literature guides in a weekly co-op

[desertflower]

Hello,

We want to incorporate literature in our co-op.  I was thinking of using literature guides. Has anyone does this in a co-op that meets once a week?

We would skip the vocab part and probably the writing.  Our main goal is to really have a great discussion and incorporate literary elements in it.

Is this possible?  If not, what do you suggest to do?

Thanks.

Eta: This is for 5th / 6th grades.

[acresoft]

Sounds like a great idea.

[freesia]

Sure. I would recommend you read Deconstructing Penguins. It is awesome for helping you guide literature discussions.  When I do it, I also use questions from Teaching the Classics combined with free resources like Glencoe Literature guides and Schmoop.com. 

I know you weren’t asking for resources, but I couldn’t help myself lol 

Your idea would work well.

[desertflower]

19 minutes ago, freesia said:

Sure. I would recommend you read Deconstructing Penguins. It is awesome for helping you guide literature discussions.  When I do it, I also use questions from Teaching the Classics combined with free resources like Glencoe Literature guides and Schmoop.com. 

I know you weren’t asking for resources, but I couldn’t help myself lol 

Your idea would work well.

Thanks for the ideas.  i didn't realize that glencoe and schmoop were free.  I'll look into that. 

i did read Deconstructing Penguins.  probably need to read it again since it has been a few years.  i just want a program that has me asking questions.  a guide.  😁

Me and the other moms in the co-op are more math and science oriented. We all need guides! 😆

I do have ready readers from teaching the classics and i guess i need to buy the manual that has all of the questions.  Those are good questions.  That is probably what I need. 

I was just worried because i have never done a lit guide before and from my research it looks like people spend weeks on a book.  We were hoping for perhaps just 5 weeks on a book. 

Thanks again!

[freesia]

4 hours ago, desertflower said:

Thanks for the ideas.  i didn't realize that glencoe and schmoop were free.  I'll look into that. 

i did read Deconstructing Penguins.  probably need to read it again since it has been a few years.  i just want a program that has me asking questions.  a guide.  😁

Me and the other moms in the co-op are more math and science oriented. We all need guides! 😆

I do have ready readers from teaching the classics and i guess i need to buy the manual that has all of the questions.  Those are good questions.  That is probably what I need. 

I was just worried because i have never done a lit guide before and from my research it looks like people spend weeks on a book.  We were hoping for perhaps just 5 weeks on a book. 

Thanks again!

5 weeks is more than fine.  Actually, 3-4 for that age is fine.

[HomeAgain]

It sounds like a fabulous idea.  I like the idea of using Litwits - you could assign the reading at home and then do a project based class to go along with it, either diving into the setting of the book or pairing activities that the characters also face.

I have done a literature co-op class, but I had to build my guides myself because there wasn't anything like it yet.
 

[desertflower]

Thanks homeagain. I love litwits, however, it is not what we are looking for. Thanks for the suggestion.

[EmseB]

Memoria Press lit guides include comprehension questions and discussion questions and a few enrichment activites (along with vocab) for that age group. If you're not requiring the students to write at all you could probably just get a teacher guide for whomever leads the discussions. Not requiring the writing or studying in depth for quizzes and such would make it easier to do however many chapters in a week that you would need for the pace you want. It would be a significant modification from how MP would say they would use them in a classroom, but if you're just needing questions for guides discussion they are there. Oh, but the questions are not secular, especially for books like Heidi or Lion Witch & Wardrobe.