I did not like the novel as a student. I thought that the racism was in the novel to truly show a "heart of darkness." In fact, I never understood the problem with colonialism until reading the novel. Holly

Hmm. If I assigned it to my class, HoD would take up approx. 1/48th of our reading time over a 4 year high school literature span. So, I'm not sure that I agree with you there-at least in my situation. If there are better examples of the views of the times, why hasn't HoD died a slow death? I don't ask that to be argumentative. I really wonder why.

I'm not sure that the author of the article decided to quit assigning Heart of Darkness. Did you get the impression that he left that issue open?

Lately, I have noticed a few threads that have touched on the issue of reading literature from time periods that had different social attitudes and language standards. Whether you call it racist or politically incorrect, I suppose the dilemma is the same: do we read and teach this literature? Reading the various threads, I have noticed that people fall all across the reaction-spectrum. I don't read it. I read it and modify it. I read it and discuss it with my kids. I read it. Anyways, the reason I started this thread is that I came across a really great article I wanted to share with everyone interested. Here is a link. http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i37/37b00901.htm I really like the article. If anyone would like to discuss it, I'd be interested.

Thanks Jane, Eliana, Michelle and Lori, Those are great suggestions! I'm making out my library list!!! I know that it sounds weird to choose only a few novels. However, we will be reading widely using a textbook that includes all of Macbeth and The Importance of Being Earnest. It also has portions of Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Morte Darthur, Sir Gawain, Paradise Lost, (and more) plus a ton of poetry. The text covers time periods and authors quite nicely. So, I'd just like to add a very close reading of the very best novels, showcasing as much literary "stuff" as possible. Because we read widely and quickly this year, I'd like to read slowly and more carefully next year. I like to change things up yearly. So, I'm looking specifically for books that will cause everyone to think, reflect and analyze. Some books are better for this purpose than others. Thanks for heading me in the right direction. Holly

The last unit (I think 6 chapters) of the PH Bio book is on human body. We are also studying for the SAT bio and my dd thinks the lab questions are very hard. And she has had labs once a week all year. They are just hard questions because of the application component. Reading up on the exam, I learned that most students who do AP bio do have to study specifically for the SAT bio because it is much wider in content focus than a typical college bio which is deeper. Back to your endocrine question-I'm not sure there is a focus on endocrine. Endocrine is just harder than some of the other body function/systems. So, you might want to focus on it-or not.:D Holly

I am going to try and restrain myself. I'll be picking only 4-5 novels for the next year of English literature. What are your favorite must-reads? I'm looking for books that require lots of analysis since we are going to be reading them closely and slowly. (We are also going to use a textbook that has many poems, short stories & two plays, including MacBeth.) This year we've been reading quickly as a survey. From the English lit. genre we've already read: Julius Caesar Richard III Hamlet Faerie Queene Gullivers Travels Frankenstein Animal Farm Childhood's End I don't want to include Sense & Sensibility or Pride & Prejudice. Too many of the kids have read those novels. All of your suggestions are welcome!! Bonus Question: Should we read Heart of Darkness? Why or why not? TIA!!! Holly

Here's my take on TL. #1 Some of their reviews seem professional. Some seem unprofessional. That raises red flags. #2 Some of the reviews focus on important topical considerations. Some seem to focus on nit-picky idiotic issues. I've read a review with a really extreme title, that did not back up the title with a similarly horrible content review. #3 Just because a textbook has not been reviewed by TL, does not mean that it automatically gets a stamp of approval by them. It just means they haven't reviewed it. I know that nobody here has said that, but I've read posts where people comment, PH SE got a bad review, so I'm going to go with XYZ textbook. If TL got their hands on XYZ and reviewed that book, it might get an even worse review. #4 In many cases, the reviews are on older textbooks. I know the Miller and Levine book has gone through at least one new revision since the TL review-it might be two. And they are just about to come out with the Macaw book. #5 My personal pet peeve-rarely are there any recommendations. So I read the TL reviews. Throw out all the poorly reviewed books. Then I decide on a text that does not have a bad review, primarily because it has no review at all?

Each performance is different. When I take ds to a harp recital, even a scratching pencil on paper is too much noise. Although if the recital is at a rest home, some of the medical devices cover up that small noise. If it is dark, I don't think any light producing device is appropriate. I don't believe in 3 hour recitals. I don't attend anything that long. :D Concerts/recitals are just funny things. When I used to put them on (orchestra director) I tried to keep the audience in their seats no longer than 59 minutes. You can extend that by about 20 minutes if you have a short intermission. Last night I played an orchestra gig and the concert was 1 hr 40 minutes. There was a 15 min intermission and one of the pieces allowed the audience to get up and waltz if they liked. Interactive performances are always lots of fun. My kids have gone to concerts/recitals since they were tiny. I used to go to short loud pops events. Then we graduated to quieter chamber music. Now we can go to solo harp events and we don't have to sit by the exit.:D You have to take this type of training step-by-step. Increase the quiet factor, sitting length and difficulty level in small increments. (a 3 hour recital is a jumbo jump IMHO) Holly

Dear Kathy, My dd has not taken writing classes through Potters School. However, I do teach writing. I do not think that Potters School has anything to gain by asking your daughter to take a different class. I doubt that there is any "superiority" issue. They (Potters School) simply want to make sure that your daughter is able to succeed in the class. It could be very frustrating for your daughter to enroll in a class that is too demanding for her. Why not take the eighth grade class that Potters offers? Holly

Rosie, The poster is feeling like the board is heated and people with different views are attacked. I find it ironic that you chose this particular thread to label "anti-feminists" as uninformed or stupid. Definition: Ad Hominem Attack: This is the best logical fallacy, and if you disagree with me, well, you’re an idiot. Holly

We've used Bigger and will use Preparing next year. We Love Bigger!!!

How about some type of quiz bowl? Or a jeopardy style game with prizes? Holly

Do you know someone with borderline, Asta?

I question why you were told any of these hurtful things. All you needed to be told is, "Sorry, the folks that hosted you last year are unable to do so this year." Holly

My only hesitation with waiting for 9th/10th is that you end up running out of time when you have older students completing heavy classes like Biology and Chemistry (extra-curricular, SAT practice, foreign language etc.). For our family the high school sciences take such a huge investment of time, compared to the middle school years, that there is absolutely no extra time for a course like logic. My advice would be, if your child is able to complete logic in middle school, do it. Holly

I taught TL II in co-op and there is no way I would have understood any of the interior chapters on their own. The skills build like in mathematics. And chp 8 of TL I is a difficult chapter like Jean mentioned. So, I do think you were comparing apples and oranges because of the difference in assumed knowledge for TL chp. 8. Holly

But, Bill, context is everything. I could provide you with horrible examples from Twain or Frederick Douglas! Without context we would consider them racist. Holly

Bill, Labeling an author racist is a strong charge. Without conclusive evidence, it seems unfortunate to paint with such a broad brush. And maybe a definition of racism and white supremacy would help. We're quite far from the original topic. Holly

High school biology? No way! She might be able to "do" it, but at the expense of a lot of other things. Everyone I know IRL, who had their kids to Apol. Bio in 7th ended up repeating it in high school because they were really not able to do it. Holly

Can you give specific examples?

Hi Susan, We are doing this program next year. We will only spend one year on chemistry. I've been online and looked at several websites for public school teachers that use PH Chemistry. I can't believe how many chapter they skip! I am going to be doing a lot more research on this topic to figure out what we will do and what we will skip. At this point, I only plan to skip the very last chapter on nuclear chemistry. However, I may skip more. Besides looking at online syllabi, I also plan to purchase a study guide for the SAT Chemistry subject test. The subjects that are required by the SAT Chem test will play a part in my decision. HTH, Holly ETA: Here's what is on the SAT test: http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/chemistry/chapter2section1.rhtml

I organize a writing/science co-op. The parents of the high schoolers asked if I could add lit to my writing class. We meet once a week for 90 min. Because this is a very short amount of time when you are trying to cover writing and literature, I added a blog so that students would have more interaction with each other. I'm not sure how intense we are compared to other schools. I think that many times teachers don't post everything they do. My dd is in the class and I feel the workload is "just right" for us. I've looked at what many home school curriculums suggest, and I generally feel like I do less than an entire program-if you did all recommendations. I am not sure about your translation....:D. It is pretty close. We do three longer literary papers. That takes about 10 weeks. It is under the category (in my mind) writing, but it is lit-related. So-to be clear-I don't assign other writing assignments (science, history etc.) during those time periods. *********** A little off-topic: Then-in terms of writing (for those interested) I do approx. 10 weeks research (history/science), 4 weeks creative and 6 weeks imitation-in- writing and timed writing. Some of these overlap a bit. But that is the overall breakdown. And-to be honest-the imitation in writing is great for literature studies! So there is some overlap there. *********** Students also have to respond to writing 3 times a week-a question, peer answer & big answer. That might be a total of a page of written work. Then they have 2-3 literature term memorizing assignments and 3-4 lit comprehension quizzes. HTH, Holly

I'll speak to the literature requirements for my writing/lit class. At the end of the post, I've included our literature list. We also read a couple poems, letters and short stories. 1. Once a week students are required to post on my lit blog. They must ask a question about the lit we are currently reading, answer another student's question and answer my "big question." The big question usually requires thought, knowledge of the text and I strongly encourage use of the text within their answer. Here is an example. (Sorry, because my blog is in all caps-I can't change the formatting.) Big Question: In addition to posting on the blog, students are assigned three literature-related papers. They wrote a comparison/contrast paper on Hamlet & Richard III. They are currently writing a comparison paper about Victor and the monster from Frankenstein. They will also be writing a paper about Animal Farm, however I have not figured out a prompt for that yet. It is hard to make a general statement of the length of the papers. I usually say no shorter than_____. Or I state that they must be long enough to fully answer the prompt. DD's papers are generally in the 6-8 page range, font 12, double spaced. At the beginning of the year they were required to learn various literary terms and I created a few quizzes. At the end of the year I am in the process of giving a few comprehension quizzes on the literature they are reading. Last year we did not use the blog, but did more traditional comprehension worksheets, class discussions and a few big projects. I think three papers were literature-related. Next year, I will totally change the format of the class. I try and change things up each year so that students get a taste of how different english teachers might structure a class. However, I try and keep a similar structure throughout the year so that they know what to expect weekly. KWIM? I'm not sure what I will do next year:001_smile:. I've really loved the blog this year, but I think we need to change things up. Hopefully this gives you an idea of the lit output for my class. Here's the lit list and I'll check back to see if you have any questions. (We are currently finishing The Black Tulip and beginning Animal Farm.) Holly The Three Theban Plays by Sophocles Translated by Robert Fagles ISBN 0-14-044425-4 Be sure you purchase the Fagles version! Greek play-ca. 450 BC Aeneid by Virgil Translated by Robert Fagles ISBN 978-0-14-310513-8 Be sure you purchase the Fagles version! Latin epic poem-1st Century BC Inferno Dante Alighieri Translated by Anthony Esolen ISBN 0-8129-7006-3 Be sure you purchase the Esolen version! Italian epic poem-ca. 1308-1321 The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser ISBN 0-140-42207-2 English epic poem-1590 Richard III by Shakespeare Please buy the “No Fear Shakespeare†edition. ISBN 1-4114-0102-6 English play- ca 1591 Hamlet by Shakespeare Please buy the “No Fear Shakespeare†edition. ISBN 978-1-5866-3844-3 or ISBN 1-5866-3844-0 (I’m not sure why there are two ISBN #’s.) English play ca 1600 Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift You may purchase this or follow the link (from the title) to a free online version. English satire/parody novel-1726 Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley You may purchase this or follow the link (from the title) to a free online version. English Gothic/Romantic novel-1818 (She was 18 when she wrote this!) The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas You may purchase this or follow the link (from the title) to a free online version. French Author- 1850 This book is set in Holland in 1672. Animal Farm by George Orwell English Satirical Allegorical Novella-1945 This book is set on a farm! Alas Babylon by Pat Frank American Post-Modern, Post Apocalyptic-1959 Childhood’s End by Sir Arthur C. Clarke English Science Fiction-1954 (rev. 1990)

Hi Jean, As someone with a degree in music, I'd also say that if she did go to college for something like music, she will wail and gnash her teeth over something within that experience-tonal counterpoint, senior recital or ancient music history perhaps? So, it is really the process of working and conquering those challenging subjects that is the key in a high school education. It is learning how to overcome any subject that is hard that is the important experience, rather than the subject itself. This translates to any difficult experience the rest of your life, I suppose. Holly