Those of you who did WTM-style Great Books ...

[Mama Lynx]

I'd dearly love to see your Year 3 lists, and to hear a little about what you did.

[Gratia271]

:bigear:

[Jane in NC]

My son's decision to enroll in some CC courses in the fall of junior year threw my initial plans into a bit of tailspin. In 9th and 10th grade, we followed TWTM lists and used the Spielvogel text. In 11th, my son took Western Civ I and II at the CC, as well as Expository Writing. I gave him a half credit for reading and doing associated writing/discussion on the following:

 

Don Quixote (Cervantes—Grossman translation)

Tartuffe (Moliere—Wilbur translation which is written in rhyming couplets--fun!)

She Stoops to Conquer (Goldsmith--one of my personal favorites!)

Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography (my son adored it)

Frankenstein (Shelley)

The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne--oh boy, that was the lead balloon of the list for The Boy)

Moby Dick (Melville)

 

Also we listened to selected lectures from the Teaching Company series Classics of American Literature (Franklin through Melville), Arnold Weinstein. But take some of these lectures with a pound of salt. Weinstein's sexual interpretations of literature could offend some although I'll admit they sent the three of us into fits of giggles.

 

Overall, he loved Part One of Don Quixote (was a bit bored by Part Two). When he finished Moby Dick, he insisted that I read because I never had. It was a commitment last summer but I am so glad I tackled it. Some may turn to other Melville works, but the sailing and natural history detail in Moby Dick captivated my son completely.

 

Poetry seems missing from our list, but we were also doing an Intro to Latin Literature which included a quarter on Ovid and another quarter on Catullus. We spent a bit of time discussing poetic devices while reading/translating these Latin works.

 

We moved the study of American Government to senior year.

[MomsintheGarden]

I have a complete schedule for Rhetoric Year 3 using great books as primary reading, plus some others (Foster & Marrin for secondary), with Spielvogel as a spine. Foster is generally considered middle-school reading, but we used her for secondary reading anyway. They did the study WTM-style, writing a history summary before using the Timetables of History, and a paper about each GB book after.

 

I came up with my plan using several resources: mostly WTM, WEM, VP catalog, and HTTA. It took me several weeks over the summer, mulling and thinking. One of my goals was to select at least one book from each WEM genre to read, and I was pretty successful in that. Another goal was to get the "right" amount of work scheduled for each week. Since the books are not evenly difficult, this was a bit tricky. You may not agree with my choices, but you will see what I chose and that will help you to think about what you want.

 

PM me with your email address if you'd like my word document (others are welcome, too!). It's too big to post. I also have other years, but I'll redo years 1 & 2 for my youngers because I used Konos HOW & Picturesque Tales of Progress for the oldest two; I'll probably use something in the future. Konos wasn't a great fit for us because we aren't really into holding medieval banquets & such, we are now doing a timeline in Logic stage, plus Konos only went through the middle ages at the time. Pict Tales was ok, but I might pick something more modern for the future, like an AP World History text & split it up over 4 years. I probably won't choose SWB's History series because I'd like something more culture-focused rather than mostly wars & politics. GB & secondaries are in pretty good shape for years 1 & 2, so you can at least see a general plan.

 

BTW, some (just a few) of the books are from a Christian POV.

 

Blessings,

Kim

[MicheleinMN]

Kim,

Did you use PTP for your high school age children?

 

Thanks

[MomsintheGarden]

Kim,

Did you use PTP for your high school age children?

 

Thanks

 

Yes, for my two oldest. I read it aloud to them in Logic, and they read it to themselves for Rhetoric. It is beautiful and interesting, but I'm not using it for Logic with my youngers. I have found other books I like better, that are a bit more in line with our worldview. I haven't decided yet if I'll be using it with my youngers for hs. Olive Beupre Miller does not seem to believe in the deity of Christ, and that comes out in her books.

 

It's a beautiful set, as is her My Book House series, which we also have. I'll probably keep them as collector's items forever if I can.

 

GardenMom

[Kareni]

I assigned some readings from Picturesque Tales of Progress when my daughter was in 7th and 8th grades. They are beautiful books and the artwork was lovely. Do be aware though that they are very much a product of their time with some racist sentiments. We found those sentiments to be good fodder for discussion.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[MomsintheGarden]

I assigned some readings from Picturesque Tales of Progress when my daughter was in 7th and 8th grades. They are beautiful books and the artwork was lovely. Do be aware though that they are very much a product of their time with some racist sentiments. We found those sentiments to be good fodder for discussion.

 

Regards,

Kareni

:iagree:

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned that, too! My memory about what's in these is fuzzy because it's been four years since I used them. Her My Book House books are the same way as PTP. You are right - lots of things to discuss.

 

GardenMom

[Kendall]

I'll list the books we did along with my then 9th/11th grade sons' opinions

 

 

Don Quixoti (A children's version)

The Pilgrim's Progress - okay

Paradise Lost - really hard , but glad I read it; 9th grader 'the lines of Milton go by like telephone poles on the side of the road'

Christianity for Modern Pagans (Pascal's Pensees) - both liked

Gulliver's Travels (1st book only) - neither were too excited about this so we stopped at 1st book

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin -both liked

A Tale of Two Cities - favorite of both(very different boys)

Frankenstein - found annoying

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - liked better than Frankenstein

Pride and Prejudice - 2nd favorite for both

Jane Eyre - one liked okay, one didn't

We did a little poetry, so little that I can't remember what it was!

 

We did a very little writing and some discussion usually informally. If I had it to do over again, or I should say, when I do it over again with my next child, I'll try to follow the writing ideas on the Plan for Teaching Writing:High School Years and Literary Analysis mp3 downloads from Peacehillpress. Susan made writing about Lit sound quite doable and I'll be trying it next year with Ancients.

 

HTH,

Kendall

[Jane in NC]

Gulliver's Travels (1st book only) - neither were too excited about this so we stopped at 1st book

 

My son had read this in 7th or 8th grade and adored it, finding it to be very Monty Python-esque. I know that the political satire went completely by him, but he found so much pleasure in just reading the book (and chuckling) that I let him do just that.

 

I sometimes wonder if some books fit into windows of our lives where they appeal to us for whatever reason and are not so interesting at a later date (or maybe are more interesting at a later date, as Jane Austen was for me.) I think that it is great that your boys both like P&P!