Windows to the World--Pike syllabus worth it if you don't do the novels? (x-post)

[KarenNC]

If one doesn't plan to do the novel studies and doesn't need to stretch WttW out to a full year, is it worth getting the Pike syllabus to go along with Windows to the World? Do you feel the Pike syllabus added enough to the semester program alone?

 

Over the next year and a half or so, I'm planning to do a mixed lit program-----Vandiver's Classical Mythology dvds from TC, Georgia Virtual Learning mythology online material, the Biblical Literacy Project's The Bible and its Influence, and then Windows to the World. She'll be reading novels in her writing class, along with history and, likely, in the Classics Book Club from the Virtual High School Group (if it's offered again), so I don't really need additional novel studies. With all that we are looking at doing, I also don't need to stretch out the WttW to more than a semester.

 

(cross posting to High School board as well)

[Lori D.]

If one doesn't plan to do the novel studies and doesn't need to stretch WttW out to a full year, is it worth getting the Pike syllabus to go along with Windows to the World? Do you feel the Pike syllabus added enough to the semester program alone?

 

Over the next year and a half or so, I'm planning to do a mixed lit program-----Vandiver's Classical Mythology dvds from TC, Georgia Virtual Learning mythology online material, the Biblical Literacy Project's The Bible and its Influence, and then Windows to the World. She'll be reading novels in her writing class, along with history and, likely, in the Classics Book Club from the Virtual High School Group (if it's offered again), so I don't really need additional novel studies. With all that we are looking at doing, I also don't need to stretch out the WttW to more than a semester.

 

(cross posting to High School board as well)

 

 

 

While not personally familiar with Jill Pike's syllabus, from the samples I have viewed, my understanding is that the Pike syllabus is to help you match up using Teaching the Classics with Windows to the World AND stretching WttW out to a full year. If neither of those is your goal, then I see no reason to use the Pike syllabus. There are plenty of teacher resources in the Teacher Manual of WttW to assist you in deciding how to schedule, grade, and teach the WttW material.

 

As a side note: a bit similar to what your plans are, we did WttW as part of our mix, spreading it out over 2 years of high school, and it worked fine, doing a unit here, and a unit there, in between or sometimes alongside, what else we were doing for Literature and our Great Books study.

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[AngieW in Texas]

I still think it's worth it. WttW is a great program, but it is NOT user-friendly. I had no idea how to take the material in it and make it into something I could do with my dd. You can leave out the novels and the TTC stuff and I still think it's worth it. It's only $10 for an e-copy or $15 for a hard copy.

[KarenNC]

Thanks to both of you.

 

Oh, and, Lori D, I took your advice from another thread and have worked through a few movies from Movies as Literature as a starting point with my very visually oriented daughter. It really does help make the connections a little easier to see. I'll probably throw in other of the movies from time to time as we work on literature over the next several years, just to break things up a bit.

 

I'm hoping to get my hands on a full copy of the syllabus this summer, at the latest, as I think IEW will have a booth at a local curriculum fair. Looking at it again, I may actually end up wanting to use the Pike for To Kill a Mockingbird after all, combining it with the Movies as Literature material on the film and that period in history when we get to it next year. I had been saving that part from LL8 (we've done the rest of it), but I think the Pike may be more in line with what we need. I'd like to see it first, though.

[Lori D.]

I took your advice from another thread and have worked through a few movies from Movies as Literature as a starting point with my very visually oriented daughter. It really does help make the connections a little easier to see. I'll probably throw in other of the movies from time to time as we work on literature over the next several years, just to break things up a bit.

 

 

 

 

So glad that's working! And, the great thing is that has now given you a "foot in the door" for discussing any movie! I am big proponent of not just passively viewing, but discussing and uncovering the worldview, ideas, themes, or messages of the filmmaker that often slip past us because we get caught up with the visuals and/or the story/action and forget to *think*. :) I'm working on a curriculum I hope to one day get out there that would be an introduction to Film Appreciation and Film Analysis.

 

But I digress....

 

 

 

I still think it's worth it. WttW is a great program, but it is NOT user-friendly. I had no idea how to take the material in it and make it into something I could do with my dd. You can leave out the novels and the TTC stuff and I still think it's worth it. It's only $10 for an e-copy or $15 for a hard copy.

 

 

That's very helpful to know, Angie! :) It's always best to hear from someone who has actually *used* the product, rather than someone like myself who only looked at the samples. ;)

 

I didn't have any troubles using WttW -- but then, I am a chronic "tweaker" and never use anything as written, only occasionally look at a teacher manual, and usually like to fly by the seat of my pants. :tongue_smilie: NOT the preferred teaching style for most people. And, honestly, that has had some not so great moments for myself as well... :ohmy: But it is a huge component of my personality, and my kids just had to learn to live with it (and me!). :rolleyes:

 

Karen: another idea might be to go with an individual literature guide for that one work of To Kill a Mockingbird. Garlic Press publishers (secular) has a pretty meaty one. Or Progeny Press (Christian). (Or, do both! I often found that to be extremely helpful -- to draw from 2, 3 even 4 guides for the same work, but each from a very different point of view.)

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmly, Lori D.