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Cori and I chatted about literature-based curriculum, and she had a follow up question about using living books.
Lee, you wrote: “We used a literature based curriculum for high school, and my children read TONS of books in high school. What does literature-based learning look like in the REAL world, where parents are faced with the demands of homeschooling, housework, and household economics?” Where should I look to find out exactly how you did this please? My daughter loves reading and is now in 7th grade. I would like to plan her curriculum for HS using living books and classics like you did. But can you actually use living books for science? I’ve always wondered about that.
Also, since we are based in New Zealand, and are thinking about doing her university studies by distance, could you please advise if it is as competitive to get in to university as it is for kids who will actually be attending on campus? You have so much on your website that all looks so SCRUMPTIOUS that I will need to put aside time to read through it all and decide what resources I’ll need.
I am so THANKFUL to GOD that I discovered you on the Schoolhouse Expo! In all honesty, you were my Best Find! God bless you. Many thanks again!
~ Cori
I used Sonlight Curriculum, and you can learn about it here: Sonlight.
I followed the Charlotte Mason method – or at least I wanted to and intended to: Our Charlotte Mason High School – or Maybe Not
The best answer to “how” is look at my own homeschool records, which I included in the Comprehensive Record Solution. That’s an e-product, by the way, with no shipping to get Down Under, LOL! If you purchase it, then consider buying The Gold Care Club afterward. When you purchase the CRS, you get access to the Silver Training Club, and you can upgrade to the Gold Care Club for the same price that way. Hey, I’m always looking for ways to save money! I can consult with you for 20 minutes per week if you are a Gold Care Club member, and we can discuss your college questions then. They get priority email support – or they can call me too, but I don’t know if you want to call me from New Zealand each week, so just member you can get that consulting by email as well! The Gold Care Club is also an e-product that has no problem flying between continents: Comprehensive Record Solution, Gold Care Club.
For the Online college question, I often recommend CollegePlus! They may be able to answer some of your questions as well.
I quit “teaching” literature in 5th grade and let my daughter pick books (from a list of classic literature) to read with no formal instruction. She enjoyed this approach and has been a voracious reader over the years. After reading Hamlet, she decided she enjoyed Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies and read several of them. At 16, she just took the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP exam and scored very well. She now has 6 English college credits! I am, however, struggling with teaching my children writing skills. Any help would be appreciate.
~ Blessings, Laura
Dear Laura,
English includes reading and writing. When you feel tempted to beat yourself up about English, just remember that she is excelling in half that magical formula! College English credits by 16? Amazing!
It’s not uncommon for voracious readers to struggle with writing. Professional authors write better, and they can’t write as fast as they can read. To speed up the process of writing, you can teach her to type , or use a hand-held Digital Voice Recorder to speak the content first, then she can type it later. If dyslexia is an issue, consider Dragon Naturally Speaking to compensate. You can read more in this blog post: Compensate for Learning Challenges.
Some voracious readers get great encouragement from writing a novel. Rather than purchasing a standard curriculum, consider “Learn to Write the Novel Way” so that it becomes more enjoyable.
You want to be careful about giving too much feedback. So much of writing is finding a “voice” – and voice is different for every writer. You don’t want to try to force your daughter to write like you do, you want her to learn to write like herself, only better!
There are some children who will simply to best with feedback provided by an online class. This blog post has a lot of ideas for online English classes: Homeschool High School – Online English Ideas.
Again, remember that you are not struggling with ENGLISH. You are only struggling with writing. Give her good grades for her literature study, and do your best with the writing at the same time.
Weighing the pros and cons of studying for a CLEP Exam?
My son is interested in CLEP for English, but I need some help with planning this along with his other work. He is doing an English curriculum, should he just stop it for the 8 weeks to study for the CLEP? He already takes a long time to finish his English, especially the writing. We are praying and weighing out the benefits and would appreciate any insight. Thanks. I hope you are doing well. Thanks for all the great articles and information on your website.
If your son wants to CLEP English, and passes the CLEP exam, that will demonstrate that he has a college amount of learning in the area of English. That means that if he studies for a CLEP, he is studying college English. In other words, he does not have to do an additional English class, because he will essentially be taking it at a college level.
High school English means reading and writing (literature and composition) at the level of the student, for one to two hours each day. It doesn’t really matter how you get that 1-2 hours each day, or whether it is through CLEP study or through a purchased curriculum.
It’s important not to duplicate subjects. If you are doing an English curriculum AND studying for an hour a day at CLEP, then you are duplicating English. If he is taking a CLEP in English, then it’s unlikely he actually needs to do twice as much work in that area, so I would encourage you not to duplicate it.
If your son is motivated to take and pass a CLEP exam, then I would allow him to do his English by “delight-directed learning” – even though his delight is taking a CLEP, it’s still delightful! Anytime a child asks to do something or use a certain curriculum or method, that automatically increases the chance of learning AND success. As you are weighing the benefits, weigh your sons desires at twice the normal weight, because it’s twice as likely to be successful.
If your son is taking an English class outside the home, then withdrawing from that class may cause complications. Enrollment in alternative education programs can leave you with little ability to withdraw, even when you have a good reason. I don’t know if you are enrolled in one of those accredited programs. If you are, try to withdraw before there are any formal grades or transcripts given to your son. If you are simply doing an English curriculum at home, or using a non-accredited class online or at a coop, then your options are wide open.
It’s fine to stop an English curriculum for 8 weeks (or more) and substitute another English curriculum (namely CLEP study.) Instead of adding CLEP study to your homeschool, think of it as REPLACING other English curriculum. In other words, he doesn’t have to work 8 weeks into next summer just to get the curriculum done.
As a homeschooler, you have complete freedom to mix and match your curriculum between something standard and something different. You are the principal and the school board, as well as the teacher. You get to decide on ANY curriculum for your child. If you know he might be able to pass the CLEP, then you can have him study for the CLEP for English class. In other schools, they have AP English, and in those classes they spend a large chunk of time studying for the AP exam. You have the same freedom to use that strategy for the CLEP test.
In my homeschool, each December we stopped our regular English curriculum and did Christmas-themed things. We wrote Christmas letters, Christmas cards, wrote Christmas stories, etc. In my homeschool, or entire Junior year we didn’t use a curriculum at all. Instead, I had my boys write essays for scholarships and essays for college admission. It replaced our standard English curriculum, instead of being something we did in addition.
My vote doesn’t matter, because you’re the parent and you know the situation best. However, if it were me, I would replace his regular English study with CLEP study. If he passes the CLEP, I would put “Honors” on the transcript. I would use the exact name of the English exam for the course title (for example “College Composition” or “Analyzing and Interpreting Literature” or “Humanities”.) Once he was done with the CLEP, I would return to the regular English curriculum, and not make him do the weeks of that curriculum that he missed studying. After he took the CLEP, and he passed it, I would take him out to dinner to celebrate his first college credits, because he has just saved thousands of dollars on the cost of college!
See those cute buttons at the bottom of these blog posts? Those are there to help you share helpful posts with others who might need encouragement. Go ahead and give it a try. I promise that nothing will blow up!
Sometimes combining subjects works perfectly. Other times it can be best to separate subjects. My best advice is always do what works – and if it doesn’t work, then try something else.
My 13 yr old son can recite to me things he has learned or read but when I ask him to write a paper on it, he freezes up and the knowledge simply never makes it on the paper. It’s like his brain knows it but it stays there. I have tried several different methods of writing and he knows them all but somehow the writing aspect doesn’t come through. Please advise me on your ideas or thoughts.
Thanks, Melba
Hi Melba!
Boys often seem to have trouble getting thoughts on paper – I think it has something to do with them usually being not as verbal as girls, in general.
Try teaching him to write as a separate subject, apart from his reading. In other words, evaluate his other subjects verbally or with tests, like you are doing. And when you teach him to write, don’t require him to do it with his other subjects just yet, until he gets more comfortable with writing in general.
Have you tried to teach him typing? Sometimes that little bit of technology can help.
I have heard good things about Write Shop, Write at Home, Brave Writer, and Institute for Excellence in Writing.
You might enjoy a few other articles about writing than could help you:
God Bless you Lee. You are amazing, Why? Because you answer questions that homeschoolers are always asking and can never really get a good answer. But you give us so much more then an answer, you give us hope, suggestions, and encouragement.
My husband volunteered to grade all of our English papers. Not because I wasn’t smart enough to do it myself, but because I didn’t actually DO it. I was always busy with other tasks, and it never seemed to get done. My husband took over the job, and took it very seriously. He was a little difficult to please. He gave feedback; circling things that were confusing. Pointing out misspelled words or mixed verb tenses. It was awesome. And if I say so myself, my children turned into EXCELLENT writers – got A’s in college classes, and the whole bit!
Now it would be nice to think that my husband was a perfect English teacher. Not so. With great trepidation, I’ll now confess the truth. I have to confess gently and carefully, because my husband is listening.
My husband is not a perfect spelling. My children have spelled better than both of us put together since they were in junior high. In fact, some experts have pointed out that my husband technically may spell near a 7th grade level. I don’t know if it’s true. [Editor's note: experts have been known to exaggerate. -Matt Binz]
The other day my husband suggested I include this phrase in my newsletter: “Here me talk about my BEST strategies for homeschooling high school.” I pointed out his teeny, tiniest error. My husband will turn 50 in just two weeks, and he responded by saying, “Geesh….My new goal is to master the usage of Here/Hear and There/Their/They’re by the time I’m 60. Dream big, I always say….”
My point is NOT to make fun of my husband. And it’s NOT to point out that my English skills are vastly superior even though I can’t add 2 plus 2 in front of an audience. My point is merely that you don’t have to have perfect English skills in order to provide outstanding English evaluation. Think about it for a moment. If we took our child’s writing, and correctly every single problem with it every single time, the paper could look like it was bleeding there would be so many red marks and circles! It’s probably best to provide a measured amount of feedback each time you evaluate writing. Other teachers take expectations into consideration, and evaluate with “effort” in mind. You don’t want to stifle writing, you merely want to shape and mold the skill as it grows and matures with your child.
You don’t have to be perfect. My husband and I certainly aren’t perfect. And yet somehow, remarkably, our children can write. Don’t be afraid of evaluating English!
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I keep finding “random quotation marks” in things I have “written myself.” I find it “frustrating” and think I should read the book “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” by Lynne Truss again.
It’s a hilarious book. I do remember that there were some “questionable” words, and I hesitated before showing it to my older teenagers. Don’t use it with “younger” children, and you may want to pre-read it before giving it to your older children as well. (Warning, her second book isn’t as good, and the language is more “troubling.”)
Another great book that I should probably read again is the Strunk and White classic, “Elements of Style.”
In case you are wondering, the “White” of “Strunk and White” is actually the author of Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White. Pretty “cool,” huh?
Colleges want four years of high school English. You’ve done it all and you have one more year of high school to go. What to do about English?
Hey Lee,
I am a high school senior, and I was wondering what you would recommend me to take for English class this fall. I don’t actually “need” another English credit so this is mostly going to be something that I’m doing just to make my transcript look better. I’m would prefer something that would be “fun”, and I would like to avoid Shakespeare and stuff like that like. I know I sound picky, but if it’s something that I don’t have to do, I’d rather not put myself through the pain. I like reading, it’s just that I don’t like old English. If you can help me, that would be great. Thanks!
~ Heather
Dear Heather,
If you have already covered the basics of English and you don’t need anything specific, then you can cover your last English credit with “Delight-Directed Learning.” That means that your goal is to do at least an hour of reading and writing every day, in some way that is enjoyable for you. There are a LOT of options! You can write a novel, or take a year of speech and debate. You could start a blog, become an “Examiner” author, or get a writing internship. You can choose a variety of literature supplements, or design a course on “Popular Fiction” for your reading and writing.
You do need a whole credit of English during senior year, but that doesn’t mean you have to use English Curriculum. You can pull something together that is interesting to you, and then count hours you spend reading and writing to determine the credit value. 120-180 hours is a high school credit.
I hope that helps!
Updates to the Gold Care Club and Silver Training Club tomorrow
Math and science may scare some people, but I was intimidated by English. Math and science are wonderful, because there is always a right answer and a wrong answer. Unfortunately, English isn’t that way. English has “voice” which is very difficult to teach and difficult to correct. How do you know writing is “right” or “wrong” when it could be just the voice of the writer?
I finally decided that my job as a homeschool parent was to simply help my children become better writers. Not perfect, and not “right” just better than they were yesterday. That’s when I decided that writing was more about practice than anything else. Practice and feedback, more practice and more feedback.
I have been collecting some ideas for writing that may encourage you as you think about English for your own homeschool.
Even though I am listing some courses, remember that most homeschoolers teach English and writing at home using tools they have around the house (mainly paper and pencil.) You don’t need to have online resources, and you don’t need a teacher to grade papers for you. You can choose a writing curriculum you do at home, or choose writing assignments independently and be completely successful. However, I’m aware that some parents are serious about wanting additional help in this area, so I wanted to make sure to list a bunch of ideas. I have heard great reports about Brave Writer and Write at Home in particular.
Here is an article about English that may help you with the grading.
Read to what others are saying about The HomeScholar Gold Care Club!
In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
~Alfred Lord Tennyson
In summer a homeschool parent’s fancy turns to reading.
~Lee Binz
One of the great things about summer is the opportunity to read without being interrupted.
Set two goals:
First: Demonstrate the love of literature by finding a book for yourself and reading it in front of your children, showing them how enjoyable it is. Second: Find books that your children will enjoy reading.
For others, finding a book they enjoy is a little more difficult. Realize that this is why librarians earn the “big bucks” – they have the skills needed to find an enjoyable book for almost any teen with almost any interest. Your first step is checking with a librarian. If all else fails, don’t hesitate to have your children read trade magazines or even comic books (carefully screened, of course). Reading anything is better than reading nothing!
Reading below grade level can increase the “love of reading” factor and increase their reading speed while helping children feel comfortable with a book in their hand.
Here is a simple trick for helping your students increase their reading speed. Have them use their index finger to trace the words as they read. This keeps them from backtracking, which slows down most readers. Such a practice can increase your reading speed by 20% or more.
Keep a list of books on a reading list. Some colleges like to see a reading list, and it can come in handy when you are writing course descriptions.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
From the poem “THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL”
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Classical education is very popular right now. What are your opinions on this new-again fad?
“Hi Lee,
Have you ever evaluated or looked at “Classical Conversations”. friend of mine just found out about this and told me this is really taking the home schooling community by storm. Just wondered if you had any thoughts on this?”
~Tamera on Facebook
Hi Tamera,
I think it’s a good fit for some kids, and a really bad fit for others. It really depends on the child. Like your friend, I see it as a real trend – but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good fit for everyone, or even for the majority. When it’s not a good fit, it can really cause some serious burnout issues. When it’s a good fit, it’s very very good, but when it’s bad, it’s HORRID. I’ve seen the burnout with my own eyes, and it’s a very big concern, and something to really consider.
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