Literature Guides? Do you use them?

[TheAutumnOak]

I need a little help figuring out how I feel about lit guides...I listened to SWB's talk about literature and how a guide isn't needed until about high school really, and I have read MP's thoughts about lit guides and even talked with Martin Cothran in person about the whole thing...Trouble is, I am still on the fence about them...Part of me likes the way the lit guides help students understand things and aspects of the story they would have otherwise missed...You cover fewer books, but can glean more info from them...The other part of me just want the boys to read the book like SWB suggests, and discuss the things I feel need to be discussed without having to spend so much time on the same book...I don't really like the "read this then answer questions to make sure you understood what happened" format of lit guides, but then I want to make sure they understood what happened :confused1:

 

What do you think?...Do you do lit guides?

 

[madteaparty]

I have not given it nearly as much thought as you have, and I am not hesitant to drop/postpone a curriculum whose time has not yet come. It is not zero sum, one can do both. I am going to attempt to do Lightning Lit at half speed for DS this fall. This will be in addition to any books he reads in the ordinary course.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm with you, I have mixed feelings about them.  I think that I've decided that a good lit guide can help me to lead a better discussion about the book, and that's a good thing.  But I don't see us "doing" the lit guides, at least most of the guides I've seen, which tend to have a lot of vocab and comprehension-type questions.  And why pay a lot of money for that? There are free online guides for most books.

 

I also can't fathom spending months on the same book, at least at the middle school level.  The Odyssey? Sure.  The Giver? Not so much.  

 

Our pattern is basically read-discuss-write, although we don't write about every book, of course! When she does write, it can take several weeks for a good, in-depth essay, going through all the stages of planning, prewriting, drafting and revision.  I'd rather spend the time on writing, and the additional thinking-discussions that writing about a book brings out.

 

I think that Garlic Press puts out some pretty exceptional lit guides, but once you have one, they are pretty much the same for other books (I have two, so that's how I know!).  The only lit guide I've seen that I'm super impressed with and that I anticipate using in its entirety as written is this one from Memoria Press.  Not all MP lit guides, just this style, with the different levels of question/discussion centered around the central idea:

 

http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/poetry

 

(the Poetry & Short Stories - American Literature one)

[Walking-Iris]

I haven't found one that I like yet. I tried to use a Newbery and Caldecott lit guide from Scholastic this year but that flopped. Questions were good, writing activities were okay, but it tended to drag out a study of a book longer than we liked.

 

I think I tend towards the opinion of doing a few of them, but certainly not every book we read.

 

I think they can have their place in a homeschool, regardless of what SWB says (remember she's a college professor, she might not need a guide).

 

I like the guidance, I just haven't found anything I'm willing to buy yet. And online free resources tend to get forgotten by me. I'm not very good at implementing them. 

 

Strangely. Arrow guides from Bravewriter have been helpful. And if I can find a study guide version of a book, I'll get it. 

 

Deconstructing Penguins is a good read, but I still struggle to implement it. 

 

 

 

 

[SilverMoon]

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Edited June 11 by SilverMoon

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm assuming we're talking about for the 7th grader! I would never in a million years try to use a lit guide with my rising 3rd grader.  She'd hate it.  No thanks.

[FO4UR]

I haven't bought any lit guides.  I have made my own *extremely* simple guides.  All I want in a guide are a few well-crafted questions to guide a discussion.  (If I don't read every chapter along with the kids, I need something to jog my memory.  A good question can do that.) 

 

I also like to pull out passages for copywork and dictation.  

 

 

You don't really need a guide for this.  You just need to pre-read the books, jot down a few questions, and underline a paragraph for copywork/dictation.  Keep it simple.

[Mbelle]

I did not use lit guides until 8th grade with my dd, but this year she took an on-line lit class.  Ds will use lit guides in 7th, but we certainly won't be answering every question in writing, but will use them to discuss.