ThisIsTheDay Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I am considering American Lit for my 11th grader next year. Is anyone familiar with this who would like to share thoughts? I'd like to hear good, bad and ugly, what you liked and/or didn't like. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingedradical Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I wasn't crazy about it myself. But I think if I'd done a curriculum with more literary analysis first (like Windows to the World), It might have gone better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 Anyone? bumping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raganfamily Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 We use EIL. We use the books chronologically, not by each individual book. So far, we have liked it. I did start 3 of my kids with the first book. It helped ease them into the format. We have used these guides for 3 years and it has worked for us. I do not use this exclusively, and some units take longer than others. I give them longer than 1-2 weeks to read some books. For example, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, I had them read WEM section on auto-biographies. Then they started the unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brookspr Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 We have only done two lessons so far as a trial for next year, but my daughter has enjoyed them. The lessons are meant to be done independently by the student, which I like. We have already done Teaching the Classics and may work thru parts of Windows to the World this summer before she starts EIL exclusively next year for high school. I have all 5 books in one binder so we are going to pick and choose lessons that go along with her history studies, which next year will be a semester of Medieval and and semester of the Renaissance. I like that we can be flexible with the curriculum and use it in that way. I really like the research the students do on the author and all of the extra tidbits they give in the guide to further help the student understand the book, like links to videos and other readings. There are several written assignments throughout the lesson, which I also think is important. They are not always just analyzing the book from a literary perspective. For example, when my daughter read Julius Caesar she had to re-write Brutus' speech in modern English. It really helped add to her understanding of the book. If I had to pick one shortcoming of the curriculum, it would be that there are no discussion points listed for any of the books. DH and I are going to share reading responsibilities so we can discuss each book with her as she progresses through the lessons. I think having a discussion on the book is a critical part of really understanding it, thinking out loud and hearing your own thoughts really helps me flush out the parts I may not thoroughly understand. I know the curriculum was meant to be totally independent, so discussing with someone is hard unless the other person has read the book, but we will definitely be reading along and discussing the literature with her as she moves through the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I love EIL. There are many threads here about it. Sorry I missed yours. We have used Intro to Lit and American Lit. Both of my kids who are very different learning styles did well with it. I like the book choices. The paper topics are deep and thoughtful. I like the links to background information, and author information. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I do read the books, so I can discuss them with my kids. I agree that discussion is important and EIL does not give you any discussion points. It is written to the student, not the parent. However, I have never been able to conduct a decent discussion based on someone else's discussion points anyway, not SL, not TOG, it just doesn't work for me to use someone else's ideas if I don't really know what I'm talking about and have no opinion of my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 For my own style of learning, I love EIL. I can read the book and chase rabbit trails of learning and learn better than any other way. This style has not suited my oldest however. He wants to be told exactly what to do and then be done. He's an avid reader and learns literature well, but he'd rather be doing math all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 After reading several posts here and reviewing the website, I really like the looks of this! I am looking at Intro to Lit for 9th grade, does this seem like a 1 credit full year program?? Would you use anything with it for English -- grammar? vocab?? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 We will use it this year. I like the book list. I like that there is an Honors option. I think it is great for most students. My DD is an exceptionally fast reader with a high reading comprehension (she scored an almost perfect score on the ACT reading portion in 8th grade). For her, we will add to it. She simply needs more reading. I like that idea of adding some extra literature. I will let her choose some classics that appeal to her that match the genre. I think it will work nicely for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 After reading several posts here and reviewing the website, I really like the looks of this! I am looking at Intro to Lit for 9th grade, does this seem like a 1 credit full year program?? Would you use anything with it for English -- grammar? vocab?? thanks! We're going to use this for 9th this year. We're going to do Windows to the World for the 1st semester and then EIL after that and through the summer. We're doing Easy Grammar and Marie's Words for grammar and vocab (both are short and sweet; shouldn't take more than 30 minutes per day combined). We're also doing Sentence Composing for High School followed by Lively Art of Writing because DD needs a bit more writing practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 My 9th grader is doing Windows to the World for the 1st 3 quarters, then diving into EiL. We're picking and choosing books based on where we're at in the history cycle and/or his interest. He's also doing Vocab from Classical Roots and an Analytical Grammar reinforcement book (since he finished AG last year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 I love EIL. There are many threads here about it. Sorry I missed yours. We have used Intro to Lit and American Lit. Both of my kids who are very different learning styles did well with it. I like the book choices. The paper topics are deep and thoughtful. I like the links to background information, and author information. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I do read the books, so I can discuss them with my kids. I agree that discussion is important and EIL does not give you any discussion points. It is written to the student, not the parent. However, I have never been able to conduct a decent discussion based on someone else's discussion points anyway, not SL, not TOG, it just doesn't work for me to use someone else's ideas if I don't really know what I'm talking about and have no opinion of my own. Thank you! I also really liked the book choices and the honors options too. Did you pay the extra $10 for the online sources etc. ? just wondering if its worth it. thank you everyone else for you input! I appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterfly113 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 We have only done two lessons so far as a trial for next year, but my daughter has enjoyed them. The lessons are meant to be done independently by the student, which I like. We have already done Teaching the Classics and may work thru parts of Windows to the World this summer before she starts EIL exclusively next year for high school. I have all 5 books in one binder so we are going to pick and choose lessons that go along with her history studies, which next year will be a semester of Medieval and and semester of the Renaissance. I like that we can be flexible with the curriculum and use it in that way. I really like the research the students do on the author and all of the extra tidbits they give in the guide to further help the student understand the book, like links to videos and other readings. There are several written assignments throughout the lesson, which I also think is important. They are not always just analyzing the book from a literary perspective. For example, when my daughter read Julius Caesar she had to re-write Brutus' speech in modern English. It really helped add to her understanding of the book. If I had to pick one shortcoming of the curriculum, it would be that there are no discussion points listed for any of the books. DH and I are going to share reading responsibilities so we can discuss each book with her as she progresses through the lessons. I think having a discussion on the book is a critical part of really understanding it, thinking out loud and hearing your own thoughts really helps me flush out the parts I may not thoroughly understand. I know the curriculum was meant to be totally independent, so discussing with someone is hard unless the other person has read the book, but we will definitely be reading along and discussing the literature with her as she moves through the program. Would you say that Teaching the Classics and Windows to the World would be sufficient to build the confidence, knowledge and ability to then lead discussions on various works in EIL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you! I also really liked the book choices and the honors options too. Did you pay the extra $10 for the online sources etc. ? just wondering if its worth it. thank you everyone else for you input! I appreciate it! Extra $10 for online sources?? You can buy EIL in print or in an eBook or pay $10 extra to get both. They are the same. There are no extra sources that I know of. We used the eBook only. We don't like paper. ETA: We do like clickable resources in the eBook. There is never a need to write in the book, so there is no advantage at all to paper. This curriculum is one of the best suited to pdf format of any I have used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Extra $10 for online sources?? You can buy EIL in print or in an eBook or pay $10 to get both. They are the same. There are no extra sources that I know of. We used the eBook only. We don't like paper. Oh okay I see it is the Ebook and you can view modules online with clickable links to context resources. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 We're going to use this for 9th this year. We're going to do Windows to the World for the 1st semester and then EIL after that and through the summer. We're doing Easy Grammar and Marie's Words for grammar and vocab (both are short and sweet; shouldn't take more than 30 minutes per day combined). We're also doing Sentence Composing for High School followed by Lively Art of Writing because DD needs a bit more writing practice. I'm looking at the easy grammar workbook with answers in the back. 180 lessons. Is that what your using or do you get the TM as well? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 My ds took it with Cailitin of these boards- she's taught a couple of them- great stuff. You might pm her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I'm looking at the easy grammar workbook with answers in the back. 180 lessons. Is that what your using or do you get the TM as well? thanks! Yeah, I ended up getting more than I needed to. I bought the book with the 180 lessons and the answers in the back, but I also bought the student workbook, which is the 180 lessons, no answers. I didn't realize the former was reproducible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 We are using the EIL Intro to Literature. Is it me or is this layout of scheduling and assignments rather confusing to follow??? My head is spinning! :confused1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Hmm... is there something in particular you are having trouble with? No, we didn't find it confusing at all. Maybe there is something that clicked for us that I could walk you through if you have a specific question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddysmom26 Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Hmm... is there something in particular you are having trouble with? No, we didn't find it confusing at all. Maybe there is something that clicked for us that I could walk you through if you have a specific question. I'm finding the layout of the text rather confusing. In the text it says the first module first week to do the reading and write an approach paper. But then on the schedule chart it says that the approach paper is for AP? I guess I just feel like I am doing a lot of flipping around in the text to try and figure out what to do. But maybe I just need to review it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 I'll PM. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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