I love TOG's rhetoric level literature, there is really nothing that I don't love about TOG at the rhetoric level, but I REALLY love the lit. Christy Somerville has done an amazing job, amazing. The Frameworks and Poetics documents are incredible. But, but, we've been faltering.
In a perfect world my morning coffee wouldn't be bitter, my dog's hair would stay on his body, and my 15 yo son would be able to comb through multiple books and digital documents a week on his own to complete his literature assignments. Lately the first and the third have been hit or miss and I'm wondering if a shaved Golden would look weird. As I was drinking my slightly bitter coffee one morning I had a Eureka moment, why not make my own TOG literature guides? So I do. And things have been going so much better.
I only make guides when a literature assignment is spread over two weeks or more. Here is a list of what is included in the guides:
All the Literary Introduction notes from the SAPs are cut and pasted one after the other.
All the Poetics readings (all together, except author bio)
All the Frameworks readings (all together)
Author Biography
Literary Terms
Questions - I do not add space when I format the questions because I don't want to limit Ben's answer to my arbitrary decision on how much space to provide. We use the Circe notebooks and he adds pages as needed for his answers.
Literary supplements
I began using this system with Les Mis and it worked really well, we are now using one for The Scarlett Letter. Ben is happy and getting more work done more quickly and I am learning more as well as I cut and paste, but also because the guide is so portable and easy to pick up at any time and read I find myself doing just that.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your inspiration! My daughter is 8th grade/dialectic and I am planning the rhetoric stuff for next fall. While hugely excited (we both love lit), I have been fearful that it would just be so much to keep track off, etc. Your blog has given me some great ideas about how to help her! Blessings to you
This blog is a look into our homeschooling journey as we use Tapestry of Grace. You'll also find stories from various books I have collected that are now in the public domain and real life slipping in occasionally. Most posts from the public domain books have a pdf that you may download and print. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Feb. 25, 2009 - lit workbooks