times this is when they start reading the books when they're pre teens, kind of directing them towards books that you'll hear like that are great for pre teens that'll approach these topics, because kids aren't going to talk to you about it, unless you just are one of those gifted parents, or just are lucky enough to have that open relationship with your child, having a book or something like that for them to talk about or to think about or process some of these feelings, is so important, and it'll help them fall in love with with reading, because it's talking about things that they're interested in. Because ultimately, the way we talk to them about it is probably going to be a little preachy, is going to be a little bit outdated, but being able to approach it to someone else's eyes and see how they deal with it is going to help them deal with it. So I think sometimes we think about reading as such a serious thing, it is serious, but we also have to think about like, the social, emotional benefits of reading, because it really helps the kids, maybe not open up, but actually open up their mind. They may not open up to you, but they'll open up their mind about how to deal with things. And it really does make them wiser, because they're processing their ideas. They're thinking about their thinking. They're looking at how someone handled something that was really bad, right in the book, and then they're really making an idea about how they'll deal with this or or how they'll approach it in a thoughtful way. The rewrite method and the rewrite method workbook are your go to resource for helping kids to learn, to feel. Fall in love with writing. It has the tips, tools, resources, strategies and skill building activities to help kids fall out of writing, hoot and into loving to write. Get your book set today,

Lauren Moseley: 20:29

right, right. I was with my goddaughter, and she had a book and it said IRL on the cover. And I was like, What is IRL? And, you know, she said it's, it's, it's in real life. And I'm like, what does that mean? And so she's Tell me a little bit about this book, and I'm not going to give it away, because, you know, I definitely want people to to to read it themselves. But this book was so interesting how she explained the main character is a kid who is in Alaska and is online learning, and the kids in her classroom are, I guess I could tell you this part, they are they're not alive. And I thought that's really creepy. Are you? Are you okay with this? Sounds really, really creepy. And, you know, she starts telling me a little bit about this book, but it's so fascinating about how she's she's in and, you know, developing relationships like kids do with these kids, and they're all online, and at some point, the kids have to go back into in person learning, and that's when you discover that these kids are not kids, they're ghosts. And my I

TD Flenaugh: 21:48

think you're giving away too much. You definitely need to have, we need to have your niece on about right? Okay, you

Lauren Moseley: 21:56

still have to read the whole thing, but I'm saying how she was so invested in it, and invested in the characters, and her eyes just lit up when she was explaining. She's like, and then, and then this happened, and then this and I'm like, Oh my gosh. So I realized, wow, you know, just to have something that is fantasy and where you have to figure things out, and you're, you're like, what's real and what's, what's, you know, what is not real, and trying to figure out what characters are real people, and, you know, are there hints and clues? And so it was. I just felt like it was such a mental exercise reading this book. You know, I looked through some of the chapters just to read it really quickly so I could be as excited as she was, but I just thought, Wow, what an exciting journey books can be, you know, and just giving kids the opportunity to have books that are really interesting to them, and how she just, you know, was like, I can't wait for the next, you know, the next adventure. Like books to her, are such an adventure. And to like own and, yeah, the creativity of it all. So yeah, maybe we should have her, have her on. And, yeah, I

TD Flenaugh: 23:09

think we should. We haven't had a kid on the podcast. We need to have that. Yeah, that'd be really fun. Okay, I love that. Um, so what were some books that you had, like, you know, that were like, helped you, like, deal with some a teen, adolescence thing, anything like that for you, or that stood out for you, that helped you process something?

Lauren Moseley: 23:35

Yeah, um, I'll tell you. I, I always go back to the fact that I was not an amazing reader, and I don't even think I enjoyed it as much as I didn't enjoy the pressure. I felt like there was a lot of pressure to read well and to be able to answer comprehension questions afterwards. But I remember getting into poetry and really finding a lot of joy and a lot of comfort, because really the the Shel Silverstein was, like, my favorite, oh yeah, yeah. It was like, little passages that hacked a punch. You know, it wasn't a long, wasn't a lot, it wasn't chapters and chapters and chapters of reading, but these little short stories and these little arts of work where words were important and the flow and the rhythm of words, and I just remember thinking, hey, you know, I'm, I'm kind of an, I think I discovered that I was more of an artist, and that there was something about the creation of or how people put together words that was really intriguing to me. And again, you know, motivated me to keep trying. Motivated me to learn new words and learn how to put words together. In a way that that rhymed or made a made a rhythm. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I his characters that he, that he drew, and so I just remember, you know, even trying to copy some of the characters, and really finding a lot of joy in being a great artist, and even today, I'm pretty creative, and I like to draw, and it made me feel a little bit more comfortable in being a student and knowing that this quirky kind of silly part of me, you know, even though my teachers didn't really appreciate it, you know, that maybe one day I could grow up to write poetry, or I could grow up to write a song or be an artist, and those were things that, you know, I took a lot of pride in, and I was really, you know, became kind of good at, you know,

TD Flenaugh: 25:58

absolutely I love, I love that. I mean, for poetry, I really started like in fourth grade. Well, let's go to the roots, right? I did like little Easter poems and stuff like that. So that's one of the things I did in church, is Easter poems. And something weird about me is that I was a very, like, quiet child, like, even, like, even have a little social phobia sometimes, like, very socially awkward. But one thing is that if someone asked me to, like, do a speech, or to sing in front of people or something like that, I would, I would do it like that wasn't an issue, but, um, which I think, you know, is not that common. And so I, you know, I remember, like at church, sometimes they would ask other kids to do things, or my parents didn't go to church with me when I was really little, so they didn't really have a relationship with me, or my parent like to know me. So the other, you know, families knew each other, and the moms would visit each other or whatever, and they would have play dates and and so they would be like, Oh, I have a song for you. I have something for for you know, because they knew each other outside of church, but I know they didn't ask me, and I was like, hey, but I never said anything. I was very quiet. But when I taught when I'm talking to you about it, it makes me think, like maybe they just thought I was very quiet or I'd be too shy to do it, because it's not that common to be quiet, to be a quiet or shy person and then be like, Oh yeah, I'll do a speech. I will read out loud. I will do, you know, which I was just like happy to do and still like to do to this day. Um, but you know, obviously that's part of reading. You read those you do. You read it repeatedly. You add expression. You really learn what those words mean. And then later on, when I got into fourth grade, I was in a speech contest doing. Emily Dickinson, I don't even remember that poem, because then the next year, fifth grade, I was in a So Emily Dickinson, I was in Alaska. Fifth grade, I was in Pomona. I moved to Pomona with my mom, and I was in a speech contest, and we did like Negro dialect, and I did Paul Laurence Dunbar's I did a speech contest when I was doing it in the Negro dialect that Paul Laurence Dunbar was writing his poem in, and I did Angelina Johnson, right? So it was about Angelina Johnson come swinging down the line. So it was about like a wonderful like she was a dancer. And then there was another one I did later on, which like Melinda, when Melinda sings. And that was also with Paul Laurence Dunbar, yeah. So I really got into that. And that also, it was like interpretive so you that had to do your expressions, you had to, you know, you used Negro dialect and understanding that, and also just learning how to, like, learn more about the culture. Like people came to America not knowing English, right? And so they were just like, using the language as best they could. And that's just like part of, you know, why people, some people, speak the way they do. And you know, over time is, you know, over the generations, it's less and less of that, but it just understanding where it comes from. Yeah, yeah. So it was, like, my four way foray into, like, maybe do what I'm doing today, like podcasting and stuff. Like just finding my voice poetry was helpful in that. Like, speaking up for myself and and, you know, you know. Discovering, you know, I had something to say, and being able to articulate my feelings, emotions share with other people. So, yeah, wow,

Lauren Moseley: 30:11

yeah. And I was thinking too, you know, being a kid, that was very, you know, I wasn't shy at all, but I needed maybe a different type of approach in terms of teaching me how to read. And so I remember thinking, when I become a teacher one day, I'm going to make sure reading is fun. You know, I went to Catholic school and it was, it was not necessarily fun. It did not lend itself. I was very outspoken, a little bit of a wild child. Sorry, sister Don John Dominic. Don John, Don John Dominic was her name

TD Flenaugh: 30:54

So Don Johnson from Miami, Vice nurse Wayne.

Lauren Moseley: 31:02

Yeah. She I probably gave that lady a few few white hairs. But, you know, just thinking about how I learned and what what made learning fun for me, I kind of think now, as a teacher, those are the things that I incorporate for my kids, like I never want them to feel embarrassed if they can't read very well. And I always want to make it fun. We do lots of readers, theater and great songs into our day, and put the lyrics up on on the, you know, the screen, so they can sing along and, like, read the words too. Just try to make kids see that reading is, you know, it, it's like a portal into into whatever land you want to go to, like books can take you anywhere and to and to get it. Because I think that's what I needed, and just the freedom to create and be creative. So I definitely look at myself now and think, yeah, I think my strengths were really born out of the things that were my weaknesses when I was a little kid.

TD Flenaugh: 32:11

That's, that's dope, like I was good way to think about it. And I think like bringing it back to like, what can you do for your kids? I think, that might be a way in, right, like poetry or reciting poetry. It might be a way in for them to, like, you know, discover that they are more artistic, or discovering that they like to speak in front of others and they like to share their message or perform or whatever. So you know, even if you feel like they're quiet, just ask if they're willing to do what they might they might be like. Don't assume that kids won't, because one thing doesn't mean one another. Right being quiet or shy in social situations doesn't mean that you're not happy to get up and perform and, you know, share your your voice and your talent. So just try it out like ask them. Don't try to force them. You might do it for them to show them. You might take them where other kids are doing it. Or maybe they'll just be comfortable doing it at home. They may not do it anywhere else, but, but it is a way that we're thinking about different avenues to help your kid to fall in love with reading and to get involved with literature, and for it just to be beyond something that they have to do in school, right? Yeah, yeah,

Lauren Moseley: 33:37

yeah, make it a comic book, like turn something that they're learning into a comic strip. I remember, I used to love drawing pictures and putting the little speech bubble, and that was another way to kind of make it something that was palatable for me, like, let me, let me create it in a way that makes sense for me as a, you know, as an artist and as someone who's kind of creative and love the love the idea of creating a story or retelling a story in my own way. So I think that's really fun for kids to get, letting them get it, get that opportunity to or, or take the end of a story and turn it in, like, what? What if? Yeah, what, what? What could you do at the end of the story that would be totally different, that would totally turn the story on its head, and giving kids the freedom to do that,

TD Flenaugh: 34:33

yeah, that really makes me think about like I was teaching. Some people call it humanities. I actually never called it that, but I was a sixth grade English history teacher for about 10 years or 10 years, 11 years or so. And one thing that we did is I did teach ancient his ancient history that you know, English and history, so ancient history, and when we were learning about for. Sampled the Silk Road, I had them learn about the different perils, the different dangers. There were even bandits that came and stole things from people, the kind of animal that you would be traveling with through the different types of terrain. Sometimes you would have a Bactrian camel. Sometimes you would be on, you know, a mule or a horse or whatever. So after they learned about these things, then I told them they needed to create a silk road travel journal. They were going to prepare a journal to see, you know, have characters like what you know, because we knew these different countries were interacting sometimes for the first time, through the silk, you know, for these travel trade routes. And so like, what is your mode of transportation? Where are you going? What do you bring with you? What's your culture? You come from Italy? Are you coming from Egypt? Where are you coming from? What are the name of your characters? And then we're gonna have at least four journal entries to see, like, You got to have something wrong that happens based on what we've learned about you know that there may be a problem with finding water. You're traveling through the desert. You may you know that you might get a bandit that goes after you, whatever it is, right? And they loved, they love these things. And they like, sometimes they like to kill some of the care. Like, Oh, he didn't make it. He stopped, you know, he went and looked out and found him, you know, saw a mirage, and kept going that way. And there really was no water there, and we didn't catch, you know, yeah, so they, they loved to either kill the characters or, you know, you know, figure out how they're going to take care of themselves, learn based on their learning. So getting really creative about something factual that they're learning about, but how they can make it into, like, a fictional story, and they're really applying their learning instead of like, what are three ways that you might have a problem in the desert, right? Instead of that, like, No, my character, you know, be Lyle, went on the desert. He brought his blah, blah, blah. We got caught in a sandstorm, whatever it was. They just love to do that. And so, you know, that was a way like to bring into some creativity, but also it was very much fact based on what they were learning as well.

Lauren Moseley: 37:21

See, I needed you as a teacher when I was a kid, that's what I needed, because I was the one making up the story. My teachers would be like, that's not what it said. Yeah,

TD Flenaugh: 37:37

yeah. That was a great thing about teaching English in history, like you could put that narrative with that informational right, like, that is historical fiction, like we are going to travel on the Silk Road. And they just loved it. It was just, it was one of their favorite things to do, to talk about it. Think about the food that they might bring. What's unique to that region. Who are they going to trade with? You know what? They're setting off on their mission to go and get so it was one of the most fun we had teaching, teaching and the kids learning about that

Lauren Moseley: 38:12

sounds like those. I survived books, which I love, love, love, love. I was already teaching when those books came out, but I would every time there was an I survived book. I'm like, guys, we're gonna read I survived 911 or I

TD Flenaugh: 38:25

survived I don't know that. I don't know that, so we're gonna definitely put that in the show notes. What are some I survived books? Okay, so tell us more about that. It

Lauren Moseley: 38:33

sounds just like what you're talking about. They're, they're non fiction stories with the fictional character that are that's going through, you know, escaping the falling towers of 911 you know, it's not a it could have happened, but the adventure is something that's completely made up, but it's in the time period when some actual events are really happening. So it's just a very creative way to approach, you know, real history that could be dry and maybe distance from kids, right, make it more realistic, you know, because sometimes the characters are kids, and you're following character through these different, you know, situations and, yeah, and it just, it just brings it to life. It just gives it a different feeling, because it's not just information that you're getting that you're kind of separated from, but you really get immersed in the experience. So yes, I survive. Love those books. Love them.

TD Flenaugh: 39:37

Love them. Well, I hope that you guys got some great tips and strategies to help get your kids to fall in love with reading and writing and literature, right. We thank you for joining us today. Make sure you're doing something today to give your children the competitive advantage. Thank you

Lauren Moseley: 39:57

and thank you. This was great.

TD Flenaugh: 39:58

You. Thanks again for supporting the falling for learning podcast. New episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm you can watch us on youtube.com at falling for learning or listen on all major podcast platforms, such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify and much more for more resources, visit falling in love with learning.com. We really appreciate you. Have a wonderful week. Thanks again for supporting the falling for learning podcast, new episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm you can watch us on youtube.com at falling for learning, or listen on all major podcast platforms such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify and much more for more resources, visit falling in love with learning.com we really appreciate you. Have a wonderful week.