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"A baby needs not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to the world."
- G. K. Chesterton
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Writing lessons for the year
Last spring I started working with one of my brothers-in-law, a home schooled 16 year old, on composition. The work we've been doing has gradually expanded, though, as I began to realize his writing would not improve without ample exposure to good literature. Then I wanted to correlate different works of literature we would be reading at the same time, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry and plays, and the easiest way to do that was to select a historical era.
So what started out as editing his writing has expanded into literature and even history, and right now I have him doing very little actual writing. We went for several months where he did no writing at all, just oral narration. He was not a fast or eager reader, and had read few books of literary quality. But he does very much want to write, and he's willing to work at it.
This year I'm trying to be a bit more organized in the way we go through our readings. I haven't really aspired to be more organized in the written assignments yet, since I'm just going to stick with where he is until we're ready to move on; right now, it's learning to write a paragraph that sticks to one topic and reviewing his own sentences to make sure they make sense to other people.
Anyway, I decided to organize our readings around a medieval England theme, mostly because I'm reading about the Middle Ages this year and it was easy to find suitable works to read.
We'll be reading:
A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1: The Birth of Britain, by Winston Churchill. He's been learning to take short notes on what he reads, which has greatly improved his comprehension, but I think for this book I'll have him take them in the form of a map of mentioned places and a timeline of important people and events. Nothing fancy, just a way of organizing his recollections. We'll do a lot of writing assignments based on people and events in here, I expect.
Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. I confess, I haven't read this yet. I picked up my own copy at Half-Price Books, though. Anyway, should provide a good and fun sample of fiction about the time period.
Macbeth and Henry V by Shakespeare. I thought we really should get some Shakespeare in before he graduates high school, and these fit the time period. Plus, I've always loved Macbeth. I haven't previewed a version of Macbeth to watch yet, but I think I can get one from the library. I know we can get the Branagh Henry V. I had him start by reading a picture book (Bruce Coville) version of Macbeth, then I'm hoping to read it together out loud each week when we meet together.
The Ballad of the White Horse, by G. K. Chesterton. It's poetry, it's about Alfred the Great, and I love it. So we're going to read it, out loud together in between studying the two plays.
I know there's tons of other stuff we could be reading and should be reading, but we can only get through so much, and I think this selection is hard enough to be challenging for him, but still achievable. He's also taking a chemistry class and is supposed to be finding a Spanish class this year on top of two musical instruments, so he's going to be pretty busy. |
Posted: 8:49 AM, Sep. 4, 2007 |
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Boy that sounds terrific!
| I love Ivanhoe! Have you seen the old movie? The newer one was also pretty good. |
Posted by Wendy (Zoom Times) at 7:10 AM, Sep. 7, 2007 |
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| I have--we had a terribly grainy old tape with chunks missing or indecipherable, but I still remember it as very exciting. I'm hoping we can get a decent copy and watch it at the end of the year. Must read the book first, you know! |
Posted by carrotqueen at 12:26 PM, Sep. 9, 2007 |
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