More About Our Homeschool Language Arts Literature Course
In this literature course, Adam Andrews shares some powerful techniques for reading comprehension and literary analysis to use with students of all ages, from kindergarten through high school. Great literature books are explored—some written for adults, some for the smallest children—and homeschool parents are shown how the same key questions can be asked of each one. Using these questions can generate a powerful discussion almost automatically. The results may be amazing!
The homeschool language arts literature lessons posted here are not designed to be used by the student as daily worksheets; rather, they are created to facilitate periodic (weekly or even daily) discussions between teacher and student. It’s this simple:
- First, the homeschool student reads the assigned literature title (listed below) over the course of several days or weeks.
- Then, homeschool teacher and student meet together to discuss the story, using the questions provided in the lesson as a guide.
Mr. Andrews includes story charts with these lessons but cautions that while the charts are helpful for organizing and capturing the main elements, they are not to be used as assignments in a strict sense, or subjected to rigid grading. Instead, the idea is to plot the main elements, leading to open discussion on the work and a chance to interact with the story as a complete work of art.
He also cautions, beware: fill-in-the-blank exercises may actually hinder a student from understanding literature! The goal of literary analysis is to interact with a story as a complete work of art, to understand its themes and carry on a “conversation” with its author. At The Center for Literature, Mr. Andrews has found that worksheets rarely contribute to such understanding. On the contrary, they often bore and frustrate even the most willing students. Happy Reading!