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Can you compare these reading lists for me please


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I'm trying to narrow down choices for my 10th grader next year. She's in Wilson Hill's Great Conversation 1+4 class this year. She's really enjoyed it, but the reading has really bogged her down at times. Audio books have helped, but there are some times where she just doesn't understand what is going on in the book. I began looking and thought MFW's World Lit & History course looked a little easier (while still challenging), but I may be wrong because I don't know all of the books. Could some of you who are more well-read than me compare these lists and tell me if I'm looking at it wrong.

 

Wilson Hill:

The Holy Bible, Myths of the Norsemen (Roger Lancelyn Green), ConfessionsOn Christian DoctrineThe Consolation of Philosophy, The Koran, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis), St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi (G.K. Chesterton), Summa Theologica (Kreeft editor), Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise, Canterbury Tales, Prince, Othello, The Praise of Folly, Here I Stand (Roland H. Bainton), Institutes of the Christian Religion, and Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Roy Maynard).

 

My Father's World:

Bible

  • Heroes of the Faith
  • More Than a Carpenter
  • Christianity, Cults & Religions
  • Four Views of the End Times
  • Experiencing God: Student Edition (purchase one per additional student; one for each parent also recommended)

English

  • Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Made Easy: Modern English Version Side-by-Side with Full Original Text)
  • Beowulf (translated by Seamus Heaney)
  • British Literature (Parallel Text)
  • Teacher Guide for British Literature
  • Practicing His Presence (Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach)
  • Pilgrim's Progress in Modern English
  • A Tale of Two Cities (abridged edition)
  • Silas Marner
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Cry, the Beloved Country
  • Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
  • The Hiding Place
  • Animal Farm
  • In His Steps
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Hmm.  I'll tell you, the Wilson Hill list has a lot of books that I read in my first year of university, with lectures by experts and tutors who were university fellows. 

 

I love that serious reading has become a goal in education for so many, it is part of what drew me to classical education.

 

But - I do wonder if these are all books that most grade 9 students can really get a lot of use from, especially reading without a teacher, and withoutr other students to discuss it with.  Not that even university kids will get everything out of them, but surely there is an age that most kids can usefully be expected to read these things.

 

The other list looks like it might actually be a little more readable to me.  My intuition is that with literature, you can get away with more, but a book like the Consolation really benefits from a teacher who is really familiar with the work - the way of writing and thinking is just outside what most people can bridge without some background or failing that, guidance.

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You are correct.  The books used in the My Father's World program are much more accessible to young readers than those on the Wilson Hill list.  The MFW list is also more standard for a high school program (although In His Steps and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret are not standard works for English classes).  Are you looking to enroll her in online classes, or are you just wanting a good book list? 

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You are correct.  The books used in the My Father's World program are much more accessible to young readers than those on the Wilson Hill list.  The MFW list is also more standard for a high school program (although In His Steps and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret are not standard works for English classes).  Are you looking to enroll her in online classes, or are you just wanting a good book list? 

 

She has really enjoyed the online style of Wilson Hill this year, so I wouldn't be opposed to another online class, but with a more manageable reading list. Do you have suggestions? LOL

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Another possible online class is Wasko Lit. They offer a chronological "Great Books" approach to lit over 4 years. Might be a little lighter load than Wilson Hill - hard to tell.

 

Here's an example from their Lit 2 class:

  • Confessions, Augustine
  • Beowulf, Anonymous
  • The Inferno, Dante
  • Selections from the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
  • “Gawain and the Green Knight,†Anonymous
  • The Once and Future King, T.S. White
  • Excerpts from Le Morte D’Arthur, Mallory
  • Utopia, More
  • Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves (The Faerie Queen, Book I) Spencer 
  • Doctor Faustus, Marlowe
  • Hamlet, Shakespeare
  • Henry IVPart 1, Shakespeare
  • Henry IV, Part 2, Shakespeare
  • Henry V, Shakespeare
  • Macbeth, Shakespeare
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare
  • Miscellaneous Sonnets, Shakespeare
  • Selected Poems, Metaphysical Poets
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I agree that the Great Books courses can be a lot for many high school students. You might want to look for a literature class instead of a GB class. I've found that those classes often offer lots of great reading like on the MFW list, but it aren't quite as heavy as a GB class. CLRC has some online lit classes that look good. My ds switched from a very heavy Omnibus class to a lit class this year and it really reignited his love for reading.

 

ETA: I definitely think the MFW list is more readable.

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