Help me find a literature program

[athena1277]

I need a literature program/curriculum for dd for next year. She is a very good reader, but still struggles with getting the more subtle messages in a story. She just finished 4th grade and CLE grade 6 reading. We both really like the format of CLE and that it gives us time to do novel-type books between units (we do it in a super relaxed way). However, we are not the same "flavor" of Christianity as CLE and I'm starting to dislike some of the things taught in the stories. Going to only novel-type books is not a good option for us. I am a math person. I do enjoy reading, but despise analyzing a story. I also want dd to learn about all the elements of a story and I just don't know how to teach that. I really need a curriculum to guide me through it. I need some good suggestions, please!

[*Michelle*]

Maybe something like the literature guides from Angelicum?

[kathy_overman]

I have been considering Mosdos. We are doing CLE now because it is easy to implement and teaches those subtle concepts, but I really like the looks of Mosdos.

 

http://www.mosdospress.com

[TarynB]

I second Mosdos. High quality anthologies, strongly virtues-based but secular, so a particular Christian "flavor" isn't an issue. Expensive to buy new but holds its value very well for resale. This is one of the things my DS has adamantly asked for next year. He loves the stories.

[Wheres Toto]

Mosdos looks interesting. Is it necessary to buy all the parts - Teacher's Edition, Student Edition, Student Workbook, and Test Masters?

[MIch elle]

Lightning Literature and Composition or IEW Windows to the World

[Aurelia]

Mosdos looks interesting. Is it necessary to buy all the parts - Teacher's Edition, Student Edition, Student Workbook, and Test Masters?

 

I'm curious, as well.

[athena1277]

I second Mosdos. High quality anthologies, strongly virtues-based but secular, so a particular Christian "flavor" isn't an issue. Expensive to buy new but holds its value very well for resale. This is one of the things my DS has adamantly asked for next year. He loves the stories.

 

 

Are the grade levels for Mosdos accurate, or is it one that is a little hard/easy for a student in that grade? My dd will be in 5th next year, but she just finished 6th grade of CLE reading, so I'm not sure where she would be in this curriculum.

[TarynB]

Are the grade levels for Mosdos accurate, or is it one that is a little hard/easy for a student in that grade? My dd will be in 5th next year, but she just finished 6th grade of CLE reading, so I'm not sure where she would be in this curriculum.

 

I believe many schools use Mosdos, so I'd say the advertised levels are appropriate for an average reader in the target grade by age. But its more about the stories being appropriate for the maturity level of the reader, rather than the reader's vocabulary/synthesis/comprehension level. My DS is labeled an advanced reader but I've kept him at grade level in Mosdos for that reason. I want him to learn about literature from Mosdos material & our discussions, not necessarily stretch his reading level using Mosdos. (We stretch/build reading level in other ways.)

 

Sorry, that's not a very clear answer, and I'm not familiar with the CLE lit program that you said you've used.

 

Here is a sampling of the "word bank" vocabulary in the Grade 6 Pearl student book, which might help you evaluate reading level for your DC: endure, turret, siege, sallow, burnished, parched, supple, stupor, assimilated, stark, deftly.

 

For those who may be wondering about the various "parts":

If you want to use Mosdos as an almost-complete LA program (I think the only thing missing would be formal grammar), including in-depth vocabulary exercises and extensive creative writing assignments, you'd want the student text, student workbook and the teacher manual. But we don't use it that way, because DS is a bit asynchronous when it comes to the various aspects of LA. He's at different levels for reading and vocab vs. grammar and writing output. We use other curricula for the other parts of LA, and Mosdos just for exposure to quality literature in all the various genres at his interest/maturity level, and it is a gentle way to introduce literary terms & analysis.

 

Here is some info based on Grade 6 Pearl:

In the student text, every selection is preceded by a brief one-page "blueprint for reading" that gives background info, biographical info about the author, a high level summary, and, depending on the unit, a brief lesson about the various parts of a plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), or setting, or characterization through dialogue, etc. Following every selection, there is a "studying the selection" page with 3 - 5 review/comprehension questions, a few "focus" questions that are a little deeper about the selection, like "why do you think X happened?" or "how do you think X character was changed as a result of Y?" or comparing/contrasting the selection with a previous selection, and finally, a third section with 3 - 5 creative writing prompts related to the selection. Within each selection, there are small "word banks" at the bottom of the pages with brief definitions of vocabulary used in the selection that may be new to the reader. It's very unobtrusive though. Really, the books are beautifully organized and illustrated. (Mosdos books are visually very different from so many textbooks that are used nowadays.)

 

There is a student workbook that can be used to turn Mosdos into a more complete LA program, if you choose. Here's the website's description of the workbook for level 6: "For every prose piece in the textbook, the workbook has vocabulary activities, graphic organizers, in-depth comprehension questions, and creative writing exercises. Twenty-five additional creative writing tasks incorporate the language arts components, and the facets of each literary genre. The workbook also offers twenty-five original, one-page, prose pieces with comprehensive questions, designed to prepare students for standardized tests."

 

There are also test masters available but I've never looked at them.

 

The teacher's edition is an annotated version of the student text. It includes possible answers to the student text questions and also the workbook answers. It also takes some things much further, as a classroom teacher might need to do, such as offering multi-level assignments for readers of varying abilities in the same class. I don't use the TE. I usually just read the assigned selection from the student text with my DS or read it on my own the night before he reads it, so we can discuss together.

 

Barnes & Noble carries Mosdos, so that might be a good way to see them in real life if you have one of those stores nearby.

 

Hope that helps!

[3andme]

Just an FYI, we are secular and have used the CLE reading program from 1 - 6. If you like CLE otherwise, you might want to buy the textbook and take a look. I have the 7th grade text and it has quite a bit fewer "religious" overtones than some of the younger grades. In general the stories are more mature and worldly and less moralistic. There are only about 6 stories that have any religious content and those are minimal. The longest selection is a three part story about a young Muslim boy who learns about the message of Christmas. Even this is done in a very understated way. The 8th grade book is similar as well.

 

Other options:

 

For an inexpensive option, you might consider Scott Foresman's old anthology series called America Reads. It goes from 6th - High School. Not as open and go as the CLE Light Units but they do a good job covering literary concepts. The student and teacher editions are rel. cheap. The 6th grade book is Beginnings in Literature and the 7th grade is Discoveries in Literature . The annotated teacher's edition for Beginnings and Discoveries has the full text plus teacher notes.

 

Rainbow Resource has a great review for the Reader's Journey. This is a new secular middle school series from Prentice Hall. Here's a good

discussing it. It uses a combination of short stories and whole books.

 

The Best series from Jamestown also has a middle school series. They start at the Introductory Level for grades 5-6. Hewitt Homeschooling has teacher's notes for the Intro. level and a syllabus for the Middle level.

[TarynB]

Another lit program I like is K12's "English: Intermediate Literature" A and B targeted at 6th & 7th graders. The applicable reading selections are published in K12's "Classics for Young Readers". (Their lit courses also study a few full works but we haven't done those.) I bought a used volume of Classics for Young Readers and a teacher guide on Amazon. The lit concepts taught are very similar to Mosdos, but the stories aren't necessarily values-based, although still high-quality lit from well-known authors (i.e., Lloyd Alexander, Lewis Carroll, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost). About half of the material in the teacher guide is directed at K12's online users, but there's still plenty to be gained from the offline portion. If the price of Mosdos is a negative, this is a good alternative if purchased used.