Read with Your Teens

Graduate 2023, by Matthew McDill

After my high school students finish reading a book, I often wonder how much of it they actually grasped. This question can be answered with a brief oral query, a quiz, or a book report. But I’d like to suggest a strategy that will greatly enhance your students’ understanding of a book, benefit you as the teacher, and enhance your relationship with your teen. Read and discuss books with your students. Now I’m not talking about reading aloud with them, although that is a good practice as well. I mean for you and your teen to read the same book separately and then get together to discuss what you are reading.

This approach benefits you because you have an excuse to read those great books that you didn’t have the chance to read in high school (or read them again). As you talk, you’ll be able to clarify concepts and track the arguments or plotlines of a book so that your students can get the most out of it. Best of all, you get to spend time with your kids! And this time isn’t just enjoying a pastime together, but grappling with the big ideas and issues of life. This is an amazing opportunity to teach your children how to read critically from a biblical perspective and develop a more comprehensive view of God’s world from His perspective.

As an example of how this works, I’ll mention three books that I’m reading with some of my high school students this semester: one fiction, one non-fiction, and one book for discipleship.

The fiction work I am reading with one of my students is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I have read this before, but it is worth reading again! This book is often assigned to high school freshmen. As I read it for the second time, I am struck by how challenging it is, even for me. I’m trying to imagine how challenging it might be for a freshman! 

There are many historical references to the details of the French Revolution that are not explicitly explained in the story. There is quite a bit of difficult vocabulary and sophisticated metaphors and irony. This complexity is why it is helpful to read and discuss it with your teen as they are reading. Make sure your teen is tracking with the story and fill in any background and questions that may come up. There are also many significant moral and spiritual issues presented in the story that need to be processed. In the end, you’ll also get to enjoy the surprising twists and turns that the book takes as it brings all the characters together in an amazing conclusion!

The non-fiction book we are reading together this semester is How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. This book completely transformed my reading life. It teaches the reader how to decide what books are worth reading. It also teaches how to read quickly and find the information you really need. It teaches the reader how to slow down and critically analyze a book that is worth reading. Finally, it teaches how to do research. This book is challenging. (The authors argue that most books worth reading are!) So, it has been helpful for us to get together and discuss the chapters as we read them. This book is required reading for any students who want to graduate from our homeschool.

Finally, another non-fiction book we are reading is a book for spiritual development. As I’ve mentioned before in this magazine, I have written a book called Loving God: A Practical Handbook for Discipleship. I wrote this book partly to record in one place all the primary topics of discipleship that I wanted to be sure to cover with my children. So as my kids go through high school, we read and discuss it together.

The point is to select good books that will help you disciple your teens. What a wonderful responsibility and privilege we have in teaching our children to know and love God! The priority for this should be reading and discussing God’s Word. But another fantastic way to disciple your teens is to read and discuss books with biblical, spiritual, and theological content together.

If all this seems overwhelming, I encourage you to pick just one relatively simple book to read and discuss with your kids. Set a manageable pace by reading a certain number of chapters a week, then plan time to sit down and discuss what you’ve read. Ask lots of questions. Let them ask you questions. Ask them to summarize the material and tell you what was interesting to them. Share what was striking to you. Let the conversation naturally develop. It is helpful if you both take notes or underline and mark in your books. As you gain experience and success, you’ll be able to add more chapters, more time, and more books!