journey00 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 It has been brought to my attention that my 9th grade dd needs to read more for English 9. She is college bound to our local community college or two small private liberal arts colleges. This is my original plan: WriteGuide, Movies to Literature, Romeo & Juliet recorded class through Homeschool Connections, Seton or Easy Grammar 9 for grammar. Does she need more reading and what would you add? (disclaimer: I know this is a classical forum board but we are not really classical...sorry.) Please don't throw tomatoes at me. :closedeyes: Just when I think I've "got" this handled..I find out I don't...I'm having a horrible time piecing something together and I'm about to give up and sign her up with an all-in-one online class but then I remember..this is one of the reasons I chose to homeschool, so I can fit the curriculum to my kids. Thank you for your time. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Could you specify how many novels, novel length nonfiction works, plays, short stories, essays, poems, etc., she will be reading? As I am not familiar with the resources you listed, I can't tell from your post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Movies as Literature has several assignments where they suggest you read a novel to go along with the movie and write a paper (or discuss) specific elements, etc. I would pick three or four of those novels to add and call it a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
journey00 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply. Melissa B: I will take your advice and that's exactly what we will do. We were excited to use MTL and I'm glad we don't have to give it up. Maybe I needed assurance that it was enough. Big Thanks to you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Here's my daughter's list for honors English 9 in an online class through a part-time class with the local school: 6 short stories, and an essay accompanying each (essays on different topics--origin of Gothic literature, magical realism, theme, symbols and character, etc) 6 poems along with essays on meter, form, etc myth of Daedalus and Icarus and essay on how artists build on source material a novella (Kafka's "Metamorphosis") and essays on lit in translation, metaphor, background material on author, etc Macbeth, with essays on Shakespeare's language, the supernatural in Shakespeare, the tragic hero essays on logical fallacies, analyzing rhetoric, bias and reasoning, persuasion, and then analyzing several other essays for those elements 2 speeches on women's rights, 2 on civil rights, 2 on human rights one novel, "War of the Worlds," with essays on invasion literature, hoaxes, historical context, As part of this, she will also do some grammar review and write a number of essays, journal entries, an honors essay, and 2 research papers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
at the beach Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Movies as Literature is billed as being a full credit year-long English course for high school. http://www.designastudy.com/products/1891975099.html It looks like you are actually doing more than a full credit, not less. Here is a good thread on Movies as Literature: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/107771-movies-as-literature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Don't let us intimidate you. I said on your other thread that WriteGuide wasn't a complete English credit. It was all you mentioned in your post. I didn't see the Movies and Literature in your sig. I just took what you posted... I'm sure the others that chimed in on that did the same. It sounds like you do have a complete English credit. Don't be afraid to come back and say, "She isn't just doing WriteGuide". You can correct me anytime. Sorry I scared you. You don't need to give up. I can tell by the effort you are putting in to find the right mix and the right schedule for your dd that you are going to do great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Here's my daughter's list for honors English 9 in an online class through a part-time class with the local school: 6 short stories, and an essay accompanying each (essays on different topics--origin of Gothic literature, magical realism, theme, symbols and character, etc) 6 poems along with essays on meter, form, etc myth of Daedalus and Icarus and essay on how artists build on source material a novella (Kafka's "Metamorphosis") and essays on lit in translation, metaphor, background material on author, etc Macbeth, with essays on Shakespeare's language, the supernatural in Shakespeare, the tragic hero essays on logical fallacies, analyzing rhetoric, bias and reasoning, persuasion, and then analyzing several other essays for those elements 2 speeches on women's rights, 2 on civil rights, 2 on human rights one novel, "War of the Worlds," with essays on invasion literature, hoaxes, historical context, As part of this, she will also do some grammar review and write a number of essays, journal entries, an honors essay, and 2 research papers. 20+ essays (hard to count with all the etc's in your list), 6 speeches, and 2 research papers is an insane amount of work for 9th grade. The only way to produce that amount of output in the year is if the student already knows how to do the work. If you have to slow down for actual instruction on how to organize, plan, research, write and revise these assignments, you'll be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
journey00 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Don't let us intimidate you. I said on your other thread that WriteGuide wasn't a complete English credit. It was all you mentioned in your post. I didn't see the Movies and Literature in your sig. I just took what you posted... I'm sure the others that chimed in on that did the same. It sounds like you do have a complete English credit. Don't be afraid to come back and say, "She isn't just doing WriteGuide". You can correct me anytime. Sorry I scared you. You don't need to give up. I can tell by the effort you are putting in to find the right mix and the right schedule for your dd that you are going to do great! Yes, you scared me! Lol!! Thanks for your excellent reply. :) The Hive rocks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
journey00 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Here's my daughter's list for honors English 9 in an online class through a part-time class with the local school: 6 short stories, and an essay accompanying each (essays on different topics--origin of Gothic literature, magical realism, theme, symbols and character, etc) 6 poems along with essays on meter, form, etc myth of Daedalus and Icarus and essay on how artists build on source material a novella (Kafka's "Metamorphosis") and essays on lit in translation, metaphor, background material on author, etc Macbeth, with essays on Shakespeare's language, the supernatural in Shakespeare, the tragic hero essays on logical fallacies, analyzing rhetoric, bias and reasoning, persuasion, and then analyzing several other essays for those elements 2 speeches on women's rights, 2 on civil rights, 2 on human rights one novel, "War of the Worlds," with essays on invasion literature, hoaxes, historical context, As part of this, she will also do some grammar review and write a number of essays, journal entries, an honors essay, and 2 research papers. Wow, I'm in awe...really. I would love my girl to do this and like it but I would have a revolt. It is fun to see what others are doing. Thanks. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 20+ essays (hard to count with all the etc's in your list), 6 speeches, and 2 research papers is an insane amount of work for 9th grade. The only way to produce that amount of output in the year is if the student already knows how to do the work. If you have to slow down for actual instruction on how to organize, plan, research, write and revise these assignments, you'll be in trouble. The essays and speeches I mentioned in the listing are her reading list, not what she has to produce, since the OP asked about reading. The writing portion is in the bottom line---a number of short journal responses to her reading, essays (of varying lengths, some half a page), a longer honors essay, a research essay/short paper, and a longer honors research paper. We haven't received the specific guidelines for the honors additions yet. Many of the assignments are on revising and lengthening essays. It is definitely an honors class, as I mentioned. She has had two years of writing instruction already in middle school using WriteShop 2, including various types of essays and short research papers. The primary purpose of this class for her is to strengthen her academic writing skills and deeper analysis of content, and was chosen over a couple of other options in consultation with her English teacher (chair of the English dept at the local high school). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Wow, I'm in awe...really. I would love my girl to do this and like it but I would have a revolt. It is fun to see what others are doing. Thanks. :) I'm really pleased with the content, especially as it's through the public school and free to us. There are a few folks locally very loudly screaming that Common Core is dumbing down education, but I don't see it in the English program here if this is an example. The only additions to the Common Core class for this are the honors essay and honors research paper. http://www.apexlearning.com/course/pdf/422.pdf. She did pick it over the other honors English option because she wanted to do Macbeth rather than Romeo and Juliet (she loves Shakespeare, but thinks Romeo and Juliet are morons and finds the difference in ages icky rather than romantic). http://www.apexlearning.com/course/pdf/214.pdf The English teacher said that they consider the Common Core class to be more challenging than the other English option (second syllabus I linked), particularly as I wanted an emphasis on writing. Her supervising teacher is also a National Writing Project teacher consultant, which is wonderful. Now I didn't say she was in love with this, lol. I'm having about the same level of revolt I had when we ramped up the work from elementary to middle, and when I put her in her first outsourced homeschool writing class in 7th--she did this one http://www.apexlearning.com/course/pdf/214.pdf in 7th and this in 8th http://www.thewriterstoolbox.info/Pages/IntermediateLevII.aspx, each had an additional honors component of a reading log with a number of essays to read and do a short response as well as a couple of extra essays per quarter. It's an issue of finding the pacing. It's a little more challenging this time because this class is on a block schedule of finishing the full year in a semester so we've had to adjust other class expectations. I've given her the option to drop the classics club if she wants (she wanted to continue, as she's done it the last 2 years). This is also her area of aptitude. My husband was an English lit major and was pleased when he looked over both the syllabi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 The essays and speeches I mentioned in the listing are her reading list, not what she has to produce I misunderstood! Reading 20 essays is a whole different ballgame from writing 20 essays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpklehm Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I misunderstood! Reading 20 essays is a whole different ballgame from writing 20 essays. I agree...I totally thought she was writing all those essays! With that said, the list looks good. I'm thinking about revamping our ds's lit options (he's in 11th grade). I like our list but I think it needs a bit more variety. Thanks for the inspiration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyndiLJ Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 How about selecting a good high school level anthology and working partly through that as you add in other reading material? That way, you will be guided in doing more lit analysis, etc. but not be chock full of it for the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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