I've taught literature in co-op classes, but our co-op may not be able to rent space next year. And they don't seem to want to continue the online classes we've done this year. So... Any recommendations for a good 9th grade *online* literature/English class? Would like one that is synchronous and has a lot of discussion.

We have decided to leave Classical Conversations and go back to homeschooling on our own this next school year. My son is 11, going in to 6th grade and has completed one year of the CC Essentials program. We actively participated and he did well for the most part, however the rush of the program stresses both of us. I am looking to use Rod & Staff English but having a hard time figuring out which book to choose. Do I choose book 4, 5 or 6 after using CC's Essentials of the English Language? Can anyone here help me?

Hi all, I have an old copy of Warriner's English & Composition course 4 and the answer key from Seton. I really like Warriner's and was looking around wondering if I could build the rest of the set. Does anyone know if Holt Traditions newer publications are the same? Or have they been changed? http://www.hmhco.com/search?segment=All;mm=all;q=warriner's It's not clear if the editions have been changed or abridged. But there are online editions! http://www.hmhco.com/shop/k12/Holt-Traditions-Warriners-Handbook/9780554002231 I've written the company but does anyone know if these materials are available to homeschoolers?

Hello, I am putting together a class for my 9th grader (and some others) for next year to cover the core and standards of WA ELA. I am doing this though from a science perspective so that my student will in fact learn and engage with the course. I am combining Botany and Mythology together to meet said standards required. I am looking for suggestions or resources that are not costly that will help with this process. I have a microscope and a Intro to botany book on its way. The two areas separately are easy enough to teach, but putting them together is where I am having some questions. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all; I need your help please! I'm going around and around and around in circles trying to figure out what my daughter's english sequence will be for high school. I'm feeling fairly pathetic right now. Here's some background: My dd loves creative writing and is finishing up the One Year Adventure Novel. I think she's behind in expository writing She's not done any real sentence diagramming before I am looking for her writing to be taught in a live class (online) and graded by the teacher My dd is college bound and science focused (but I want to keep a good focus on english as I think she has some aptitude in there) We'd appreciate curriculum that is secular-friendly Here's what I have come up with so far. Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I doing this all wrong? As far as I can tell there seems to be 4 sections to Language Arts. - WRITING: My dd loves the Bravewriter classes but I believe they only have one-off classes and not full semesters or a full year comprehensive class. 9th grade: IEW (I read somewhere a recommendation it's good to start here to get the structure down but it gets repetitive and good to move on after the first year. My dd would not do well with repetitiveness but needs help on getting the structure down.In October take: Bravewriter "Writing the Short Story" to prepare for the National Novel Writing Month in November. 10th grade: Well Trained Mind - Preparation for Rhetoric Writing 11th grade: Well Trained Mind - Rhetoric I 12th grade: Well Trained Mind - Rhetoric II - GRAMMAR: 9th grade: http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/daily-diagrams.html (my son does MCT Grammar Town but not sure my dd would find it interesting enough to hold her attention.) or Analytical Grammar: https://www.analyticalgrammar.com/our-products/analytical-grammar/ - VOCABULARY: We're going to try http://membean.com this year and if it goes well, continue with it for the 4 years. - LITERATURE ANALYSIS: I'm not sure! Does anyone know of good, online discussion literature analysis classes? Is literature analysis a combination of reading comprehension, understanding literary devices and figurative language and reading into deeper meanings? On my current list to consider is (including non-online live classes because I haven't found anything that is ongoing): Holt Mcdougall Literature Student and Teacher books: ​https://www.amazon.com/Holt-McDougal-Literature-Student-Grade/dp/0547618395/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1467320584&sr=8-3&keywords=McDougal+Language+of+Literature%3A+Teacher%27s+Edition+Grade+9 I REALLY like LitCharts: http://www.litcharts.com but not sure if that is enough to suffice for literature analysis? ESC Novel Units: http://www.ecslearningsystems.com/webstore/store/showproductslist.asp?cmsAbout=1&idcategory=107& Skills for Literary Analysis: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/phonics-reading/readers-literature/readers-literature-grades-9-12/skills-for-literary-analysis Teaching the Classics: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/phonics-reading/readers-literature/readers-literature-grades-1-8/teaching-the-classics-a-socratic-method-for-literary-education-and-ready-readers (this sounds like the way to go but requires high involvement from the parent) Thank you!

I know this has been discussed before, so if anyone can direct me to a thread where it has been hashed out, that would be most welcome. I have 9th grade (yikes!) mostly planned, in concept: Geometry Biology Integrated Health & Fitness (OM) Spanish 2 But I'm not exactly sure how to manage credits for English and History. What I have planned feels like 3 distinct things, although each might not be a whole credit: English: Rhetoric & Composition English: Ancient Literature Ancient History Or, it could be 2 things, which is actually how many credits worth of work I want to do: Great Books - Ancient History & Literature - more than one credit's worth of work? English: Rhetoric & Composition - less than one credit's worth of work? How have people handled Great Books study, integrating English Lit and History? On the transcript? In practice? Do you count hours and then figure it out at the end? Do they spend equal amounts of time in the "english" and "history" pieces? Do you separate out the composition/rhetoric piece, or is it built in? I'd love to read how different people have handled this, both how you've actually done it, and how you have transcripted it. ETA: I should mention that creative writing is my dd's passion, so she will be doing that on her own time for sure, and it could easily be counted as an elective credit or packaged up with other writing stuff into a full English/Writing credit. I was trying to keep it down to 6 credits, though, to leave plenty of time for extracurricular writing and the other time consuming activities in which dd participates - theater and horseback riding.

Has anyone used either of these curriculums and what is your opinion.

I'm homeschooling a second grade girl and third grade boy. At the moment we're doing R&S Math (Mathematical Reasoning supplement) Apples and Pears Apologia Science Beautiful Feet (history, geography mostly for fun) Does anyone have some suggestions for an English curriculum to go with what we're already doing? Do they need English right now? I was thinking about starting our Latin program and I've read that they'll learn lots English grammar through that also. Any thoughts???

Hi, In looking for High School level writing programs I'm curious what others have used? What you liked, didn't like, etc..? Our son will be finishing WWS2 along with working through parts of Lively Art of Writing this year (8th grade). This Fall he will be ready for something new. I am finding this more challenging that I thought in searching for a good writing program and/or class. Most of the classes I've seen recommended look very expensive ($600+), though I'm sure they have their merit. But we are already outsourcing math and science, so costs are really adding up. My wife will be teaching it and doesn't want a DIY self-styled program either. Something with some structure and not overly difficult to implement would be ideal. We also prefer more than just formulaic approaches, but something which also encourages original thought and style. Not too much to ask, right? lol :tongue_smilie: In reading many, many posts here it seems like quite a few agree LToW is a solid program, though not very teacher friendly. So my wife isn't as keen on that one for obvious reasons. So far we are looking into Write at Home High School Composition 1 which is a little more reasonable than some of the other courses. Though I'm not sure how formulaic it will be. For curriculum we're considering Essentials in Writing (EIW). Still, nothing really jumps out at us a best solution. Any ideas, thoughts and/or experiences welcome. Thanks,

Languages in general are not my subject. On the foreign language front, we have found a couple publishers that really work well and I am sort of blindly trusting that they are not total quacks. So far, they appear not to be. However, I still do not have a publisher/company that I'm really sold on for English. As such, every year it is a bit up in the air for what we will do next year. My inner planning freak doesn't like this. I know enough to realize that it works very well to have a general theme to the school year and a specific goal we are trying to accomplish. From there, I can normally make it work pretty well. This year was literary analysis essays and reading of classic short stories. Today I stumbled upon this really gorgeous chart linking up a bunch the YA book retellings of fairy tales, mythology, Shakespeare and Classics. The chart is free by the way! Would it be insane to have this be the focus of our English and Literature next year? We would read the retellings and the originals, then focus on the Compare/Contrast essay. It could build off of the literary analysis stuff we did this year by showing how each author took the same basic idea or plot and turned into their own voice. There are a few classics that we would skip because Ds is not there yet. He has no care about Gatsby, Austen, or the Bronte Sisters. Those we can just save to another time in the future. But the mythology, fairy tales, Shakespeare, and many of the Classics he knows the central plot for already. We have read a few of the originals as read alouds when he was younger, but would do a much more comprehensive study. So is this totally crazy? Feel free to let the criticism fly if I am going to totally melt my son's brain with this level of drivel and it only seems like a fun idea to me, but not in reality. Or if it is Disney-ifying school too much with fluffy fun and not enough academics. ETA: I realize I need to pre-read a lot of the YA so that we are not bombarded with soft core Vampire pOrn.

All right, some background first. I used to teach (and tutor) English for grades six and up. However, I have practically no experience at the elementary level. I'm trying to put together a rough plan from here to high school--not just for writing, but all the language arts. My DS loves stories and puns--we make up silly stories together all the time. He currently reads comfortably at a first- to maybe early second-grade level (using LOE Foundations C and the Amish Pathways readers), and he's comfortable discussing what he reads and what I read to him. He has a decent vocabulary, but often has to ask about a word on a few different occasions before it sinks in. His spoken grammar is fine--recently emerged from the Junie B. Jones stage, thank goodness. But he hates picking up a pencil, even sighing when asked to copy a three-word sentence. He's trudging through the HWOT yellow book. Every activity from Jot It Down we've tried has been a flop, except the numbers one, even if I am scribing, so I'm reluctant to buy Partnership Writing. I do have The Writer's Jungle and plan to reread it this winter. I'm looking at where to go from here. I definitely plan to buy Treasured Conversations (recognizing that it will probably take two to three years for him to complete) and I already have LOE Essentials for next year. (I also own a number of other resources he won't be ready to use for quite some time.) I don't know that WWE is any better than what I'd do just making things up, but I'd like to use WWS eventually. Those who have BTDT, would you be willing to pop over to my spreadsheet and come back and give me some advice/critique? A lot of the books I have in there are based on what I've read in writing threads here, but most I've never seen in person. It's too soon to tell how he'll do with spelling, so I'm simply guessing. (I was a natural speller, but then I was also an earlier reader.) Obviously plans are not going to be set in stone--they're not even set in real ink, only pixels--but I'd like to make sure to go in an order that makes sense and to have a realistic pace in mind. I'm not at all attached to sticking to one program/series--IME they tend to be awfully repetitive. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I have been using Christian Light with my son through first grade. He turned 8 in October, and we are just now finishing the Reading One. He struggled with reading, so we have been working through Phonics Pathways for about 6 weeks as well. I believe he is right at second grade fluency level, with some days being better than others. Reading and L/A takes us the majority of our day; it is laborious and the workbooks seem a little too much for him. He doesn't enjoy reading,and this effects his attitude also. I love CLE because I feel like it is so strong academically, and it is open and go. I am having a hard time changing directions, but I feel like for the sanity of my son( and myself) I need to. I have looking at English Lessons Through Literature, and it seems much less intense, but I have never done narration, dictation, or picture study method, and I don't have a clue what to do with the poems other than just read them ( maybe that is all I am suppose to do). I just need advice on which direction to go with building confidence and better fluency on reading without sacrificing grammar and writing. I need a curriculum, because I need a Teacher's manual :) !! I have never taught reading or English and I don't find it easy to wing it. Also, any reviews or advice on ELTL from those who have used it, and what you think about starting at Level 2.

We've decided to give Movies as Literature a chance this year. We plan to use it with the extras (reading novels when available, comparing and contrasting, watching and analyzing related movies). Any idea what I could call a course like this? We are doing the writing in the course, plus some writing from Time4Writing. I thought Literature and Composition, but it seems a bit plain. you think this can even pass as a regular English course? I'm doing this with my 9th and 11th grader.

I am in college and I am looking for recommendations for a writing/grammar program for my kids. Their grades are 5th, 8th, and 11th. Video instruction would be a plus, but not necessary. I just want something solid, they can do on their own in this subject. I would be checking in, especially with the youngest. What have you used that you could really recommend?

Hi All, I'm wondering if anyone has developed a journalism course? and if so, what materials you used? any advice? It will only be for 1/2 credit... Thank you for any help!

Hi, I am looking ahead to next year and I have Memoria Press First Form Latin, Rod Staff Grammar, and Classical Writing scheduled. There is more grammar incorporated into First Form Latin than I had originally thought, and using it with R & S Grammar feels a bit much. For those who have used First Form Latin what do you do for grammar?

Hello everyone, I thought I had everything set for next year and then......I didn't. Right now I'm flip-flopping back and forth between History Odyssey Level 2 Ancients and Oak Meadow's fifth grade English/History. I'm looking for opinions on both, please. English hasn't been a focus the past two years because my daughter was very advanced in this area. But as a result, writing hasn't been a focus either and needs to be brought up to snuff. She isn't very excited about doing ancients, but most of the books in OM's program have already been read multiple times. Nothing is really lighting my fire. We tried HO level 1 ancients a few years ago, but she really hated SOTW and CHOW. Any thoughts on these programs, or even suggestions for others would be greatly appreciated! rowan

I'm usually not swayed by curricula, and I was planning on being a good little hsing mommy and using PLL and ILL with all three children. My DD6 is moving into 2nd grade next fall, and I was planning on starting PLL with her, no problem. Then I saw English Lessons Through Literature. Let me explain. Ds couldn't care less about format, he's not very visual. He liked PLL all right. He doesn't like ILL because it makes him write. Now Dd, she's very visual and cares about how things looks. She's artistic, likes beauty, and complains when things are in black and white. The pictures in our PLL are in black and white. Sigh. I wasn't planning on spending more money on LA as I thought I already had everything. I even have Voyages in English 3. I like VIE's presentation of grammar, but 3 may be a bit too complicated for her. Not sure. These are the programs I don't own, but I'm tempted by. I like the looks of English Lessons Through Literature (ELTL). It feels somewhat like a more modern PLL, with color pictures. I also love the idea of the literature being culled from whole stories and books instead of excerpts. The only con I can see that we are tied down to the selections, which means we can't do English that day if the section has not been read. Which is not a biggie, I think. Then there's Galore Park Junior English Book 1. I own JE Book 2 and 3, but not 1. I like the informal way it's presented, but thorough, and varied. The cons are the snippets of reading selections. That could be a pro for reading comp, though. So what are my options? 1- Just do PLL, woman. Resist temptation. 2- Combine PLL with ELTL 3- Combine PLL with GP JE Book 1 4- Skip PLL altogether and do just ELTL 5- Skip PLL and combine ELTL and GP JE Book 1 6- Combine PLL with Voyages in English (it's colorful!) and save money 7- Combine ELTL and VIE 8- Combine ELTL and GP JE Book 1 Ah! So many choices! I'm running around in circles and I can't seem to decide. She's comfortable with the pencil, but she hasn't written too much this year. Copywork and penmanship, that's about it. She writes for fun too. What to do? ETA: I may be moving into CAP's Writing & Rhetoric in 3rd.. but of this I'm not certain either. I was so sure with DS. Why am I having doubts with my girl now?

This is a follow-up to the thread I posted on recommendations for a spelling program. I just realized today, that I am teaching two different subjects. I bought the R&S English 2 program which included the Phonics also. Since they look EXACTLY the same, I thought they were the same thing until today when I realized the two different teachers manuals and the workbook differences. So now, we have English (which is mostly sentence structures) and phonics (which is letters and their sounds, vowels and so on).... My questions is: Do I still need something for spelling?If so, should I stick with R&S or can I go with something else like AAS? In my brain the phonics and spelling are overlapping one another. We tried some of the R&S spelling and it's awful, just don't like it. However, I do not want to confuse them by teaching the R&S phonics and english and then incorporate another curriculum for spelling. Thoughts??

I love musicals, and I love seeing them live in the theater or watching the movie version (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, etc). I have had songs from My Fair Lady stuck in my head for days now and I thought it would be fun to watch with my kids. Then I thought, maybe my older child could read the play and we could make it into a unit for English. I found this link with some great writing activities, on a touring company's website: http://www.myfairladythemusical.com/education.htm Click on "download worksheets", but it's not really a download, it just opens up a pdf in another window. So, now I have to figure out if we should watch the movie first, or read the play first? What do you all think? Two totally different endings.

I am trying to set a pattern for my dds in kindergarten and Grade2, I want to know What are the popular english, maths and science programs to put in their after school routine? Is conventional worksheet method works with young kids or online programs do wonders for that age? We do take trips to library once in 2 weeks, they are in doing couple of sports activities (after school) and 1 hour of TV time almost everyday. I want to be involved with their teacher in class, but need direction into that as how to be involved? All ideas appreciated. And we are in Canada, hence following Canadian curriculam. Appreciate response from all. Thanks!!

I stumbled upon this pronunciation poem this morning, and just had to share. My mouth and brain are tired now. "If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world. After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he’d prefer six months of hard labour to reading six lines aloud. Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. English Pronunciation by G. Nolst Trenité English Pronunciation by G. Nolst Trenité. Here's the original with some explanation.

For those of you who struggle with: · teaching your student writing, · your student’s inability to handle your evaluation or criticism very well, · questioning whether or not your student’s writing is on grade level, or · wondering how an objective third party would view your student’s writing, Would you consider purchasing an evaluation/critique of your students writing, put them in an online class, or enroll them in dual credit at the CC? If classes or CC are not an option because of money or you’re afraid your student would not rise to the challenge, how much would you be willing to pay for a one-draft evaluation? What would you pay for a three-draft critique? I have definitely been struggling with these very issues with my ds 17. I am interested in hearing all ideas, suggestions, and information! Jennifer