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Which literature guides would upset Charlotte the least? :)
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Melanie, I agree with your thoughts on Glencoe being just as good as Lightning Lit. and Illuminating Literature being too wordy. I spent some time looking them over last night and this morning. I’m leaning towards just using a random one here and there over the years. The writing program we are using also touches on literature analysis, so I’m thinking it’s plenty.
Robin, I love hearing your story!
Wow, Robin! What a wonderful testimony! There is nothing more refreshing and encouraging to me than the wisdom of a seasoned homeschool mom. Thanks for sharing!!
Maybe also take a look at Reader’s Odyssey. And I would honestly give Brave Writer a closer look because I know the author Julie Bogart uses CM methods in all of her curriculum. She has resources for high school, and the spine of her language arts programs are good quality literature. That might be something that could work for you.
I think Robin P’s testimony is an excellent example of how CM is intended to work all the way through to graduation. I know I tend to panic a little about myself, but honestly I believe that as children’s logic and reasoning grow with maturity, they are naturally analyzing in their more detailed narrations, written and oral. Discussion would help them analyze it more deeply too. Maybe a homeschool book club? or Literature class? Also, look on Cathy Duffy’s reviews. She has lot of programs listed there and you might be able to get a better idea.
So I just looked into Boomerang-Julie Bogart’s (bravewriter) lit guides. I downloaded the free one and really liked it. They are short and sweet, offer copywork and dictation from the book being studied, cover some punctuation and grammar, and give nice essay questions at the end. She also advises the student to copy what she calls “golden lines” from the book which are their favorite quotes. Sounds like Charlotte Mason’s commonplace book to me. 🙂
Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op offers a bundle of 5 lit guides for $30. I bought one. 🙂 I chose Jane Eyre, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities, Sense and Sensibility and Animal Farm. That should cover lit analysis for my daughter’s highschool years.
Thanks for the recommendation Jenni!
We have used 7 sisters guides this year. I am teaching 7th & 8th grade co-op class using The Chronicles of Narnia guides, although I am supplementing with questions and comments from the book ROAR! A family guide to the Chronicles of Narnia.  What I like about the 7 sister guides is that they are brief and don’t “overkill” the analysis.  We have read A LOT in our 14 years of homeschooling, so discussing what we have read comes pretty naturally and my girls love stories and are able to make connections and comment on their own.  But the guides give us background info and focus in on a few aspects on literary analysis that we might not notice on our own.  They have worked well for us.  Another good source is Robin Finley’s (Analytical Grammar) The Eternal Argument; she gives an overview of how literature throughout the ages has reflected and influenced the times and prevailing worldview of the period. Not a study guide but a help in reading any work of literature.  Just a few thoughts 🙂
I wanted to add that the Boomerang guides also cover literary terms and lit analysis, but gently, here a little, there a little.
Jenni, I looked at the Bravewriter samples last night. Those do seem much more CM in style. Thank you for pointing me in that direction. I’ll definitely use on of the free samples. I do like Julie Bogart and her philosophy. I wish her products weren’t so pricey. But I refer to her blog and website often.
I also love the look of Blackbird and Co., but good grief! the price!!
I will also say that re-reading my copy of TWTM, I had forgotten that Susan has a pretty good thoughts literature analysis and is big on not killing the love of the book. She has a hand-out from a lecture she gave on the subject here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/what-is-literary-analysis-and-when-to-teach-it/
Ladies- glad I could help! I’m glad that Brave Writer fits the bills for you. I love Julie Bogart’s method and viewpoint. I’m incorporating it more and more here in our homeschool for literature as well and will probably stick with it longterm.
Kerij-I read that hand out from SWB and listened to the lecture that goes along with it a year or so ago. They were both really good. 🙂
I came back to give a review of Bravewriter’s Boomerang now that we are actually using the Animal Farm guide. I decided to go ahead and try one out since my daughter has been reading about World War 1 and 2 and Animal Farm fits this time period so well. So far we are both enjoying it. I really do like these literature guides and I think they are perfect for most classics. However, Animal Farm is does actually have much deeper meanings and the guide doesn’t go into that very much. For most classics, I simply want my child to enjoy the story and do a bit of critical thinking concerning plot lines and symbolism. For Animal Farm, I want to go deeper than that and this guide doesn’t do that very well. I am using the free Glencoe lit guide to delve deeper into Animal Farm.
That said, the other guides I purchased look perfect for the books that will be studied.
The other thing that I wanted to share is that I think the guides are way overpriced. They are around $10 and some of them are only 5 or 6 pages! I’m okay with it since I purchased a bundle through Homeschool Buyer’s Coop for a discounted price but I would be highly upset if I had paid $10 for one of these guides. Things like Lightning Lit and Illuminating Literature are way less expensive, considering you get the whole, year-long program for the same price as 5 of the Boomerang guides and 5 of the Boomerang guides would only last you 5 months if you used them as written.
Honestly, I am loving Bravewriter but am kind of blown away by the prices. I really like the sample for Help For Highschool but the price is ridiculous for a 12 week program that is only available as an ebook! Even with the discount at the Coop, it’s still $40! I could buy a really nice hard bound book for that price. I think Bravewriter would be so much more popular if Julie would price her programs more reasonably.
I wanted to mention, for those who might be interested in Sharon Watson’s Illuminating Literature, there are free downloads of the first two chapters here.
That link will allow you to download the first two chapters of the student text as well as the first two teacher’s guide chapters, the student’s novel notebook (frst two chapters), and a sample quiz as well.
I’m encouraged by Robin’s post too and tempted not to add much to the basic CM ideas. We have done some lit analysis though. Here’s one example:Â https://lettersfromnebby.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/last-literary-analysis-of-the-year-animal-farm/
i picked Animal Farm because it was mentioned but most of the books we’ve looked at are much simpler, like Charlotte’s Web. This is done with kids ages 10-15. My goal is really for us all to just discuss a book together and for them to get some sense that authors have ideas and that we can try to get to their presuppositions and world view.
Keri-I emailed Julie Bogart about her prices and she responded very graciously. I really do admire her. She said that the prices they charge are reflective of all the free resources they offer as well and it takes those prices to support the company. While I do understand what she is saying, I still think she would actually make more money if she lowered her prices because she would sell a lot more by opening the market to lower income families.
Homeschooling has become so expensive in the past few years. I still manage to keep my costs down by buying used. Each year I make a list of the things I’ll need for the next year and I search ebay and Amazon on a regular basis until I can catch them at a good price. I do buy some things new like Picture Portfolios and the Math U See student package. I feel bad for new homeschool moms who end up thinking that homeschool has to be so expensive. I homeschooled elementary school with math curriculum and a good library card.
Okay, I’ve gone completely off topic now. 🙂
I hope everyone has a blessed Easter! He is risen!
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