Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Excellence for Literature

Everyday Education offers all kinds of homeschool resources for homeschooling through High School. 

 

Many crew members reviewed Excellence in Literature:: English 1: Introduction to Literature with the Honors option

Introduction to Literature was created as a college-preparatory course.  It consists of 9 units, the first one based on short stories and the second through ninth unit are based on Novels.  The author of this curriculum, Janice Campbell, put a lot of thought into choosing the books and you can read about how she did that in this blog post.

Each unit has focus text(s) along with context text(s).

I love it when you can take a book and get so much out of it.  Excellence in Literature does just that. 

Taken straight from the website:

Throughout this course students gain an understanding and development of literature and will practice the skills of close literary analysis through essays, approach papers and other evaluative writing.

Objectives

  • Understand the process of writing, including the use of tools such as a writer’s handbook, dictionary, and thesaurus.
  • Have specific understanding of selected representative texts by major authors of the periods studied.
  • Have a general understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of the works.
  • Be able to analyze literary texts and present thoughtfully developed ideas in writing.
  • Demonstrate competence in essay organization, style, and mechanics.

Unit 1: Short Stories by-
• Sarah Orne Jewett: A White Heron
• Edgar Allen Poe: The Purloined Letter (This one is not scary, if you're concerned about that.)
• Guy de Maupassant: The Diamond Necklace
• O. Henry: The Ransom of Red Chief
• Eudora Welty: A Worn Path
• James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Unit 2: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Honors: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Unit 3: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Honors: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Unit 4: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Honors: Shirley or Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Unit 5: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Honors: Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

Unit 6: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Honors: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Unit 7: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Honors: 1984 by George Orwell

Unit 8: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Honors: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Unit 9: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Honors: The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

The print book 132, 8” x 11” pages is $29 + $4.95 Priority Mail Shipping. 

The Ebook version is $27 with instant access and is designed to be printed double sided and put in a 3 ring binder. 

While I absolutely love the concept of this program and the ideas of being able to dig so deeply into literature.  This program was just not for us, yet.  It is to advanced for my middle-schooler right now.  While he reads and comprehends on level, he is still working on expressing his feelings and even discovering what they are.  So he is not quite able to do that with books yet.

Some of the things that were particularly above his level included writing the paper,

I am definitely going to work hard with him to get him at this level for High School.  I am looking forward to revisiting this with him in a few years. 

To see what others though of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to write my review.

 

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