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Help for DIY 8th grade Literature - Long- Much advice needed


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First of all, thank you to everyone who is taking the time to help me with this.  Second of all, the true problem (right off the bat) is that I do NOT feel confident in teaching anything in the realm of "English" - there I said it.  I'm a Math/Science person.   I'm not exactly sure how I was taught in school.  I know I had a few great teachers peppered in, so perhaps I just smeared the knowledge they gave me through the other years.  Third, I'm not truly in a panic.  Well, not a real one anyway.  I just know it's time to reach out and ask for help.  We have conquered grammar with Easy Grammar, spelling with Megawords, and writing with IEW (homeschool class).  That leaves me with -- literature.   She likes to read.  I like to read.   That's about where it ends.  We talk about the books (I read my own copy of her book), but nothing like I "feel"  that "literary analysis" should be.  I primary discussion are more like, "Can you believe that happened?,  What did you think he was going to do?  etc etc)  I've listened to SWB lectures and am one lecture into Teaching the Classics.  I know that I can conquer this, but I need some more help getting there.

 

What I'm primarily asking for is help getting some of my random ideas written on paper in a logical way.  My type A personality is having a fit because there are no plans for 8th grade for literature.  I NEED to have some of this written down on a nice sheet of paper, so I can stop thinking about it.  I do feel a slight bit of panic because I feel high school looming.  I do have disposable income to buy other supplies/curriculum for this because I am so very frugal with everything else.   Also, we live in a state which only requires that I keep attendance.  We have homeschooled from the beginning.

 

Things I already own:  Lightning Lit 7, Figuratively Speaking, SWB lectures, Teaching the Classics and many of the novels.

 

Things that intrigue me:  Preplanned curriculum (that I ALWAYS tinker with) like Lightning Lit, MP (Poetry & Short Stories) and VP study guides, Windows to the World.  The problem is that I feel if we picked any of these, then she would miss a whole bunch of books.

 

What I need from you:  Supportive criticism, ANY advice, help putting books in numerical order, specific guides/Cliff notes that you believe would add to specific books and just anything else that would help.

 

We are in the last half of 7th grade (will technically go over into the summer because we moved this past year).  To round out this year (until I figure out what I am doing), she/I would read through what we are calling "Shouldn't be missed list" and some that we just want to read.  For 8th grade, I thought we would read through a list of classic books.  They are not lined up against a history time line.  They are some that I thought would be great for her age and some that we missed along the way (like Alice).  Please feel free to criticize my list. I don't know if I have too many, or not enough.  She reads about 45 minutes during the school day and then would have the option of reading a "school" book at night or picking something off of her shelf.  I would also like to take one or two of the 8th grade books to use as "oral" reading.  She has a second window of time with me in the afternoons that we could do this (along with Science, etc --- math, spelling, etc is done in the morning)  Also, I do plan to have her read novels that correspond to history for high school.  It just hasn't worked out like that for us yet.   We started Middle Ages in January.

 

7th grade (last half): 

Sing Down the Moon

The Book of Three

The Black Cauldron

My Louisiana Sky

A Wrinkle in Time

Tuck Everlasting

Bridge to Terabithia

The Westing Game

My Side of the Mountain

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler

The Giver

 

8th grade list

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Sounder

To Kill a Mockingbird

Around the World in 80 Days

The Yearling

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Treasure Island

Little Women

The Call of the Wild

Anne of Green Gables

Robinson Crusoe

 

Please feel free to advice in any way, shape or form.  If something seems confusing, please ask.  It probably made sense in my head, but didn't translate well here.

 

thanks so much

Angela

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Sounds like you've made a great gentle start with Literature through SWB's lectures and your gentle questions/comments while reading. :)  And I think you have a GREAT list of don't miss books! If you go with LL7, LL8, or Windows to the World, you'll still have time for reading those don't miss books. Go for it! :)

 

I'm a big fan of using what you have (as long as it's working for you), and the items you have are all great for very gentle intro to Literature and literary analysis. Since you don't have a lot of background in Literature, I'd suggest doing it all along with your DD -- you both learn, you have more opportunities for discussion "in the moment", and you get to share some fabulous books and make some great memories together. :)

 

Here's just one suggested plan, to get to as many of your goals as possible:

 

Plan for the rest of 7th grade:

 

1. 45 min. in a.m. = School Reading from your 7th gr. booklist

They can all be solo reading with no additional work attached, OR, if you want to discuss a little bit, or even use an individual study guide -- maybe your VP study guides, if they match up with any of these -- on maybe 2 works, these are esp. meaty for discussing:

- Sing Down the Moon

- Wrinkle in Time

- Tuck Everlasting

- Bridge to Terebithia

- The Giver

 

2. 40-45 minutes in the afternoon:

 

a. Start Figuratively Speaking now

Go ahead and do a lesson a week; take 15-20 minutes to read through the info part and do the examples aloud together. After that, have fun looking for examples of that literary element (and others as you cover them) in the reading you do. Don't worry about completing it this year; it's a great resource to review, or continue, into next year.

 

b. Start LL7 now

- you already have it

- LL7 includes one book from your 8th grade list (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

- you can practice that oral reading by do the reading aloud with DD popcorn style ("you read a page, I read a page")

- that allows you both to learn how to "do" literature and get comfortable with it

- can discuss vocabulary, discussion questions, and literary elements in context

- LL7 is gentle: about 40 min/day = read aloud and then do a page or two of the literary lesson or a work page

- since you're planning on going into the summer, you could likely finish before the new school year

 

LL7 is 8 units

(if pressed for time, I'd drop the Helen Keller autobiography unit)

- 4 novels = Alice in Wonderland; Tom Sawyer; All Creatures Great & Small; Helen Keller: Story of My Life

- 2 units = poetry

- 2 units = short story -- at most, that will likely only take 1-2 weeks for each of those units)

 

Example of time needed to scheduling LL7 (about 40-45 min/day)

- 30-35 min/day = reading aloud/discussing the book

- 10-20 min/day = read about 2 pages in student guide (10 min.); OR do a work page (10-20 min.)

 

Example of how we scheduled the elements of LL7:

 

week 1 of a new book

- day 1 =  read the background info page in the guide; read chap. 1 of the book; do a Figuratively Speaking lesson (and look for that element during the rest of the week)

- day 2 = read next chapter of the book; read about 2 pages in the student guide for that unit

- day 3, 4. 5 = repeat (by end of week, you've finished reading the student guide info on that unit)

 

week 2 of that book

- day 1 = read the next chapter of the book; do a F.S. lesson

- day 2 = read the next chapter of the book; do 1 work page

- day 3, 4, 5 = repeat

 

week 3 of that book

- repeat of week 2  (by end of week, you've finished the work pages)

 

For short units of poetry and short story, we doubled up and while reading the poems and the literary lesson material, we also did the first week of workpages; and then the following week did the remaining workpages while starting the new book and reading the literary lesson for that new book.

 

3. At Night

- a book off of her shelf -- and put some historical fiction on her shelf to choose from (or not), as go-along with your Medieval History

- maybe a few nights a week, make one of those Medieval History go-alongs a family read-aloud

 

4. You, the Teacher = Teaching the Classics

Either you continue with Teaching the Classics on you own this year, OR, save and do it together with DD next year. I personally would probably just wait and do it next year with my student, as between LL7 and Figuratively Speaking, you'll have enough to start with, but if you have the time time this year for just you to go through and absorb it, then you will really benefit doing it again next year with DD, as you will also have been seeing how Literature "works" in action through the LL7.

 

 

Plan for 8th grade:

 

1. Finish Figuratively Speaking, then do Teaching the Classics together

Continue to work your way through F.S. When finished, possibly do Walch's Prose and Poetry (mostly focuses on poetry elements and genres of poetry, such as the ballad, the elegy, the haiku, etc.) -- OR -- start Teaching the Classics together.

 

2. Do LL8

If you find that LL7 worked well for you, move on to LL8; in the second half of the program, the workpages move into guided analysis work with excerpts from other famous pieces of literature, so that is great prep for then going on and doing Windows to the World.

 

12 units (so, a third longer -- if pressed for time, I'd drop 1 poetry unit and 2 short story units: "Crazy Tale" & "Wakefield")

- 6 novels (Treasure Island, Day of Pleasure, A Christmas Carol, The Hobbit, My Family & Other Animals, To Kill a Mockingbird)

- 3 poetry units

- 3 short stories

 

3. School Reading from your 8th gr. booklist

Three works are covered in LL8 (To Kill a Mockingbird, Treasure Island, and Tom Sawyer). Again, these can all be solo reading with no additional work attached, OR, if you want to discuss a little bit, or even use an individual study guide on maybe 2 works, these works have "meat" for discussion (not including the works in LL8):

- Sounder

- Witch of Blackbird Pond

- Call of the Wild

 

(An aside: there is also a whole year-long study for high school ages on the Anne of Green Gables books: Where the Brook and River Meet, just to complicate matters for you. ;) )

 

4. At Night

- a book off of her shelf  -- and put some historical fiction on her shelf to choose from (or not), as go-along with your History

- maybe a few nights a week, make one of those Medieval History go-alongs a family read-aloud

 

 

Plan for 9th grade:

 

1. Great Books

History and classic Literature matched up. You can DIY, and use VP study guides and other resources and cover classic works of Literature that match your History period, plus a handful of go-along historical fiction/other books as solo reading supplement. Or, you can go with an integrated History/Lit program such as My Father's World, Veritas Omnibus I, Tapestry of Grace, etc.

 

2. Windows to the World

Great next step up from LL8 to solidify: annotation, how to write a literary analysis essay and use your annotations as supporting examples, and focus on 8-10 specific literary elements and how they work in literature. WttW is a 1-semester program focusing on 6 short stories, but you can purchase the Jill Pike syllabus to extend the program to a full year which covers these 3 works: To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, Hamlet.

 

Or, do WttW for the first semester and you MP Poetry and Short Stories for the second semester.

 

 

You've got some great resources, great booklists, and great ideas. Enjoy! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

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Lori,

 

I want you to know that I read this yesterday right after you posted it.  I have reread it many times since then, letting it soak in.  I wrote up a mock week or two to see how it would play out.  I still have a question as to how/when you use the discussion questions for LL7.  I will need to use them straight from the can, so when/how do you suggest I do that.  I love the thought of doing the exercises orally (as I'm sure she will too).  What do you think about skipping the writing exercises?  We are doing IEW with a writing class and I  need/want lots of hand holding with writing (I have no confidence in teaching it -- That will be the next mountain to climb.)

 

Thank you so much for so kindly holding my hand -- and giving a supportive, gentle nudge!   

 

Angela

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  I wrote up a mock week or two to see how it would play out. 

 

That's a super idea! :) Sort of lets you "try before you buy". ;) And then you can tweak as needed once you start in reality. 

 

 

how/when you use the discussion questions for LL7.  I will need to use them straight from the can, so when/how do you suggest I do that. 

 

The discussion questions are in the TG, and are matched up by chapter (I *think* it's laid out that way -- it's been a number of years since we used it!). So if you're doing the reading aloud together, then it may be most effective and efficient to just discuss right after reading that particular chapter. Same with if you want to add in an individual lit. guide.

 

Or, you may want to combine all the discussion at the end of the week, as a review of what was read and discussing it as part of a special "tea and discussion" time.

 

If the student is reading solo then you have options:

- right after doing the reading of that chapter

- the next day at a scheduled time

- pick a day of the week for "tea and discussion" and do a few days of discussion at one sitting

 

 

What do you think about skipping the writing exercises?  We are doing IEW with a writing class 

 

We did that. We were doing a separate writing program, and just from time to time used one of the end of unit longer writing assignments. The times we did that, we would set aside the regular writing program for a week, and do a LL writing assignment as something a little different to spice up the writing.

 

I would at least together read through the mini writing lesson at the end of each unit (only takes 5 minutes). Those are great little writing reviews, and you can never hear about topics in how to write too often. ;)

 

 

I love the thought of doing the exercises orally (as I'm sure she will too).  

 

Nice! :) That also can be a good way to work into doing a new program, and so it takes less time.

 

I will encourage you that DS#2 here REALLY struggles with writing and even the process of writing out something, and he managed the amount of writing on the LL7 work pages with no problem. Most work pages only took him 10-15 minutes.

 

If it was an unusually long one, we would break it into 2 chunks, half one day, half the next. As I recall, there are 1-2 work pages in one or both of the poetry sections that required a LOT of writing of a lot of words, and I actually divided those up over 4 days -- so he did one small chunk from that particular work page AND did the next work page that didn't require much writing, just so we were knocking out those workpages.

 

And, of course, you can also reduce time and struggle with writing by doing longer pages orally, or skip any pages that don't seem useful or relevant. For example, we never did the "busy work" pages of the word search and crossword puzzle (there is always one of each of these in each unit of work pages), BUT, if you have a student who likes those puzzles, enjoy! :)

 

 

Thank you so much for so kindly holding my hand -- and giving a supportive, gentle nudge!   

 

So glad something in my ramblings was helpful ;). And post an update once you get rolling. I'd love to hear how it's all working out! :) Enjoy your adventures in Literature! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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I want to throw out there, Oak Meadow. I got the 9th grade english program this year. Me and ds both love it. My homeschool friends are also loving it. We are not doing the writing part of it as he is in the WTM academy for writing, but I love their concept. It really is open and go.

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I am type A and math/science as well. What really helped me was to get a template down and then use it for everything. This year we are really doing my version of Figuratively Speaking so that Ds can know and really understand how literary devices are used. Next year he gets to do much of the work more independently before we work together. I have created a basic template and worksheet for each book he is going to either write about or discuss. The template involves three parts:

 

Comprehension

Protagonist and their characterization

Antagonist and their characterization

Conflict(s)

Moral/Message/Theme

Best part and why

Worst part and why

Most memorable part and why?

 

Plot Diagram

Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Denouement

 

Literary Analysis

What literary devices did you notice the author using?

What happens if you were to take them out (just say it in non-flowery verabge, really straight up and plain)?

Why do you think the author used whichever device(s) he or she used?

How do you think these devices furthered the story?

How did they further the theme?

 

Once he can identify these structures then we can discuss them and what we think is happening. It allows for he and me to come up with differing ideas about each step and section. Then we can support those ideas, talk about why, and express the message we got from the author and how we got there based upon our personal experiences.

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Dolphin, do you mind sharing more about what you love about OM English, besides the open & go aspect? I don't want to de-rail this thread but it would be helpful to hear your thoughts as I am contemplating OM for high school next school year.

 

It is really hard to explain. It is just so all encompassing. There choice of literature is great. The way they have the student engage deeply in the material without telling them what conclusion to come to is good. They do a main lesson book (MLB) along with the study, which is a really cool way to interact with your reading

 

Look at the samples online. 

http://oakmeadow.com/what-we-do/high-school/english/

 

Here is the sample of the one we are doing this year.

http://oakmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/english-9-overview.pdf

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When I taught 9th grade English, we covered the following elements in a variety of formats (short stories, novels, poems, biographies/autobiographies:

 

Characterization - direct and indirect

 

Types of characters - protagonist, antagonist, dynamic, static, flat, round, foil

 

Stages of plot development - exposition (includes setting), inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement or resolution - there might be others I am forgetting

 

Poetic or literary devices - similes, metaphors, hyperbole, imagery, pun, allusion, repetition, consonance, assonance, irony (dramatic, situational, verbal)

 

Asking interpretative type questions, like... (In TKAM, Atticus says Ms. Dubose is very brave. Why does he consider her brave? Is she or isn't she brave? - Cite examples from the text - How does her braveryor lack of bravery compare to Atticus? What makes Mr. Ewell different than the men who visit Atticus at the jail? What is the significance of Mr. Cunningham stooping to speak to scout and how does that reinforce the idea of walking in someone else's shoes or seeing things from a different perspective?

Hope that helps some!

Oh, and if you are planning on reading Shakespeare, I would recommend the Cliff's complete study edition. It has the original text along with notes and summaries of the acts. I would tell my students to read the summaries first, then the scenes, that way they would at least know what was happening in the scene when they read the original text. I found knowing what was going to happen helped students from getting lost in the language. So, in our discussions, we didn't have to rehash what happened, but could focus on the why behind the events.

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It is really hard to explain. It is just so all encompassing. There choice of literature is great. The way they have the student engage deeply in the material without telling them what conclusion to come to is good. They do a main lesson book (MLB) along with the study, which is a really cool way to interact with your reading

 

Look at the samples online. 

http://oakmeadow.com/what-we-do/high-school/english/

 

Here is the sample of the one we are doing this year.

http://oakmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/english-9-overview.pdf

 

Dolphin, your positive comments are leading me to look at this program too. I noticed on the OM website, for Intro to Lit and Comp, there's a note that "There is no teacher manual available for this course at this time." (http://oakmeadow.com/courses/intro-to-lit/)

 

Could you please talk about how that works if there's no TM? Meaning, in what way is it "open and go" without a TM? Or am I interpreting that incorrectly?

 

I think my DS would really enjoy the Hero's Journey aspect of this course.

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Dolphin, your positive comments are leading me to look at this program too. I noticed on the OM website, for Intro to Lit and Comp, there's a note that "There is no teacher manual available for this course at this time." (http://oakmeadow.com/courses/intro-to-lit/)

 

Could you please talk about how that works if there's no TM? Meaning, in what way is it "open and go" without a TM? Or am I interpreting that incorrectly?

 

I think my DS would really enjoy the Hero's Journey aspect of this course.

 

There is a teacher manual, I have it. :) I would request their catalog, it comes with a detailed pricing sheet. I really like the teacher manual. It is not just the same as the students manual with the answers filled in, it is a different book and gives information to the teacher/parent.

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OM's 9th grade English has been completely revamped this year, with all new books. That is probably why there isn't a teacher’s manual yet.

 

Their courses, at least for HS, are written first and foremost for their enrolled students. If you do it on your own, you can purchase the manual, but it's not always clear and obvious how to do so, since enrolled students aren't allowed to purchase them.

 

The syllabus is written to the student and is very open and go, but there is no answer key. You can certainly evaluate their essay writing yourself, but you won't know if they answered the short answer questions correctly, or if they included everything they should have in the essay questions. I read the book myself and took notes on the answers in order to address this issue.

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My dd has enjoyed a book called How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids. I thought it was an interesting book that helped kids look at literature in a variety of ways. The same author has a version of the book for adults if you though that would be more appropriate for your child.

 

Shmoop is a site that has a lot of good literature guides (for free). We used this extensively while we were doing a Shakespeare unit, and the kids liked it. They also have several literature classes that are not expensive.

 

It seems to me that if you have your dd read the novels you listed and have her work through some sort of source that teaches literature study, you have a good 8th grade literature curriculum.

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OM's 9th grade English has been completely revamped this year, with all new books. That is probably why there isn't a teacher’s manual yet.

 

Their courses, at least for HS, are written first and foremost for their enrolled students. If you do it on your own, you can purchase the manual, but it's not always clear and obvious how to do so, since enrolled students aren't allowed to purchase them.

 

The syllabus is written to the student and is very open and go, but there is no answer key. You can certainly evaluate their essay writing yourself, but you won't know if they answered the short answer questions correctly, or if they included everything they should have in the essay questions. I read the book myself and took notes on the answers in order to address this issue.

 

Thank you for explaining this!  :)

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