Lit. not narrowed down! AND we started school already!!! :( :(

[wehave8]

.......for 7th grade.

 

I have CLE7, but I know we won't get through it in 1/2 year.  12 yo ds is not a good reader and it takes too long to get a lesson done.  If we spread it out throughout the year, we will not have time for writing the second half of the year. (I think I'm sending this back tomorrow.)

 

I'm looking at these:

 

Lightning Literature 7 (I was going to use Writing Strands 1/2 a year, but maybe I could do LL for lit. and writing as a stand alone.)

Teaching the Classics

Brave Writer The Arrow (Could be writing and lit.?)

Figuratively Speaking  (I bought, but haven't thoroughly looked at yet. :sad: )

 

(Combine any of the above?)

 

I want to teach classics.  If we do CLE (which I really like) we will not have time to add classics to our reading.

 

I can read some to him as well as he reading to me.

 

If I did TTC, could I use it for our other 2 dss (9 & 11) at their level?

 

 

Pam

 

:crying:  :confused1:  :toetap05:  :001_huh:  :banghead:  :unsure:

[Haiku]

Personally, I don't think that Lightning Literature is enough for writing for 7th grade if that's all you do for writing. It's a great lit curriculum, but it's not a writing curriculum.

 

In 7th grade, writing takes precedence over literature (at least imo).

 

Were it me, I would making writing the focus of the year and then add in lit as you have time (and I wouldn't worry about it if you don't have time).

 

You could certainly use Lightning Literature at a slower pace. LL7 is for 7th-8th grades, and LL8 is for 8th-9th grades. My plan, with my son who is also not a good reader, is to do LL7 in 8th grade and LL8 in 9th grade. You could spread LL7 over 7th and 8th grades and use LL8 in 9th grade.

 

Also, I let my son listen to the books on audio. I have him follow along in the actual book, but there's nothing wrong with letting your son listen to the books. It's not cheating or anything.

 

I looked at Figuratively Speaking but decided against it. I don't see it as a "literature" curriculum. I see it as a "literary elements" curriculum and that, to me, is not the same thing as studying a book as a piece of literature.

 

YMMV, of course.

[wehave8]

Personally, I don't think that Lightning Literature is enough for writing for 7th grade if that's all you do for writing. It's a great lit curriculum, but it's not a writing curriculum.

 

In 7th grade, writing takes precedence over literature (at least imo).

 

Were it me, I would making writing the focus of the year and then add in lit as you have time (and I wouldn't worry about it if you don't have time).

 

You could certainly use Lightning Literature at a slower pace. LL7 is for 7th-8th grades, and LL8 is for 8th-9th grades. My plan, with my son who is also not a good reader, is to do LL7 in 8th grade and LL8 in 9th grade. You could spread LL7 over 7th and 8th grades and use LL8 in 9th grade.

 

Also, I let my son listen to the books on audio. I have him follow along in the actual book, but there's nothing wrong with letting your son listen to the books. It's not cheating or anything.

 

I looked at Figuratively Speaking but decided against it. I don't see it as a "literature" curriculum. I see it as a "literary elements" curriculum and that, to me, is not the same thing as studying a book as a piece of literature.

 

YMMV, of course.

 

This is very interesting.  I hesitated posting again about literature.  I felt like the very most fickle homeschool mom!  Haiku, you really gave me some food for thought.  I was so hung up on doing a great lit. program this year, when I was really overlooking the writing skills I wanted to get to, also.  I can hang on to FS to use as a resource, send CLE back, DO LL, AND work on extra writing and family read alouds.

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

 

Pam

[Haiku]

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

 

You're welcome!

[MerryAtHope]

I agree that you don't really need a formal lit. class for junior high. I prefer to assign good books for my kids to read, and have them read for 30 minutes per day (usually a chapter, or maybe 2 if the book has short chapters). We discuss what interests us about the book in our daily "time with mom" time. I also continue read-alouds through high school, which sometimes gives us more to discuss. This approach allows me to choose books that I want them to read and that I think will be of interest to them, but doesn't require us to get through a certain number of books--we just get through however many they can. 

 

Then, work on writing for about 30 minutes per day, using any writing curriculum you prefer. (Essentials in Writing has been helpful here.) 

[Haiku]

I also continue read-alouds through high school

 

Same here! We start our day with a read-aloud, and the kids love it. (So do I. I have sometimes been known to proclaim that my mom super-power is reading aloud to my kids.)

[happypamama]

I like Figuratively Speaking very much, but we use it as a small supplement. If you want to use it as a full lit program, you'd need to read and discuss several of the books that are used in it. That would be fine, of course, and FS would give you a few talking points for analysis, but since it uses snippets of works, it by itself isn't a lot program.

 

Fwiw, we use lit that is included with our history, plus stuff that I want them to read, and in the middle grades, we read and discuss and don't make a super formal program out of it. The history often has some assignments to go with the lit selections, talking about plot or whatever. We also use Writing With Skill in those middle grades as the writing program.

[MerryAtHope]

Same here! We start our day with a read-aloud, and the kids love it. (So do I. I have sometimes been known to proclaim that my mom super-power is reading aloud to my kids.)

 

LOL, that's one of the best super-powers!