Who can guide me to good literature studies?

[bolt.]

I'm planning grade 7 for next September, with a fairly interest-led (but opportunity rich) overall homeschooling approach. This will be our first year homeschooling after a Montessori elementary education. For literature, I already know that my student will want to study Shakespeare. Other than that, she is very easily led into anything fascinating.

 

I want to offer a lot of high-interest literature study options, potentially from a literature curriculum, or unit studies -- but I don't know quite where to find things like that.

 

Many options seem really integrated into a whole curriculum, and other options imply that I should just know how to guide the "study" of any book. (I don't. Yet.) Is there maybe a guide to "how to do a study" of books / literature that I could apply to various books? How do you pick good books to offer -- not just random books, or student-chosen books? And what about poetry? Non-fiction?

 

Let me know your reccomendations, please 😊

Edited October 14, 2016 by bolt.

[redsquirrel]

Well, SWB has an audio lecture about how and why to literary analysis.  That might be helpful?

 

For our lit studies, I keep our reading choices linked to our history cycle..again, don't know if that is what you want to do at all.  I have also taken a peek at Classical House of Learning for some ideas of what books to use, but I mostly look at the reading lists in TWTM. She has fiction, non fiction and poetry for each year.

 

For discussion guides etc, I have done two things. I did purchase the 7-8th grade lit guide from Kolbe academy, but I wasn't exactly thrilled with it. It's fine, but needed a lot of massaging.  I can see it being perfect for someone else...it's great, just not what we needed.  It did have a lot of crossover with the books lists in TWTM and that is what I liked about it. 

 

Some of the most useful lit guides was stuff I found on the interwebs, lol.  I generally just google something like 'title of book 6th grade discussion guide' or 'title of book middle school ' or variations on things like that.  So, so often I would find many things to print out. I would pick and chose things that I found. Often it was just busy work or vocab stuff, and we skipped that sort of thing, but there would also be some really interesting essay questions. I generally turned those into discussion questions.

 

 

[freelylearned]

You may want to look at look at Center for Lit's Teaching the Classics and Reading Roadmaps for how to teach a book and literature selections.

 

So many study guides are largely reading comprehension and vocabulary. There are a few study guides (Walking to Wisdom) by Classical Academic Press, however, that require deeper thinking, but they have just a few titles available. Moving Beyond the Page has unit study type guides that integrate language arts and other subjects. Blackbird and Co. Lit guides also seem like a good option.

 

I like the book previews on ChristianBook.com because they show quite a bit of the book or guide that you are purchasing.

[Julie of KY]

I also like Center for Lit's materials.

[Lori D.]

On 10/14/2016 at 8:43 AM, bolt. said:

I'm planning grade 7 for next September, with a fairly interest-led (but opportunity rich) overall homeschooling approach. This will be our first year homeschooling after a Montessori elementary education. For literature, I already know that my student will want to study Shakespeare. Other than that, she is very easily led into anything fascinating.

I want to offer a lot of high-interest literature study options, potentially from a literature curriculum, or unit studies -- but I don't know quite where to find things like that.

Many options seem really integrated into a whole curriculum, and other options imply that I should just know how to guide the "study" of any book. (I don't. Yet.) Is there maybe a guide to "how to do a study" of books / literature that I could apply to various books? How do you pick good books to offer -- not just random books, or student-chosen books? And what about poetry? Non-fiction?

Let me know your reccomendations, please 

Well, I picked from what I knew 😉 -- but I have a very big Literature background, so that was pretty easy to put together works that "spoke" or resonated between one another. 😉

When drawing up my list of literature in the summer before our school, I worked to include a variety of types of literature: novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, plays, and an occasional essay. I do not include non-fiction in our Literature (unless it is specifically informing a work of Literature) for two reasons:

- we get plenty of non-fiction in other subject areas
- non-fiction is not read/discussed/analyzed in the same way fiction, poetry, and plays are 

To make sure you get different types of lit. in there, after you finish 1-2 longer works, you could just schedule 1 week for a poetry unit, or for a few short stories. And then move on to your next longer work. My guess is that you could get in 6 weeks of poetry and short stories during your school year that way. 🙂

Resources for "how to do Lit" or "how to make your own":
- Figuratively Speaking: Using Classic Lit to Teach 40 Literary Terms
- Reader's Odyssey - making your own literature program
- Teaching the Classics - how to use Socratic questions for guiding Lit. discussion
- How to Read Like a Literature Professor for Kids - understanding symbols, metaphors and layers in Lit.
-  "How to Choose Books for Homeschooling High School Literature" -- free article from 7 Sisters (they publish Lit. guides)
- Movies As Literature -- sometimes, starting with discussing/analyzing movies is an easier stepping stone to then move on to Literature 😉

Lit. Guides (for individual works):

- Blackbird and Company (elementary/middle school)

- Garlic Press Discovering Literature: Challenger series (middle/high school)
- Glencoe Literature Library (FREE; middle/high school)
- Portals to Literature (middle/high school)
- Penguin Teacher's Guides (FREE; high school/college)
- Bibliomania (FREE high school/college)
- Pink Monkey / Sparknotes / Cliff's Notes (FREE high school/college levels)
- Wikipedia articles on authors, literary movements, Literature genres, etc.

 

Lit. Guides (for several works, or for poetry):

- Progeny Press: Introduction to Poetry: Forms and Elements

- Classical Academic Press: Art of Poetry

MCT Royal Fireworks trilogies:

- Alice, Peter, Mole (Alice in Wonderland; Peter Pan; Wind in the Willows)

- Search (Treasure Island; Call of the Wild; Invisible Man)

- Time (Time Machine; Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; A Christmas Carol)

- Shadow (Murders in Rue Morgue; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Hound of the Baskervilles)

- Dickens (A Christmas Carol; Cricket on the Hearth; The Chimes: A Goblin Story)

Memoria Press:
- 7th grade (Anne of Green Gables, The Hobbit, The Trojan War, The Bronze Bow)
- 8th grade (Wind in the Willows, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, As You Like It)

Online class option
- Center for Lit 
- Brave Writer: Arrow (ages 11-13) or Boomerang (ages 13-18) -- a la carte

__________________________

Getting Started with a DIY approach:
Most 7th grade students are at a beginning stage of literary analysis and discussion, so I recommend using a good amount of classic upper-elementary children's books and young adult works with that age, as well as a few good beginner classic works, so you can introduce literary elements and topics of literature, and practice working with Literature with a work that is well-written AND at the student's reading/interest level. If you have an advanced student, then disregard that. 🙂

Shakespeare resources:

past threads:
- "Shakespeare for tweens: need fun AND depth"
- "Shakespeare resources" -- mostly at high school level

short versions to first get familiar with the play:
- No Sweat Shakespeare
- prose short story versions: Tales From Shakespeare (Lamb) -- or Leon Garfield retelling of Lamb) Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children (Nesbit), Stories From Shakespeare (McCaughrean)
- Shakespeare Animated Tales -- 30-min. versions using all-Shakespeare language

background/supplements:
- How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare  (Ludwig)
- Shakespeare Uncovered from PBS
- William Shakespeare's Star Wars (Doescher) -- story of Star Wars written in Shakespearean language and play format
- Shakespeare for Dummies -- high school/adult; overview chapters, and then summary of each play

watch a film version:
- "Recommend movies to go along with Shakespeare study" -- high school student level

watch a film that is an adaptation of a Shakespeare story:
- Romeo & Juliet ---> Gnomeo and Juliet
- The Tempest ----> Forbidden Planet
- Taming of the Shrew ---> Kiss Me Kate
- Hamlet ---> The Lion King

guides:
- Folger Shakespeare Library -- elementary/middle/high school lesson plans and resources
- Parallel Shakespeare -- middle school/high school; teacher guide and student workbook
- Brightest Invention of Heaven: Christian Guide to 6 Shakespeare Plays -- high school/adult guide
- Lighting Literature: Shakespeare: Comedies, Shakespeare: Tragedies -- 1 semester long high school programs

book ideas for middle school 
Tuck Everlasting -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide
Sounder -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide
The Cay -- Progeny Press guide
The Westing Game -- Blackbird & Co. guide
The Witch of Blackbird Pond -- Blackbird & Co. guide; Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Progeny Press guide
Eagle of the Ninth -- Progeny Press guide
The Bronze Bow -- Progeny Press guide
Island of the Blue Dolphins -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide
Maniac Magee -- Progeny Press guide
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide
A Wrinkle in Time -- Blackbird & Co. guide; Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Progeny Press guide
Where the Red Fern Grows -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide
Bridge to Terebithia -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Progeny Press guide
The Giver -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Portals to Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide
Across Five Aprils -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Blackbird & Co. guide; Progeny Press guide
I Am David -- Blackbird & Co. guide
Julie of the Wolves -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide
Walk Two Moons -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide

"beginner" classics for middle school
The Hobbit -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide
Call of the Wild -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide, Portals to Lit. guide
The Outsiders -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide
Anne of Green Gables -- Progeny Press guide
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Portals to Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide
Treasure Island -- Blackbird & Co. guide; Where the Red Fern Grows -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide
Animal Farm -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Portals to Lit. guide
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide
To Kill a Mockingbird -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide
A Christmas Carol -- Portals to Lit. guide

Edited July 28, 2020 by Lori D.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

Look at Classical Academic Press or MCT for literature studies.  

[dori123]

MosDos. It is wonderful. 

[bolt.]

Thanks, this really helps!

 

Any thoughts on "Build Your Library"?

[Laura Corin]

I found lightning literature 7 to be a good starting point for us.

[happypamama]

I like Figuratively Speaking a lot.

 

I have used Art of Poetry by Classical Academic Press, and it's very good, albeit very in depth, so it might be good for upper middle schoolers, and I think their materials, the couple I've used, are very high quality.

 

I have only used one of Memoria Press's lit guides, Poetry, Prose, and Drama for high schoolers, but it's very thorough.  If their others are as good, I would highly recommend them.