How did you structure your high school language arts progression?

[EKT]

Before I had kids, I taught English at an elite public high school. (This high school routinely sent kids to Ivies and other elite colleges; I believe the program we taught was high-quality.) At my school, our courses were labeled "English 9," "English 10," "English 11," and "English 12," and each year was a mix: basically, writing was taught throughout the year, and assignments were mostly tied to our literature studies. (If we were reading poetry, for example, a writing assignment might be to compare and contrast two poems. If we were reading a novel, the writing assignment might be to do an analytical close reading of a particular passage, etc.) The students read various novels throughout the year (a blend of typical high school novels, and diverse, contemporary novels), and each year also included a Shakespeare play and a unit on short works (poetry, a modern play, short stories, or essays). There were a few other things sprinkled in (like giving a speech in 10th grade and an 8- 10-page literary research essay in 11th grade). All that to say: I feel this was a solid approach to teaching language arts and I'm inclined to design our own language arts classes in a similar way. 

HOWEVER! I am getting a little tripped up by all the freedom I now have as a homeschooler; there are ten million ways to structure language arts courses at the high school level and I'm having trouble deciding the direction I want to go. (I finally have the freedom I always wanted to teach my dream language arts course, but it's like I have too many options I don't know where to start!) For instance, I'm considering grouping and studying literature in specific ways (i.e.: tying literature to our history studies, or choosing a theme--doing an entire year of medieval literature or British literature or American literature or women's literature.) Did you pick an overarching theme each year for the literature you read? Or did you just do a mix of high-quality high school novels? (I'm thinking here of the Brave Writer sort of approach, where they just pick ten good books every year for the Boomerang, but the books don't really go together in any particular way.) I'd love to hear how others approached this. I've listed a few questions below, and would love to hear from others in response to any or all of them. Thank you!

• Did you label your courses "English 9," "English 10," and so on, or did you give more specific course titles? (I'm inclined to label them "English 9," "English 10," because I feel it's a familiar format colleges can easily understand. It shows an obvious progression that would be easy to digest, at a glance, on a transcript. (In this case, I'd rely on my course descriptions to explain, in detail, what "English 9" contains in our particular homeschool.) My hesitation with labeling courses in this way is that it doesn't necessarily capture the richness of all that I plan to do with the courses. It feels generic.  How did you label your language arts courses and why? Is there a compelling reason to do it one way over another?
• Did you map out specific themes or foci for each year (i.e. 9th grade = British Literature)? Or did you just read a random mix of good books, essays, and poems each year? 
• How many formal writing assignments (on average) did your child produce each year? (That is, writing that your child brought through all stages of the writing process?) 
• Did you treat pleasure reading/audiobooks/read-alouds differently? Did you list these books under the umbrella of your course (because they were read in 9th or 10th or 11th or 12th grade), even if they weren't necessarily analyzed or discussed to the same extent as books read specifically for the course? 
• Perhaps a better request is: Please describe your 9-12 language arts plan.

As always, many thanks!

[kristin0713]

I've been working on course descriptions today. My DD is finishing up 9th grade so we are just starting out.  I'm calling this year's language arts English 9.  We focused on essay writing first semester and she wrote 8 complete essays in different forms (narrative, expository, persuasive, etc.)  with rough drafts and revisions.  We're focusing on literature this semester using a combination of novels, excerpts, and poetry.  She's doing written responses this semester but not draft/revise to a polished essay for every assignment.  I use Lantern English but expand on their coursework a bit. I'm not sure if I will put English 10, 11, 12 for the rest of her high school courses.  I don't think it will really work to do that with the courses that she wants to take and with what I'm planning to have her take.  For example, next year I am planning to have her study American lit throughout the year as she studies US History. She's also asked to do more creative writing.  Although I suppose I can still call it English 10 and just be specific in the course description. So maybe I have the same question as you!  😆  I'm interested in the responses. 

ETA - I'm not planning to list all the books that she has read this year.  She's constantly reading. I checked my local high school's course description for English 9 and it says "a combination of common texts (Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, poems, essays), literature circles, or independent reading" so I don't feel the need to include a booklist in the course description for this year. I may include a few examples. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by kristin0713

[Momto6inIN]

Transcript wise, my oldest did Lit & Comp I & II in 9th and 10th, then Honors English Language with AP exam in 11th, then 1 semester each of 20th C Lit & Speech Communication senior year. For my next 2 kids, I just did English I, II, and III, followed by 20th C Lit & Speech Comm because they didn't do the AP exam.

As far as how I structured the courses, I kind of separate out the writing and literature. For composition, I start with basic essays, then progress to literary analysis, then a research paper. After the formal instruction and practice for all that is done and I know they can tackle any type of writing assignment, only then do I combine lit and comp together and have them write about something they feel they have to say about whatever they read. For my oldest, he was ready for that junior year, which was why he decided to do the AP exam. For my next 2, they weren't ready for that til the end of junior year/begining of senior year.

For lit, I have a list of high quality works that I have either read or am willing to read and feel that I can discuss intelligently and they can pick what they read from that. They usually get through about 8-9 works per year. They read, then we discuss, and that's it for the literature component until I feel they're ready to combine it with their writing component.

We read and discuss and memorize/recite poetry as a part of our daily morning meeting time, so we don't really do that as part of our "English" credit. Likewise, the program I use to teach literary analysis focuses on short stories, so I don't really do short stories other than the ones in that program either (Windows to the World).

I do have them work on a lesson from Vocabulary from Classical Roots every week.

I used to try to do lit that corresponded to history, but in the end it has worked out better to just let them pick what they want to read when they want to read it. I do save some heavier works that I think need more maturity for senior year and that's why we have a "20th Century Lit" course.  It's kind of a catch all course for all the stuff I really want them to read and discuss with them but don't feel they're ready for before that.

They do a formal speech and debate club each year throughout high school and I give them a half credit of speech at the end, even though they've done it throughout their high school years.

[BusyMom5]

I'm on kid 2, and while both are getting a class titled English 1, English 2, etc., the classes have been very different.   Kid 1 used Oak Meadow Hero's Journey for 9th and British Literature for 10th.  Both had a set theme for the year.   That is reflected in her Course Description pages.  For kid 2, I have had a completely different homemade program.  We have used Writing and Rhetoric for a base for most of our writing.  I also assign big research papers- she is finishing an 8 page research paper right now.  For literature I have just had a pick and choose list for her.  I can't remember it all, but we started with The Outsiders (young author), original Swiss Family Robinson (classic, odd phrases), I read parts of Uncle Tom's Cabin aloud- lots if discussion about authors purpose, chsracter development,  etc.  Eragon ( young author,  Hero's Journey), Hunger Games Trilogy (again)- with lots more discussion on characters.  I have used How to Read Literature Like a Professor For Kids the last 2 years as well. 

DD2 is a writer and has wanted to delve deeper into character development, symbols, writing action scenes, describing people and places. I'm actually giving her a second full credit of Creative Writing because she spends so much time writing and researching writing techniques.   I wanted to add a few young authors to inspire her, and it was a great choice!  

When you are trying to plan, I think you need to keep your student in mind- what skills are they good at, what skills do you want to work on, what books will inspire them.  A book doesn't need to have a certain difficulty level, it just needs to speak to your kid or illustrate the things you are teaching.  Don't forget the power of movies as well!  

[8filltheheart]

I take a different approach.  I label English courses by whatever title I think most reflects the course.  While all of their English courses incorporate writing assignments, I teach different types of composition across subjects, so history, science, and theology are just as likely sources for learning comparative analysis or research, etc as lit.  I create courses that reflect their interests.  Their course descriptions include the list of works and the objectives.  I am copying and pasting some of my kids' course titles below:

• Illusions, Labyrinths, and Perception (H)
• Science Fiction and Fantasy (H)            
• Russian Literature (H)            
• Literary Works of C. S. Lewis (H)            
• Fairy Tales, Myths, & Legends (H)            
• Shakespeare: A Senior Thesis (H)  
• The Power of the Short Story (H) 
• Literary Works of C.S. Lewis (H)
• Searching for Answers: Conflicts in Literature (H)
• Conflict Themes, Society, and the Individual (H)

For example, here is the book list and course description for the class titled Illusions, Labyrinths, and Perception that I created yrs ago (what yr did Inception come out??) This particular course was only a 1/2 credit course.

• Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
• Flatland
• Through the Looking Glass
• Fahrenheit 451
• Labyrinth of Reason
• Inception: The Shooting Script

This course was designed after lively familial debate over the movie Inception.   Literature with themes of illusion and varied perception were read as well as myths surrounding Ariadne, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth.   The course emphasized exploring the philosophy of mental perception vs. reason, physical and mental labyrinths, and the interconnectedness of literary works and modern entertainment.  The student created a final project defending his interpretation of the movie's ending based on material researched throughout the course.

ETA:  FWIW, I go full blown homeschooler in my kids' college app materials.  I don't attempt to sound like a school.  I emphasize that homeschooling allows my kids to have uniquely designed educations and that our objective in homeschooling is not to replicate traditional schooling but create a learning environment that focuses on moving their thinking through Bloom's taxonomy of higher order thinking skills. 
 

Edited April 18, 2021 by 8filltheheart

[EKT]

23 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

I take a different approach.  I label English courses by whatever title I think most reflects the course.  While all of their English courses incorporate writing assignments, I teach different types of composition across subjects, so history, science, and theology are just as likely sources for learning comparative analysis or research, etc as lit.  I create courses that reflect their interests.  Their course descriptions include the list of works and the objectives.  I am copying and pasting some of my kids' course titles below:

• Illusions, Labyrinths, and Perception (H)
• Science Fiction and Fantasy (H)            
• Russian Literature (H)            
• Literary Works of C. S. Lewis (H)            
• Fairy Tales, Myths, & Legends (H)            
• Shakespeare: A Senior Thesis (H)  
• The Power of the Short Story (H) 
• Literary Works of C.S. Lewis (H)
• Searching for Answers: Conflicts in Literature (H)
• Conflict Themes, Society, and the Individual (H)

For example, here is the book list and course description for the class titled Illusions, Labyrinths, and Perception that I created yrs ago (what yr did Inception come out??) This particular course was only a 1/2 credit course.

• Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
• Flatland
• Through the Looking Glass
• Fahrenheit 451
• Labyrinth of Reason
• Inception: The Shooting Script

This course was designed after lively familial debate over the movie Inception.   Literature with themes of illusion and varied perception were read as well as myths surrounding Ariadne, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth.   The course emphasized exploring the philosophy of mental perception vs. reason, physical and mental labyrinths, and the interconnectedness of literary works and modern entertainment.  The student created a final project defending his interpretation of the movie's ending based on material researched throughout the course.
    
    
    
    
 

I do like this, and I'm considering this approach as well. (That is, super-specific courses tied to specific interests.) Though, for us, those may end up as separate language arts electives (I wrote the other day about creating a poetry elective, we'll almost certainly have enough Shakespeare to do a whole Shakespeare elective, etc.) on top of our standard language arts courses. But it's hard, because like you point out, we do writing across all the disciplines, not just English. For us (especially with my English-teacher background), I have a way of turning all the subjects into language arts, lol--especially history. (It's not like writing instruction only occurs in one subject!) I think that's why this jump to high school is such a weird transition for me. Up until now, all through my girls' years of homeschool, everything was intermixed and I never felt the need to create these artificial separations between the subjects. But I'm having to shift to a credits-and-transcripts mindset and I'm trying to figure out how to slice everything up to put into tidy categories. It's helpful to see how everyone else has approached it, so I appreciate your sharing!

[EKT]

40 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:

 I have used How to Read Literature Like a Professor For Kids the last 2 years as well. 

Oooh, I didn't realize there was a version of this book for younger audiences! I'm familiar with the original, but will check out For Kids. Thanks!

[8filltheheart]

FWIW, I don't know why you need to make a transition??  I don't give my kids tests in elementary or middle school.  I don't suddenly feel the need to switch gears and do so in high school.   I'm not sure why you would need to label a poetry study or a Shakespeare study as electives.  They can actually have more than 1 cr per yr per subject category.  I have had a child study 3 foreign languages simultaneously (and is now a graduating college sr with a double in Russian and French) or study 2 math courses and 2 science courses simultaneously (now a 3rd yr grad student studying physics.)  Homeschooling doesn't have to fit into the same 1 course per subject area like a ps.  It's a big world of open opportunity.  🙂

[EKT]

27 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

FWIW, I don't know why you need to make a transition??  I don't give my kids tests in elementary or middle school.  I don't suddenly feel the need to switch gears and do so in high school.   I'm not sure why you would need to label a poetry study or a Shakespeare study as electives.  They can actually have more than 1 cr per yr per subject category.  I have had a child study 3 foreign languages simultaneously (and is now a graduating college sr with a double in Russian and French) or study 2 math courses and 2 science courses simultaneously (now a 3rd yr grad student studying physics.)  Homeschooling doesn't have to fit into the same 1 course per subject area like a ps.  It's a big world of open opportunity.  🙂

Oh, I know! And thank you! I need such reminders right now. We don't do tests, etc., either. We've always followed our interests and just done work we care about and I doubt much will actually change in our practical, day-to-day experience of homeschooling. (I do appreciate you pointing out that students can have more than 1.0 credit per year per subject category. Of course! That helps because I've been thinking of the "excess" credits in any one subject area as having to be packaged as electives, but now that you point this out....that mindset could solve a number of problems for me, lol. Definitely something to think about....)

Honestly, the shift is mostly a mental adjustment. I'm trying to preserve our free-spirited method of homeschooling and still meet college admissions requirements, because that's what my daughter wants. Even more than me, she's the one who wants to see it on paper--she wants to see that we're crafting a plan that will get her where she wants to go and checking all of the college admissions boxes. So the two of us are working together, trying to sketch out different high school progressions and scenarios. 

I want to be more chill about all of this and just enjoy the ride, but I'm not there yet! Research and planning is the only way I know how to get there. 

[Junie]

I actually created a course catalog so that my kids can choose what classes they want me to create for them.  I expect them to take American Lit, British Lit, and World Lit.  For the other English credit and any additional credits they want to earn, they can choose from the rest of the list.

Here is the list of English classes:

 

American Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

British Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

World Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

 

Children’s Literature and Literary Criticism

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Fables, & Myths

Mystery & Suspense

Persuasive Writing

Creative Writing

Introduction to Shakespeare

Introduction to Tolkien

Introduction to the Short Story

Introduction to Speech and Drama

Introduction to Dickens

Literature of the Bible

Introduction to Russian Literature

Introduction to French Literature

Introduction to Ancient Greek Literature

 

 

 

[Lori D.]

side note: "Language Arts" is a K-8 designation. For high school credits, it is standard to use "English" in your course titles, as colleges will be looking for "English" credits that are labeled as such (or one of those variations** below) -- and NOT "Language Arts", which can be confused with "Foreign Language". 😉 

** variations:
- if part of a history+literature integrated course, then: Integrated Studies: Literature (or some variation on that)
- if all-literature, then Literature as part of the course title
- if all-writing, then Composition as part of the course title
- or, if specialized writing: Journalism; Creative Writing; Poetry Writing; Fiction Writing; etc.

And if using unique titles like several posters up-thread, if your transcript is by subject (or both subject AND grade/year), then grouping the unique title courses under the heading of English will help make it clear what type of credit the course is.


1. How did you label your language arts courses and why?
On the transcript I labeled our English courses:
     English 9: Ancient World Lit. 
     English 10: Worldviews in Classic Sci-Fi Lit.
     English 11: American Lit. 
     English 12: British Lit. & World Lit.
I did it that way because it was unlikely that DSs were going to attend a college that would require or even look at a Course Description document (which was the way it did in fact happen), so the subtitle allowed me to sneak in a little description. 😉 

We also accumulated 2 credits of additional Literature beyond the amount that was reasonable for the English credits, and those became Academic Electives -- Classic Literature I and Classic Literature II.

2. Is there a compelling reason to do it one way over another?
No. Your school, your rules. 😉 

3. Did you map out specific themes or foci for each year (i.e. 9th grade = British Literature)?
Yes. Also, as much as possible, I worked to include a variety of types of literature every year: novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, plays. [Only in the American Lit. year did I include just a very few essays and excerpts from famous biographies that matched up with the American History.] And I worked hard to include as many works that I thought would be of high-interest to DSs, and of high-discussion-ability, as well as traditional classics for cultural exposure and that I thought they would find interesting. [Neither DS ever expressed personal passions or desires to do any books in particular EXCEPT for the year they wanted to do Sci-Fi, so I jumped on that.]

4. How many formal writing assignments (on average) did your child produce each year? 
Very little. We mostly read together / discussed together, and did analysis together. [see #6 below for more details]

However, for my co-op Lit. & Writing classes, I need to have more written output precisely because I *can't* do all of that 1-on-1 oral analysis / discussion with the students, and we are very limited on class time (1 hour a week) for group discussion. I need a way of seeing what they are thinking about the lit. Plus, for some of the students, this is the ONLY writing they are doing in their school work 😩 (besides short answers and exercises/problems that are part of the History, Science, or Math programs):

Roughly, I assign the following PER SEMESTER for my co-op classes:
- 2-3 short (1 paragraph) assignments --> 1 week each
- 2 short/medium (3 paragraph) assignments --> 1-2 weeks each
- 2 medium/long (5-8 paragraph) assignments --> 3 weeks each
- 1 long (multi-page -- 3-5 pages) assignment --> 6-8 weeks

Not all writing assignments are attached to the literature, or are responding to or analyzing the literature.

I shoot for a wide variety of assignment types, and use them to build specific skills; examples:
- descriptive paragraph 
- expository (factual) writing
    - process ("how-to") paper 
    - definition essay
    - news article
    - resume and cover letter
    - informational essay with citations
- narrative writing
    - personal narrative essay
- persuasive writing
   - comparison essay
  - cause/effect essay
   - opinion / argumentative essay (from a prompt usually; take a side and argue it)
- literary analysis essays -- character analysis, explain a key quotation, analyze literary elements, discuss a theme, etc.
  
5. Did you treat pleasure reading/audiobooks/read-alouds differently?
JMO: Pleasure reading is a free-time activity choice, and I would never attach any discussion or assignment to these. [Obviously, when anyone in the family is reading a book and wants to share a passage or talk about it, that's fine 😉 ]Pleasure activities are not formal school -- they are not assigned, nor tracked for hours, nor are they needed to meet "goals" for a "credit". I did not even keep a record of these as an "informal book list". Additionally - there just was no need, as our English credits were hefty and solid enough to stand-alone without "counting in" pleasure activities. And most importantly, I am completely UNWILLING to kill anyone's interest/enjoyment in pleasure reading by micro-managing or for any other reason. 😉 

6. Please describe your 9-12 language arts plan
Each year, help the student to advance in working with Literature, and in Composition.
- Literature - cover a variety of types of works, cover some traditional classics, and works that were meaningful to me to make sure we covered (at any time DSs expressed a personal preference or interest, that was included; that almost never happened, however)
- Writing - similar to @Momto6inIN, I separated out the writing and it was done with excerpts from various writing programs and it was various types of writing. We also somewhat "wrote across the curriculum" from time to time, such as writing a research paper for History, or writing persuasive speeches for DSs' involvement in YMCA Youth & Gov't. I also had us doing a weekly timed essay from an OLD (pre-2016) SAT test essay prompt. We did that each week throughout the 4 years of high school. Both DSs credit that as being the thing that best helped them figure out how to thing of what to say, and how to formulate an argument of support for their thesis. And I give full credit @8filltheheart (back then she was Momof7!! 😉) for sharing that idea on the WTM boards MANY years ago. Thanks, 8! 😄 
- Grammar - very light review (about 10 min/day, 2-3x/week, with the Chortling Bard)
- Vocabulary - from the literature, and in context / in the moment -- nothing formal in high school (we did root word studies in earlier grades)

Edited April 18, 2021 by Lori D.

[EKT]

12 hours ago, Junie said:

I actually created a course catalog so that my kids can choose what classes they want me to create for them.  I expect them to take American Lit, British Lit, and World Lit.  For the other English credit and any additional credits they want to earn, they can choose from the rest of the list.

Here is the list of English classes:

 

American Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

British Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

World Literature Survey with Composition – 1 credit

 

Children’s Literature and Literary Criticism

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Fables, & Myths

Mystery & Suspense

Persuasive Writing

Creative Writing

Introduction to Shakespeare

Introduction to Tolkien

Introduction to the Short Story

Introduction to Speech and Drama

Introduction to Dickens

Literature of the Bible

Introduction to Russian Literature

Introduction to French Literature

Introduction to Ancient Greek Literature

 

 

 

This is lovely. Thanks for sharing!

[EKT]

12 hours ago, Lori D. said:

side note: "Language Arts" is a K-8 designation. For high school credits, it is standard to use "English" in your course titles, as colleges will be looking for "English" credits that are labeled as such (or one of those variations** below) -- and NOT "Language Arts", which can be confused with "Foreign Language". 😉 

** variations:
- if part of a history+literature integrated course, then: Integrated Studies: Literature (or some variation on that)
- if all-literature, then Literature as part of the course title
- if all-writing, then Composition as part of the course title
- or, if specialized writing: Journalism; Creative Writing; Poetry Writing; Fiction Writing; etc.

And if using unique titles like several posters up-thread, if your transcript is by subject (or both subject AND grade/year), then grouping the unique title courses under the heading of English will help make it clear what type of credit the course is.


1. How did you label your language arts courses and why?
On the transcript I labeled our English courses:
     English 9: Ancient World Lit. 
     English 10: Worldviews in Classic Sci-Fi Lit.
     English 11: American Lit. 
     English 12: British Lit. & World Lit.
I did it that way because it was unlikely that DSs were going to attend a college that would require or even look at a Course Description document (which was the way it did in fact happen), so the subtitle allowed me to sneak in a little description. 😉 

We also accumulated 2 credits of additional Literature beyond the amount that was reasonable for the English credits, and those became Academic Electives -- Classic Literature I and Classic Literature II.

2. Is there a compelling reason to do it one way over another?
No. Your school, your rules. 😉 

3. Did you map out specific themes or foci for each year (i.e. 9th grade = British Literature)?
Yes. But as much as possible, I worked to include a variety of types of literature every year: novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, plays. [Only in the American Lit. year did I include just a very few essays and excerpts from famous biographies that matched up with the American History.] And I worked hard to include as many works that I thought would be of high-interest to DSs, and of high-discussion-ability, as well as traditional classics for cultural exposure and that I thought they would find interesting. [Neither DS ever expressed personal passions or desires to do any books in particular EXCEPT for the year they wanted to do Sci-Fi, so I jumped on that.]

4. How many formal writing assignments (on average) did your child produce each year? 
Very little. We mostly read together / discussed together, and did analysis together. [see #6 below for more details]

However, for my co-op Lit. & Writing classes, I need to have more written output precisely because I *can't* do all of that 1-on-1 oral analysis / discussion with the students, and we are very limited on class time (1 hour a week) for group discussion. Plus, for some of the students, this is the ONLY writing they are doing in their school work 😩 (besides short answers and exercises/problems that are part of the History, Science, or Math programs):

Roughly, I assign the following PER SEMESTER for my co-op classes:
- 2-3 short (1 paragraph) assignments --> 1 week each
- 2 short/medium (3 paragraph) assignments --> 1-2 weeks each
- 2 medium/long (5-8 paragraph) assignments --> 3 weeks each
- 1 long (multi-page -- 3-5 pages) assignment --> 6-8 weeks

Not all writing assignments are attached to the literature, or are responding to or analyzing the literature.

I shoot for a wide variety of assignment types, and use them to build specific skills; examples:
- descriptive paragraph 
- expository (factual) writing
    - process ("how-to") paper 
    - definition essay
    - news article
    - resume and cover letter
    - informational essay with citations
- narrative writing
    - personal narrative essay
- persuasive writing
   - comparison essay
  - cause/effect essay
   - opinion / argumentative essay (from a prompt usually; take a side and argue it)
- literary analysis essays -- character analysis, explain a key quotation, analyze literary elements, discuss a theme, etc.
  
5. Did you treat pleasure reading/audiobooks/read-alouds differently?
JMO: Pleasure reading is a free-time activity choice, and I would never attach any discussion or assignment to these. [Obviously, when anyone in the family is reading a book and wants to share a passage or talk about it, that's fine 😉 ]Pleasure activities are not formal school -- they are not assigned, nor tracked for hours, nor are they needed to meet "goals" for a "credit". I did not even keep a record of these as an "informal book list". Additionally - there just was no need, as our English credits were hefty and solid enough to stand-alone without "counting in" pleasure activities. And most importantly, I am completely UNWILLING to kill anyone's interest/enjoyment in pleasure reading by micro-managing or for any other reason. 😉 

6. Please describe your 9-12 language arts plan
Each year, help the student to advance in working with Literature, and in Composition.
- Literature - cover a variety of types of works, cover some traditional classics, and works that were meaningful to me to make sure we covered (at any time DSs expressed a personal preference or interest, that was included; that almost never happened, however)
- Writing - similar to @Momto6inIN, I separated out the writing and it was done with excerpts from various writing programs and it was various types of writing. We also somewhat "wrote across the curriculum" from time to time, such as writing a research paper for History, or writing persuasive speeches for DSs' involvement in YMCA Youth & Gov't. I also had us doing a weekly timed essay from an OLD (pre-2016) SAT test essay prompt. We did that each week throughout the 4 years of high school. Both DSs credit that as being the thing that best helped them figure out how to thing of what to say, and how to formulate an argument of support for their thesis. And I give full credit @8filltheheart (back then she was Momof7!! 😉) for sharing that idea on the WTM boards MANY years ago. Thanks, 8! 😄 
- Grammar - very light review (about 10 min/day, 2-3x/week, with the Chortling Bard)
- Vocabulary - from the literature, and in context / in the moment -- nothing formal in high school (we did root word studies in earlier grades)

Helpful, as always! Thanks for sharing!!

[EKS]

In addition to American, British, and world literature, my younger son did English courses that were similar to a freshman composition course (or AP language and composition).  These were paired with what we were studying in his social science courses and the reading was mostly of the non-fiction variety.  He also had three semesters of English as well as an interdisciplinary honors humanities course at the public high school.

(Note that he had six years of high school credit for English on his transcript because he completed 8th grade at a private school in what would have been his 6th grade year.)

[lewelma]

You have my English course descriptions, so know how I organized things.  But this organization was retroactive. I was very free form in my approach.  I had 3 main goals, and we just worked on each one of them every day without a plan in place.

Goal #1 I wanted my son to actually *enjoy* reading complex, deep, powerful literature. Every year I made a list of about 30 classics that my son could choose from. I built the list with the help of the hive and google to match the types of books that he had liked and the types of books that he thought he might want to try.  I never set a certain amount of reading that had to happen, nor did I set the books. Instead I set aside time where there was nothing else to do but read. From 9pm to midnight was reading time 365 days a year, and he got through a LOT of classics! I also never put any 'easy' books on his reading list, and he never went to the library or book store to get any.  What I did instead, is give a variety of 'fun' books that were still complex and difficult - books like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or a book like Cat's Cradle.  Over time I just built up the difficulty of the books and exposed him to more and more genres - he got into some really curly Post Modern ones like House of Leaves and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and some more advanced World literature like 100 Years of Solitude. Basically, my #1 goal was to have him actually *enjoy* reading complex, deep, powerful literature. To not find it a chore or to be done for school work.  I wanted him to have lots and lots of choice, and to be able to quit a book if he hated it (Metamorphosis and Frankenstein were not finished).  I wanted him exposed to many genres, authors, and cultures. The course descriptions that you see listed so tidily are actually fudged a bit.  He clearly focused on Classic sci fi in 9th grade, Post modern in 10th, Russian lit in 11th grade, and World Lit in 12th. But I also clustered the books that he read in different years into those categories and listed them in the year of the focus.  Basically, he continued to read in these areas after the focus, and we continued to discuss them at a deeper and deeper level as he got older. So the course descriptions are a tidied-up reality.  

Goal #2  I wanted my ds to have a deep appreciation for craft of these writers, but we did not do this through writing literary analysis essays. We discussed all the books you see on his course descriptions and I kept up with his reading by listening to audiobooks ALL THE TIME. We would discuss chapter by chapter as we read/listened through them. For some (not all) books we would discuss them, and then the next day read through Sparkesnotes to compare our interpretation to their interpretation. I wanted my ds to feel like he was doing literary analysis and could have ideas and they could differ from someone else.  I did not want to *teach* a top down interpretation of these wonderful books, (so I did not create lesson plans or use any premade English units).  But by reading Sparkesnotes (and other better literary analysis) *after* our own analysis, he was able to improve his analysis on the next book.  In his last month of high school, he did 39 literary analysis essays of poems and short essays in 10 days, and pulled off an 'excellence' on the national exam where only 10% of students do.  So apparently, all our reading and discussing worked!

Goal #3. I wanted him to be a great writer. But my older boy was going into math and science and he did not need to be a great literary analysis writer.  Every day, 40 weeks per year, we spent one hour a day analyzing good writing from the point of view of purpose and audience.  Basically, I ran two courses - one on literary analysis and one on rhetoric.  For the rhetoric portion of the class, we carefully studied works from famous writers like JFK and MLK, but we also went after essays like those found in the science section of the Economist or the persuasive essays in Sci Am. We studied a piece for 10+ hours, and then he wrote a piece for 10+ hours.  We were very very lucky to find an English teacher who was willing to work with my son to write with a purpose and audience fit for his purpose - to be able to explain or argue complicated scientific ideas to a lay audience.  

I'm not sure if that description was what you were looking for, but as many know on this board, I was and am a very free form homeschooler. Not unschooling anymore, but definitely not organized ahead of time in tidy boxes.  I had a different set of goals for my younger who has dysgraphia and who also has reading OCD. I doubt that story would help you, but I can tell it for others if anyone is interested. I can also post my course descriptions for English if anyone wants to see them.

Edited April 19, 2021 by lewelma

[Not_a_Number]

4 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I'm not sure if that description was what you were looking for, but as many know on this board, I was and am a very free form homeschooler. Not unschooling anymore, but definitely not organized ahead of time in tidy boxes. 

I love the description "free form homeschooler." That's me. I'm not in any way an unschooler -- unlike you, I didn't even start out that way. But I'm very free-form. I don't assign reading. I have no clue what we're going to cover in each "subject" each year. We just do the next thing and try to keep things challenging and interesting. And I take a lot of input from my students 🙂 . 

[EKT]

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

You have my English course descriptions, so know how I organized things.  But this organization was retroactive. I was very free form in my approach.  I had 3 main goals, and we just worked on each one of them every day without a plan in place.

Goal #1 I wanted my son to actually *enjoy* reading complex, deep, powerful literature. Every year I made a list of about 30 classics that my son could choose from. I built the list with the help of the hive and google to match the types of books that he had liked and the types of books that he thought he might want to try.  I never set a certain amount of reading that had to happen, nor did I set the books. Instead I set aside time where there was nothing else to do but read. From 9pm to midnight was reading time 365 days a year, and he got through a LOT of classics! I also never put any 'easy' books on his reading list, and he never went to the library or book store to get any.  What I did instead, is give a variety of 'fun' books that were still complex and difficult - books like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or a book like Cat's Cradle.  Over time I just built up the difficulty of the books and exposed him to more and more genres - he got into some really curly Post Modern ones like House of Leaves and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and some more advanced World literature like 100 Years of Solitude. Basically, my #1 goal was to have him actually *enjoy* reading complex, deep, powerful literature. To not find it a chore or to be done for school work.  I wanted him to have lots and lots of choice, and to be able to quit a book if he hated it (Metamorphosis and Frankenstein were not finished).  I wanted him exposed to many genres, authors, and cultures. The course descriptions that you see listed so tidily are actually fudged a bit.  He clearly focused on Classic sci fi in 9th grade, Post modern in 10th, Russian lit in 11th grade, and World Lit in 12th. But I also clustered the books that he read in different years into those categories and listed them in the year of the focus.  Basically, he continued to read in these areas after the focus, and we continued to discuss them at a deeper and deeper level as he got older. So the course descriptions are a tidied-up reality.  

Goal #2  I wanted my ds to have a deep appreciation for craft of these writers, but we did not do this through writing literary analysis essays. We discussed all the books you see on his course descriptions and I kept up with his reading by listening to audiobooks ALL THE TIME. We would discuss chapter by chapter as we read/listened through them. For some (not all) books we would discuss them, and then the next day read through Sparkesnotes to compare our interpretation to their interpretation. I wanted my ds to feel like he was doing literary analysis and could have ideas and they could differ from someone else.  I did not want to *teach* a top down interpretation of these wonderful books, (so I did not create lesson plans or use any premade English units).  But by reading Sparkesnotes (and other better literary analysis) *after* our own analysis, he was able to improve his analysis on the next book.  In his last month of high school, he did 39 literary analysis essays of poems and short essays in 10 days, and pulled off an 'excellence' on the national exam where only 10% of students do.  So apparently, all our reading and discussing worked!

Goal #3. I wanted him to be a great writer. But my older boy was going into math and science and he did not need to be a great literary analysis writer.  Every day, 40 weeks per year, we spent one hour a day analyzing good writing from the point of view of purpose and audience.  Basically, I ran two courses - one on literary analysis and one on rhetoric.  For the rhetoric portion of the class, we carefully studied works from famous writers like JFK and MLK, but we also went after essays like those found in the science section of the Economist or the persuasive essays in Sci Am. We studied a piece for 10+ hours, and then he wrote a piece for 10+ hours.  We were very very lucky to find an English teacher who was willing to work with my son to write with a purpose and audience fit for his purpose - to be able to explain or argue complicated scientific ideas to a lay audience.  

I'm not sure if that description was what you were looking for, but as many know on this board, I was and am a very free form homeschooler. Not unschooling anymore, but definitely not organized ahead of time in tidy boxes.  I had a different set of goals for my younger who has dysgraphia and who also has reading OCD. I doubt that story would help you, but I can tell it for others if anyone is interested. I can also post my course descriptions for English if anyone wants to see them.

Thank you!! I so appreciate your response because it helps illuminate your course descriptions. (As I was reading through your course descriptions, I was thinking about how difficult some of the language is in the 19th Century novels. You have that course ("19th Century British and American Literature") listed for 9th grade, and I thought to myself, Hmmm...those books might be a little tough for my daughter to jump into in 9th grade, but she would be totally be ready for them by 11th and 12th grades. (I think there are several on your list that she could read right away, but a few I'm definitely going to save for the upper grades.) But now knowing that this is just how you "packaged" the reading after the fact makes much more sense and feels super doable! 

And we do tons of what you describe in Goals #2 and #3, so that is encouraging that your son got great "results" from those practices! Encouraging!

[lewelma]

9 hours ago, EKT said:

Thank you!! I so appreciate your response because it helps illuminate your course descriptions. (As I was reading through your course descriptions, I was thinking about how difficult some of the language is in the 19th Century novels. You have that course ("19th Century British and American Literature") listed for 9th grade, and I thought to myself, Hmmm...those books might be a little tough for my daughter to jump into in 9th grade, but she would be totally be ready for them by 11th and 12th grades. (I think there are several on your list that she could read right away, but a few I'm definitely going to save for the upper grades.) But now knowing that this is just how you "packaged" the reading after the fact makes much more sense and feels super doable! 

And we do tons of what you describe in Goals #2 and #3, so that is encouraging that your son got great "results" from those practices! Encouraging!

Oh, I am so glad it seems doable!  The key is to start with where your child is at. Don't give them something that they can neither read technically or comprehend philosophically.  I didn't read until I was 12, and because I was a 'good' girl, they put me in honors english in 9th grade.  The first book they gave me to read at age 13.5 was 1984. And I can tell you that I could NOT read the sentences and words, and of course I didn't have the life knowledge to even comprehend it. In contrast, the reason my older boy's high schoolbook lists were so advanced is that he was ready for them. You are somewhat new to the board so you may not have heard the story about how my older boy came to be so widely read in great literature given that he was a MATHY kid. Starting in about 7th grade, he started shifting his hours and going to bed later and later. We have a small apartment and we couldn't have him banging around.  We also could not convince him to go to be earlier than about midnight in 7th, and by 9th grade it was 2am. So in an effort to get him bored enough that he would go to sleep, we took away all his electronics at 9pm, and he would go into the family room with a snack while the rest of us went off to read in bed and go to sleep at 10pm. Our family room is small, and it had a bookshelf of classic novels and the most recent issues of Scientific American, The Economist, and National Geographic.  It also had an electronic piano with headphones. There is nothing else really to do in the room. So from 9pm to midnight, and then as he got older from 9pm to 2am, he had nothing to do but read and play the piano. We thought he would give up and go to bed earlier, but no!  He read! He read for 3 hours every night 365 days a year for 6 years.  That and he learned to play the piano.  🙂 The point is by the time he finished 8th grade, he had read the following books and was well prepared for 9th grade lit. LOL

Alice and wonderland,
through the looking glass,
wind and the willows,
swallows and amazons (all 8),
gulliver's travels,
children of the new forest,
princess and the goblin and sequel,
tom sawyer,
prince and the pauper,
Connecticut yankee
robin hood,
kidnapped,
the black arrow,
around the world in 80 days,
a little princess,
secret garden,
5 children and it and sequels, and others by her
anne of green gables and sequels,
sherlock holmes,
the white company
robinson cruseo,
enders game and sequel,
journey to the center of the earth,
20000 leagues under the sea,
master of the world
princess of mars and all the sequels,
I robot
Foundation series (3x)
swiss family robinson,
peter pan,
eagle of the ninth and many sequels 
time machine,
war of the worlds,
heinlein's many juveniles,
my family and other animals,
all creatures great and small, and others by James Herriot
age of fable,
call of the wild,
white fang,
frankenstein,
titus groan and sequels (!!),
captains courageous,
tanglewood tales,
little women
Lord of the rings,
sword in the stone and sequels,
christmas carol,
dune
The lensmen
4 shakespeare plays
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Golden compass and sequels
Wrinkle in time and sequels
Earthsea and sequels
A few Henty (doesn't really like him)
Ivanhoe
Joan of Arc (Twain)
Sir Gwain and the Green Knight
Tarzan and sequels

Brave new world

Agatha Chrystie

Woman in White 

The Moonstone

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by lewelma

[EKT]

7 hours ago, lewelma said:

Oh, I am so glad it seems doable!  The key is to start with where your child is at. Don't give them something that they can neither read technically or comprehend philosophically.  I didn't read until I was 12, and because I was a 'good' girl, they put me in honors english in 9th grade.  The first book they gave me to read at age 13.5 was 1984. And I can tell you that I could NOT read the sentences and words, and of course I didn't have the life knowledge to even comprehend it. In contrast, the reason my older boy's high schoolbook lists were so advanced is that he was ready for them. You are somewhat new to the board so you may not have heard the story about how my older boy came to be so widely read in great literature given that he was a MATHY kid. Starting in about 7th grade, he started shifting his hours and going to bed later and later. We have a small apartment and we couldn't have him banging around.  We also could not convince him to go to be earlier than about midnight in 7th, and by 9th grade it was 2am. So in an effort to get him bored enough that he would go to sleep, we took away all his electronics at 9pm, and he would go into the family room with a snack while the rest of us went off to read in bed and go to sleep at 10pm. Our family room is small, and it had a bookshelf of classic novels and the most recent issues of Scientific American, The Economist, and National Geographic.  It also had an electronic piano with headphones. There is nothing else really to do in the room. So from 9pm to midnight, and then as he got older from 9pm to 2am, he had nothing to do but read and play the piano. We thought he would give up and go to bed earlier, but no!  He read! He read for 3 hours every night 365 days a year for 6 years.  That and he learned to play the piano.  🙂 The point is by the time he finished 8th grade, he had read the following books and was well prepared for 9th grade lit. LOL

Alice and wonderland,
through the looking glass,
wind and the willows,
swallows and amazons (all 8),
gulliver's travels,
children of the new forest,
princess and the goblin and sequel,
tom sawyer,
prince and the pauper,
Connecticut yankee
robin hood,
kidnapped,
the black arrow,
around the world in 80 days,
a little princess,
secret garden,
5 children and it and sequels, and others by her
anne of green gables and sequels,
sherlock holmes,
the white company
robinson cruseo,
enders game and sequel,
journey to the center of the earth,
20000 leagues under the sea,
master of the world
princess of mars and all the sequels,
I robot
Foundation series (3x)
swiss family robinson,
peter pan,
eagle of the ninth and many sequels 
time machine,
war of the worlds,
heinlein's many juveniles,
my family and other animals,
all creatures great and small, and others by James Herriot
age of fable,
call of the wild,
white fang,
frankenstein,
titus groan and sequels (!!),
captains courageous,
tanglewood tales,
little women
Lord of the rings,
sword in the stone and sequels,
christmas carol,
dune
The lensmen
4 shakespeare plays
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Golden compass and sequels
Wrinkle in time and sequels
Earthsea and sequels
A few Henty (doesn't really like him)
Ivanhoe
Joan of Arc (Twain)
Sir Gwain and the Green Knight
Tarzan and sequels

Brave new world

Agatha Chrystie

Woman in White 

The Moonstone

 

Love this so much! Thank you for sharing!