Studying Dickens in High School

I know there are those who absolutely detest reading Dickens. And even though I am a certified bibliophile, I completely understand. Dickens has a style that can be confusing and offsetting especially to those new to classic literature and especially Dickens. On the other hand, his use of language can be absolutely beautiful.

As I planned my oldest son's high school literature course of study, I knew I wanted him to read a Dickens besides A Christmas Carol (that one he can practically quote by memory). Before 9th grade, I wrote down, David Copperfield and Great Expectations as possibilities to be included into one of his years of literature. My son (like his mama) is a writer of fiction. And I told him you have to read the greats if you really want to be a good writer. Dickens is one of those greats. What I love about Dickens is his characters. If you want to learn how to write characters, you have to study Dickens. Thankfully, my son actually enjoys watching Dickens period drama films. We've viewed many of them and so the next step is to read of few them in their entirety.

As I am now planning this coming year and we are doing World History, I decided we will do a World Literature course as well. This is a good time to add in Dickens. I went back to the two possible book choices I chose a couple years ago and I began to research which one would be a good fit for my dyslexic boy. Ultimately, I chose a title that I hadn't considered before but which is often taught in high schools around the country. A Tale of Two Cities. 

Why is A Tale of Two Cities usually chosen above others. Well, to begin with it is less complicated in story and in character and it's shorter. It's also a great way to get into a study of the French Revolution and not focus on just the facts but on the people and how it all came about. His French history coming from Thomas Carlyle. It is much more serious than the bulk of Dickens work, but it will definitely incite lots of great discussion. We'll also be viewing the 1989 miniseries as we go along.

Will we eventually get to David Copperfield and Great Expectations? I certainly hope so. There are great characters in there that he needs to study and will enjoy the journey of doing so.

Creating High School Literature Units

I love literature--I always have. So when my oldest reached 7th grade, I decided to forgo the literature book and start creating my own literature units. Now I did teach 8th grade English in a Christian school before I started homeschooling.  In my teaching experience, we used whole book studies more than literature book studies. That made it much easier taking what I had done before and putting together a book study in our homeschool.

You can go about studying literature in two different ways. You can buy or find free online a prepared study guide for the book you intend to study or you can create a study from scratch all on your own. (Go to Glencoe Literature for free study guides.) In my case, I might do one or the other depending on the book. But many times I do a little of both. I'll give you some tips here on how to go about doing this.

Picking Books for Study
For a high school study, choose a theme--something you could put on their transcript such as Ancient Literature, American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, etc. This year, we are studying American Government & Economics. When I went about putting his literature study together, I picked books that went with a study of government. For example, this year in addition to reading Fellowship of the Ring, we are reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, Oedipus Rex, Julius Caesar, Animal Farm and Pride and Prejudice. He is also learning literary analysis.

Setting up the Study

Once you have chosen the books to study, you have to figure out what to do in your study. Go to one of the online book study sites such as Sparks Notes online. Copy or download the background information they have listed for your book. For example: Context, plot overview, Character List, Analysis of Major Characters, Themes-Motifs-Symbols. Go over these with your student as you introduce the book. Then from Sparks Notes, copy/download the chapter by chapter summaries and analyses.

After your student reads through a chapter of the novel, you can go over the summary and the analysis together. As an assignment, you could have your student write a short paragraph or two summary (or written narration) of the chapter before going over the summary/analysis. Enjoy these sessions with your student and try to bring out some great discussion between you and your teen. You could have them complete a quick reading quiz after each chapter  or a couple quizzes throughout the novel. I do not believe the quizzes are all that necessary but if you want your student to be used to taking quizzes especially pop quizzes go ahead and throw a few into the study.

Advice on Shakespeare

I do advise when studying Shakespeare to go ahead and purchase the Cliff's Complete version of the play you are studying. Go through the text with your student. The Cliff's Complete will explain historical references, Latin phrases, puns, Elizabethan phraseology, etc. as you read the text of the play. It makes deciphering Shakespeare so much easier. I would also advise if your student has had no background in Shakespeare to first read The Tales of Shakespeare by the Lambs. This will give them an understanding of the plot before they read it in the original format. And most importantly, watch the play being performed either live, movie or a recorded play. Shakespeare was meant to be watched not read.

Final Assignment
Continue going through the novel as described above. At the end, prepare a final assignment. Be creative and choose something to test your students knowledge of the material but take into account your student's strengths. For example, after reading Oedipus Rex, they could write a comparison paper between Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith and Oedipus Rex. After reading, The Hobbit, they could write a paper showing Bilblo going through the Hero's Journey. If your student, isn't a writer give them a different type of final assignment. A project maybe or something more hands-on.

In the end, make the study meaningful and memorable. Enjoy this time with your teen. You are doing more than studying a book; you are making memories.

Teaching Writing with The Hobbit

I know the idea isn't novel (Ha!) but yes I am teaching writing while using the Tolkein novel, The Hobbit. My 7th grade son really does enjoy Lord of the Rings. The movies and the online game. He's never read any of the books because I just didn't think he was ready for them. Well, this year in planning his curriculum I thought reading the Hobbit would be a great way to start his junior high study of Literature.

My son does enjoy reading. He loves to orally retell things he reads and watches, but when it comes to writing it down it's like pulling out hairs. In fact I've had suspicions that he might even have some kind of non-verbal learning disability.

In preparing this unit on the Hobbit, I thought it would be great to learn the hero's journey. My son has taken well to that and has easily made comparisons to other books and movies as they progress through the hero's journey. I also have included in our study that he keep a Hobbit Journal as though he is Bilbo. So after reading each chapter he sits down at his computer and adds to his Hobbit Journal writing in first person of what has happened to him. I thought he'd hate it. I figured he'd despise reading the book even because that meant he'd have to write.

Well, thank God I was wrong. He's been loving this one hundred percent. And the writing pieces he's been creating have been outstanding. Exactly at grade level when previously his writing has been much below grade level. It just goes to show that when a student is excited about an assignment that they do so much better. This has also shown me that he can write and do it well.

He is keeping track of the hero's journey as he progresses through The Hobbit and he's been keeping notes on specifics in the book for each part of the journey. He will be writing a short paper in comparing the hero's journey in The Hobbit.

We have been having a terrific time reading this book and delving deeper into writing. I look forward to more literature this year as we continue through the seventh grade.

Learning with BBC Sherlock

Coming home from church last night, I knew I wanted to make it in time to watch Mystery Classic on PBS. They were airing the first (Study in Pink) in a series of three movies from BBC's Sherlock staring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson. In this incarnation of Holmes, the plot takes place in the 21st century. Same Holmes, same type of fascinating cases and the same consulting detective exploits of observation and deduction.

What does all this have to do with homeschooling and learning? Well, the last couple weeks we've been studying the hero's journey and also certain literary terms. For example, hero, protagonist, antagonist, villain, etc...

While watching this program with my 7th grade son, the conversation began concerning who was the hero vs protagonist of the story. He said it seemed  to be that Watson was the protagonist since the story followed him but of course Holmes is the hero. I have to say that I agree. It was great to see that he made a connection between what we've been learning in school with a story outside of the classroom.