The Power in Your Hands, question??

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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  • my3boys
    Participant

    I noticed that there is a section on Literary Analysis in the student book. Is this topic covered well enough to not need another program like Lightning Literature or Windows to the World??

    thanks!

    my3boys
    Participant

    I see she has a new course titled Illuminating Literature, When Worlds Collide. I’m looking at that right now. Looks promising.

    missceegee
    Participant

    I have piYH and IL at home for evaluation.  I am not sure piYH will be needed for dd and I’m not sure what I think of IL just yet.  I am torn between Excellence in Literature, IL, and LL.  I think I’ll end up hodgepodge for the coming year.  I want some but not all of any of the programs.

    crazy4boys
    Participant

    For high school I’m using Power in Your Hands for writing instruction. For “literature” we’re doing a mixture of the three programs listed above – Lightning Lit, Excellence in Literature, and Illuminating Literature. I have a list of the books and my two boys choose which book they want to read and we use that portion of the program. Pick the next book and use the program that talks about the book. Does it go in order? No. Will there be terms here and there they don’t know? Yes. Will they figure it out? Sure. Sometimes we’ll work for several sections in one program then move to the next. We might stay focused in Brit Lit for a bit or bounce back and forth between historical time periods (mostly they choose the books, but sometimes I do). I’m focusing more on helping them love literature than strictly following a plan.

    my3boys
    Participant

    I’m beginning to think that that is the way to go, crazy4boys!

    I did purchase The Power in Your Hands, as I have been drawn to that program for quite a while now and I think it will be a good fit for my ds. I’ll probably purchase the new guide as well.  I’m finding that all the guides have books my boys have read already and probably don’t want to read again anytime soon, so that means we may need more than one guide! That actually sounds better than feeling like we’ve got to make this one guide work, or else.  Cost is a consideration, but hopefully I can find some used guides this coming year.

    Now I feel excited about what we are planning for the coming year and not so frazzled by all of the choices.  Plus, I was reading a bit in the Hearing, Reading, Telling and Writing by SCM and I truly believe in Miss Mason’s ideas. I’m going to try to not allow the “programs” to interfere too much with cultivating the love for literature and the power of narration but use them for the structure and knowledge they can provide.

    My health has been a real problem for me lately and I’m needing some planned programs to alleviate the stress that planning on my own can bring.

    thanks, ladies, for helping me work this out, it’s much appreciated.

    missceegee
    Participant

    I could echo you my3boys!

    Bookworm
    Participant

    I am using PiyH to prepare for LL.  I used it for the instruction on how to write a literary analysis paper.   We will begin actual study of literature and regular papers for LL in the fall.  I did NOT make it all the way through PiyH in one year.  I intend to work out of some other sections before he begins taking SATs later.

    Kimberly
    Participant

    I will be using Power in Your Hands w/ my 9th & 11th graders this fall, mostly to “sure up” the different styles of writing, as they both have done written narrations for many years, including some SAT-type essays. I don’t see us making it all the way through the course in one year b/c we will be spending the first 2 weeks working on study skills and Jan-Feb doing a public speaking course by Jeff Myers, Secrets of Great Communicators, which has lots of great writing instruction pertaining to setting up effective arguments, organizing speech/papers for maximum impact, etc. So I think we’ll pick-and-choose a bit from PiYH.

    Also, a suggestion for literature guides/courses: We have used, and will be using more, study guides from 7sistershomeschool.com  .  They have a variety of study guide PDFs for around $3.99. You can pick which ones you want to cover or they have combined 8-9 into courses, like British Lit, World Lit. etc. The authors’ objectives are to avoid overkill, still enjoy the story but guide in analysis as well, often focusing on just 1 or 2 analysis aspects in each novel.  They also include some questions that could be used for essays.

    my3boys
    Participant

    Thanks bookworm and kimberly.

    I have looked at 7sisters, as well, and can see how just choosing one of the guides for one particular book would be very simple.  Now that I don’t feel like it has to be one guide, or else, I can more easily see that we can use multiple guides, if that is what works best for us.

    For me, it had been the cost of multiple guides and wanting to get the best “bang” for your buck.  But I can tell that, for us, using more than one guide over the years is going to suit our needs best.

    Thanks ladies!

    Rachel White
    Participant

    my3boys, I contacted Sharon about PiyH regarding the lit. analysis. It does not teach annotation skills, which WttW does.

    Thought you’d want to know. I know that Excellence in Lit. seems to require that as a skill (or at least one would benefit greatly for having it) from all I have read.

    my3boys
    Participant

    Thanks, Rachel.

    I did pick up a used copy of PiYH yesterday for $10 but haven’t had a chance to look through the lit portion, so thank you.  I do plan on purchasing WttW at some point, but I’d really like to find it used because I seem to like a bit of everything!

    Rachel White
    Participant

    You’re welcome. That’s a good deal.

    There’s a set available at homeschoolclassifieds if you want to check it out. Be sure to read the description to see if it’s a good deal for you.

    I don’t remember the last time I bought something new. Be they books…or clothes!

    missceegee
    Participant

    Annotating is covered well in WttW. But after extensively going through WttW, I’ve decided that it’s a bit overkill in the analysis department. I have PiYH and IL here to look through, too.

    missceegee
    Participant

    Annotating can be learned without WttW.  Look for How to Mark a Book by Adler and you’ll get the idea.

    my3boys
    Participant

    Thanks Christie!!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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