Instead of using a textbook for my (next year) 7th grader , we are using real books. We will be doing some fun writing to go along with the books as well. Any ideas from anyone who has studied in this way would be appreciated. Some of the books we will be using I've are: The Hobbit The Hiding Place The Secret Garden 1 Shakespeare play Some Sherlock Holmes mysteries A Mark Twain Book: Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I really like interesting biographies and classic lit, but I don't want to bore her or get over her head.
Google "glencoe literature guides" I can't remember the link, but they have A LOT of guided literature guides. I used the one for The Witch of Blackbird Pond not too long ago and it was very nice.
We have not studied books in the way you are planning. But if I am looking for a book for my son to read or for me to read aloud, I look at the Sonlight catalog. They have many books by grade level and give a brief synopsis on each book.
Some good biographies are from YWAM "Christian Heroes: Now and Then" series. Easy to read and very good object lessons.
Rainbow Resource catalog lists many many study guides. Are you planning to read all those books? Or are they a list of ones for your children to pick from? I have found that laying off the study guides so that the children have more time to read for enjoyment is a good idea. I want to really instill a love of learning and reading and the subject matters in my children. Maybe try doing 2-4 study guides a year? Depending on the length of the book of course. Something like the Hobbit, I would expect to spend a long time on it.
You might check out Lightning lit for 7th or 8th grade from Hewitt homeschool. You could use their booklists for inspiration (they share some of your choices) or buy their guides.
I'm pondering the same sort of thing....I've debated between a program like Lightning Lit or just getting a book on literature genres, etc to make sure she's exposed to literary terms and have her work her way down a reading list. Decisions, decisions....lol. We have some Total Lang Plus guides/workbooks for 2 books this semester....we'll see how that goes too.
We used lightning lit last semester and I really liked it. The only reason we aren't using it right now is that I got a unit study that has everything but math covered. But I don't know that we might go back to it. We loved Tom Sawyer. They didn't like Alice in Wonderland so much, but I thought we had some good discussions about what we did and didn't like about it. discussed if it was the story or the main character that we (they) liked or not. such as did they like Tom better because he was a boy?
Where the Red Fern Grows Anne of Green Gables Swiss Family Robinson Treasure Island Black Beauty Shadow Spinner
I'm teaching a Lit class for 6-8 graders this year. Last fall (12 week semesters) we read Carry On Mr Bowditch, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, and Call It Courage. I used Progeny Press for the first book, and mainly made up my own questions, vocab sheets, etc for the other two. (Edhelper has some book units with vocab sheets, word searches, crosswords, and questions.) This semester we are reading The Hiding Place and Rifles for Watie. During class with The Hiding Place we are studying WWII, and listening to stories of children survivors of the war. If I can read it in class, I would like to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in two classes. After co-op I think my son will read Hatchet with a friend of his, and I'd like him to read a book by GA Henty. MT3
