High school literature

[coloradomomof5]

Can someone recommend a high school lit for my 9th grader? He does not care for Sonlight. I am open to online as well as at home options. All inclusive would be great. We already have grammar and writing...

[freesia]

We like to do Windows to the World for a semester.

 

I think Illuminating Literature by Sharon Watson looks good.

[Lori D.]

Movies as Literature
(gr. 7-10); Christian but can be used secularly; can be done as 1 semester or as 1 year; written to the student. Very gentle beginning analysis of films, which is a great stepping stone to then analyzing literature. Covers 17 movies with background info, teaching information, guided questions, writing assignment ideas. To see more: Cathy Duffy review.

Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings
(gr. 7-10); secular, with an appendix covering Christian elements; 1 year course,  written to the student; can be done solo, or with a parent. Very gentle beginning literature/literary analysis program, great for students who love fantasy and/or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Covers the 3 books of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in depth; some analysis of excerpts of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and some analysis of poetry. A writing assignment idea about every 2 weeks, but no writing instruction, guidance, or grading rubrics. Some "busy work" aspects (chapter summaries and vocab). Includes, for each chapter:
*fill-in-the-blank chapter summary questions (basic comprehension)
*vocubulary worksheets and quizzes
*detailed notes which cover in depth: background information, themes, and literary elements and analysis, etc.
*comprehension questions (basic discussion)
To see more: table of contents; samples.

Windows to the World
(gr. 8-12); Christian perspective; 1 semester course -- can add the Jill Pike syllabus (which covers 3 longer works) to turn it into a 1-year program. A great program for beginning literature studies and literary analysis. Teaches annotation, and then how to write a literary analysis essay through studying 6 classic short stories and using your annotations as the essay supports. Also covers 8-10 of the most frequently used literary devices and how they are at work in the stories. Detailed teaching information, written to the student. Detailed teacher manual -- includes answers. Includes exercises and writing assignments. To see more: samples and table of contents; Jill Pike syllabus extension; Cathy Duffy review.

Lightning Literature and Composition
(gr. 9-12); Christian author, used mostly secular; 1 semester courses; written to the student and done mostly solo by the student. Each program is broken down into units, covering a variety of types of works (novel, short stories, poetry, essay or biography). Each unit includes background of author/times, a main literature lesson with teaching text on a literary element and analysis of the work covered, and info and choice of writing assignment ideas. Option of also purchasing Hewitt Homeschooling's grading service. Programs include:
*American Lit (early 19th century; late 19th century; Christian authors)
*British Lit (medieval; early 19th century; late 19th century; Christian authors)
*World Lit (Africa and Asia; Latin America and Africa and Asia)
*Shakespeare (comedies and sonnets; tragedies and sonnets)
To see more: overview; click on each link on this page to see each program's table of contents and samples.

Excellence in Literature
(gr. 8-12); Christian author, used mostly secular; 1 year course, written to the student, although some parent guidance needed. Each program divided into 9 units, covering a variety of works (novels, plays, short stories). Links student to articles and information about the author/times/work. Covers complete works (rather than excerpts). See: Cathy Duffy review. Options:
*English I = Intro to Literature
*English II = Literature and Composition
*English III = American Lit
*English IV = British Lit
*English V = World Lit

BJU Literature
(gr. 9-12); Christian; 1 year courses; requires a fair amount of teacher time -- not a solo/independent program. Read excerpts, not complete works. Covers a variety of works, textbook-based, lots of teaching info on analysis and background on author/times/works. Teacher manual with answers and discussion questions. See Cathy Duffy review. Options: 
Fundamentals of Lit (gr. 9)
Elements of Lit (gr. 10)
American Lit (gr. 11)
British Lit (gr. 12); 

Learning Language Arts Through Literature: Gold
(gr. 9-12); 1 semester programs; written to the student and done largely solo. Designed as a basic outline for a student to independently go deeper on their own. Covers complete works (not excerpts), and a variety of works -- American Lit. covers 10 short stories, 10 poets, 3 novellas; British Lit. covers 3 novels, 2 novellas, 12 poets. For each work (or unit), includes: brief background on the author/work/times; a few basic comprehension questions; 1-2 discussion questions; several writing assignment ideas to choose from -- no writing instruction, guidance, or grading rubric; little to no teaching of literary elements and analysis; answers included. To see table of contents and samples American Lit; British Lit; Cathy Duffy review.

Additional Literature guides/programs
Essentials in Literature (secular) currently only gr. 8, but more to follow
Illuminating Literature (Christian) in-process, but eventually four 1-year programs --  Cathy Duffy review
Stobaugh Literature courses (Christian) three 1-year programs (American, British, World Lit) -- Cathy Duffy review
SMARR (Christian) four 1-year programs (ancients, medieval, renaissance to romanticism, realism to modern) -- Cathy Duffy review

Specialized Lit. programs/guides
Classical Academic Press: Art of Poetry (Christian) -- poetry
Progeny Press: Intro to Poetry: Forms and Elements (Christian) -- poetry
How to Read a Poem (Runyan) (secular) -- poetry
Classical Conversations: Words Aptly Spoken: Short Stories (Christian) -- short stories -- Cathy Duffy review

Literature Guides for Individual Works
Reader's Odyssey (Christian) -- guide for how to set up your own Literature program; Cathy Duffy review
Progeny Press (Christian)
The Great Books (guided discussion of Christian worldview, rather than literary analysis)
Discovering Literature: challenger level series (secular)
Portals to Literature (secular)
Glencoe Literary Library (free online guides; secular)
Penguin (free teacher guides online; secular)

Online Classes:
The Potter's School
Brave Writer (gr. 9-12 classes: Shakespeare; Literary Analysis; Boomerang Book club; Movie Discussion club)
Captive Thought Tutorials (Intro to Lit, Amer. Lit, British Lit, Jane Austen, CS Lewis)
Center for Lit (Poetry; American Lit; British Lit; World Lit; British)
classical providers: Scholars Online; Veritas Scholars; Well-Trained Mind Academy, Harvey Center for Online Study, etc.

Past Threads on High School Literature
Great Books study -- what resources are you using?
Need a Literature Guide for any book
So what is a good program for teaching lit. analysis
What Do You Use To Learn About The Worldview Expressed In A Particular Book
How do you "do" literature? And balance/schedule writing assignments?
*Not* outsourcing high school English -- what are you using at home
Excellence in Literature Intro vs. Oak Meadow Hero's Journey
Teaching the Classics vs. Excellence in Literature
Adventures in Literature
Read with the Best Literature Curriculum - reviews?
Windows to the World vs. Read with the Best
Shakespeare study

Edited February 8, 2021 by Lori D.

[coloradomomof5]

Lots to look at and think about. Thx!!

[Amateur Actress]

Thank you, Lori D.! This is a really helpful list!

[purplelily]

A few more to help learn about literature:

 

http://www.eternalargument.com

https://guidinglighths.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/schoolhouse-review-analytical-grammar-the-eternal-argument-hsreviews/

 

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Literature-Like-Professor/dp/0062301675

 

http://www.amazon.com/Deconstructing-Penguins-Parents-Kids-Reading/dp/0812970284

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Illuminating Literature by Sharon Watson  - My 9th grader is just completing this and has absolutely loved it!

[Brad S]

We're finishing up 9th grade using a Great Books approach, similar to what SWB talks about in the WTM.  After buying some of the books and getting some at the library, I finally ordered a used, previous edition copy of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, Shorter Version, for a few bucks.  I also ordered the instructor's guide. It's intended as an introductory college series, but we found it perfect for 9th grade; my DS started as a good reader, but I think he's really developed tremendously this year.  The Norton Anthology has brief background on the author and work, but it's mostly reading the great works -- we discuss and DS has accompanying writing assignments.  I like how they've abridged most works -- enough so that DS gets the flavor of authors we can't read the full works, and including major non-Western authors.  We'll probably do the world literature in a three-year cycle instead of the four-year cycle in the WTM, mostly by compressing medieval and Renaissance. 

 

There are some writing assignment ideas in the Norton Anthology's Instructor's Guide; if you're really stumped, you could assign something on whether the work is relevant today or not (yeah, not real creative, but it's worked for us a few times).

 

For individual works, you could go to free online guides, some listed in a previous post by Lori D., in the thread she listed below under "Need a Literature Guide for any book"; her same post includes some other DIY resources.

 

 

Past Threads on High School Literature

Great Books study -- what resources are you using?

Need a Literature Guide for any book

 

 

A Great Books program is a bit more challenging for the parent, but it is doable for a lot of families, and IMO it's a deeper and broader education than what I've seen in most pre-packaged programs.  It's been a great experience for us so far, and I think my DS is getting a terrific education out of it ... another approach to consider.
 

[Harriet Vane]

Heartily agree with Lori's post. Listen to her--she knows.

[busymama7]

Illuminating Literature by Sharon Watson - My 9th grader is just completing this and has absolutely loved it!

I'm looking this over and seem to like what I'm seeing. We really get bogged down with what we deem busy work. Is there much of it? (For example we liked the literary lessons with lord of the rings but did feel it was too heavy on busy work and eliminated a lot)

 

Also, are there a good amount of longer essay writing assignments? I struggle with topics for essay assignments. One 5 paragraph essay per book on a choice of topics would be about right for us.

 

Thanks!

Edited May 31, 2016 by busymama7

[mschickie]

I would suggest just picking 4-5 book (he can have a say in it) and do a literature guide (Novel Units and Progeny Press are good ones).  This way he can be reading books he might actually enjoy. 

[Haiku]

We will be using Oak Meadow's The Hero's Journey. My dd thought the books and samples looked interesting. We're just purchasing the course book and the writer's handbook that OM publishes and getting the rest of the books used/from the library.

[EppieJ]

For 9th grade we used WriteShop 1. http://writeshop.com/writeshop-i-ii-overview/ That went pretty well, although my creative writer couldn't see why he had to do assignments the way they were set up :001_rolleyes:  "It stifles my creativity!" Which, really, it doesn't. He just wants to write the way he wants to write, never mind practicing different techniques. Ah well.

 

For 10th we're using Lightning Lit Speech and Early American Lit. We'll see how that goes! :tongue_smilie:

 

Something else you might venture a peek at is Writer's Jungle. It seems to have some good stuff in it. Although, as I re-read your post, I see you already have writing.... http://www.bravewriter.com/

[Guest]

I'm looking this over and seem to like what I'm seeing. We really get bogged down with what we deem busy work. Is there much of it? (For example we liked the literary lessons with lord of the rings but did feel it was too heavy on busy work and eliminated a lot)

 

Also, are there a good amount of longer essay writing assignments? I struggle with topics for essay assignments. One 5 paragraph essay per book on a choice of topics would be about right for us.

 

Thanks!

 

There really isn't much that I would call busy work, but there is enough (discussion questions) that you can pick and choose. The student is to select an activity to complete for each book read. The activities might include writing a short story, watching the movie, creating an art project, or writing a song. I make these activities optional. Dd has probably completed an activity for maybe four of the eight books. Since there are pleny of questions and discussion, she typically has chosen an art project or watching the movie. You won't find much essay writing.  We have a separate writing curriculum that we use alongside Illuminating Lit.

[Guest]

I also would like to add that Illuminating Lit. is written to the student. The lessons are broken down in the workbook, so the student knows just what to do each day. This is not a teacher intensive lit. program. The teacher manual has all of the answers to the discussion questions, etc... Very open and go. :)

[busymama7]

I also would like to add that Illuminating Lit. is written to the student. The lessons are broken down in the workbook, so the student knows just what to do each day. This is not a teacher intensive lit. program. The teacher manual has all of the answers to the discussion questions, etc... Very open and go. :)

So it is intended as a jumping off point for discussions? I like the online quizzes aspect. I would prefer to have lit and witting wrapped up together instead of having to do two different programs. He's had a few years of IEW so has structure down. Just needs things to write about and I'm a streamlined homeschooler and would prefer they were writing about history or lit and not other topics

[RootAnn]

Excellence in Literature has writing assignments built in and is good if you've already got the format down. Bonus if you've used IEW, but it isn't required. You can choose your books because of the different levels.

 

Lori's post has links.

[texasmama]

I just finished a year of teaching 9th-10th graders English using the Jill Pike syllabus and Windows to the World in a co-op setting.  It is a great literature analysis program using short stories to begin with and moving to longer works.  I elected not to use Jane Eyre and substituted Frankenstein.  I am unfamiliar with IEW's writing program but was able to use the writing instruction in WttW with no problem.  It is a very well-done foundational course on literary analysis.  The writing assignments were not onerous.  

Edited May 31, 2016 by texasmama