Literature course for the summer

[swimmermom3]

Last night at the dinner table we had another unhappy discussion about our ps high school literature courses. My junior dd's course is the one where they took a semester to read Tuesdays with Morrie. We now know that it took that long because the teacher reads it to the class. I guess that would avoid the problem my freshman son's teacher is having where the students don't read the seven pages assigned to them which then stalls the teacher's lesson plan.

 

Both kids are unhappy with the classes and would like to work through some books together this summer. They thrive on literary discussions. Does anyone have some suggestions for books to cover and maybe even an open and go program? This is one of my favorite areas but with planning for the younger brother's schoolwork and keeping up with the older two in math, I am out of energy for putting something together on my own.

[Emily in IL]

Stobaugh - For Such a Time as This.com has several literature courses. My son and I, with another mom/son pair, have been going through his book "Reading Comprehension for 50 Classics" and have split it over 2 years. We read a new book every 2 weeks - which has pushed my nonreading son 8), then work on a paper/project to go with the book and go over vocabulary, comprehension questions, essay responses - we use cliffnotes.com and sparknotes.com to help us moms with writing assignments. It's working well so far for us. HTH

Emily in IL

 

This years reading; Oliver Twist, Dickens: 20,000 Leagues, Verne: Little Women, Alcott; Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas: Kednapped, Stevenson: White Fang, London: Up from Slavery, Washington; Pearl, Steinbeck; Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Watership Down, Adams; Invisible Man, Wells; Two Years before the Mast, Dana; House of Seven Gables, Hawthrone; The Chosen, Potok;David Copperfield; Song of Turoldis: Last of the Mohicans, Cooper; Hard Times, Dickens

[Carmen_and_Company]

I'm trying to decide between Excellence in Literature and LLATL Gold as our literature guides for 3 trimester of this school year & beyond. I'm also eyeing Teaching the Classics & Windows to the World since several parents used the programs secularly.

 

Excellence in Literature currently offers four programs:

 

Introduction to Literature I http://tinyurl.com/yauxc4w

American Literature III http://tinyurl.com/y8zw78f

British Literature IV http://tinyurl.com/y9geye2

World Literature V http://tinyurl.com/ydwa3yt

A new program, Literature and Composition II, is due sometime this year.

 

Sample of Intro to Lit I :

 

Learning Language Arts Through Literature offers an American or a British literature course:

 

LLATL Gold American http://www.commonsensepress.com/gold.htm

LLATL Gold British http://www.commonsensepress.com/gold-uk.htm

 

 

Since Storm's school follows TWTM for history, I'm using the guides year-round, as dd's school recommends parents readin & discuss assigned literature selections with their children.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

Why not forgo a "formal" program and just read good books? You could have some dinnertime discussions. Sorry if that seems to simple for you. I'm in the mindset of thinking about the easiest ways to get lessons done.

[Carmen_and_Company]

Stobaugh - For Such a Time as This.com has several literature courses. My son and I, with another mom/son pair, have been going through his book "Reading Comprehension for 50 Classics" and have split it over 2 years. We read a new book every 2 weeks - which has pushed my nonreading son 8), then work on a paper/project to go with the book and go over vocabulary, comprehension questions, essay responses - we use cliffnotes.com and sparknotes.com to help us moms with writing assignments. It's working well so far for us. HTH

Emily in IL

 

This years reading; Oliver Twist, Dickens: 20,000 Leagues, Verne: Little Women, Alcott; Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas: Kednapped, Stevenson: White Fang, London: Up from Slavery, Washington; Pearl, Steinbeck; Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Watership Down, Adams; Invisible Man, Wells; Two Years before the Mast, Dana; House of Seven Gables, Hawthrone; The Chosen, Potok;David Copperfield; Song of Turoldis: Last of the Mohicans, Cooper; Hard Times, Dickens

 

This looks good, but can it be used by secular hs'er/afterschoolers? Rainbow Resource states the program is ultra conservative Christian POV.

[swimmermom3]

Stobaugh - For Such a Time as This.com has several literature courses. My son and I, with another mom/son pair, have been going through his book "Reading Comprehension for 50 Classics" and have split it over 2 years. We read a new book every 2 weeks - which has pushed my nonreading son 8), then work on a paper/project to go with the book and go over vocabulary, comprehension questions, essay responses - we use cliffnotes.com and sparknotes.com to help us moms with writing assignments. It's working well so far for us. HTH

Emily in IL

 

This years reading; Oliver Twist, Dickens: 20,000 Leagues, Verne: Little Women, Alcott; Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas: Kednapped, Stevenson: White Fang, London: Up from Slavery, Washington; Pearl, Steinbeck; Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Watership Down, Adams; Invisible Man, Wells; Two Years before the Mast, Dana; House of Seven Gables, Hawthrone; The Chosen, Potok;David Copperfield; Song of Turoldis: Last of the Mohicans, Cooper; Hard Times, Dickens

 

Emily, do I want The Companion to 50 Classics? Or is that different from what you mentioned? Are paper and projects suggested in the book?

[Emily in IL]

we're using the companion as a guide for us, yes it is from a Christian PoV, biblical world view for essay/discussion questions. Some of his other programs are more in depth and specific genre courses, check out his website www.forsuchatimeasthis.com for more info on the courses.

My friend and I work with the suggested literature,questions and then come up with an essay or project based on gathering info from sparknotes and cliffnotes sites.

 

ie: 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea: I had my son do some geography - he mapped out on a world map all the places stopped at in the book using the coordinates given throughout of longitude/latitude and found some places and looked them up for further research. Also on the ocean life mentioned. The abridged version doesn't include all of those details btw

[Chris in VA]

How about short stories? We did an interesting semester in the summer for ds before his sr year (actually was the first semester of his sr year, as he did a summer semester so he could graduate earlier) using Progeny Press' Poetry guide (very good) and 50 Greatest Short Stories, which had two parts (book and guide with questions/assignments on each story). I got it from RR.

[Moira in MA]

Why not get one of the Omnibus texts from Veritas Press and work through some of the books?

 

The discussion questions are awesome.

 

It is from a reformed Christian perspective, but I don't think it is too 'in your face.'

 

Since you say your eldest is a junior this year I'd probably not go with Omnibus I but I can recommend II & III, haven't used IV.

 

pm me if you want more info.

 

~Moira

 

I

[Jane in NC]

To supplement your summer literature program: Do you have any summer Shakespeare festivals near you? It might be fun to attend a play, then have your gang invite over some friends for Shakespeare in a Box.

 

For some reason, I can also envision your children reading Pygmalion or The Importance of Being Earnest in the living room or on the front porch.

 

LoriD should be able to recommend some interesting guides. She has a tag of her own which may guide you.

 

Jane

[swimmermom3]

This looks good, but can it be used by secular hs'er/afterschoolers? Rainbow Resource states the program is ultra conservative Christian POV.

 

Carmen, I thought Emily's suggestion looked great. However, I appreciate you mentioning the point of view. This unfortunately won't work for us if the commentary is to the point that changes the nature of the analysis. I plan on spending more time looking over the samples this weekend.

 

Thank you for your list of resources as well. I have the "Introduction to Literature" course and may use parts of it. It would also allow me to cover the same theme but have the kids work at different levels with different texts. But then again, more than half of the fun is the discussion and being on the same book.

[swimmermom3]

Why not forgo a "formal" program and just read good books? You could have some dinnertime discussions. Sorry if that seems to simple for you. I'm in the mindset of thinking about the easiest ways to get lessons done.

 

Pam, you've been to my house!:D It would definitely be the easiest way to progress, except I am lacking confidence in my skills of literary analysis at the level I feel my daughter needs. Maybe using the questions in the WEM would be enough. Or perhaps I could start with a book that has a really good literature guide from a publisher like Garlic Press and then I could branch out on my own from there.

 

Maybe I need to define my goals before I purchase anything.:tongue_smilie: I know I want to work with the kids on how to go "deeper" into the books but not over analyze the works into the ground like they do at school.

[swimmermom3]

To supplement your summer literature program: Do you have any summer Shakespeare festivals near you? It might be fun to attend a play, then have your gang invite over some friends for Shakespeare in a Box.

 

For some reason, I can also envision your children reading Pygmalion or The Importance of Being Earnest in the living room or on the front porch.

 

LoriD should be able to recommend some interesting guides. She has a tag of her own which may guide you.

 

Jane

 

Hamlet, The Twelfth Night, and the Merchant of Venice are available to us for the price of tickets and one overnight stay. What a great idea! The older two are the right ages now and their summers will only become busier. They have a friends that I think would enjoy Shakespeare in a Box.

 

They would also enjoy the humor in both pieces that you mentioned, which I have in an elderly volume of comedy that includes Sheridan's School for Scandal. How fun, Jane! No front porch but the back deck is perfect.

 

Now I am thinking summer is not going to be long enough.:D

[Charles Wallace]

Last night at the dinner table we had another unhappy discussion about our ps high school literature courses. My junior dd's course is the one where they took a semester to read Tuesdays with Morrie. We now know that it took that long because the teacher reads it to the class. I guess that would avoid the problem my freshman son's teacher is having where the students don't read the seven pages assigned to them which then stalls the teacher's lesson plan.

 

Both kids are unhappy with the classes and would like to work through some books together this summer. They thrive on literary discussions. Does anyone have some suggestions for books to cover and maybe even an open and go program? This is one of my favorite areas but with planning for the younger brother's schoolwork and keeping up with the older two in math, I am out of energy for putting something together on my own.

'

Great. Pop-psych as literature.

Great idea.

Whole semester, huh?

 

</snark>

[Charles Wallace]

Stobaugh - For Such a Time as This.com has several literature courses. My son and I, with another mom/son pair, have been going through his book "Reading Comprehension for 50 Classics" and have split it over 2 years. We read a new book every 2 weeks - which has pushed my nonreading son 8), then work on a paper/project to go with the book and go over vocabulary, comprehension questions, essay responses - we use cliffnotes.com and sparknotes.com to help us moms with writing assignments. It's working well so far for us. HTH

Emily in IL

 

This years reading; Oliver Twist, Dickens: 20,000 Leagues, Verne: Little Women, Alcott; Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas: Kednapped, Stevenson: White Fang, London: Up from Slavery, Washington; Pearl, Steinbeck; Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Watership Down, Adams; Invisible Man, Wells; Two Years before the Mast, Dana; House of Seven Gables, Hawthrone; The Chosen, Potok;David Copperfield; Song of Turoldis: Last of the Mohicans, Cooper; Hard Times, Dickens

 

See, THAT is a reading list.:iagree:

[mcconnellboys]

Regina Coeli has a couple of summer programs that I've always drooled over. They are pricey, but the school has a good reputation. My guys love both Redwall and Tolkien (Norse mythology, too)! I've heard of some other summer lit programs, too, but I'll have to think a while to try to remember where those are....

[Chris in VA]

So, have you decided yet? :lurk5:

[LunaLee]

Last night at the dinner table we had another unhappy discussion about our ps high school literature courses. My junior dd's course is the one where they took a semester to read Tuesdays with Morrie. We now know that it took that long because the teacher reads it to the class. I guess that would avoid the problem my freshman son's teacher is having where the students don't read the seven pages assigned to them which then stalls the teacher's lesson plan.=swimmermom3QUOTE]

 

Hmm...yes much like dd's 10th grade English class where they just listened to the the book on cd.:glare: And then watched a movie of another instead.

 

In case you haven't decided yet, what about one of the Lightening Lit courses? Those could be used in a semester so I don't see why you couldn't use it over the summer. Everythings all laid out for you and I believe they even have a schedule.

[swimmermom3]

So, have you decided yet? :lurk5:

 

Oh Chris, you've got to be kidding! So many options. I am going to follow part of Jane's suggestion for Shakespeare. My poor kids aren't going to get to study him any other way unless it's in college. We are a day's drive from a major center for Shakespearean performances so I am looking into that. In August, we will be traveling to NC and visiting Thomas Wolfe and Carl Sandburg's homes. Thomas Wolfe may be beyond my son at this point so I will have to think about that as well. My son could find happiness with LOTR but he has read the books so many times that I would like him to try something new.

 

We have used LL here happily so that is another option. I am looking at the high school recommendations from TWTM and trying to pick works I think they both would like and yet would challenge them.

[Guest Mickey]

I noticed on your reading list you have left off some authors that I found to be wonderful books during my high school years. For example, the Russian authors Tolstoy and Dostoevsky--War and Peace and Crime and Punishment; Theodore Drieser--An American Tragedy or Sister Carrie; we also had to read Hardy's Return of the Native and Melville's Moby Dick. All of these books explore the human condition and are great for discussion.

[swimmermom3]

I noticed on your reading list you have left off some authors that I found to be wonderful books during my high school years. For example, the Russian authors Tolstoy and Dostoevsky--War and Peace and Crime and Punishment; Theodore Drieser--An American Tragedy or Sister Carrie; we also had to read Hardy's Return of the Native and Melville's Moby Dick. All of these books explore the human condition and are great for discussion.

 

These are all wonderful books, but I think both children need to warm up on a few less demanding works before I move into authors like Dostoevsky. I would like to build in difficulty through the summer.

[Nan in Mass]

"go deeper but not analyze into the ground" - That sounds like TWEM. : ) TWEM is so easy, too. You could just read the book, then read the genre history section (which isn't long) if you haven't read it yet that summer, then go over the questions together. Then read another book. I've done this during the summer with a few things and it wasn't onerous, so we actually did it. I would be careful not to kill the project by doing too much writing or doing something that requires lots of before-you-read-the-book stuff on your part. The nice thing about TWEM questions is that since they are general questions, after you have been through them a few times you start paying attention to those things whenever you read a new book. So doing those during the summer should stand your chidlren in good stead later, whenever they read anything.

-Nan

[emubird]

If you want to read plays out loud, you could try some Greek drama. They generally only have 3 characters plus a chorus in each scene, so it's doable with a small group.

 

We've done Oedipus Rex. We're going to try for Antigone next. It's easier going than The Iliad or The Odyssey, as we're doing it as a group.

 

If you really want to do things up, you can get Elizabeth Vandiver's lectures from the Teaching Company on Greek tragedy. We got them out of the library, so they're free. We could never afford to buy them. (She also has lectures on mythology, Herodotus, and The Iliad and Odyssey.)

 

For reading, there are lots of lists around of 100 best books, or whatever. Let your kids choose what looks interesting to them.

 

Here are a few lists:

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/boost-your-skills/23628.html

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html

http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html

 

Emubird

[emubird]

Oh, I forgot to mention sparknotes. You'll hardly need a literary guide if you use sparknotes:

 

http://www.sparknotes.com/

 

And on Dostoyevsky -- I read Crime and Punishment in high school (although not for a class) and couldn't put it down. I didn't find his other books as easy to read, though. There are different translations. The Constance Garnett one is not supposed to be so good. The Pevear and Lakhonsky one gets high recommendations. There's another one that people like too, but I can't remember the name of the translator.

 

Other books I couldn't put down in high school were Pride and Predjudice and Jane Eyre. Don't be put off by the "romance" aspect of Pride and Predjudice. It's really a very funny book, and the writing is great.

Edited February 15, 2010 by emubird

[Carmen_and_Company]

Oh, I forgot to mention sparknotes. You'll hardly need a literary guide if you use sparknotes:

 

http://www.sparknotes.com/

 

And on Dostoyevsky -- I read Crime and Punishment in high school (although not for a class) and couldn't put it down. I didn't find his other books as easy to read, though. There are different translations. The Constance Garnett one is not supposed to be so good. The Pevear and Lakhonsky one gets high recommendations. There's another one that people like too, but I can't remember the name of the translator.

 

Other books I couldn't put down in high school were Pride and Predjudice and Jane Eyre. Don't be put off by the "romance" aspect of Pride and Predjudice. It's really a very funny book, and the writing is great.

 

 

I agree with your recommendation of Pride & Prejudice, as the witty look at classism reads easily, and is assessable to even young teens.

 

And, our favorite translation of War & Peace is the translation by David McDuff, although longer than the Garnett & Peaver editions, the Russian to English of McDuff's translation is cleaner and easier to read.

[emubird]

If you want something quick and easy, but with a lot to talk about, try Animal Farm.

 

Lord of the Flies is probably an easy read, but most kids I know who've read it didn't really like it.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird is a real easy read, and appeals to lots of people. There's definitely a lot in it to discuss.

 

The Old Man and the Sea isn't too taxing - also with lots of themes.

 

More modern books may be easier: Slaughterhouse 5, Tell Me a Riddle, Woman Warrior, The Kitchen God's Wife, Native Son, but you might be getting into themes that you'd want to preview.

[Shifra]

Well, if you want anthologies of great literature, there's www.greatbooks.org.

 

If you would like an "official" summer program, where your kids would be reading great books with other kids (and thus have the peer group support), there's www.greatbookssummer.com, which has "camps" in Amherst College and Stanford University.

 

Of course, you could just do a family "book group" like others in this forum suggested and read great books over the summer as a family and discuss them. If you need plans, then Reading Lists for College Bound Students has some suggestions. What High Schools Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You to Know) does too; this book also gives you (and your children!) reasons why it is good to read the classics, especially beyond British and American literature.

[swimmermom3]

I appreciate everyone's suggestions and am taking some time to go through the different resources. In the meantime, the kids have taken matters into their own hands. The oldest two have read The Chronicles of Narnia for fun, while the youngest has never read it. They have decided that we will begin reading it as a family in the evenings and my daughter will lead the literary analysis discussion. This should be a good warm-up for the older ones and the youngest one will benefit by having a discussion with someone other than his mother.:D

 

By a warm-up, I meant it allowed the older ones to review literary terms and apply them to a familiar work. This will happen after the Olympics, of course.

Edited February 18, 2010 by swimmermom3
clarification