Is their a literature guide like this? (Grade 5 and Grade 8)

[Oakblossoms]

My boys will be in Grade 5 and Grade 8. We use a VA. So, it needs to be secular. I want to do more with reading than just reading and discussing. But, I don't want it to be a big unit study that takes all day. I would love to have them read a chapter and then have some sort of worksheet to fill out out or occasionally a small project. I don't want every book they read to be like this. I would just like to pick out a few books for the upcoming year. I'm not usually one that worries about having work to show. But, since we belong to the VA it's nice to know I do have a small hill of "proof" to show if needed.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I do most of my ordering through Rainbow Resource. I like the look of Moving Beyond the Page. This one sparked my interest for the Grade 5 student. He loves nature and I would like to have him read this book this year.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Hausunterricht

[Lori D.]

Glencoe Literature Library

Free online lit. guides for books for gr. 6-12 students. The worksheets tend to be more like graphic organizers, focusing the student on comparing characters, tracking events, etc. Great, detailed background information on the author/times of the work, and small chunks of literary teaching text here and there throughout the guide. Just print the file direct from the website.

 

Garlic Press Pub. "Discovering Literature" series

The regular lit. guides are for grades 5-8; the "challenger level" guides are for grades 9-12. No worksheets, but *fantastic*, meaty guides: summary and great discussion questions for each chapter; lots of meaty literary teaching text; lots of writing assignment ideas or other activity suggestions. VERY worthwhile!

 

Portals to Literature

For grades 8-12. Designed for a classroom use, but so much there it's easy to adapt to homeschool use. No worksheets, but meaty, with lots of writing assignment ideas and other activity suggestions. Try and find these used -- I think they are a bit too expensive to buy new. I got a used one through Amazon for about $12ppd, and wouldn't have wanted to pay more.

 

Story Elements

By grade level. Not specific literature guides, but great, quick, consumable workbooks to help teach your students literary elements and the basics of literary analysis. You could easily have both students do the gr. 5-6, and the gr. 7-8 books in one year. Also take a look at Figuratively Speaking (gr. 5-8) or Prose and Poetry (gr. 7-10) more resources for teaching literary elements with some exercises that would be "proof of learning". You could have both students do these, too -- one book per year.

 

 

And finally, if you like the Progeny Press or Total Language Plus guides, just use them in a secular fashion, or don't list that they are by Christian publishers. ;) BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Oakblossoms]

And finally, if you like the Progeny Press or Total Language Plus guides, just use them in a secular fashion, or don't list that they are by Christian publishers. ;) BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Thanks for all those reviews. The VA pays for our stuff. That is why I'm looking for secular stuff. I really don't have any room in my budget. That is why I'm using the VA. It's not an online school. We have an allocation to pull from and we make our own plans. If I find a few extra bucks here and there I may pick up the progeny press guides.

 

But, I was just looking for something easy with worksheets that I could just pull out or print out and give to them to add to their notebooks. I've read almost every book they end up reading. Discussions are pretty easy.

[krisperry]

These are secular. I think they have what you are looking for. There is a sample for you to see:

 

http://www.garlicpress.com/home/gar/smartlist_23/discovering_literature_series.html

 

Sample:

http://www.garlicpress.com/shop/images/Discovering_Lit.pdf

[krisperry]

You might want to check the challenging series of lit for your 8th grader - they are a bit different though so make sure you check out the sample.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

Is Lightning Lit secular? In samples I have not seen any reference to Christianity. You could do that for 8th grade.

[Another Lynn]

Have you looked at Logos Upper Grammar Lit Guides? There are 5 or 6 of them. Each one covers 4 or 5 books, but they are relatively cheap so it wouldn't matter if you wanted to use all the books in a guide or pick and choose a bit. They are secular and Rainbow carries them. http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1276802396-782428