Talk to me about MBTP Literature Guides!! Please!

[Murrayshire]

First of all, we might be joining our homeschool co-op for core classes this upcoming year so I want my butt covered if we decide against it.

 

Okay, my rising 7th grader is just not quite ready for LL7.....I may use some of LL7 & LL8 for her 8th grade year.  So for those that have used MBTP literature guides, can you tell me more about them?  We have LOTS of books but I want something more structured for her to do along with her reading.  She does well with structured assignments and then that allows her to think out of the box and add to it.  We will most definitely continue with Figuratively Speaking once a week.  

 

Do MBTP guides have too much busy work in them?  Or are they the Bees knees!  Should I have her choose some....or how many do you think will go through the year at a reasonable pace?  

 

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[AppleGreen]

My oldest used two of their guides this year. They were fine. I wouldn't say they were a favorite or anything. I would use them again, but probably not more than 2-3 in a school year, but that is just my personal preference. Generally, I prefer to write my own literature units, if we are choosing to study a book in that manner. The MBtP guides cover various writing concepts, but unless you are doing all of the units for a given year they feel a bit random. 

 

 

[mom31257]

Have you looked at Garlic Press? I was very happy with the one I used this year. They don't have a huge selection, but there are great books included.

 

http://www.garlicpress.com/literature

[mc26]

I used The Hobbit and Greek Myths from the 11-13 curriculum, and Poetry, Tall Tales,The Cay, My Side of the Mountain, Hugo Cabret, and Lincoln from 9-11.  I would recommend them.  We didn't do every activity (we use other grammar and vocab), some of the assignments we did orally, and most of the books we did as read-alouds.  I liked them, the kids didn't complain too much and it broadened our horizons a bit in terms of lit selections.  

[Cottonwood]

I think they are the bee's knees. LOL  Last year, DD did all of the 11-13 and this year she is doing the 12-14 units.  DS is doing 11-13 this year.  They are literature based with lots of projects and other methods of learning the concept.  Ten units in a school year, though is very, very hard to do because the work is pretty rigorous.  Busy work is minimal I'd say.  There might be some here and there but I don't think it's the norm.  My kids have really done very well and become solid writers using this curriculum..

 

It's very individual as to how many you'd get done in a year, but I'd say between 6 and 8 are much more reasonable than the 10 they give per level.  On the website you can check each unit for skills in that unit and decide from there.

[ondreeuh]

I think they are awesome. We used half of the 9-11 units, all but one of 10-12, and are using 6 or 7 from 11-13 this year. Busy work ... yes, some (at least it is busywork for my kid). I cut it out. The last unit we did (A Single Shard) had lots of filler to stretch it out to three weeks, like making kimchi and painting pottery. Some kids love that stuff, but mine wants to read, do the LA stuff, and move on. Other units, like the one for The Hobbit, had so much reading that there was a lot less filler (but I do remember one about creating your own mythical creature). We do the LA assignments (grammar, composition, literary elements), most of the context stuff (learning about the author or the time period), and none of the crafts because my kid hates that stuff. What I love most are the essays that are assigned, because the writing process is very clearly laid out with lots of structure and graphic organizers. The student is prepped through the unit to be ready to write the essay. Some units have other final projects, and I'll usually sub my own essay. The organizers can be reused for later assignments. I've used the sheets for compare/contrast essays, narratives, and descriptive essays more than once. I also use Essentials in Writing, but tend to alternate between the programs and use EIW for writing about history or science. There is a lot of overlap but my kid needs all the help he can get! He just finished up a compare/contrast essay for A Single Shard, and will now write an expository essay for history before he writes another essay in 3 weeks when we finish the Middle Ages lit unit. I think the final project for that one doesn't include an essay, so I might have him write a descriptive essay using the MBTP sheets we used for The Pearl or the EIW sheets.

[Saraswati]

Build Your Library might be another option:

 

http://buildyourlibrary.com/