High School literature is just not coming together

[HollyDay]

I want to do 1 year of American (this year), 1 year of Brit (next year), 1 year of World (11th grade), and 1/2 year Shakespeare with 1/2 year self guided.

 

Sounds great! But, I am having trouble finding study guides or curriculum I like. I want a study guide that is more than simple comprehension questions. I want a variety of authors and genres.

 

I do not want a program that flies through the book and expects 200+ pages a week.

 

Does such a thing exist?

 

I do not currently have a copy of TWTM. Loaned it out and can't remember to whom I loaned it. So, should I purchase another copy for the literature section? What is Charlotte Mason like for high school lit?

 

Thanks!!!

[Jane Elliot]

I want to do 1 year of American (this year), 1 year of Brit (next year), 1 year of World (11th grade), and 1/2 year Shakespeare with 1/2 year self guided.

 

Sounds great! But, I am having trouble finding study guides or curriculum I like. I want a study guide that is more than simple comprehension questions. I want a variety of authors and genres.

 

I do not want a program that flies through the book and expects 200+ pages a week.

 

Does such a thing exist?

 

I do not currently have a copy of TWTM. Loaned it out and can't remember to whom I loaned it. So, should I purchase another copy for the literature section? What is Charlotte Mason like for high school lit?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Since you're wanting to go through books more slowly, maybe Progeny Press guides will work for you. You could choose a few for each year.

[StillStanding]

:001_smile: Have you looked into Lightning Lit. and Composition. There is one for each of the topics you mention.

[Susan C.]

Do you want whole books, a literature text, or a little of both?

[Caitilin]

Maybe consider Excellence in Literature? It would cover much of what you're looking for... :)

[HollyDay]

Do you want whole books, a literature text, or a little of both?

 

I'd consider either or both

[Susan C.]

We are doing American Literature this year. We were tiring of the questions in A Beka and wanted something different. Janice in NJ suggested "The United States in Literature" by Scott Foresman. We LOVE it. I have her PM still with the ISBNs for student and teachers if you want them. Both were under $20 used. What I like about the book is that it is very easy to pick and choose what we want to do, selection wise and question wise. If we skip something, nothing is lost. The questions are great, a nice combination of fact recall and literary analysis. Most of the answers are in the teachers. It is very easy with this to insert whole books of our choice when we want to.

[Ellie]

Have you looked at Smarr?

[5LittleMonkeys]

Maybe consider Excellence in Literature? It would cover much of what you're looking for... :)

:iagree:

 

I am researching literature curricula right now and so far this is on the top of my list. The book selections are really wonderful and the writing portion seems to be very rigorous. Here is a video of a review I came across that you might find helpful.http://www.janice-campbell.com/2009/07/13/new-video-review-of-excellence-in-literature/

 

Here is the thread I have going right now on it. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228442

[Jeanne in MN]

Susan, I'd very interested in the ISBN numbers of The US in Lit. books. While searching on-line, I found a number of books by this title, but they were for individual lit. books. Do the materials you have contain the questions and analysis for many different titles or do you have to buy a different guide for each literature selection? Amazon has one title, but no pics so I can't tell what's what. Thanks for your help! I'll pm this to you, too, in case you don't check back here.

 

We are doing American Literature this year. We were tiring of the questions in A Beka and wanted something different. Janice in NJ suggested "The United States in Literature" by Scott Foresman. We LOVE it. I have her PM still with the ISBNs for student and teachers if you want them. Both were under $20 used. What I like about the book is that it is very easy to pick and choose what we want to do, selection wise and question wise. If we skip something, nothing is lost. The questions are great, a nice combination of fact recall and literary analysis. Most of the answers are in the teachers. It is very easy with this to insert whole books of our choice when we want to.

[Brenda in MA]

We are doing American Literature this year. We were tiring of the questions in A Beka and wanted something different. Janice in NJ suggested "The United States in Literature" by Scott Foresman. We LOVE it. I have her PM still with the ISBNs for student and teachers if you want them. Both were under $20 used. What I like about the book is that it is very easy to pick and choose what we want to do, selection wise and question wise. If we skip something, nothing is lost. The questions are great, a nice combination of fact recall and literary analysis. Most of the answers are in the teachers. It is very easy with this to insert whole books of our choice when we want to.

 

I would second the recommendation of this series. My son and I used the 9th grade book, Patterns in Literature, last year for part of his 8th grade lit (we mixed & matched with some SL Core 100 books). Of all the lit we did, my son enjoyed the readings from Patterns in Lit the best. These books are literature textbooks, and they contain selections of short stories, poetry, plays, and a couple of excerpts from novels (or whole novels if they are short). The teacher's guide has the answers to the discussion questions.

 

There are a few ideas for writing assignments but not a lot of guidance on writing past the few suggestions. We ended up using IEW along side this lit book for the writing last year, and that worked well. I also have the US in Lit book, and we will be using that the 2nd half of this year for the poetry and short story parts. We've read several full novels this first half of the year.

 

I agree with you that finding a good lit program is tough. I've also used Lightning Lit in the past and some of the other lit guides that are available individually for specific books. Of all of these, I like the Lightning Lit and the Patterns/US in Lit books the best because they do not focus on comprehension alone, they include a variety of literature, and they teach literary terms.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[Janice in NJ]

Brenda,

 

I agree that the more you bring to the composition table, the better. But even the Patterns text has a Writer's Handbook in the back. I have the 1991 edition; it's on pgs. 839 - 871. It covers several different kinds of literary analysis essays. For example, on pg 108, the student is instructed to write a composition that defends a position. The student has read three short stories that focus on theme: O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi", Hemingway's "A Day's Wait"; and now a piece of fantasy "The Fifty-first Dragon" by Broun. During the discussion, the student has been asked about the theme of the piece: Self-confidence is inherent, not something we can be given. The composition assignment (pg. 108) is to defend the theme, first using the literature and in the subsequent paragraphs (2-3 more) using examples from life or other literature. (Smells like an SAT essay to me.) The student is directed to the section on "Writing to Persuade" in the back of the book. There are two pages of instruction - including a list of focus questions under "Revising" your essay. There are examples that show how to complete the steps. I agree that it's not EVERYTHING you need to handle such assignments, but it does provide a decent framework to follow if you already have an idea about how to complete a literary analysis essay.

 

Just an FYI in case you didn't know about the Handbook section at the end. :001_smile:

Peace,

Janice

 

P.S. Just so folks who don't have this series are aware: these are textbooks with short excerpts. The Patterns and Traditions texts cover the forms of literature (short story, drama, poetry, novel, non-fiction) with a focus on terms and analysis. The following three texts: US, England, and Classics of World Lit continue with literary analysis but the focus shifts to a chronological study. Thus these three texts have TERRIFIC timelines for each chapter that list MAJOR pieces of literature for each literary period of the text. An easy-peasy way to organize a study of complete works to go along with skill-building exercises from the textbooks. You can juggle between the two if you just don't feel confident teaching all the skills you need to cover with complete works BUT you still want to do some complete works every year.

Pst. Once your kid learns about theme and how to write about it, LOOK up the theme of the next novel they are going to read on SparkNotes.com and HELP them see the pebbles of that theme in a full length novel so they can duplicate the short story "theme essay" with one from a novel. Make sure they follow the same routine. SUPPORT the theme with INFO from the book. Then give another example from real life or literature that supports that theme. OR have them write a compare/contrast. Is there another piece of literature or life story or lesson from history that states the OPPOSITE? Self confidence comes from success - an outside source. It builds with more success. Even unconfident people can become confident through positive experiences - like learning how to write persuasive literary analysis essays. :001_smile:

 

And one more thing. The last couple of pages of the text have an Index of Composition Assignments. If you want to focus on Analytical/Persuasive Essays, there is a list of assignments on pg 903 of my Patternsbook. As expected, there is an even longer list of Analytical/Persuasive assignments in the Traditions text. There are also lists of descriptive, narrative, and explanatory writing assignments.

 

And the Enrichment Activities are a great way to round things out for kids who like projects.

 

Brenda - THANKS for reminding me about this book (The Patterns Text). My youngest has been reading novels for the fall semester. He's happy, but I'd like to mix it up a bit and dip into this book. I FORGOT I had it. LOL!!!!

Edited December 9, 2010 by Janice in NJ

[Brenda in MA]

Just an FYI in case you didn't know about the Handbook section at the end. :001_smile:

Peace,

Janice

 

 

Janice,

 

Thanks for the tip on the Writer's Handbook at the end of Patterns in Lit. I didn't use that last year. I don't think I noticed it, and since we used IEW, that provided a lot of direction. :001_smile:

 

This year, my son has been writing essays on topics of his own choosing from the novels we've read. I've used the article someone posted from the PA Homeschoolers' website about how to move past the book report as a conversation starter to help him come up with ideas for his essays. So far, that's worked out fairly well. I'll need to give this writer's handbook a good look as well. Maybe it will help us through the rest of the year.

 

Thanks again,

Brenda

[amyco]

Okay, because I am slow on the uptake here, would you be willing to spell out the sequence (title, author, grade level) of these books for me? They sound exactly like what we might need around here...

[ABQmom]

I have a couple of questions for those recommending Excellence in Literature. Do you need to own the TWSS in order to teach this? How much does the student do on his own, and how much is the teacher involved in teaching the program? (ie, how teacher intensive is it?)

[Susan C.]

Janice and Brenda!

 

Is there another book I can use next year? What does Scott Foresman do for 12th grade? We have done World (but maybe could do it again with different selections). Maybe British Lit?

 

I have sent the ISBNs of US Lit. to three people so far! Sure wish I had known about Patterns!

[Janice in NJ]

I've listed the ISBN # for the books that I have; I tried to find 1989/1991 editions. I was able to locate them all for pretty cheap - $5 - $15 per book.

 

9th - Patterns in Literature SE 0-673-29379-3; TE 0-673-27069-6

10th - Traditions in Literature SE 0-673-29380-7 (1991) ; TE 0-673-27070-X (1989) So far I haven't had a problem with these two matching up.

 

Then you choose from among the following for 11th/12th

United States in Literature - There are two editions of this. One contains The Red Badge of Courage (SE 0-673-29382-3) for Unit 8 and the other contains Three Long Stories - by James, Wharton, and Cather (SE 0-673-29381-5). TE Contains both Red Badge & Three Long Stories 0-673-29391-2

 

England in Literature - Macbeth Edition SE 0-673-29384-X; Hamlet Edition SE 0-673-29383-1; TE 0-673-27082-3

 

Classics in World Literature - SE 0-673-27075-0; TE 0-673-27083-1

 

Peace,

Janice

[Nan in Mass]

I haven't read the rest of the posts, but have you looked at TWEM? It has questions that are more than comprehension questions. There is a general background and then general questions for each genra. There is a list of books, but you don't have to use those books. You can pick your own and do them in any order you like. TWEM is like an all-purpose study guide that can be used with anything you like.

-Nan

[amyco]

Thank you!! That is very helpful!

[HollyDay]

So far, I've been able to find student additions, but not teacher editions of the Traditions in Lit and Patterns in Lit. I believe another poster said the answers were in the TE so I don't want to tackle this program without it. Any suggestions on where to find a set?

[Stacy in NJ]

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

 

They have both an American and British Lit book.

[Jeanne in MN]

Holly, Have you tried Bestwebbuys.com? I've been able to plug in both sets of ISBNs and find copies. Probably not both from the same place, but each book from different places is still only about $5 total. Good luck, I'm hoping this works well for us too!

 

 

 

So far, I've been able to find student additions, but not teacher editions of the Traditions in Lit and Patterns in Lit. I believe another poster said the answers were in the TE so I don't want to tackle this program without it. Any suggestions on where to find a set?

[Susan C.]

Holly,

I got mine at half.com. I had to use two vendors, but found them both at one sitting using the ISBNs.

[Susan C.]

Janice,

 

Thank you!!!!! :) :) :)

[MicheleinMN]

:lurk5:

[Janice in NJ]

The Patterns in Lit TE is 0-673-27079-3. To the folks that have purchased the wrong book, I'm SORRY!

 

Peace,

Janice

[Tammyla]

Most libraries have copies of The Well Trained Mind and The Well Educated Mind.