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Excellence in Lit. - why isn't there a teacher's guide??


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I realize this course was written for a student to complete independently, but I don't see how a course is complete without an answer guide. Basically, the course is a list of stories to read, some background information and essays to write. I need discussion questions and answers, the plots and themes of the stories, etc. If my son has a question about the theme, I need an answer!! I don't have the time to read all the stories myself. If you've used this program, did you read all the material with your child?? Were you frustrated that there's no teacher's guide?

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We started using Excellence in Lit for my older ds this year, and we're using Lightning Lit for my younger ds. There is a huge difference in the amount of hand holding for the teacher!

 

I have been reading all of the books (so far), and we've had some great discussions about the stories and books. It would be really hard for me to help ds without having read the books.

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I am using EIL with ds. I read all the books in advance. If I have a question about theme, I google it. It isn't really a curriculum setup to promote discussion. We have always been able to discuss without curriculum help and found discussion input useless and annoying. On the other hand, the writing required by EIL is far above that of LL. You will know what your student understands and what insights they have gained based on their written output.

 

When I started using EIL, I was concerned that I wouldn't know a good paper from a bad one, what he should be saying in each if that makes sense. That turned out not to be the case at all. Ds has produced mostly excellent papers with the instructions and information given. However, one was less than excellent and it was easy to pick out :).

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Cliffs Notes have been great for needing discussion items, and seeing patterns that I wouldn't normally see on my own. Reading the book is better, but it comes as a pretty good second.

 

At a workshop last night, the speaker made a case for not having a teacher guide all the time. It forces us to really think about our answers instead of just checking if we have -the- right answer.

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Thank you for all the responses. It never occurred to me to not even discuss it with him (using his papers as an evaluation for how well he understood the story). I ordered K12's literary analysis for him bc I read on these forums about how well it prepares students for high school lit class. -I still want to use some of the stories/prompts from EIL, but at least this way, I'll have some time to read a couple of the novels ahead of time.

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