Core 100 but swapping the lit for Core 400 lit (American Lit)

[ktgrok]

I know a lot of people think the Core 100 is too light for high school. But usually they cite the literature, which I agree is too light, especially as this would be for 10th grade. But....what if I swap out the literature, and use the American Literature that comes with Core 400? The IGs for history and literature are separate, so I should be able to do that without an issue.

 

Oh, and I think we will actually go with Bookshark's version that is coming out, and is planned on a 4 day a week plan. We will use the 5th day for documentaries and/or primary sources, etc. 

[Julie of KY]

I think you could do the history portion of core 100 with any literature you want (including core 400).

 

Adding documentaries/primary sources would significantly bump the level of history as well.

[ktgrok]

I think you could do the history portion of core 100 with any literature you want (including core 400).

 

Adding documentaries/primary sources would significantly bump the level of history as well.

 

The hard part will be finding documentaries we haven't used  already. Although.....we haven't watched the Ken Burns Civil War series...that would be fantastic. And the Roosevelts was really good too. Ooh, and the American Parks one!

[Lori D.]

I know a lot of people think the Core 100 is too light for high school. But usually they cite the literature, which I agree is too light, especially as this would be for 10th grade. But....what if I swap out the literature, and use the American Literature that comes with Core 400? The IGs for history and literature are separate, so I should be able to do that without an issue.

 

Oh, and I think we will actually go with Bookshark's version that is coming out, and is planned on a 4 day a week plan. We will use the 5th day for documentaries and/or primary sources, etc. 

 

I'm assuming you're still planning on just using the SL core 400 as a list to choose from, and not try and do all those works? As I recall from your other thread, one of your concerns was overload (too many works of literature), so you wanted to just pick and choose from the list. Below is what the Reading-Literature portion of SL400 contains.

 

JMO: to not overload your Literature for a 10th grader -- who, from your previous post, is not that interested in Lit., prefers more modern Lit., and who doesn't like to be assigned reading  ;) -- I'd go with:

 

- read Black Like Me, and shift the rest of selections in the non-fiction section into History or "free reading of personal interest"

- his choice, 6 of the 9 novels (read/discuss/analyze/write about)

- selections from 3 of the 4 short story collections (read/discuss/analyze/write about)

- both plays (I'd probably watch rather than read, and then discuss/analyze/write about)

- selected poems

 

If you need some substitutions, some 20th century American authors/works DS might enjoy:

- To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)

- something by Hemingway (Old Man and the Sea, Farewell to Arms)

- something by Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes)

- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey)

- Call of the Wild, or, White Fang (London)

- Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)

- Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin)

- A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller)

- Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut)

 

I think I'd still opt for outsourcing to an online class with contemporary and/or sci-fi Lit. to let an outside teacher hold his feet to the fire to get him reading, discussing, writing this next year, but that's probably because I'm getting to be that teacher this year  ;) , with a local homeschool students, many who have been reluctant discussers and writers, and we are having some *super* classes together! :)

 

BEST of luck, whatever you go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

SL400 READING-LITERATURE:

 

Teaching Resources

Elements of Style

How To Read A Book

On Writing Well

Teaching a Stone to Talk (essays discussing Dickinson's poems and Thoreau's writings)

 

Non-Fiction

Black Like Me

Up From Slavery (biography -- great for History rather than Lit.)

Brave Companions (biographies -- great for History rather than Lit.)

Outliers (non-fiction anecdotal -- great for personal interest rather than Lit.)

Evidence Not Seen (missionary biography -- great for Inspirational/Devotional rather than Lit.)

 

Novels

A Separate Peace (a lot like The Chosen in some ways)

The Chosen (a lot like Separate Peace in some ways)

Their Eyes Were Watching God (female protagonist)

Jacob Have I Loved  (female protagonist)

My Antonia  (female protagonist)

Ender's Game (sci-fi)

The Scarlet Letter (classic -- the first section ("Custom House" intro) is *really* a slog)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (classic -- more serious/less humorous than Tom Sawyer)

The Grapes of Wrath (classic -- horribly long and depressing)

 

Short Story Collections

Teaching a Stone to Talk

Best Short Stories of O. Henry

The Portable Poe

Fidelity

 

Plays

Death of a Salesman

Our Town

 

Poetry

100 Best-Loved Poems

[ktgrok]

Thank you for the suggestions!  I do plan to drop some, which is easier because he's already read Huckleberry Finn and Ender's Game. I have never read Antonia, so maybe we will drop that one, lol. And I like the idea of watching the plays instead of reading them!!  He likes short stories so I'm not too worried about those, and honestly, a lot of the books in this core are my favorites. I adore A Separate Peace and the Chosen and already have them on our shelves, lol. And remember liking Jacob have I loved, so I will probably keep that. And we live a few minutes away from the Zora Neal Hurston house and museum, so I'd like him to read Their Eyes Were Watching God. The Grapes of Wrath isdespressing, but I know DH really likes it and they have similar taste in books so that may end up being something he likes too.

 

So dropping Huck Finn. That gives him 6 less books, for free reading time. I might drop Jacob Have I Loved as well, actually.....or replace it with something from Core 100. Oh, and we are dropping Sacajawea from the history part as he's already read that one. And really, he can do free reading while we work on the short stories too....his complaint was he didn't like two books going at once, but that's less of an issue with a short story. And honestly, the dude can just read ahead if he wants. 

 

I do think most of these books are the type he will like, or at least read easily. The one he won't like as much is The Scarlett Letter, but that one's important and I really think it's the only one that will be harder for him. Oh, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, maybe. 

 

I probably will have him read some of the books from Core 100 for summer reading. Not Call of the Wild though...he's fine with people dying or being beaten but couldn't handle a dog being beaten or being hungry. No one in our house will be reading Sounder either, lol. I'm still traumatized from Where the Red Fern Grows when I read it in elementary school. 

[Mom22ns]

Oh, and we are dropping Sacajawea from the history part as he's already read that one. And really, he can do free reading while we work on the short stories too....his complaint was he didn't like two books going at once, but that's less of an issue with a short story. And honestly, the dude can just read ahead if he wants. 

 

When we do SL, the kids read one book at a time. They've done 4 cores, including Core 100, that way. When we did elementary Cores, we had a read-aloud and a reader going at all times, but they never did two readers at once. I just lined the books up in historical order and each time they finished one, I handed them the next one. 

[ondreeuh]

I think your plan sounds fine. Are you going to use a guide for discussion and assignments or make your own?

 

We are doing Bookshark 8 next year and literature from Moving Beyond the Page 12-14. I love MBtP literature because they include grammar and composition instruction. The two programs line up very well, as long as history gets a head start. I'm leaving out the unit for Einstein (Story of Science). I've added in some books (in italics) that are going to be on the shelf but not necessarily scheduled. Maybe we'll watch the movie for some of those.

 

1. The First Americans

(When the Legends Die)

 

2. Making Thirteen Colonies

(The Glory Field)

 

3. From Colonies to Countries

(MBtP Abigail Adams)

(Fever 1793)

(My Brother Sam is Dead)

 

4. The New Nation

(MBtP Animal Farm)

 

5. Liberty for All?

(MBtP Huck Finn)

 

6. War, Terrible War

(MBtP Elijah of Buxton)

(Rifles for Watie)

 

7. Reconstructing America

(MBtP The House of the Scorpion)

(Dragon's Gate)

 

8. An Age of Extremes

(MBtP Watership Down)

 

9. War, Peace, and All That Jazz

(MBtP The Book Thief)

(Farewell to Manzanar)

 

10. All the People

(MBtP To Kill a Mockingbird)

(The Outsiders)

 

(MBtP. 101 Great American Poets)

[ktgrok]

When we do SL, the kids read one book at a time. They've done 4 cores, including Core 100, that way. When we did elementary Cores, we had a read-aloud and a reader going at all times, but they never did two readers at once. I just lined the books up in historical order and each time they finished one, I handed them the next one. 

 

Sorry, what I meant was that he said he never had time to do free reading, because he always had a sonlight book going. He didn't want to be reading a sonlight book AND another, free reading book. So I want to leave him a few gaps. 

[Lori D.]

Yea! That sounds like a good plan! Enjoy your American History/American Lit. year! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.