Jump to content

Menu

Recommended Posts

Posted

Yes, this is for the year after next but we're already dreaming about it :-). We're thinking of breaking away from our norm for 7th/8th and really allowing her to pursue interests.

 

She's VERY eager to read Austen, Gaskell, Bronte, etc. I've wanted to hold off because of the romantic focus... We've tried to give her the time and space to find herself apart from romantic aspirations, and she has. I feel like she'll have the maturity and sense to enjoy them without getting caught up in hyper-fantasizing/romanticizing her own life. Thoughts?

 

She's done Ambleside mostly, is very well read, and definitely capable of high school work. She's read quite a bit of Shakespeare and Dickens, and is overall relatively familiar with British history.

 

Should we do an overview of all of British History for the year? Or should we focus on the Romantic/Victorian Eras only? I really want it to be more comprehensive and inclusive than we will have the space for in later years. The rest of her plate is relatively light these next couple of years so we feel like it's perfect time.

 

Has anyone done something similar and have a schedule/book list to share? Anyone have fun ideas or don't miss authors/poets?

 

I have my Romantic/Victorian lit schedules from college and I'm thinking I could essentially just use those as a starting point. But I wanted to ask here and hear your thoughts.

  • Like 1
Posted

My daughter has enjoyed reading Lacey's Great Tales in English History this year with her Great Conversations class (8th grade) at Wilson Hill.  The stories are short and entertaining.  You can probably find samples of the text at amazon.

 

I seem to remember that Sonlight has/used to have a year of British Literature.  You might check that out for ideas as well.

  • Like 2
Posted

We used the Galore Park History for Common Entrance this year. The three books cover from 1066 to the 1940s or so. If you are selective about the assignments, it's very doable to do all three in one year, even though it's officially a 3 year course. We did this along with LLoLoTR, several versions of Arthurian legends, Robin Hood, and similar stuff for a kid who adores fantasy. She's also, now, reading Mercedes Lackey's fantasy series that basically is "What if there were Elves supporting the British monarchy". It's been a fun year :)

  • Like 4
Posted

It might be fun to group some pieces together. A couple of examples:

 

Gaskell's North and South and Dickens' Hard Times give you the opening to discuss industrialization, changing views on class distinctions, and women in the period. You'd review the history of those two novels together.

 

You could study the key points in a Gothic novel. Then use Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Northanger Abbey to discuss how the Gothic elements were used (and made fun of, in Austen's case).

 

Just a thought. Sounds so fun :)

  • Like 2
Posted

Sounds fun! You might look at The Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland for a spine to build around. It goes from ancients to the 21st century.

  • Like 2
Posted

Our home-based lit is very unschooly. I wanted to plan a much more thorough British Lit study with history and poetry but we ended up following kiddo's lead and focusing on three periods: Shakespeare, 19th Century and 20th Century. Our analysis used the following Great Courses as jumping off points.

 

  1. How to Read and Understand Shakespeare presented by Prof. Marc Conner, PhD                
  2. Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques presented by Prof. James Hynes
  3. Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature presented by Prof. Thomas Shippey, PhD

We also used movies and BBC productions after I felt that we had sufficiently covered textual analysis. We didn't try to analyze the movies very much (with the exception of Hamlet). Those were just fun additions for family movie nights.

 

HTH!

  • Like 1
Posted

Great suggestions-- our booklist is growing fast! How many novels would you all suggest? I always plan too much. DD is a crazy avid reader, so I'm thinking maybe 8-12 assigned and discussed, and then a long list of free reads?

Posted

Great suggestions-- our booklist is growing fast! How many novels would you all suggest? I always plan too much. DD is a crazy avid reader, so I'm thinking maybe 8-12 assigned and discussed, and then a long list of free reads?

This is what I do: a book per month + assignments.

This is for our mothertongue

  • Like 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...