Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis (A Homeschool Coffee Break Review) (Write 28 Days - Predicament)

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We are into our second semester at co-op, and I think it's a good time to finally get around to sharing a review of the Literature course I'm teaching. We've been studying Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis and it's very enjoyable! Last year we did Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide and the way the two courses are set up are very similar. A long time ago I promised to do an overview of this course and today I'm finally delivering.

Writing With Sharon Watson is one of my favorite publishers. I've used these courses at home and at the co-op, and I recommend them often. They are easy to use and adapt, and they make writing and literature a lot of fun. Sharon's other writing courses  include Jump In!, The Power in Your Hands, and Writing Fiction [In High School]. She's a veteran homeschool mom and teacher of literature and composition, and her relaxed and conversational style makes these courses attractive to even reluctant readers and writers.

Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis is designed to teach literature in a relaxed atmosphere. Students read four novels, one Shakespeare play, one biography or autobiography, and several short works. As they go, they learn literary terms and elements, and focus on how characters grow and change as they respond to crises. Hopefully, students will also gain an appreciation for fine literature! The text is written from a Christian worldview perspective making it a good fit for Christian schools, homeschools, and co-ops. However, not all the literature studied comes from this same perspective, but the curriculum helps students analyze stories and their influences so they can become discerning readers.

This is a two-semester course,  so students earn one full credit for Language Arts or English. The guide is written directly to the student, with clear lessons and reading schedules. For those using the curriculum at home, the student can easily work on their own. The Teacher's Guide provides answer keys and some grading helps for the instructor. There are tips and suggestions for using the curriculum in a co-op class or book discussion group. Since our co-op class meets weekly, I was able to adapt ideas from the Book of the Month Club suggestions, but for the most part we follow the standard weekly lesson plans. Having discussion about the books and their themes is very helpful for students, so I strongly recommend doing the course together with others in some way.

The Teacher's Guide starts off with an overview of the course and a little about the book selections. There is a suggested grading system which is easy to follow or adapt to your specific teaching situation. There are guidelines for evaluating the student's participation in discussions and completion of assignments, and course objectives are clearly laid out. For our co-op class, I grade generously, focusing on whether the students read the novels and participated in the discussions, and completed the assignments. The Teacher's Guide provides notes on each lesson, as well as the answers for questions and the suggested reading and assignment schedules.

The literary works studied in the course are:

"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

"A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett

"The Garden of Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges

"Haircut" by Ring Lardner

"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton

"Of the Passing of the First-Born" by W.E.B. DuBois

"A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Biography/Autobiography - student's choice

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The student guide is written in a conversational tone, and directly to the student, with notes of humor throughout. It's not a dry textbook lecture! Although we went through lesson material in class, I always asked students to read the textbook in detail at home. We have plenty of lively discussion that invites questions and opinions, and we take the time to go down some rabbit trails too. This type of course is best when students can interact and exchange ideas with an instructor and peers, but the tone of the textbook makes it quite doable for students working on their own.

For each novel, we establish who the characters are and what crises they face. As we read, we talk about the differences in how those crises are handled and the outcomes. Literary terms and devices are explained and discussed. Each chapter or unit begins with background on the author, setting, and style, and for each novel there is a choice of related activities for a unit project. From the selection of activity choices related to each novel, I assign one to my co-op students, allowing them to choose which one they'd like to do. In general there are quite a few research or writing assignments, but also some things that students who are reluctant to do more reading or more writing can enjoy. A couple of my students usually choose to create art. For the short story unit we just finished, a couple of the students decided to work together to act out part of one of the stories. There are some other fun choices like watching a movie version of the book and reviewing it. In our co-op setting, I approach it as a Lit class rather than a writing class, so I don't assign very much writing. Most of the time, the writing my students do is what they choose from the possible Activities. I also grade very generously when it comes to the writing and the activities. If they put forth some effort and turn in the assignment on time, they will get an A.

There is a Quiz and Answer Manual that is optional for purchase, because the quizzes are available online. There are three kinds of quizzes - "Yes, I read it", literary terms quizzes, and opinion surveys. In the co-op, I try to have the students do the quizzes online but the opinion survey on paper. We found out last year that the automatic grading on the website usually shows a score of 0 on the opinion surveys even when the student answered all the questions. Since there are no right or wrong answers, that didn't seem fair, which is why we do those on paper. For the comprehension and literary terms quizzes, in general it was very helpful for the students to do those online because the automatic grading saved me some time.

The Novel Notebook that goes along with the textbook is a required element of the course, and is available as a free PDF download from the website. Students use the notebook to create character maps, collect examples of the literary devices and themes, and take notes or answer questions about the stories. I strongly encourage students to use the Notebook, because it's a convenient system for taking notes and provides some dated work for a reviewer to look at if needed.

It's very important that students use the suggested versions of the novels, especially when in a group setting. The student book and teacher's guide often refer to specific pages in the books, and it's a big time-saver (not to mention so much easier!) to just turn to the page instead of needing to hunt down that sentence or paragraph in a different edition. The suggested versions are all very affordable paperbacks too.

Read our related review: Illuminating Literature for High School (A Homeschool Coffee Break Review) (The original review can be found here: Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide)

Visit the website: Writing With Sharon Watson and get more details about this course here: Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis.

Age Recommendations: Teens in 9th through 12th grades

You can also find Writing With Sharon Watson on Facebook.

Because characters in crisis are obviously in some kind of a predicament, this post is part of the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge hosted by Anita Ojeda. Find all my posts for the challenge here: Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge - Disappointed

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