Literature curriculum

[My4arrows]

I’m looking for lit curriculum mainly for my seventh grader and possibly my fourth grader.  I want to cover short stories, poetry, literary devices and elements. In the past we’ve read many novels and did individual studies but didn’t focus on the above.
 

I need something somewhat independent with some parental involvement. And I’d prefer not too much writing as we will be doing that separately.  

So what curriculum should I look at?  

[Miss Tick]

I'm doing a bi-weekly (outdoors) poetry and short story class this year with my dd and two girls from another family, so 5th to 7th grades.

I'm using the WTMBoard favorite Figuratively Speaking. The book covers Figurative language, poetic language, and literary techniques. There are 40 topics, each one defined, examples presented and a few "use" activities given. We start with poetry and then shift to short stories. They read the stories on their own outside of class.

Since I'm doing it as almost a mini-co-op I'm probably putting in more effort than you want to. I'm having them make reference notebooks for capturing each of the terms (you could just buy them each a copy of the book.) We focused on poetry for the first few months and then started stories. I spent an hour or so the Sunday before class finding my favorite poetry examples for the lessons we did on poetry. A few years ago I did this book with my older two and at that time I put a lot of effort in coming up with a list of short stories that would suitable for middle school. I'm happy to share that if you are interested.

[Lori D.]

Possibly Lightning Literature?
grade 4
grade 7

Like @SusanC, we used Figuratively Speaking in 7th grade as an additional great resource for learning about literary devices (spending about 15 minutes doing 1 lesson is a session, aloud together, and doing 1-2 lessons per week).

"Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories" -- this past thread has some GREAT lists and links for short stories, poetry, and even a few longer works that match up with each of the 40 literary devices covered in Figuratively Speaking -- it would be a great way of expanding these gem of a resource.

Lightning Lit. 7 covers 2 poetry units (6-8 poems each), 2 short stories, and 4 longer works (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Helen Keller's The Story of My Life, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and All Creatures Great and Small). There are work pages for expanding on the literature lesson for each of the 8 units. There is a "mini-writing lesson" for each of the 8 units, but it can easily be set aside for a separate writing program, as the "mini writing lessons" are NOT a complete writing program for a middle schooler.

No familiarity with Lightning Lit. 4 to help with that.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Lori D.

[8filltheheart]

Not exactly what you are describing, but I'd do Further Up and Further In with both of them.  I did something similar several yrs ago with my then 3rd and 6th graders (now college freshman and sr).   The Chronicles of Narnia offer a lot to discuss and explore.  It is easy to go deeper or not depending on the age.

[amiesmom]

Maybe Mosdos Press ? I haven't used it personally, but I seem to look at it every year.

[Emily ZL]

It doesn't cover everything you mentioned, but Art of Poetry from CAP is 7th+ and looks good. I've been waiting on it until my kids are older. 

[cougarmom4]

We’ve been using Explorations in Literature by BJU Press this year. It has short stories and lit analysis. Not secular, Bible references abound. We kind of skim those parts. 

[Momto6inIN]

I was going to say Figuratively Speaking too - if you combined it with actually reading the short stories and poems as SusanC and LoriD. mentioned, it would be a great course!

[My4arrows]

On 2/12/2021 at 12:49 PM, amiesmom said:

Maybe Mosdos Press ? I haven't used it personally, but I seem to look at it every year.

I've been eyeing it, but the price is making me uncertain.

[amiesmom]

2 hours ago, My4arrows said:

I've been eyeing it, but the price is making me uncertain.

That's why I've only ever looked at it, ha! I do think I'm going to use it for my upcoming 8th grader next year.