Sneak Peek #7: New World Geography Guide

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I'm so excited, because tonight's sneak peek rounds out the literature sneak peek I shared last week! Last week, I shared details about our planned approach to literature using a combination of BJU Literature and real books. I'll link that sneak peek here for any readers who may have missed it. Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13147

This evening, I get to finally share our selections for "real books" that we will use within the area of literature in our new World Geography guide. The general plan is to teach a unit of BJU lit. and then follow that unit with a book that is strong in the particular story elements emphasized in the BJU unit. Alternating in this manner will help the students make their own connections between what is taught and modeled in BJU and the books that are read after each unit in a more CM fashion.

The BJU stories have critical thinking questions that we will schedule for the parent to discuss with the student twice weekly. On the other two days each week, the students will write their answers to the BJU lit. questions instead. The balance of teaching, questions, discussion, and written responses used with BJU allows us to take a more CM approach to reading the full-length books that we are scheduling. So, with the full-length books we will instead be having the students do oral narrations, written narrations, and Common Place Book entries.

As far as our book selections go, we are also going to take a bit of a different approach in this area as well! Since it seems that many books often appeal more to a certain gender, we are going to offer a recommended set for boys and a recommended set for girls (at least in this particular guide). Both sets will be scheduled in our guide, and we will carry the sets along with BJU lit. in our HOD store! Our selections are as follows:

Recommended for Boys:
1. Shane by Jack Schaefer
OR A Christmas Carol by Dickens
2. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger, Jr.
3. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
4. Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
5. Children of the New Forest by Marryat
Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
6. Cyrano de Bergerac (full-length in BJU)

Recommended for Girls:
1. A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Papa's Wife by Thyra Ferre Bjorn
4. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
6. Cyrano de Bergerac (full-length in BJU)

To clarify a bit, if your child happens to have read one of the numbered selections above, then you can choose to do the matching numbered selection(s) in the opposite recommended list instead. For example, if your child has already read Pride and Prejudice, then you would instead have your child read Treasure Island and Ragged Dick. Both of these books would be needed to replace Pride and Prejudice (due to length).

You will also note that number '1' in the boy list above has two choices. This is because the novel Shane, while being a terrific western with many good insights into manhood, also has quite a bit of language in it. This may be a deal-breaker for some families (even though we will give warnings so that you can choose to use white out if desired). With this in mind, we have offered the choice of A Christmas Carol instead (and if your child has read that, there is always the "girl" selection for number '1' as an option too).

It took me quite awhile to arrive at the plan we have above, as you know that literature is near and dear to my heart! As I read and pondered endless possibilities, I have discovered that so often classic literature can be very depressing and contain very mature themes. While some of this is necessary, I also feel that balance is very necessary too (not to mention it's important to keep in mind the target age range of this guide)! So, the list above has not come without much thought and prayer, and I am thrilled with the final balance.

We pray that these books may encourage your children to enjoy reading classic literature, to think deeply as they read, to "live" with the characters as the stories unfold, to be uplifted and to learn lessons from the characters actions, and to weigh what is read against their Biblical worldview.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Molly]

Carrie, although we are so far away from doing this guide (3 years to go), I am so excited to read these sneek peeks. It is wonderful to see the exciting books etc that our children are going to come in contact with. Most of all, you encourage me to get ready and read these books ahead of the children so I am ready and able to discuss them with them.

[davisfam7]

Carrie,
LOVE the book selection!! I was thrilled as my oldest has read many of these books during her homeschooling and now my next two will get to as well!! Thanks so much for the excellent work you are doig and for making it flow so well for the rest of us to teach our kids!

[glperky]

I can hardly wait! We are so excited to be starting HOD this coming year!

[lapeseven]

Awesome! I had wanted and planned for a couple of these selections, but am thrilled with the list. I love a few of these, and don't know why I didn't think about adding them. Thank you Carrie for the sneak peek.

[snadig]

I am wondering if I need to read these books before my dd does for the discussion time? I could never keep up with her reading, even if I slow her down. I am a slow reader. Do think it would be bad to have her reread some of the books she already has read?

All the sneak peaks sound so good! I am excited for this guide and to be honest a bit nervous about how I can teach this, Bigger, and Creation to Christ, but the thing I am trying to remember it isn't by my strength, it is the Lord who guides us and gives us strength.

Thanks,
Stacey

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I am so glad to see that you are as excited as I am with the book selections! It warms my heart!

I want to encourage each of you that as I plan the guide we are definitely keeping in mind how busy family-life is and also how much balance is needed (as we run 4 guides in our own home right now). So, be encouraged that as far as literature goes, the BJU answer key will be a huge help as you discuss the selections with your students for BJU. I haven't had time to read most of my older son's BJU selections this year, but as we go through the questions I am able to skim them and really grasp much of the story/poem. BJU also highlights key points in the text and really fully explains possible answers, so this will really be a blessing to all families!

As far as the novels go, while it would be ideal if you did get a chance to read them, it isn't actually necessary. This is because we will be having the students orally narrate, write written narrations, and select passages that struck them to copy in their Common Place Book. You can see that each of these areas do not really require a parent's prior knowledge of the book. So, with the book in hand, you can easily skim as your student narrates. You will also gain knowledge of the book through your child's written narrations and Common Place Book entries. We definitely want to keep in mind that as the parent you have already been through school, so it is not the parent we are desiring to educate! Take heart that the child needs to be doing the work of sifting and sorting and making connections with the real books CM-style, so we want to move away from the literature guide experience of questioning as far as the novels are concerned.

If your child has already recently read a book on the list above, I would take a look at the corresponding numbered book in the opposite gender list to use in its place (as both will be scheduled in the guide). If your child read the book in question quite some time ago, then I may consider having the child read it again (as we'll be doing it more in bite-sized pieces CM-style, pondering and living with it as we go). Much of this will depend on the child, and on what book you think he/she would enjoy most. Truly, many of the books I've listed above are ones that can be read again and again. Also, many on the list are wonderful for both girls and boys. For example, one of my oldest son's favorite books is Pride and Prejudice, and I really enjoyed reading the boy books as much as the girl books!

I think you'll find that as you move into high school, the transition will not be as big as you may be thinking. Our goal at HOD is to have incrementally prepared kiddos through the guides that come before for this usually big step so that the transition goes more smoothly (for both parent and child). Keep in mind as we share these sneak peeks that we will have all of this planned for you on your usual two page spread each day, so while it may seem like an overwhelming amount of subjects and topics now, it won't feel that way as you actually use the guide. The new guide will also be a 4-day plan, which will really give you some wiggle room too!

I must admit that after having to do my oldest son's high school without an HOD plan that I am excited beyond belief to have it planned in HOD guide form for my next oldest son. The best part is that we will get to share this experience together and encourage one another as we go!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Tiffini]

Oh, WOW! I am super, super excited about the way you are writing Lit for this Guide!! I can't wait to be able to use it all as written for my two 9th graders for high school in 2014! I know you put SO much time, thought, effort, and prayer into choosing just the right books to go along with this Guide and it means more than I can say to just be able to trust you completely and go with it! THANK YOU!!

I know how incredibly busy you are, so no rush on this, but if you ever have a moment, would you mind sharing your list of novels that you used for American Lit with your older son? I would really love to see what you chose for him and will probably use the same with my oldest for 10th grade next year. Thank you!

[flackattack]

Thanks, Carrie, for another great sneak peek. The book selections look great! And thanks for all the time and prayer you put into picking them.
I have a few questions related to a post that I wrote last week after your sneak peek about the BJU portion of the literature. My ds will be using this guide as a 10th grader and he is doing Ancient Lit/Comp this year. You mentioned that I could use some of the novels from this list with some of the literature in the upcoming World History guide to form a Brit Lit credit, since he will not be able to use your last American history guide where you are planning to offer Brit Lit. I am assuming that even if I "steal" some books from this guide to form that Brit Lit credit that with the Fundamentals in Lit from BJU, Essentials in Writing, and 1/2 of Rod & Staff English 7 that I will still have plenty of hours left to award my ds a full credit as he does the World Geography guide. Is that a correct assumption? Also, do you think that I should plan on adding additional poetry and short stories by British authors to round out that Brit Lit credit or will there be enough of that in the Fundamentals of Literature from BJU and whatever you choose next year for World Lit?
Hopefully I am making sense...
Thanks,
Katie

[Carrie]

Tiffini,

If you want to email me, I'll gladly share the books my son has read for American literature this year! I just don't want to confuse this particular thread with a list of books not related to the geography guide, as we have so many families reading the sneak peeks. There are 14,000+ views right now on the sticky of this particular thread (at the top of the board), so I want to mindful of being as clear as possible with what is contained in the new geography guide.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Carrie]

Katie,

Since our World History guide is still in its very general planning stages, I cannot tell you for sure whether you will need to add more British poetry and short stories to gain a semester of British literature credit (over the first two guides in our high school cycle). There will be some contained in the BJU Lit., so we'll have to see whether it is enough on its own, or whether you may have to add a bit to gain the needed credit. If you did need to add more, it will hopefully not be so much. This is, of course, if you only need a semester of British literature. We'll know more once the first two guides are done.

Since you won't make it to our final guide in the high school cycle, you also might want to be sure to choose the British titles in the selections above for your child to read to help make sure to earn credit toward the British literature requirements. This is another area where the choices we're offering will help too.

We'll help more with how to award the credit, as we get further along in the guides. For your situation, It would probably be wise to just award a semester of British literature credit in the year that you complete the British lit and then list a semester of a different type of literature (like world literature) for the other part of your literature credit that year. Or, if there is enough there time-wise to do both, you could list a full credit of world literature and a semester credit of British literature. We will have to see which scenario is possible once the second high school guide is done.

Blessings,
Carrie

[flackattack]

Thank you... once again! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.
Blessings,
Katie

[luv2homeschool]

This is very interesting, thanks for sharing. We recently listened to the audio book of Treasure Island and my kids loved it. I didn't think of it as being a high school level book!

[Carrie]

Christine,

I'm so glad that you mentioned this! There are so many versions of Treasure Island out there, many of which are abridged. We actually own several different versions at our house! There are also many different audio versions of this book too. Some are abridged, some are just retold in the narrator's own words, and others are unabridged. No matter what version you listen to, it is definitely much easier to listen to a book on audio than it is to actually read it independently. Kiddos can usually listen many grades above what they can read.

Typically, the unabridged Treasure Island is read at some point in grades 7-10. Since the first five chapters of Treasure Island are included in BJU Grade 9 literature, it makes great sense to include the whole book in unabridged form for kiddos to complete the reading they started in BJU.

Blessings,
Carrie

[lissiejo]

FABULOUS!