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28 minutes ago, calbear said:

@crazyforlatin

for GC at rhetoric level, she said something about 2 papers per semester. She said the specific requirements can vary by teacher, but she said 3 to 5 pages when I asked what kind of paper is expected.

This is more manageable than CRLC's which seems to expect some sort of paper each week. If we didn’t need a Lit Analysis class, I could go with CLRC's but with so many other subjects to learn, I don't think DD could handle too many writing assignments. 

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No experience with WHA’s GB, but from the descriptions above, CLRC’s GB classes involve much more writing. My DD is in GB 1 this year; they write a weekly 1-page summary/analysis of some aspect of the week’s reading, answer about 5 discussion questions on the week’s reading which are at least a well-developed paragraph each, and they write about 3 thesis-driven, cited essays (3-5 pages) per semester. The weekly reading load is quite intense. For example, they read the Iliad and the Odyssey in full by October. The teacher argues it can be given 3 credits: 1 composition, 1 literature, 1 history. Based on hours, I feel this is appropriate. The classes themselves are secular, though many of the students bring their Christian worldview into the discussions freely. I would never enroll my child in this class PLUS another writing or literature class. It would be overkill. I hope that helps.

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12 hours ago, lbell said:

WHA does not consider TGC1 a high school level class because they have tailored it to make it more appropriate for MS students.  My daughter started with TGC 1+4 in 9th grade.  How is TGC1 going?  My son will be in 7th grade next year and I'm trying to decided if he should do the live GC1 or the self-paced Omnibus 1.  I plan for him to take LA3 at  WHA and Latin 1, Writing & Rhetoric 4, and Pre-Algebra at Schole Academy.  I fear another online class will be too much.  If you think it's a lot better than the self-paced Omnibus 1, however, we can drop Writing & Rhetoric 4.

 

I might be a bad person to ask. I made the mistake of assuming good reader=good candidate for GC1. That is not always going to be true. He has done fine, but he has not enjoyed it. Some of the books are not hard at all (Chronicles of Narnia) and some are extremely challenging (the Greek Orestia and The Last Days of Socrates).  This is going to sound awful but I think my son is very "average" compared to the other 7th graders in his class. Some of them are really quite amazing. Their maturity, insight, and ability to understand what is really quite complex is really beyond what I have thought possible for a 7th grader. My son has been exposed to some really great discussion and writing by his peers. However, despite our years of writing and reading based on TWTM, he was just not "there" to really engage with some of these works. I come from a science and math background--"literature" was never my strong point. So when I looked at the list of books, I thought--"Wow, that looks great!" Not, "Wow, those are high school books." 

I had asked around on here and talked to a parent about how the class was run, how much time the reading took, etc. but I neglected to understand the key question I needed to really ask, which was--is my child mature enough to really comprehend these works?  I don't think our year is a total loss. It's been good for him to understand how to navigate an online class, he has had to keep up with assignments and he has had to interact with other students. Also as I mentioned the other students' level of understanding is quite remarkable, so that is something that I feel could only be a positive influence. However, this is just not a class for "my" kid.  I am kind of sad saying that because I really wanted a Great Books education for my kid. But in 7th grade--it was too soon. And now I have to shuffle around things to figure out what we will do, because WHA appears to be off the table for us now. 

To answer your question about workload, it can be heavy at times. Some of the works (the Greek plays like Agamemnon) can take a long time to read, but we only had one week to read them in. If I was to do that particular week over, I would have used audio books, which is what we are doing for The Last Days of Socrates. If at all possible, get ahead of the assigned reading.  My son usually spends at least 45 minutes a day on WHA reading and writing and he is not a slow reader.  

The writing assignments have been tricky for us. We have had a lot of writing but this year (7th) is our first year learning about writing a persuasive paper using a thesis.  All of his WHA writing assignments have been thesis-driven paragraphs or essays.  We are still learning how to write a decent thesis in response to the teacher's writing assignment. Sometimes the writing assignment is not provided in such a way to make it "easy" to develop an overarching thesis statement.  There are some students, particularly girls, in this class that are very advanced in their writing and honestly have amazed me at their ability to address some of these challenging themes (e.g. one of our questions was how does Telemachus become a man in The Odyssey and how does this compare to the Biblical definition of a man).  I never felt that we were behind to just be addressing thesis statements in 7th grade.  However, it does appear some of the other students have had this before somewhere (perhaps at WHA).  The other thing to note is that although this class does incorporate writing assignments, it is *not* a writing class, so you really don't get assistance from the teacher on the writing. There was one time when we were allowed to submit a draft so that he could look at our thesis statements and comment on them but that was several assignments in (and I am guessing because some of us were struggling).  Other than that, it's good to remember this class does not include writing instruction.

Currently our assignments look like this:

For today: Finish Til We have Faces (4 chapters), write "reading reflection" on the Canvas board (2-3 sentences or more), paper on Rationalism as evidenced by Fox's character in the book due this Saturday, read Euthyphro by Thursday with "reading reflection" due that day, read the next play (Apology?) in The Last Days of Socrates by Tuesday.  This feels like a pretty full week to me. I will not have him work on any of our "home" writing this week.

Sorry this is so long, but I really do hope it helps someone. 

Edited by cintinative
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The LA4 class (or whichever one is Fundamentals of Expository Writing) does a really good job of teaching writing a thesis-driven paper if anyone is interested in taking that before or concurrently with a GC class. (My kids have never taken a WHA GC class for many reasons, but I've had kids take FoEW & Fundamentals of Academic Writing (two different kids).)

The level of writing @cintinative describes in her son's GC class was not common (normal?) in either FoEW or FoAW a few years ago although there were a couple of good writers in each class.

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Just now, RootAnn said:

The LA4 class (or whichever one is Fundamentals of Expository Writing) does a really good job of teaching writing a thesis-driven paper if anyone is interested in taking that before or concurrently with a GC class. (My kids have never taken a WHA GC class for many reasons, but I've had kids take FoEW & Fundamentals of Academic Writing (two different kids).)

The level of writing @cintinative describes in her son's GC class was not common (normal?) in either FoEW or FoAW a few years ago although there were a couple of good writers in each class.

 

That's really interesting. I wonder if we ended up with a group of very advanced kids? I know I have done my best to prepare him for the writing, but I have been really quite amazed at some of these girls, especially. If I felt like it wouldn't break some sort of rule, I would paste one of their "reading reflections" here.  Even their "informal" assignment writing is quite mature.

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40 minutes ago, cintinative said:

 

I might be a bad person to ask. I made the mistake of assuming good reader=good candidate for GC1. That is not always going to be true. He has done fine, but he has not enjoyed it. Some of the books are not hard at all (Chronicles of Narnia) and some are extremely challenging (the Greek Orestia and The Last Days of Socrates).  This is going to sound awful but I think my son is very "average" compared to the other 7th graders in his class. Some of them are really quite amazing. Their maturity, insight, and ability to understand what is really quite complex is really beyond what I have thought possible for a 7th grader. My son has been exposed to some really great discussion and writing by his peers. However, despite our years of writing and reading based on TWTM, he was just not "there" to really engage with some of these works. I come from a science and math background--"literature" was never my strong point. So when I looked at the list of books, I thought--"Wow, that looks great!" Not, "Wow, those are high school books." 

I had asked around on here and talked to a parent about how the class was run, how much time the reading took, etc. but I neglected to understand the key question I needed to really ask, which was--is my child mature enough to really comprehend these works?  I don't think our year is a total loss. It's been good for him to understand how to navigate an online class, he has had to keep up with assignments and he has had to interact with other students. Also as I mentioned the other students' level of understanding is quite remarkable, so that is something that I feel could only be a positive influence. However, this is just not a class for "my" kid.  I am kind of sad saying that because I really wanted a Great Books education for my kid. But in 7th grade--it was too soon. And now I have to shuffle around things to figure out what we will do, because WHA appears to be off the table for us now. 

To answer your question about workload, it can be heavy at times. Some of the works (the Greek plays like Agamemnon) can take a long time to read, but we only had one week to read them in. If I was to do that particular week over, I would have used audio books, which is what we are doing for The Last Days of Socrates. If at all possible, get ahead of the assigned reading.  My son usually spends at least 45 minutes a day on WHA reading and writing and he is not a slow reader.  

The writing assignments have been tricky for us. We have had a lot of writing but this year (7th) is our first year learning about writing a persuasive paper using a thesis.  All of his WHA writing assignments have been thesis-driven paragraphs or essays.  We are still learning how to write a decent thesis in response to the teacher's writing assignment. Sometimes the writing assignment is not provided in such a way to make it "easy" to develop an overarching thesis statement.  There are some students, particularly girls, in this class that are very advanced in their writing and honestly have amazed me at their ability to address some of these challenging themes (e.g. one of our questions was how does Telemachus become a man in The Odyssey and how does this compare to the Biblical definition of a man).  I never felt that we were behind to just be addressing thesis statements in 7th grade.  However, it does appear some of the other students have had this before somewhere (perhaps at WHA).  The other thing to note is that although this class does incorporate writing assignments, it is *not* a writing class, so you really don't get assistance from the teacher on the writing. There was one time when we were allowed to submit a draft so that he could look at our thesis statements and comment on them but that was several assignments in (and I am guessing because some of us were struggling).  Other than that, it's good to remember this class does not include writing instruction.

Currently our assignments look like this:

For today: Finish Til We have Faces (4 chapters), write "reading reflection" on the Canvas board (2-3 sentences or more), paper on Rationalism as evidenced by Fox's character in the book due this Saturday, read Euthyphro by Thursday with "reading reflection" due that day, read the next play (Apology?) in The Last Days of Socrates by Tuesday.  This feels like a pretty full week to me. I will not have him work on any of our "home" writing this week.

Sorry this is so long, but I really do hope it helps someone. 

 

 

Thank  you for this. I am trying to decide between live online (possibly at WH) or a video based/self paced. My rising 9th grader is an average student, and I have often wondered if the Great Books path is best for her. She would thrive in a Sonlight core-- she absolutely loves those types of books . . . but I desperately want her to have a strong classical education . . . but I certainly do not want her to hate learning. I have played the line between both for so long trying to appeal to a love of learning and yet not close the door for further classical studies.  I guess the question here is do I jump ship and give up on having her complete a great books high school or maybe develop a halfway class for her like I have been doing . . .

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4 minutes ago, ByGrace3 said:

 

 

Thank  you for this. I am trying to decide between live online (possibly at WH) or a video based/self paced. My rising 9th grader is an average student, and I have often wondered if the Great Books path is best for her. She would thrive in a Sonlight core-- she absolutely loves those types of books . . . but I desperately want her to have a strong classical education . . . but I certainly do not want her to hate learning. I have played the line between both for so long trying to appeal to a love of learning and yet not close the door for further classical studies.  I guess the question here is do I jump ship and give up on having her complete a great books high school or maybe develop a halfway class for her like I have been doing . . .

My daughter jumped into TGC in 9th grade and she thinks her younger brother should start in 7th grade.  I don't think he is ready to discuss the books in depth, so I'm going to have him do self-paced Omnibus 1.   I think the live classes are better for students at the rhetoric level.  I'd highly recommend starting with TGC 3 with Mr. Etter.  It's not an honors level class and Mr. Etter's passion for literature & learning is infectious, and I think it's good to take it with their writing class.  My daughter's favorite year so far has been TGC 5 with Mr. Martin.  She will take TGC 6 next year.

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For anyone looking for a much lighter, more Literature-focused GB class, you might like Angelina Stanford's classes. 

Completely different than WHA, Wes Callihan, CLRC etc. 

Not history based as so many of the GB classes are, though she certainly sets the works in their historical contexts. She is teaching how to read closely. Short book list and time to think!  All literature, no non-fiction, political essays, treatises etc. Christian, not secular. 

Like Center for Lit, no/little output except discussion. Angelina does not teach writing. So not a full English credit, but a good backbone to build a course around. 

Plenty of her lectures online for free. She was on the Schole  Sisters podcast not so long ago. And on Pam Barnhill's podcast. And both Close Reads and The Play's the Thing podcasts. CiRCE talks too. 

 

Edited by ScoutTN
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31 minutes ago, lbell said:

My daughter jumped into TGC in 9th grade and she thinks her younger brother should start in 7th grade.  I don't think he is ready to discuss the books in depth, so I'm going to have him do self-paced Omnibus 1.   I think the live classes are better for students at the rhetoric level.  I'd highly recommend starting with TGC 3 with Mr. Etter.  It's not an honors level class and Mr. Etter's passion for literature & learning is infectious, and I think it's good to take it with their writing class.  My daughter's favorite year so far has been TGC 5 with Mr. Martin.  She will take TGC 6 next year.

 

@RootAnn and lbell sent you a PM with some of today's "reading reflections." I'm curious as to if you think they are what you expect for 7th grade. My son certainly hasn't achieved that level of maturity (as the others in that class).

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1 hour ago, cintinative said:

 

I might be a bad person to ask. I made the mistake of assuming good reader=good candidate for GC1. That is not always going to be true. He has done fine, but he has not enjoyed it. Some of the books are not hard at all (Chronicles of Narnia) and some are extremely challenging (the Greek Orestia and The Last Days of Socrates).  This is going to sound awful but I think my son is very "average" compared to the other 7th graders in his class. Some of them are really quite amazing. Their maturity, insight, and ability to understand what is really quite complex is really beyond what I have thought possible for a 7th grader. My son has been exposed to some really great discussion and writing by his peers. However, despite our years of writing and reading based on TWTM, he was just not "there" to really engage with some of these works. I come from a science and math background--"literature" was never my strong point. So when I looked at the list of books, I thought--"Wow, that looks great!" Not, "Wow, those are high school books." 

I had asked around on here and talked to a parent about how the class was run, how much time the reading took, etc. but I neglected to understand the key question I needed to really ask, which was--is my child mature enough to really comprehend these works?  I don't think our year is a total loss. It's been good for him to understand how to navigate an online class, he has had to keep up with assignments and he has had to interact with other students. Also as I mentioned the other students' level of understanding is quite remarkable, so that is something that I feel could only be a positive influence. However, this is just not a class for "my" kid.  I am kind of sad saying that because I really wanted a Great Books education for my kid. But in 7th grade--it was too soon. And now I have to shuffle around things to figure out what we will do, because WHA appears to be off the table for us now. 

To answer your question about workload, it can be heavy at times. Some of the works (the Greek plays like Agamemnon) can take a long time to read, but we only had one week to read them in. If I was to do that particular week over, I would have used audio books, which is what we are doing for The Last Days of Socrates. If at all possible, get ahead of the assigned reading.  My son usually spends at least 45 minutes a day on WHA reading and writing and he is not a slow reader.  

The writing assignments have been tricky for us. We have had a lot of writing but this year (7th) is our first year learning about writing a persuasive paper using a thesis.  All of his WHA writing assignments have been thesis-driven paragraphs or essays.  We are still learning how to write a decent thesis in response to the teacher's writing assignment. Sometimes the writing assignment is not provided in such a way to make it "easy" to develop an overarching thesis statement.  There are some students, particularly girls, in this class that are very advanced in their writing and honestly have amazed me at their ability to address some of these challenging themes (e.g. one of our questions was how does Telemachus become a man in The Odyssey and how does this compare to the Biblical definition of a man).  I never felt that we were behind to just be addressing thesis statements in 7th grade.  However, it does appear some of the other students have had this before somewhere (perhaps at WHA).  The other thing to note is that although this class does incorporate writing assignments, it is *not* a writing class, so you really don't get assistance from the teacher on the writing. There was one time when we were allowed to submit a draft so that he could look at our thesis statements and comment on them but that was several assignments in (and I am guessing because some of us were struggling).  Other than that, it's good to remember this class does not include writing instruction.

Currently our assignments look like this:

For today: Finish Til We have Faces (4 chapters), write "reading reflection" on the Canvas board (2-3 sentences or more), paper on Rationalism as evidenced by Fox's character in the book due this Saturday, read Euthyphro by Thursday with "reading reflection" due that day, read the next play (Apology?) in The Last Days of Socrates by Tuesday.  This feels like a pretty full week to me. I will not have him work on any of our "home" writing this week.

Sorry this is so long, but I really do hope it helps someone. 

 

Wow, that does sound intense for most seventh graders.

I would wonder if all of the great writers in the class with your child are actually also in seventh grade. Since parents can sign up children at any age for online classes, IME my kids have seen a range of ages in these classes which can be different from the age and grade they are slated for. 

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34 minutes ago, lbell said:

My daughter jumped into TGC in 9th grade and she thinks her younger brother should start in 7th grade.  I don't think he is ready to discuss the books in depth, so I'm going to have him do self-paced Omnibus 1.   I think the live classes are better for students at the rhetoric level.  I'd highly recommend starting with TGC 3 with Mr. Etter.  It's not an honors level class and Mr. Etter's passion for literature & learning is infectious, and I think it's good to take it with their writing class.  My daughter's favorite year so far has been TGC 5 with Mr. Martin.  She will take TGC 6 next year.

I was hoping my Dd would jump in with Bruce Etter and GC 3 this coming year, but it is not working out. Makes me sad, but I'm trying to teach the kid I have and be mindful of cost. We have a toght budget and already outsource math, science and language. 

We NEED some at-home, lighter classes, and Dd wants more of a Lit/Writing class for her English. 

Good to hear about Bart Matin, as he teaches several classes Dd is interested in, like the Tolkien and Lewis classes.

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@cintinative

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I personally appreciate it a lot. The idea of GC is really appealing to me. However, I need to not think about me but the kid I have in front of me and be realistic. I have a STEM-focused kid for whom this kind of class at 7th grade (a few years from now) may not be a good fit. He does not enjoy writing. I think this just might kill it for him if forced to do this level of output. Maybe I need to consider having him go a different route or even delay until he's rhetoric stage. I will hold my planning loosely at this point and see how things unfold. The people at WHA must be thinking this is definitely not the path for all students at logic stage since there are two different progressions listed with one with a less intense history/literature progression and can opt to jump in later with the GC1+4 class.

 

Edited by calbear
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9 hours ago, calbear said:

@ScoutTN

Curious if you have done classes with Angelina Stanford or Center for Lit? I'm sure that would be great to read about.

I don't have one taking Stanford this year, but my kids have done GC 1-4 and Center for Lit and I'm hoping to get my rising 6th grader into the middle school class with Angelina next year as an alternative to GC 1.  Like some of the other posts, I am concerned that while GC 1 was a great fit for my older two kids (and especially for the one who had Mr. Etter, who has an amazing gift for teaching those books to younger students), it might not be a great fit for my third.  My first took a couple of Center for Lit classes but didn't enjoy them as much as GC discussions.  Another thought I have had for my third is to have him skip GC 1 which does have a lot of hard books and jump in at GC 2 which is easier.  He loves Tolkien and half of the year is reading Lord of the Rings.  Mr. Martin's GC 2 isn't a hard class in terms of the grading from my experience so it might be an easier onramp to the GC classes.

 

 

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6 hours ago, h2bh said:

 

@h2bh

I can't quote you but do you have a child that took both GC1 and GC2 and did find GC2 easier? A friend had noted the difficulty of the works and wondered that if I had put my son in GC2 if we would have had the same experience. He is also at Tolkein fan. 

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@calbear

@h2bh

Yes, my Dd has done classes with both CfL and Angelina and really enjoyed both. They are similar in that they are discussion only (though I think AS has a tiny bit of writing in her high school classes). Angelina's are weekly, and teach close reading and a metaphorical way of reading. Her online lectures/podcasts will give you a good idea of her style and approach. Because they are weekly, her classes are a better deal for the money. But they are harder to get into. Registration for Angelina's classes for next year opens Feb 15th, I think.

CfL classes are monthly and so more like a book club than a class. Much shorter time to cover the content. They read a book a month. More discussion than Angelina's class. More focus on traditional literary analysis - setting, protagonist/antagonist, characterization, rising/falling action, etc. I think they do this well, without the overkill that so many school English classes fall into. The CfL's Teaching The Classics videos demonstrate their style. There are also sample class videos on their website too.

Both the Andrews and Angelina have a warm, engaging, manner with middle school kids. Both are clearly Christian in their worldview, but not purposefully teaching it like GC classes. They are teaching Literature and are much more English classes than GC, which are teaching history and worldview through Great Books. Does that make sense?

If you want to hear both at the same time discussing a typical high school Lit book, CiRCE's Close Reads podcast series on The Great Gatsby has both Adam Andrews and Angelina as guests with David Kern. 

@cintinative

It turns out that Dd will not be doing GC3 this year (Though it makes me very sad! I want her to have Bruce Etter!), but the reason I had chosen that class as an entry point is that the material is more accessible. Ancients are hard, even when well-taught. 

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@h2bh @ScoutTN Can you really on board with GC with 2 or 3? Would he be at a disadvantage if he is coming from doing IEW and WWS? Is that enough to prepare if I were to entertain this as a possibility? Should I even realistically look at this for a STEM focused kid? Is it just more waiting until they are more mature and ready for this sort of work? I guess I should be thankful I have some time to think on this. I have been looking at the Wes Callihan GB series as well as an alternative. Am I inflating in my head the amount of writing output that is required for these classes? 

Edited by calbear
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Not to muddy up the discussion, but just some thoughts. 

The GC1 booklist is basically the Omnibus 1 (primary and secondary) booklist less nine books. Omnibus 1 (Veritas) is a 7th-12th grade class and is good for three high school credit hours. 

We have been saying that GC1 is a middle school class. I would like to present the question, which is that, is GC1 really a high school level class for middle schoolers? Let's just say, ignoring the if it is for credit issue. As stated on multiple threads on the high school board, we can't easily "bring up" credits from 7th and have them count when we are applying to colleges when they are humanities credits. The colleges want to see them completed in high school. However, the reading is high school level, the discussion and output to me is high school level, there are quizzes twice weekly plus semester exams, papers, and reading reflections.  I don't know--I think it is helpful to compare the two programs and say--well, this is middle school as far as WHA is concerned, but these are high school level books. 

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I think using GC 2 or 3 to enter GC is perfectly fine.  There is nothing assumed regarding previous books read in other years.  It would be hard to enter at the GC 4 level with Dr. Vierra though.  By that point, the kids are expected to have a mature level of participation in class.  Another thing that makes GC 2 an easier entry point for a Tolkien loving kid is that the early essay is on The Lord of the Rings.  My oldest loves the humanities and has loved the whole sequence 1-4 so far.  My next child is a math kid all the way but still looks forward to GC.  GC does take a lot of time, but it also covers 2.5 credits and given that, it seems efficient to me for a kid who is stem focused.  

After watching my first go through the series I did do a little bit of coaching on how to write a discussion board post before the class began for the second child.  I made sure that skill was in place so that wouldn't be stressful when the class started.  There is a wide variety in writing skills and length of posts.  

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In rereading some of these posts, I wanted to add that both of my kids currently taking GC classes had Mrs. Lange for English in the 7th grade.  She used to teach at WHA, but now teaches at Integritas Academy.  She did wonders for my children's confidence and ability to write in GC classes.  I have no experience with the current Language Arts 1-4 teachers at WHA.  Mrs. Lange was very efficient with time (no busywork) and gives incredibly detailed feedback.  Her classes are small and she tailors the experience to the individual students in her class.  In thinking through my kids' enjoyment of the GC series, I think it is due in part to how Mrs. Lange prepared them.  I'm wondering now if we might have had a different experience without that preparation. 

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Do y'all whose kids have done GC classes add writing instruction and/or reading more typical English Lit books? When do your kids learn to write a literary analysis essay? 

Looking at the reading lists, several are heavily weighted to essays, political, theological or ethical treatises or other historical accounts. The GC 3 list has only 5 novels.

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1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

Do y'all whose kids have done GC classes add writing instruction and/or reading more typical English Lit books? When do your kids learn to write a literary analysis essay? 

We don't do GC classes, but like h2bh, my kid learned the LA essay in Mrs Lange's class (FoEW/ LA4?). My older one learned it from Mrs Baker @ WHA in what is now FoAW.

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1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

Do y'all whose kids have done GC classes add writing instruction and/or reading more typical English Lit books? When do your kids learn to write a literary analysis essay? 

Looking at the reading lists, several are heavily weighted to essays, political, theological or ethical treatises or other historical accounts. The GC 3 list has only 5 novels.

This is our first year in a GC course, and there is definitely no formal writing instruction. I expected that, but most of their writing is in the form of discussion boards. I hoped there would be enough papers and essays as well, that I could incorporate writing instruction myself on these assignments. But that was not been the case. I think WHA realizes this, thus the addition of Advanced Composition 1 and 2 next year, which will use the literature from GC3 and GC4 respectively. So now, I'm trying to decide between FOAW or the Advanced Comp class because we will definitely need to add writing instruction next year.

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On 1/21/2019 at 8:10 PM, lbell said:

Has anyone taken AP Statistics with Mr. Reini?  My daughter enjoyed her Alg. 2 class with him, but I want to know if there is good prep for AP test.

 

 

we had 2 options for AP stats this year - Mr. Reini @ WAH and Edhesive AP Stats. We chose Edhesive as they honored the old pricing, as we are past students who had been planning to take AP Stats for some time. My son is learning a ton. Whether it will prepare him to get a 5 on the exam, no idea yet. But it's rigorous material (I see his tests/quizzes, I have to grade them based on their rubric and the concepts are over my head) and he's getting all A's. As for Reini, we also had him for Alg II and he's my son's all-time fave teacher. We opted for Edhesive though as it was a cheaper alternative. Reini was great about providing stats on his stats class (haha), like how many got 3,4,5's on exams... so write him and ask. I don't think you'll find anyone here that has taken it - at least I didn't.

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(Not to derail this thread) For those considering alternative GB courses, I just reviewed the Schole Academy ones for middle school which were new this past year. The writing expectation seems significantly less when you read the syllabus. Students are only expected to produce a well written paragraph. They don't package their class as a combo, but history and literature are two separate courses but the dual enrollment gives a discount that brings it a similiar price point to WHA. The reading list seems less overwhelming for a middle school student as well.

Edited by calbear
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On 1/22/2019 at 11:03 AM, Penelope said:

 

Wow, that does sound intense for most seventh graders.

I would wonder if all of the great writers in the class with your child are actually also in seventh grade. Since parents can sign up children at any age for online classes, IME my kids have seen a range of ages in these classes which can be different from the age and grade they are slated for. 

Fwiw, DS did CLRC GB 1 in 7th, we travelled in 8th and he’s back to GB3 in 9th. (We don’t do GB2). He was absolutely not ready in 7th and eeked by, with audiobooks along the reading as well as me reading almost every single thing with him. The reading load was posted above (something like 2 weeks for all of Iliad if I’m not exaggerating too much). I don’t touch the writing. Now in 9th, it’s a completely different story. He’s doing the class completely indipendently (I forgot to buy some books. That’s how out of the loop I am. Plus was working at a pretty intense job his entire first semester). He is doing very well. Night and day difference. 

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9 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Fwiw, DS did CLRC GB 1 in 7th, we travelled in 8th and he’s back to GB3 in 9th. (We don’t do GB2). He was absolutely not ready in 7th and eeked by, with audiobooks along the reading as well as me reading almost every single thing with him. The reading load was posted above (something like 2 weeks for all of Iliad if I’m not exaggerating too much). I don’t touch the writing. Now in 9th, it’s a completely different story. He’s doing the class completely indipendently (I forgot to buy some books. That’s how out of the loop I am. Plus was working at a pretty intense job his entire first semester). He is doing very well. Night and day difference. 

So curious about skipping GB2. Do you care to share your thinking on this?

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Just now, fourisenough said:

So curious about skipping GB2. Do you care to share your thinking on this?

Well for one, we were travelling “fast” internationally (moving on an average of every 4 days for about 6 months of his school year) and we wanted to read about what we were seeing instead.  The main reason though is that the church writers figure prominently in that class. Have a look at the book list. We are not a religious family and that stuff is not important to us, esp. with a Christian provider. 

I’m already very curious how some of the stuff in GB4, which we’re really looking forward to, will go over 😉

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2 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

Well for one, we were travelling “fast” internationally (moving on an average of every 4 days for about 6 months of his school year) and we wanted to read about what we were seeing instead.  The main reason though is that the church writers figure prominently in that class. Have a look at the book list. We are not a religious family and that stuff is not important to us, esp. with a Christian provider. 

I’m already very curious how some of the stuff in GB4, which we’re really looking forward to, will go over 😉

I guess it shows I’m not an out of the box thinker; it never occurred to me that we could skip a level. As a fellow secular homeschooler, I might prefer to do the same. I’ll take a closer look at the book list.

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2 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

I guess it shows I’m not an out of the box thinker; it never occurred to me that we could skip a level. As a fellow secular homeschooler, I might prefer to do the same. I’ll take a closer look at the book list.

Last year I inquired about skipping GC 1 or 2 but the teacher recommended against it. You can try asking and see if there is some flexibility now. At this point I don't mind starting at GC 1, anywhere, but it's a lot of writing since we need to do Lit 3 with Lange.

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13 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

And reading. Was it at CLRC that they suggested not skipping?

Yeah IMO it’s the reading that’s  a killer. The writing is more to make sure they comprehend, more than a stylistic thing, and frankly now that it’s being done indipendently I’m grateful for the study questions...

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