Language Arts at high school level

[onelmichele]

I'm still super new to this and I'm utterly confused. We pulled my 16yo from public school at the beginning of Feb. We did some reading and grammar to finish out the year, along with a couple of other subjects.

 

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with him for Language arts if we continue to home school. It seemed that his high school classes were geared more in literature and writing. How do I do that at home? How do I grade stuff like that?

 

In IL he needs 4 years of Language arts to graduate hs.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I'm only two years into having a high school child myself so I am far from expert at this but I'll try to help and in the process give you a bump back to the first page.

 

High school English credits typically consist of a literature component and a composition component. So, assuming that the child doesn't need any more instruction in grammar, usage, punctuation and basic writing, they would read about literature and write about literature. You could also include reading and writing (living books\biographies\literature...not text books) they do about history and science toward their English credit, but typically they will do enough writing about their literature to count toward a full credit. The writing instruction might also include learning how to do timed essays, research reports, and various other types of essays.

 

Here is a free webinar from IEWthat I recently listened to that might be of some help as well and hopefully some of our seasoned ladies will chime in with more thorough, clear help. :)

 

Edited to add...if you click on that link there will be some pretty loud classical music playing as soon as it loads so you might want to start out with your speakers turned WAY down. ;)

[Parrothead]

What grade is he going into?

[Julie in MN]

In your homeschool, you get to tailor your course for your student. If he needs more basic English study, such as grammar, vocabulary, and writing instruction, then you can do that. My oldest was public schooled and claimed he learned to/two/too every year in high school (and he still did well in college).

 

However, a lot of kids have that down and move on to what Aime described -- reading advanced literature and writing (essays and such). The earlier skills are reviewed as your student writes using their grammar and vocab skills, etc. 9th and 10th are typically general, introductory skills. 11th and 12th typically can delve into a particular area or areas (British Lit, American Lit, Poetry, etc.). But summing up whatever you do as English 9, 10, 11, and 12 is very normal.

 

It is possible to purchase an English curriculum already designed for you. For instance, Learning Language Arts Thru Literature Gold Editions, or Alpha-Omega subject packs. It's even possible to purchase larger curriculums already designed for you; my son uses My Father's World for 3 credits (Bible, History, English).

 

Another option is to design it yourself. The Well Trained Mind gives a lot of guidance, and it is often at your public library. There are literature guides that help combine reading, writing, and other skills into the study of one book, such as Progeny Press, Smarr, or the free online Glencoe guides: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/

With a literature guide, you can choose the book and they will provide the instruction. Depending on your student, you can choose easier/shorter titles, or you can take the opportunity to delve into great works because you have more freedom to move forward without keeping an entire class of 30 together.

 

Grading at home can be structured with a rubric you design or pull from a resource, or it can just be a gut feeling, it's up to you. (I'm sure you've noticed that public schools can grade based on random things.) As homeschoolers, have the freedom to somewhat teach to mastery, so it isn't the same as grading a classroom, and a lot of your grade might just be based on "improvement." And homeschool grades won't matter as much as a group-school-grade, but will be expected to somewhat line up with test scores when you apply to colleges. I think it is good practice to give a grading rubric in at least some courses, especially math, although your student may have already had a lot of practice in that area. Some pre-packaged programs will include grading guidelines all figured out for you. Here are a couple of general resources on that:

 

HSLDA http://www.hslda.org/highschool/docs/GradingGuidelines.asp

Donna Young's notebook method http://donnayoung.org/forms/help/high-school-subject-notebook.htm

 

HTH,

Julie

[onelmichele]

Thanks for the info! He's starting 11th grade in the fall.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

High School English credit I give is based on the books I assign and the writing they do. The first 2 years of HS was getting them to write different pieces based on the literature they read as well as making sure they had basic grammar and writing down. The last two years are for writing a large term paper and other types of writing not literature based (letter writing, resume, scientific writing, blog,taking notes, and so on) as well as continuing reading assigned literature.

[TechWife]

Although I loved literature class in high school and college, I really didn't know how to approach teaching it. I found 

Windows to the World: An Introduction to Literary Analysis to be a  great literature program. The material on the various literary techniques is very thorough and easy to understand. The additional syllabus includes a schedule, additional assignments, reinforcement activities and grading suggestions. Together they make an excellent literature course. 

[Starr]

What books, novel, plays etc are used in Windows to the World?

[CyndiLJ]

We have homeschooled four years and are starting our fifth with our first high school student this year.  We have done grammar consistently, lots of writing instruction at basic levels, and he is an advanced reader.  I have gone the eclectic route by mixing up a wide variety of reading materials, book study guides, and textbooks up until this year.

 

I found the Textword Press textbooks, and am sold on them.http://www.textword.com/ . They are designed with the Regent's Exam in NY in mind, and they are very well rounded.  Without beating a dead horse, they have some grammar practice, literary analysis questions, essay questions, and comprehension questions.  The teacher's guide makes it all super simple, there are just enough questions in each category to be helpful but not overkill, and the reading level is high.  Because this covers all our bases, we will be using this for high school.

 

BUT...because I can't let go of eclectic just a little  :lol: we are throwing in a Norton's Anthology for a few selected readings here and there.

[BlsdMama]

Windows to the World is a great suggestion as is most of the IEW material - especially as it will help you grade writing. Grading writing was the hardest part for me! Another excellent resource is Writing Aids. I thought it was horrible for TEACHING writing, but for GRADING (rubrics and such for various types of essays) it is outstanding.