<p>Somewhere along the CC highway someone suggested that one way to enhance students’ performance on the verbal components of standardized tests was to make available to the students news magazines. It certainly would have the added benefit of broadening their horizons.We tried it.</p>
<p>While D is a voracious reader of novels, she has devoured these news magazines like they were the missing ingredient in her diet. It has been astounding . Any other similar stories? Or has D just matured to the level that this feeds her consciousness now but wouldn’t have had the same effect last year? (D is a junior.)</p>
<p>The OP Ed page in the newspaper - DD doesn’t believe in hard news - she reads the editorials and the comics, and the movie reviews - best of all worlds.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to see if any MOB (moms of boys) or DOB got your results. S may possibly have read a line or two in the New Yorker and whatever news magazine I handed him in response to the aforementioned-advice. Told me he gets his news from The Daily Show. May be good for the news, but probably not a big vocab-booster.</p>
<p>Well, actually, I know he did read a bit for the first few days, as I made him read until he found 3 new words, had looked them up and reported them to me. When I slacked off on the vigilance, I imagine the mags got buried in the “wad” filing system (since you two above have D’s, you may not be familiar with that system - see thread on Males Favored in Admissions?)</p>
<p>my son loves the Economist, which would be great for vocabulary building, as well as a slightly different cultural view. It’s interesting to see US issues through a European lens. And their idea of “international news” is much more global than ours, which really illustrates how parochial many of our news sources are. It’s really a great magazine.</p>
<p>My two (male teens) read Newsweek and Science News cover to cover each week. Older reads Scientific American, Discover, and National Geographic each month, but he’s the one who doesn’t need any further vocabulary-building. The one who needs that prefers to read Zits, Calvin & Hobbes, and Shonen Jump.</p>
<p>The New Yorker has two big draws - movie reviews and cartoons. This led to a key purchase, all New Yorker cartoons from past years. How can you beat the Thurber cartoon on wine with presumption? Which has led to more New Yorker reading. This is by S who is 14. D, who is 17, reads Pride and Prejudice over and over again, historical romances, NYT crossword puzzles and US Weekly. Does US Weekly count as news?</p>
<p>My son loves Scientific American, Discover magazine, National Geographic and Popular Science. Recently we subscribed to Archeology and he has been reading that as well (he is interested in ancient history and cultures). He will sometimes pick up the news magazines if an article catches his eye but not on any regular basis. My daughter…well, let’s just say People magazine is about as much of a “news magazine” as she will contemplate. Different kids, different interests.</p>
<p>I wish I could get myself to read The Economist. Of periodicals that I absolutely cannot read all the way through even if my life hangs in the balance, it is the best.</p>
<p>I just thought it was like trying to feed my golden retriever a piece of pork chop. Had to make sure to drop the magazine before she ripped my arm off. Tonight she was jacuzz-ing while asking questions about Taiwan’s relationship to China. What happened to the Lady Vols ? Night meet day. What a change.</p>
<p>For vocabulary building I recommend having kids read a bunch of 19th century British novels –> Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Elliot, Trollope, and the like. Not only is quality of the language high but the stories are usually pretty good too. Have a dictionary nearby for them to look up any new words they encounter. After digesting a dozen or so of those novels your kids will be talking and writing like Winston Churchill.</p>
<p>S likes the page in Newsweek toward the beginning when they excerpt quotes of the week, and will read other stuff there as well. He too grabs it out of the mail pile pretty quickly. He also reads Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness (prefers one to the other but I forget which) as well as SI and ESPN. He is occasionally seen reading something from the NY Times Sunday Magazine - usually something sports related but not always. But frankly, during the school year, he has little time for reading much more than what is assigned.</p>
<p>Just saw a publication called The Week; subtitled The Best of the U.S. and International Media. It summarizes news of the week, and how it was reported in publications around the world. Includes news, excerpts from editorials and commentators, covering politics, new books, the arts, business, etc. Few ads, very dense. Not dense as in hard to understand; dense as in lots of info packed into a few pages. I liked it a lot and will continue the free trial subscription. Your D might like it in the hottub, Curmudg! I am hoping my S will too.</p>
<p>We like having a WIDE variety from all over the spectrum at our house, so we’ve got the Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, occasional issues of UTNE and Mother Jones, the New Yorker, the Sun, etc. Kids love all the science ones - journals like “Nature” are a favorite.</p>
Different kids, different interests.</p>