The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with Common Sense Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I'm continuing today with my homeschooling high school series. Today's post focuses on Language Arts. This was really a huge struggle for me, but I am ecstatic that I have finally settled on the Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL) curriculum from Common Sense Press that delves deep and provides us with exactly what we need to study language arts in high school.
Quick Overview
Program: Learning Language Arts Through Literature: The Gold Book - World Literature
Subject(s): literacy, literature, world cultures, ELA
Religious Perspective: Explores World Religions through their literature
Format: Books
Grades: 9th - 12th
Language: English
Price: $14.00 - $27.00
Homeschool Literature Curriculum
Finding a language arts curriculum that meets my expectations has always been a struggle. And once my middle kid started 9th grade, my stress level about this subject skyrocketed. UNTIL I learned about LLATL. I just wish that I had learned about it before we started 9th grade instead of a few months ago.
This program is simple and easy to implement. Easy to teach AND easy for my student to get done on his own. I don't necessarily have to teach this subject. But I do because I love it.
Open-and-Go Curriculum
The program uses two main books: the text book which contains all the lessons, and A World Literature Anthology, with excerpts of (yep!) world literature. To complete the course, I ran up to my local Half-Price Book Store and purchased copies of The Odyssey by Homer, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. I had to order No Fear Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare off of Amazon.
That's it. The textbook and anthology are the main materials my son needs. It's set up for a 5 daily lessons each week, but honestly, you can do as many as you want in a sitting. Sometimes we do one lesson in a day, and sometimes we push and do all five. I LOVE the versatility of it!
But what I love even more, is that this program explores literature from all over the world and throughout history. I've loved learning and exploring right alongside my kid. And when I'm excited about it, he enjoys it more and we have great discussions.
This course isn't designed to read just a few books in their entirety. Instead, it is like a smörgåsbord that presents amazing literary works from all over the globe.
That's it. The textbook and anthology are the main materials my son needs. It's set up for a 5 daily lessons each week, but honestly, you can do as many as you want in a sitting. Sometimes we do one lesson in a day, and sometimes we push and do all five. I LOVE the versatility of it!
But what I love even more, is that this program explores literature from all over the world and throughout history. I've loved learning and exploring right alongside my kid. And when I'm excited about it, he enjoys it more and we have great discussions.
This course isn't designed to read just a few books in their entirety. Instead, it is like a smörgåsbord that presents amazing literary works from all over the globe.
The text itself is divided up into 5 sections:
- Early Literature,
- Epic Poetry,
- Medieval - Renaissance,
- Enlightenment - Romanticism, and
- 20th Century.
Right now, we are in Epic Poetry, partially because we've so enjoyed exploring some of the new stuff. For example, we've all heard of haiku poetry, but neither one of us had ever heard of tanka poems. We spent some extra time with that.
I am SO grateful that we homeschool because I don't feel pressured into getting it all done as quickly as possible. We can enjoy this and while we may go ahead and push the learning through the summer, if we don't finish until a few months into the new school year, we're okay with that.
What I Like BEST
I love the diversity and thoroughness of this curriculum. So far, we've read excerpts of Hindu hymns from the Rig Veda, the Epic of Gilgamesh (of course!), African proverbs, Japanese folktales, Aesop's fables, Zen parables, portions of the Bible, the Analects of Confucius, and even suras from the Koran.
Seriously, you can see why I like it and highly recommend it. Last week, I told you about the world cultures curriculum I'm planning for my elementary kid. Now, I'm sharing one for my high schooler!! Yay!
I just cannot stress enough how important it is to me for my kids to travel the world. And if we can't do it physically because of a pandemic, then we'll do it virtually through online programs and books. And curricula like this one from Common Sense Press is excellent. I recommend 100%!!
I also love that my 15yo kid actually LIKES it. This is not always the case with him. He struggles so much with dysgraphia that he automatically complains about any subject with written assignments (Hello? All of them?!). But he does enjoy these lessons.
Based on this experience, I do plan on using their other curricula for high school literature with my kid. Next year, we'll probably dive into British Literature as my kid loves all things British (including the accent).
If your kids aren't old enough for high school, yet. Check out their other LLATL textbooks. They start with 1st grade.
So if you are homeschooling a high schooler (or preparing to do so in the fall), go and check out this curriculum.
The Discount
If you're already convinced and off to buy it yourself, then here's a discount code for you! Get 15% off when you enter the code: Summer2021
It's valid through July 31st.
The Giveaway!
The winner gets to choose 1 Teacher/Student set from Learning Language Arts Through Literature or 1 Great Science Adventures!
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