marbel Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Whenever the Great Courses catalog comes (every other day, it seems), I drool over the various lit courses. There are so many and seems there is a lot of overlap. Does anyone have particular recommendations? I've been looking specifically at "Books That Have Changed History, Books That can Change your Life," "Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition," "Life Lessons from the Great Books" but am not limited to these. I would just use them as supplements to our reading, or if I want my kids to know about a particular book/author but we can't spend much time on it/him. I get as many as I can from the library to preview but it's nice to have a personal recommendation for those I can't. I simply cannot buy them all. :sad: Thanks for any comments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Elizabeth Vandiver on ancient lit: get everything you can of her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 We're going to try the scifi/fantasy lit course this year. It did have good reviews on this board. My middle dd did the Philosophy of Mind course in 9th grade and absolutely loved it. There is enough for a semester credit if you do a lot of the readings that are listed in the booklet that comes with it along with answering the questions in the booklet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 Elizabeth Vandiver on ancient lit: get everything you can of her. I have heard that recommendation before! We just finished with ancients but I will keep that in mind for the future. We're going to try the scifi/fantasy lit course this year. It did have good reviews on this board. My middle dd did the Philosophy of Mind course in 9th grade and absolutely loved it. There is enough for a semester credit if you do a lot of the readings that are listed in the booklet that comes with it along with answering the questions in the booklet. Hm, I hadn't thought of the scifi/fantasy course but I'm glad you mentioned it because my son loves that. I will look at Philosophy of the Mind as well. My 15 year old really responds well to the courses, so we try to collect them as we can. Thanks so much! Happy to hear more comments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 We're also going to do the free Coursera course on scifit/fantasy lit this summer. https://www.coursera.org/course/fantasysf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Elizabeth Vandiver on ancient lit: get everything you can of her. :iagree:Elizabeth Vandiver does a wonderful job with anything related to Greek literature. I also like Dr. Grant Voth's The History of World Literature, especially because it is more difficult to find good lectures on works outside the Western Canon. We're going to try the scifi/fantasy lit course this year. It did have good reviews on this board. My middle dd did the Philosophy of Mind course in 9th grade and absolutely loved it. There is enough for a semester credit if you do a lot of the readings that are listed in the booklet that comes with it along with answering the questions in the booklet. We're also going to do the free Coursera course on scifit/fantasy lit this summer. https://www.coursera.org/course/fantasysf Angie, thanks for both of these great-looking suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mother2these Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I see you are doing Conceptual Physics with your 9th Grader. Could you share what you are using, please? Thanks, MH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 How do Great Courses fit into a credit system? (I'm new to the high school world...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I am using Hewitt's Conceptual Physics. I tried it with my oldest a few years ago and didn't like it at all because there was so little math, but my youngest is a very different person from my oldest. She needs a course that doesn't rely as much on math. I'm actually going to be teaching it as a class on a 1x/week basis with lecture and labs. I ordered the lab manual that goes with the text and it's actually quite good. Some of the materials would be cost-prohibitive for teaching the course just one time to one kid, but I plan to teach high school chemistry, physics, and math every year once my kids are all done. Right now I'm just alternating between chemistry and physics. Two years ago I taught an AP Physics B level course. Last year I taught an Honors Chemistry course. This year I will be teaching the AP Physics B level again and also teaching Conceptual Physics. I want to eventually be teaching 2-3 levels each of chemistry and physics along with high school math (Algebra I up through at least Precalculus and maybe Calculus too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 How do Great Courses fit into a credit system? (I'm new to the high school world...) Most people use them as supplements. I don't buy a single curriculum package for literature, but use Progeny Press, Glencoe Literature Library and other materials to help teach the books. Great Courses lectures would be another addition to flesh out the reading. And, since we can't read everything, it would be good to get a bit of information/teaching on books/authors we won't get to. One of my kids really gets a lot out of the lectures, so we use them a fair bit. The cost can be prohibitive, so I get them from the library when I can, to preview, and like to get personal recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Thanks, Marbel. So, as an example, if my English credit is grammar, composition, and literature. I could use one of the Great Books courses for the literature component along with the reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 And you could use composition topics in the booklet for the course (if it has them) for your writing component. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted July 18, 2012 Author Share Posted July 18, 2012 Thanks, Marbel. So, as an example, if my English credit is grammar, composition, and literature. I could use one of the Great Books courses for the literature component along with the reading? And you could use composition topics in the booklet for the course (if it has them) for your writing component. That's my plan! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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