How many books do we need to study in grade 9 English?

[AmyontheFarm]

My son wanted to tackle World Literature.  He loves history, like this hive likes cupcakes and kilts and Susan.

 

Listed below are the books that are listed in the guide I picked up.

If my son had stayed in the school system he would have been in the spec ed room because of fine and large motor issues.  So he wouldn't have been in a regular classroom. He loves to read and he can read and comprehend at a grade 13 level according to the testing done.  He's been wanting to start reading some of these books but I told him to keep his hands off because they were for high school.

 

He however is a terrible writer.  Like grade 4.  He can piece together an essay because I've been beating it into his head for four years.  But it does take at least a month.  The guide says he should be writing essays for each of these books.  Lord help me!  That will never happen.

 

My eldest two kids when through the local school system in a regular classroom and they did 1 Shakespeare, 2 novels and 2 short stories and a poem.    Do I follow the spine or do I just select a book from each time period theme and have him write an essay on that book.  Which would still be 12 essays. :svengo:

 

Themes of Study            Books to be studied

 

Sumerian, Egyptian and Hebrew Literature  -    Gilgamesh Epic, Esther  

Anciet Greece -  The Iliad,  The Odyssey,   Rhetoric and Poetics,   Histories,   The Republic,   The Death of Socrates Oedipus Rex  

Anciet Rome  - The Aeneid,  Meditations  

Early Church History - Didache,  Confessions  

Japanese Literature 

Indian Literature 

Persian & Arabic Literature

Chinese Literature

Middle Ages - Shakespeare,    Poema del Cid     

Romanticism -  Faust    

Realism  - War & Peace,  Short Stories,   A Doll's House,   Crime & Punishment  

Modern - The Stranger,  All Quiet on the Western Front,   Nectar in a Sieve,   Cry the Beloved Country  

 

[Harriet Vane]

I count 23 works on that list. War and Peace alone is a really big book. Are some of those works handled as selections rather than the full work?

[regentrude]

There is no rule how many books have to be covered.

Your list is very big and I can see it doable only with a fast strong reader.

I'd rather read less and go deeper.

 

FWIW, I do not make my kids write an essay about everything they read.

 

ETA: But I also would never tell a child not to read a book he wants to read because I am saving it for high school. Why can't he read what he wants? There will still be plenty left.

[AmyontheFarm]

ETA: But I also would never tell a child not to read a book he wants to read because I am saving it for high school. Why can't he read what he wants? There will still be plenty left.

 

Because he had 3 other 8 foot tall shelves of books he could read!  He takes off with the books and then I can't find them for a while, which means I can't plan and read the books ahead of him.  Trust me, this was just a case of he wanted what he couldn't have.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I also think this is a pretty hefty reading list.  Just as an example, my son and I did an ancient literature course this year.  We spent a full semester on ancient Greek lit and only had time for selections of Iliad and Odyssey along with lyric poets, rhetoric, history and drama.  We had weekly quizzes and four 3-5 page papers. 

 

You might consider letting him take a few of the books as personal reading that doesn't then have to be written on.  That would scratch his yearning for the books and also reduce the overall list.

 

Given the fact that he is still learning to write essays, I might also reduce the overall assigned reading load in favor of having a little more time for writing.  That doesn't mean than he needs to write an essay on every single book.  But he should have as a goal turning out an essay with revisions in a week or less.  (This is a goal to move toward, not something he should have to do at the beginning.)  You might need to encourage him to complete rough drafts more quickly so that you can go over them and guide his revisions.  (One of my sons has real perfectionist tendencies in his writing.  It slows him way down.  He has to be forced to write a rough and dirty first draft than can be molded and revised.)

 

[bTW, on most standardized tests when they give a grade level, it means that the student scored as well as a student of the indicated grade would have on the same questions.  So for example an 8th grader takes an 8th grade test and gets a 12th grade score.  Than means he did as well as a 12th grader would have on the 8th grade questions.  It doesn't necessarily mean that he is working on a 12th grade level.]

 

 

[AmyontheFarm]

After a quick discussion.  We've shortened it down to:

 

1 Gilgamesh Epic

2 World View

3 Esther

4 The Iliad

5 The Odyssey

6 The Aeneid

7 Didache

8 Japanese Literature

9 Indian Literature

10 Shakespeare

11 All Quiet on the Western Front

12 Cry the Beloved Country

 

 

 

[regentrude]

Don't skip the Odyssey of all things.

The Aeneid will make a lot more sense after the Odyssey (Virgil plagiarizes shamelessly), and there are countless literary references to the Odyssey. I'd cut something else, anything. At least have him read it.

[Trilliums]

One of my kids is in public high school. Even for the honors classes they do not write an essay on everything they read . They do, however, have to at least have a writing journal for everything they read. They have to make observations on different aspects of the novel. This helped my more reluctant writer develop stronger writing skills. It is less pressure thsn a formal essay.

[Harriet Vane]

After a quick discussion.  We've shortened it down to:

 

1 Gilgamesh Epic

2 World View

3 Esther

4 The Iliad

5 The Odyssey

6 The Aeneid

7 Didache

8 Japanese Literature

9 Indian Literature

10 Shakespeare

11 All Quiet on the Western Front

12 Cry the Beloved Country

 

Great list, and very doable.

 

[8filltheheart]

Glad to see War and Peace off your list. We started it in Jan and are just finishing it. It is a lengthy work and I have a hard time keeping up bc it is a huge time commitment. We have thoroughly enjoyed it, but I cannot see it as being a top choice for a student with a limited literary background. My dd is very wide read and lis considering a Russian major, otherwise I would never have made this choice.

[Julie of KY]

As others have said, don't make him write about everything. You can do reading and discussion without writing.

 

I'd limit the writing to a few good polished papers. I think it is better to do a smaller amount of writing, go through the editing process and end up with a quality piece (and take the time you need to do it). Over time of working on the writing process, your son with improve and speed up, but if he's at "fourth grade" level, I wouldn't expect him to make huge jumps suddenly.

 

Add some unpolished paragraphs to improve speed.

[Hot Lava Mama]

 

[bTW, on most standardized tests when they give a grade level, it means that the student scored as well as a student of the indicated grade would have on the same questions.  So for example an 8th grader takes an 8th grade test and gets a 12th grade score.  Than means he did as well as a 12th grader would have on the 8th grade questions.  It doesn't necessarily mean that he is working on a 12th grade level.]

 

Wow!  I did not know this!  I always wondered about that because my kids would get scores higher than their grade level, but I didn't think they were necessarily working at that grade level.  It all makes sense, now!  :)

Hot Lava Mama

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Wow!  I did not know this!  I always wondered about that because my kids would get scores higher than their grade level, but I didn't think they were necessarily working at that grade level.  It all makes sense, now!  :)

Hot Lava Mama

 

There are some tests that would give you an actual report of what grade level the kid works on.  But those typically need to have a wider spectrum of questions so that they get harder as the student continues to test.  I think a general rule of thumb would be if you order the test by grade level (like Stanford or ITBS or CAT) then it isn't going to give you a grade level of work report but will compare their score to a more advanced student on the same questions.

 

If I remember correctly Woodcock Johnson is one that just keeps going.

 

The reverse of the situation would be tests like the ACT and SAT where most test takers are in spring of junior year or fall of senior year.  So you would want to seek out a curve that listed percentages for younger students in order to get a good idea of how an early tester did.  Talent search programs usually send out a percentile scale for 7th or 8th graders.  I've also found one for the SAT for sophomores.

[Hot Lava Mama]

There are some tests that would give you an actual report of what grade level the kid works on.  But those typically need to have a wider spectrum of questions so that they get harder as the student continues to test.  I think a general rule of thumb would be if you order the test by grade level (like Stanford or ITBS or CAT) then it isn't going to give you a grade level of work report but will compare their score to a more advanced student on the same questions.

 

If I remember correctly Woodcock Johnson is one that just keeps going.

 

The reverse of the situation would be tests like the ACT and SAT where most test takers are in spring of junior year or fall of senior year.  So you would want to seek out a curve that listed percentages for younger students in order to get a good idea of how an early tester did.  Talent search programs usually send out a percentile scale for 7th or 8th graders.  I've also found one for the SAT for sophomores.

 

Thanks for that information.  We do use the Stanford test.  That is one of those "loose strings" (to quote the lovable Colombo) that I had not tied up yet.  :)