Grace Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 I have a question about Notgrass World and US History. I read past-posts about some feeling there is not enough "analysis" to assign an English credit. Do you skip the literature portion all together and add another program? or do you read all the literature assigned and do another program too, like Lightning Literature or BJU?or do you add a few literature guides, like Progeny Press, etc., to go along with the assigned books? I would love to hear how others have handled this. And on kind of a seperate subject... I know English is assumed grammar, composition and literature but how do you note which literature you did each year? On your transcript how do you itemize english and literature: do you just call it English II or do you call it English with World literature? Or World History and Literature, and English II seperate? Thanks, Grace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 I have a question about Notgrass World and US History. I read past-posts about some feeling there is not enough "analysis" to assign an English credit. We're doing the Notgrass American History this year, and loving the tone and style of the HISTORY text, and esp. enjoying the "American Voices" accompanying volume of "source documents": speeches, essays, documents, poems, autobiographical sketches, short stories, etc. (some full, some excerpts) of authors of the time. However, I would *not at all* call it an English or lit. program. It is a reading list with a VERY loose reading schedule (basically says, "Start this book now; plan to finish this novel by the end of ____ history unit."), with (sometimes) a paragraph about the author, 2-3 questions at the end of the novels (no questions about the poetry or short stories), and no guidance in analysis or writing ideas. There are 2-3 writing assignments to choose from each week, BUT -- they are all based on history/research or Bible topics, not on the literature. For example: The Scarlet Letter is assigned at the start of week 2 and is to finished at the end of week 3. During that time you ALSO read for literature a few poems by Anne Bradstreet, some excerpts from Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac", and Jonathon Edward's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". At the end of the reading, there 3 paragraphs about a general theme in Scarlet Letter, each ending with a question, which were: - "What were sins of the community, its leaders, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth?" - (refering to contrast of light/dark, forest/community images in the book): "How is this symbolic?" - and "How is this story similar/different from John 8:1-11, the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery?" Do you skip the literature portion all together and add another program? or do you read all the literature assigned and do another program too, like Lightning Literature or BJU?or do you add a few literature guides, like Progeny Press, etc., to go along with the assigned books? We had planned all along to use the Notgrass as our history, not as our lit. or Bible programs, and have been very delighted with it as a result. On the other hand, we made our own American Lit. separately, using various lit. guides and online resources, and are quite happy with that as well. Some of our selections do overlap with the Notgrass lit. list. Here's our list -- though we may have to drop some things, as I always plan MORE than we can realistically do: AMERICAN LITERATURE weeks 1-6 = novel = The Scarlett Letter (Hawthorne) -- Sparknotes week 7 = poetry = Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheatly -- online guide; Norton Anthol. of Amer. Lit. week 8 = poem/short story =The Raven; Fall of House of Usher (Poe) -- LLATL Gold; Wikipedia weeks 9-17 = novel = Huckleberry Finn = (Twain) -- Progeny Press week 18 = poetry = Emily Dickenson; Walt Whitman -- Norton Anthol. of Amer. Lit week 19 = short story = Billy Budd (Melville) The Great Books week 20 = essay Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) The Great Books week 21 = short stories = 1. Occurance at Owl Creek (Bierce) = 2. Luck of Roaring Camp (Harte) = 3. Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (Crane) week 22 = essay/poetry = Ralph Waldo Emerson = The Great Books; LLATL Gold week 23 = poetry = H.W. Longfellow -- LLATL Gold; Wikipedia; Norton Anthol. Amer. Lit. week 24-26 = novel = Call of the Wild (London) = Worldview/Naturalism guide week 27 = short story by O. Henry week 28-30 = novel = The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) Progeny Press week 31 = poems, short story = 1. William Carlos Williams -- LLATL = 2. Thank You Ma'm; poems (Hughes) -- online guide week 32 = novella = Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) -- Progeny Press; LLATL Gold week 33 = novella = The Pearl (Steinbeck) -- LLATL Gold week 34 short stories = Revelation; A Good Man is Hard to Find (O'Connor) week 35 = short story = The Lottery (Jackson) -- Windows on World week 36 = short stories = 1. There will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury) = 2. The Ones Who Walk Away (LeGuin) The boys also read about 1 book a month (books below reading level) that are either short non-fiction works on historical topics for more depth/research/writing, OR are historical fiction of the time. Not sure how to count this -- I may substitute some of the fiction for some of the literature above, and use some of those literature works above to create a 0.5 credit "The Great Books" elective credit -- esp. if I can also include several works I really want us to get to somehow: - The Chosen - Black Like Me - I Heard the Owl Call My Name I know English is assumed grammar, composition and literature but how do you note which literature you did each year? On your transcript how do you itemize english and literature: do you just call it English II or do you call it English with World literature? Or World History and Literature, and English II seperate? We do both. On the transcript we just list the classes with the grades (ex: "English I" = A-). For a more detailed portfolio, at the end of each year, I write up each class and what was done. For example, here's what I wrote up for our older son's 10th grade English credit: ENGLISH II A. LITERATURE = Worldviews in 19th-20th Century Sci-Fiction and Horror Read, discussed and wrote about: 1. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Stevenson) -- Christian -- Progeny Press; Sparknotes 2. Frankenstein (Shelley) -- Romanticism; Gothic -- Progeny Press; Sparknotes 3. The Time Machine (Wells) -- Socialism; Evolution -- online guide 4. Animal Farm (Orwell) -- Communism -- Sparknotes 5. The Giver (Lowry) -- Utopia/Distopia -- Garlic Press pub. guide 6. Brave New World (Huxley) -- Utopia/Distopia -- Progeny Press; Sparknotes 7. Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- Post-Literate/Pre-Apocalyptic Culture -- Progeny Press; Sparknotes 8. A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) -- Post Apocalyptic; Societal Cycles vs. Church Stability -- Wikipedia article 9. Cosmicomics (selected short stories by Italio Calvino) -- Existential 10. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Adams) -- Absurdist B. WRITING 1. text: information and instruction from a wide variety of resources 2. assignments: - weekly timed essay from past SAT prompt - 4 longer (3-6 page) research papers, 1 per quarter - short literary responses (1-5 paragraph) C. GRAMMAR 1. Mechanics = Chortling Bard 2. Instruction/Review = Winston Advanced D. SPELLING/VOCABULARY 1. individualized lists for spelling pattern review and vocabulary (ABCs and All Their Tricks) 2. vocabulary also from reading Hope something here is of help! Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Thanks Lori, That was so very informative and very helpful. Thanks for sharing. Saving your book list! Awesome!! For the Great Books elective credit, do they do work from a guide book too or writing assignments? Would you share how you write this in your detailed profile section? Thanks again for sharing this with me. Grace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 I know this is an old post but I have referred to it so many times as I plan out high school. I just wanted to Thank you again for your time and for sharing your wisdom. It is truly appreciated. Grace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Thank you Grace for "reposting". I copied Lori D's schedule and examples. Thank you Lori D, love your help and signature.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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