Name: Teach Them Diligently (Branson)
Start: 2025-05-15T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Branson, MO

Tagged: highschool, Language arts

This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by Melanie32.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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October 13, 2016 at 7:08 am
Mum In Zion
Participant
Hello Ladies, I am struggling to put subjects together for my 15yo son. We have had a couple of hard years that have taken their toll on family, learning and ministry, and as a result we are probably not where we should be academically… especially for my son. I am feeling ok about the choices and levels I have put together for Bible, Math, Science, World Geography, Australian History, Foreign Language (Hebrew) and extras like picture study and hymn study.
But I’m not sure about Language Arts. To fill some gaps with Grammar and Writing, we are currently using Wordsmith by Janie B. Cheaney and Great Explorations in Editing. I want/need to add Literature and have some ideas about which books to have DS read. But what do we do with them?? Should I get a Study Guide to explore and get a deeper understanding of each book? I don’t know the books well enough to make up questions about them for Narration purposes. But if we do an in-depth study of every book I think it will kill his desire to read ? What do you ladies do? How much is enough to be considered a Highschool Credit? Do you separate “fun but good” literature from literature to be studied, such as British or American Literature? Sorry for all the questions, but when I look at what should be included on a Highschool Transcript, I get very nervous that I’m not doing nearly enough.
I also want the kids to learn word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations etc. Can anyone recommend online lessons/tutorials for these? We have both Mac and PC, but also considered using Open Office products.
Thank you for any advice and suggestions. I have missed being on the forum to get sound advice and encouragement ?
Blessings, Michelle
October 13, 2016 at 8:08 am
retrofam
Participant
For literature we use a curriculum and tweak it to make it more CM. I read a selection aloud and go over a few of the questions that pertain to literary elements and analysis. I used Rod & Staff Reading 9 and some of BJU literature.
Next year I am going to try Christian Light literature. I am very particular about what we read, so most of the high school literature programs don’t work for us. I own Notgrass history/lit. but we ended up only using their reading list.
I also have a list of classics for each teen to read on their own. One title is Across Five Aprils.

We do not study literature every semester, but they also have their book list going, and many of our history books count as literature also.
High school English is a mix of composition, literature, grammar, and speech. I don’t log hours in each topic. My goal for literature is that my teens are exposed to a few classic works, know the basics of literary analysis, and can have conversations about a piece of literature and see basic elements such as foreshadowing.
They learn a lot from watching movies and the bonus features and commentaries on movie dvds also.

October 13, 2016 at 8:16 am
Sue
Participant
For literature, mostly I would just have him read the wonderful books you’ve selected. You can ask for a written narration maybe once a week and see how that goes. At age 15, I’m guessing your son is in 9th or 10th grade, so I would just let him enjoy good books and occasionally give his thoughts on them to develop a love of good literature. You don’t have to make up a lot of questions for him to answer, just start with “tell me what you can recall about today’s reading.” You can be a little more specific at times such as “describe the main characters in the story,” or “tell me what happened to the characters in today’s reading….how did they respond to this?” or something like that.
Here are two threads about literary analysis that suggest approaches to it and give a couple of resources for teaching literary analysis.
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/literary-analysis/
https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/what-to-teach-literature-analysis/
HTH,
Sue
October 13, 2016 at 8:25 am
retrofam
Participant
The above link reminded me that we also went through Deconstructing Penguins together. That was a favorite for my teens.
It sounds similar to Teaching the Classics.
October 14, 2016 at 4:36 am
jeaninpa
Participant
Here’s what we’ve done for high school English, breaking it down into the different aspects of grammar, literature, composition and speech.
Grammar: Easy Grammar Plus. I like this approach to grammar because it makes sense to me. We go through this book early in high school and then do one of the Easy Grammar Ultimate books later if they need extra review. The ultimate books have 180 lessons.
Literature: we use a literature based history program and they read books that correspond with that.
Composition: I am totally in love with The Power In Your Hands by Sharon Watson. She has a book for creative writing and another for non-fiction. The books are written to the student and are engaging and comprehensive. She begins each by “holding their hands” and walking them through step-by-step, gradually placing more responsibility on the student. We have also used Their Blood Tingled by Sharon Watson for an introductory course in literary analysis for early high school. She has another course called, Illuminating Literature that we plan to use next year.
Speech: we’ve done this through a co-op, but if that’s not an option for you, I feel that the non-fiction writing class by Sharon Watson could easily be used for speech as well. The students write a variety of essays that could be presented orally to morph the composition into a speech credit as well.
October 14, 2016 at 6:36 am
Melanie32
Participant
I keep literary analysis down to a minimum in our homeschool. We analyze a few books throughout the high school years but mostly we just read and discuss lots of great literature.
I mix lighter lit choices in with harder ones to keep things on an even keel. I give my daughter a choice of books and she chooses from that list. She reads 30 minutes a day for literature and I plan on doing at least one lit guide a year, maybe more if we want to.
She also reads lots in her free time. Sometimes she chooses her own free reading books and others she gets so into her current lit book that she wants to read that in her free time instead. Right now she is loving Pride and Prejudice and reading it whenever she gets a chance.
I also have her write 2 page-long papers per week. Some are essays, others are narrations.
We use a combination of grammar programs. We mostly covered grammar in middle school but we will have some review each year to keep the concepts fresh.
I will probably just label my daughter’s English studies as English I, English 2, etc. on her transcript.
October 14, 2016 at 6:51 am
Melanie32
Participant
I wanted to add how I did things with my son as I handled things quite differently with him.
He is not a reader so I required him to read for one hour every day. He preferred to use more tools for writing so it took him longer to complete a one page paper. I only required one a week from him but he worked on it every day. He wrote his outline on day 1, half the paper on day 2, and the other half on day 3. We edited it together on day 4 and he typed out his finished paper on day 5. He worked steadily on Easy Grammar Plus throughout high school-just doing few pages a week.
Different methods for different children!
October 14, 2016 at 8:00 am
retrofam
Participant
I agree with the statement above, “Different methods for different children!” I use a different book list for each child, but a few of the books are the same. I like to have two curriculum choices for each subject for high schoolers when possible.
October 18, 2016 at 1:14 am
Mum In Zion
Participant
Thank you ladies. I am over the panic of not doing enough 🙂 You are so right about different methods for different children. I think just exposing DS to more good literature and having written narrations will be good for him. I found a generic novel study guide which asks lots of questions about different things (characters, setting, themes, compare and contrast…) in the novel, so this will give me inspiration when asking for something different in his narrations.
Has anyone used 7SistersHomeschool Speech program? or any of their programs actually? The look practical and not too much busy work.
Thanks for taking the time to share what you use.
Blessings, Michelle
October 18, 2016 at 5:06 am
Melanie32
Participant
I just bought a few lit guides from 7 sisters last week because they were half off. They are decent. My biggest problem with most lit guides is that they are usually too wordy and they take an enjoyable subject and make it tedious. 7 sisters lit guides aren’t too long, at least. I just pick and choose sections that I find worthwhile.
I do find that I like to use a lit guide for some books that are extremely meaty or allegorical to bring out the full meaning behind the literature. For instance, we used a lit guide for Animal Farm and I bought 1 for The Pilgrim’s Progress as well.
I do try to keep it down to 1 or 2 literature guides a year. I don’t want to over analyze literature, or suck all the enjoyment out of great books!