1 week and already 1 flop

[HollyDay]

We've completed a full week (well, half week last week, half week so far this week) and already, I've got one flop. Time to rethink American lit!

[Michelle in AL]

Aagh, what are you using? What's not working?

[sbaloue]

At least you found out early. :)

[Night Elf]

Aagh, what are you using? What's not working?

 

Yeah, I want to know too. :)

 

We're using Literary Lessons from The Lord of the Rings and I'm not impressed yet. The story is great and we enjoy the reading aloud. Unfortunately, the additional notes where the literary terms are and the heavy emphasis on the vocabulary are the parts we dread every day. And that's supposed to be the meat of the program! The notes aren't really helpful except to serve the same purpose as the fill-in-the-blank comprehension check, to recap what we've read. We're finding the comprehension questions at the end of each chapter to be strange, though they do spark some insights of our own to share. Dd12 has much more to say than ds14. We actually enjoy the fill-in-the-blank the most because it refreshes our memory every day of what we read the night before. I must say though, that we're only on Day 14 and the idea that we have to keep going is really sucky. But I don't have any viable alternatives at this point. Not to mention that I paid $120 for it and have had ds14 writing in the student book. I wonder if that would matter for a resell since he's only gotten through Chapter 6 so far. DH will NOT be happy if I want to change this program.

[Guest]

Night Elf, have you looked at these instead?

 

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/lordoftheringstrilogy

 

There are free lesson plans with some great discussion questions, activities, and essay topics.

[Farmgirl70]

FWIW, I felt like the "meat" of this program was the additional notes and the unit studies--my son really loved those! I loved the points where he requested being able to read Beowulf and the Odyssey or became fascinated with Old English. I would feel free to skip some of the fill in the blanks, etc. or talk through them verbally.

[Night Elf]

FWIW, I felt like the "meat" of this program was the additional notes and the unit studies--my son really loved those! I loved the points where he requested being able to read Beowulf and the Odyssey or became fascinated with Old English. I would feel free to skip some of the fill in the blanks, etc. or talk through them verbally.

 

No, I meant that I knew the meat of the program was the notes and studies, though we haven't gotten to the 1st study yet. It's the additional notes we don't like. And it's the fill in the blanks that we do like because it recaps what we've read. We just read it aloud while ds writes in the answers. I don't ask him to do it independently because some of them are quite silly. :)

[Night Elf]

Night Elf, have you looked at these instead?

 

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/lordoftheringstrilogy

 

There are free lesson plans with some great discussion questions, activities, and essay topics.

 

Yes, I saw them before I ordered the Literary Lessons program. It just looks overwhelming. I much prefer a program that is totally laid out and tells me what to do day by day. Some people don't understand that, but after 9 years of homeschooling, I've learned my limitations and what helps us stay consistent and on track with school. They do look cool though. Also, when I try to bring up the printer friendly pages, the browser freezes.

[HollyDay]

We were doing AOP's American Literature. It just was too "choppy". I have a friend who liked it quite a bit. But, I guess we just prefer whole book methods.

[Caitilin]

You might like Janice Campbell's American Lit. It's very whole book oriented. :)