Shraddha Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 We've been using Memoria Press literature guides with my daughter (going into 3rd next year) because we started homeschooling with MP in Jr. K and went along with their suggestions each year. Due to the amount of work Memoria Press requires and my realization that their materials are written for a brick and mortar school environment, we gradually dropped a lot of MP, including switching Math and Language Arts over to Christian Light Education (CLE) and are very, very happy with the change. CLE is much less stressful for me as a mom who works part-time outside the home. It's open and go, with less moving parts. I don't know what to do about Reading for 3rd. I'm beginning to doubt whether to continue with the MP literature guides. They don't seem to be comprehensive in teaching children about literature. They're mostly vocabulary and reading comprehension, and don't seem to fully cover literary devices and terminology. I like that CLE Reading covers literary analysis very well. However, I prefer living books and classic literature. I'm considering switching to CLE Reading to round out the LA curriculum in a cohesive way, and doing the MP literature selections as family read alouds. So far we've loved everything we've gotten from Christian Light. But I don't want CLE workbook overkill (we're already using Math and LA), and I love how MP uses real literature. I'm wondering whether anyone else has been in a similar situation and can offer some advice. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I have not been in the same situation, but there are other curricula out there that use literature that teach more about literature (literary devices, deeper dives into what the story is really about, etc.) The two I can think of is Bravewriter (here you can even select the books you want to do, they include some more modern literature as well) and Center for Lit Ready Readers (they use classics). Maybe those can be what you are looking for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I think you have to do the Teaching the Classics seminar from Center for Lit before you can do the Ready Readers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 @Clarita Thank you. The Center for Lit option might be what I'm looking for: classic literature, thorough literary analysis, and no additional workbook pages. I remember coming across it before and thinking I didn't have time for the Teaching the Classics course, but my kids were a bit younger then. If we're going to homeschool long-term, it may be a good investment for me to educate myself to educate my children. I wish they'd offer streaming without a membership (who uses a DVD player anymore?) but checking out the monthly option might be a good way for me to see what it's about. Thanks for the suggestions! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 If I am remembering correctly, the CLE Reading courses are designed to be a half year's worth of work, so that would leave plenty of time to just read whatever books you wanted to for the sheer joy of it. I've used CLE reading with multiple of my children in 3rd and up, and it does teach some lit analysis terms pretty painlessly. For my kids in elementary, I preferred that the work of analysis happen with the CLE reader/light units, so that the enjoyment of reading happened more with all the other books we read or listened to. I take a very light hand with literary analysis, especially in elementary. Years ago, I was influenced by SWB's talk on Literary Analysis... https://welltrainedmind.com/p/what-is-literary-analysis-when-why-and-how-should-i-teach-it-mp3/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 @Zoo Keeper It looks like CLE's Reading becomes a half year program in 4th grade. Would you wait until 4th? I'm wondering if we'd be "missing" anything important to build on if we started then instead of 3rd, when it's still a full year program. But I'm willing to start in 3rd. I looked more into the Center for Lit course mentioned above, and the thing that concerns me is it would be mom-dependent. With CLE, it is easy for my husband or a grandparent to oversee school work while I'm at work, without knowing the material. I just have to say, "Language Arts: Do lesson 4; Math: Take quiz 1. When I get home, it's done. I like knowing that even without me there, we can stay on schedule with math and language arts (and potentially reading). That's the nice thing about using CLE. So I guess I have figured out I want to use CLE for reading, but am not sure whether to start it right away, or wait until 4th when it becomes a semester long program. I'll definitely take a look at the talk you linked. Thanks a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneGG Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 I’ve used a ton of lit guides. They all had pros and cons, some were more academic and some were more cross curricula/ unit studies. This year, I bought a reading comprehension kit on TPT that can be used with any book. It’s perfect, and no worksheets. It’s all task cards/discussion prompts. I also bought a literary elements pack. FWIW We have used CLE Reading and I liked it. My son tolerated it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I really, really liked CLE Reading. My kids hated it. We also used CLE for math and LA so it might have been an issue of workbook overload, but I do think the CLE stories were not particularly engaging, at least for my kids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 At that age, we just read lots of excellent books and discussed. No lit curriculum needed. Absolutely no workbooks. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 @AnneGG Thank you. TPT has great resources. I often turn to it when looking for resources for co-op lessons and forget I can utilize it for home, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 @Insertcreativenamehere I've heard before of moms really liking it and kids not as much. I think it takes a lot of stress off mom. I might have to check out the reader first before deciding to get the whole thing. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 @ScoutTN I appreciate this perspective. We read aloud a lot and I don't require any written work for history, science or Bible. I don't like busywork and I believe all work in the homeschool must serve a purpose. I find my child thrives on carefully selected published resources / workbooks for language arts. Often she'll have little to no recollection of books we have just read and discussed, but the books we have studied through literature guides, she remembers very well. I only have her write answers to 2 questions that I select, and the rest we do orally. Thanks a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brittany1116 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 We were given the CLE readers. I had the whole set for grade 2, and for the first half of the year, I'd use the TM to ask a few questions of what we just read. Oral review only; we did not use the worksheets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shraddha Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 (edited) Thanks a lot everyone. My daughter loves the MP literature guides. It's only a few books a year, and the rest of the time we do read alouds for enjoyment. I think we'll keep this up. MP has such a strong program, and the selections are good. We can always start doing more study on literary terms, etc. closer to middle school. Edited March 12 by Shraddha Adding info 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) On 3/2/2024 at 8:51 PM, ScoutTN said: At that age, we just read lots of excellent books and discussed. No lit curriculum needed. Absolutely no workbooks. On 3/3/2024 at 9:12 AM, Shraddha said: @ScoutTN I appreciate this perspective. We read aloud a lot and I don't require any written work for history, science or Bible. I don't like busywork and I believe all work in the homeschool must serve a purpose. I find my child thrives on carefully selected published resources / workbooks for language arts. Often she'll have little to no recollection of books we have just read and discussed, but the books we have studied through literature guides, she remembers very well. I only have her write answers to 2 questions that I select, and the rest we do orally. Thanks a lot. I agree with Scout. I would not use a literature guide with younger kids. You could easily accomplish what you posted here by with having her write a couple of sentences about the story or selective copywork assignments. (I use copywork to teach grammar and writing skills. ) I personally don't have 3rd graders writing about lit at all. We just discuss. (If they can't remember what the storyline is, in general, I would question comprehension.) My kids don't write about lit until 6th-8th, depending on the student. We don't do formal lit analysis, ever, all the way through high school graduation. We discuss lit bc great lit has so much to talk about. We discuss forshadowing bc it makes us want to know what is going to happen. We talk about character development bc sometimes we wish flat characters had developed more or how we have watched a round character develop. My kids love searching for "hidden" depth in writing by recognizing allusions that provide insight. But, we never sit down and over-analyze a work. (My current 8th grader is writing an essay comparing The Most Dangerous Game to Hunger Games and is having a lot of fun writing it. Having a kid who wants to work on their essay=homeschooling bliss!) Edited March 6 by 8filltheheart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Imo, early intro of literary analysis is what kills the love of literature for many students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmacmoo Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 On 3/2/2024 at 6:43 PM, AnneGG said: I’ve used a ton of lit guides. They all had pros and cons, some were more academic and some were more cross curricula/ unit studies. This year, I bought a reading comprehension kit on TPT that can be used with any book. It’s perfect, and no worksheets. It’s all task cards/discussion prompts. I also bought a literary elements pack. FWIW We have used CLE Reading and I liked it. My son tolerated it. @AnneGG What is the name of the TPT kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneGG Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 14 hours ago, macmacmoo said: @AnneGG What is the name of the TPT kit? It is the Guided Reading Tool Kit by My Teaching Pal. Despite the name, it’s not guided reading as in the “look at the picture, guess the word.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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