aaghomeschool Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Hello. I am leaning towards Center for lit for my rising 9th grader- specifically American Lit because it ties in with US History. She has done more rigorous English-all-in-one classes for 7-8th grade and we would like to focus on writing a bit more this year so a book a month with group discussions seems good for the lit portion. Are the discussions religious at Center for lit? We used their teaching the classics program at co-op without issues but thought I would check in with any users of the monthly lit discussions to make sure the discussions are mostly secular. Thanks for your opinions. This list and your reviews has been invaluable in high school planning. Regards, Ann. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 There might be a little Christian worldview discussion in specific short stories/poems/books, but I can't remember overhearing any. DD is taking American Lit this year. She says the discussions are not religious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierramv1 Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 My DS has taken Center for Lit classes for 4 years, he has thoroughly enjoyed the classes (as a self-proclaimed Humanist) until this year. He is taking World Literature, and even though the discussion points are typically led by the students, it is mostly from a Christian perspective. Not all students that attend are Christian, but most typically believe in a higher being. The class and the Andrews Family (who we LOVE) usually engage in a respectful manner, but he has come to me upset a couple of times in regards to the discussion and discussion board. Some of this back and forth is good for him, as we teach our kids to always question and continue to search and evolve their own personal spiritual 'truth', but he has felt dismissed at times by students in the class. I think, partly, it is due to the content of the books they are reading this year and the perspective from which they were written, so I'm not sure that will be an issue with the class your student is looking to take. That being said, we are pretty strictly secular, and my younger two kids will definitely be taking classes at Center for Lit. The foundation in literary analysis they have given my DS, has enabled him to more fully engage and interact with everything he is reading, which is a beautiful thing. The learning is tangible, gives me goosebumps! They all truly LOVE what they do, and it comes through in every class. Hope that helps! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 We are secular homeschoolers; the JH online class has been fine for our purposes. It is obvious that the Andrews family is Christian and they bring that worldview into their discussions (just as we bring our humanistic worldview), but there is no explicit discussion of religion and certainly no proselytizing. My DD doesn't participate on the forum discussion so I can't speak to that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Oh, I should add that my DD doesn't do the discussion boards either. I specifically signed up for the "traditional book club" format. I think that was what it was called. It was slightly cheaper this year than the "with discussion board" format. I don't think they have a distinction for next year, but it would be good to call and ask, if that matters to you. I didn't want to add what I thought of as busywork to an otherwise beneficial class. We have writing covered separately and just wanted the rich literature discussions without extra busywork. (Some parents asked for some sort of graded 'output' for the class.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirabillis Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 My DS has taken Center for Lit classes for 4 years, he has thoroughly enjoyed the classes (as a self-proclaimed Humanist) until this year. He is taking World Literature, and even though the discussion points are typically led by the students, it is mostly from a Christian perspective. Not all students that attend are Christian, but most typically believe in a higher being. The class and the Andrews Family (who we LOVE) usually engage in a respectful manner, but he has come to me upset a couple of times in regards to the discussion and discussion board. Some of this back and forth is good for him, as we teach our kids to always question and continue to search and evolve their own personal spiritual 'truth', but he has felt dismissed at times by students in the class. I think, partly, it is due to the content of the books they are reading this year and the perspective from which they were written, so I'm not sure that will be an issue with the class your student is looking to take. That being said, we are pretty strictly secular, and my younger two kids will definitely be taking classes at Center for Lit. The foundation in literary analysis they have given my DS, has enabled him to more fully engage and interact with everything he is reading, which is a beautiful thing. The learning is tangible, gives me goosebumps! They all truly LOVE what they do, and it comes through in every class. Hope that helps! Love to hear which classes your son has taken - and which he's loved the most! We are doing CforLit next year for only 1 year. So... we get to choose which suits us best. I think we'll not opt for American Lit, since we're doing that at home this year (and many of the books we'll have read already - Huck Finn, Scarlet Letter, Great Gatsby, Red Badge of Courage, To Kill a Mockingbird...) So if you had to choose one, which would you choose - World Lit or British Lit? Which is better (we are not secular so OP's original query does not relate to me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 As far as which to choose - I'd pick the one with the books that are the most interesting to your student. My boys took world lit as they didn't care for the selections in British lit. The Andrews are definately Christian. In many discussions, it never comes up and they certainly never try to press their views onto others. Chritianity is their worldview, so it will come out in some discussions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaghomeschool Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Thank you everyone for taking the time to give us your feedback. It has been very helpful. I think we will indeed go ahead and sign up just for the discussions only option because we plan to use Bravewriter plus some other stuff for writing. Warmest regards, Ann. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierramv1 Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Love to hear which classes your son has taken - and which he's loved the most! We are doing CforLit next year for only 1 year. So... we get to choose which suits us best. I think we'll not opt for American Lit, since we're doing that at home this year (and many of the books we'll have read already - Huck Finn, Scarlet Letter, Great Gatsby, Red Badge of Courage, To Kill a Mockingbird...) So if you had to choose one, which would you choose - World Lit or British Lit? Which is better (we are not secular so OP's original query does not relate to me) He has taken both of the elementary lit courses, he's just in 9th grade now. When they first started you could sign up month to month or maybe we did the half year. It was discussion only. I was unsure if a single two hour discussion a month would be fruitful, but it most definitely was. This year he is doing the discussion forum and writing portion. The only issue he has run into with strong Christian perspective is in the forum when interacting with other students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirabillis Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 So glad to hear such good reviews on the courses in general. Yes we plan to sign up too next year for the first time. It's time we outsourced Lit - and it sounds like a great choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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