Planning English literature and writing classes

[Innisfree]

I'm feeling more than a bit overwhelmed.

 

Dd14 has been in 9th grade in public school this year, but has become frustrated with how little she is accomplishing there. She has decided she would like to return to homeschooling for the rest of high school. I was not expecting this, but basically agree with her decision. However, she will need to outsource everything. Registration for online classes is already open and we need to make decisions quickly.

 

How do you balance a reasonably intensive online literature class with time for writing instruction?

 

She is very interested in Lukeion's Muse and Myth series. She has taken a Lukeion class in the past, and I have no doubt she can handle the workload. But do students in these classes take separate writing classes as well, or are the writing requirements considered sufficient to serve both purposes? I am concerned that she might need more actual writing instruction than that would provide, but Lukeion plus a writing class becomes a fairly heavy load. She does want to take both semesters of the Lukeion class.

 

And, is there such a thing as too much ancient literature on a high school transcript? If a student wants to do two years of ancient lit, should one be in an elective slot, rather than English?

 

Also, how do you choose between a stronger focus on literature and doing the two AP English classes?

 

In the high school, the AP classes are simply the only options for strong English students. But I would like dd to be able to focus during her remaining high school years on getting as thorough a grounding in English and American lit as we can manage, and I'm concerned about putting too great a focus on the APs as opposed to the literature.

 

I'm not sure if the AP classes share the failing of the high school classes she has been in, which have placed a very narrow focus on teaching to the state benchmark tests. I know it is not necessary to take AP classes before taking the tests. Are there online literature courses which have a good balance of literature and writing instruction, and which prepare students well for APs without making that their exclusive focus?

 

She is also interested in taking a creative writing class.

 

For reference, she is a capable and highly motivated student, but the high school has asked very little of her, so she is out of the habit of having to work hard and budget her time. I want to give her enough but not drown her in work this coming fall.

 

I'll appreciate any advice.

[Julie of KY]

To me, the Lukeion Myth and Muse class looks like a full English credit.

 

For any single year, I don't worry too much if my English credit doesn't cover everything as long as you are doing both literature and writing as you would be doing. In the big picture, I try to make sure my student gets all the parts of English writing and I might have to fill in here and there depending on the route I take to get there.

 

As far as extra literature or writing classes, I'd put them all under English if you sort your transcript by subject - otherwise just list it by year. As far as too much ancient lit, I don't think you can do too much as long as you are ALSO covering the basics of other lit. List her classes. It sounds like she'll look like she has a passion for English and ancient lit and I think this is a good thing.

 

[swimmermom3]

My ds took both AP English Language and AP English Literature through Pennsylvania Homeschoolers with Maya Inspektor and the classes were excellent.  The Language class focuses on nonfiction and rhetoric instruction.  Remember that the Great Books also include nonfiction. Some authors covered were Swift (A Modest Proposal), Emerson, and Thoreau.  I added in a couple of works that were relevant to our European history studies.The Literature class covered Frankenstein, Mansfield Park, Heart of Darkness, Othello, The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye (I think) and I can't remember what else.

 

The particular classes ds took were skill focused with the minimum time possible geared towards the tests.  My son is now a freshman in college and has written 10 papers for classes that have been 5 or more pages. He's very comfortable with the process and happy with the results.  He did say that while he is taking the required advanced writing course this term, he hasn't learned anything new that Mrs. Inspektor didn't already teach him.

[swimmermom3]

I meant to ask you if your dd has already done ancient literature. I'd run through one year and see how she likes it before worrying about the next year.

 

My son homeschooled from 4th through 8th grade, went to the public high school for the first semester and decided that we did English and history much better at home.

 

For the second semester of 9th grade, we did ancient literature and blew through a lot of works even though he's a slow reader. We did the matching history at the same time and it remains one of our favorite memories from high school.

[fourisenough]

What about something like Blue Tent Honors English 1 or 2? Seems like they would be comprehensive (including instruction in composition, lit, grammar, and vocabulary) and challenging and would serve as great prep for APs.

[Innisfree]

Thanks so much for all the ideas. I'm on the run this evening but will be back later.