Any opinions on BJU American Literature

[Jeannie in NJ]

Dd will be doing American History using Notgrass. I will be having her read the literature but I would also like to have an american literature program that has literary analysis, short stories, poems, writing assignments and a good teachers manual. Any opinions of BJU am. lit or other suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Jeannie

[Jeannie in NJ]

anyone

[Yolanda in Mass]

My son did this through a co-op taught by a very good and experienced teacher. BJU lit, like a lot of text-based lit, is a survey course. That means that you don't read complete works, but instead read excerpts. BJU does a good job presenting authors and literary movements and trends especially from a Christian worldview perspective, but there is no literary analysis to speak of. It seems their focus is on authors & movements and not the works themselves.

 

We were very disappointed that full works are not read, so much so that he did Amer Lit again this year. However, he read complete works, not snippets of work. Last year's lit was called a "survey" course, whereas this year it's a literature course.

 

Lastly, even if you're happy with a survey course, it's important to know that it's teacher intensive.

[LatinTea]

I haven't used Bob Jones, but looked at it. Just too many bug poems and stories for us! Seriously, we don't like reading just excerpts and that is their style.

 

I have quite a few Progeny Press guides, but am undecided if that will work for us. My ds used Stobaugh's American Lit, but I just can never get over his misspelling of Chillingworth's name from The Scarlet Letter. And the fact that there wasn't enough teaching to be able to realize the answers that Mr. Stobaugh expected the students to achieve.

 

I also have Hewitt's American Lit program. We used 7th and 8th and really liked those, BUT their highschool guides are different in that there is no workbook, just the idea presented along with writing prompts. My dd needs review and lots of it. These present the concept and drop it until maybe it is mentioned in passing in another book. I would also like more than one literary concept to be presented for each book. Seems like a lot to do (read a whole book) for just one concept. AND they use Moby Dick. I totally cannot see my dd ever liking THAT book! And read the whole thing for just conflict (I think that's what is the focus on that one), is just too much.

 

As you can see, I have pondered this and bought more than I can ever use. And yet, I am still looking for an answer.

 

I even have Sonlight for lit, but their questions are more comprehension type and the layout of the IG leaves a lot to be desired. I want to just give it to her to do with review at the end of the day with me. She doesn't want any deep conversations right now with me!

 

So, it looks like I will use a combination of Progeny Press guides (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Huck Finn) and just reading other books for fun!

 

Oh, I forgot, I also have Teaching the Classics where you use the Socratic Method. That has sat on my shelf for many years....guess I can safely say that I would rather use the 'Have the questions and answers written out for me' Method.

 

Good luck in your search and I'll be watching this thread. :)

Edited June 12, 2010 by LatinTea

[Susan C.]

I have just come from a fair, and I looked at American Lit. BJU had good questions about the pieces, and taught literary elements very well. I liked that part of the text a lot. But..... I didn't like the selections, and that the book is 700 pages long (to be done in one semester). I own A Beka, I like the selections better, but there isn't as much "context" as BJU has (but BJU is somewhat opinionated in their context pages, so...). I looked a samples of Alpha Omega Lifepak online (there wasn't one to look at at the fair). I liked what I saw in their prep. pages, there was a good overview of what was going on in the time period, etc. But I haven't been able to see the questions they do. I will probably do the A Beka I have, but I may still order Alpha Omega (it isn't very expensive) or something else to help me with the introductions into time periods and author's lives.

[LatinTea]

I looked a samples of Alpha Omega Lifepak online (there wasn't one to look at at the fair). I liked what I saw in their prep. pages, there was a good overview of what was going on in the time period, etc. But I haven't been able to see the questions they do. I will probably do the A Beka I have, but I may still order Alpha Omega (it isn't very expensive) or something else to help me with the introductions into time periods and author's lives.

 

This looks pretty good! Go to cbd.com and check out their samples. There are a few questions to get an idea of what they are like. I usually don't like Life Pacs mostly because of their cartoony pics, but maybe this one is different since it's for an older student. Hey, I have one of their catalogs.....

 

I might just order this. Thanks for posting.

 

(I just went to Alpha Omega's site and they have some samples in pdf form. These, unfortunately, do not show anything past the introduction. Authors are listed on the contents page so one could assume that certain works are analyzed, but it's hard to know HOW that is accomplished.)

 

Maybe someone here has experience with this course? Anyone know anything about these?

Edited June 12, 2010 by LatinTea
update on samples