Attention High Schoolers

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1930968' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:38 PM']I'm taking debate and forensics next year.[/quote]
Light course load.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1931010' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:30 PM']Light course load. [/quote]

You asked about electives...

Those are the only actual electives that I am taking next year.

Edit: (Never mind. I see that you asked for all classes, not just electives.)

Edited July 24, 2009 by Resurrexi

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1931010' date='Jul 25 2009, 02:30 AM']Light course load. [/quote]

More time to post on PM.

[Theoketos]

I am teaching a Highschool class on Philosophy and Logic. (Maybe I can teach her via the internet if you are interested.)

And I most would have wanted shop class in highschool.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1931012' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:32 PM']More time to post on PM.[/quote]

[homeschoolmom]

Okay.... a follow-up question... or rather a set of follow-up questions.....

What materials would you put in a 10th grade World Lit. class? How about an American Lit. class? I have my favorites, of course, but what did you like? [u]A Catcher in the Rye [/u]WILL NOT make the list, don't suggest it. We'll also have another 9th grade lit. class, but that's more of an overview of literature...

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1931016' date='Jul 24 2009, 06:34 PM'][u]A Catcher in the Rye [/u]WILL NOT make the list, don't suggest it.[/quote]

I wish my teachers were as nice as you.

[MissyP89]

Hmmm...a suggestion for World Lit could be [i]In the Time of the Butterflies[/i] by Julia Alvarez. It's about the dictatorship of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, and the story of four sisters who lived during the revolution there, and ultimately died as martyrs for it.

There are sexual elements in it, especially as the oldest sister begins to struggle with chastity and clings to a crucifix at night. There's another lovemaking scene in it that I thought was strange, but it was between a husband and wife during an intense period of sorrow/grief.

I read it when I was 16 for World Lit. You might want to read it first to decide if it's suitable for your daughter, but I thought it was really good--the historical and cultural angles make it educational, great for discussion, and relevant to a teenage girl, IMO. Of course, your mileage may vary.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1931019' date='Jul 24 2009, 07:36 PM']I wish my teachers were as nice as you.

[/quote]
I think my personal opinions on that particular novel have been been made pretty clear around here....

[VeniteAdoremus]

"Special Topics in Calamity Physics" is one of the books I've enjoyed best, ever, and it's American

"The boy in the Striped Pyjamas" should be required reading (it asks us not to say what it's about).

"Max Havelaar" by Multatuli has had a tremendous influence on (Dutch) colonial policies. It's from the 1860s, so major geek points as well. Highly recommended.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and Journey to the End of Night by Celine to represent the French section Both discuss the personal effects of major historic events - the second being more subtle and literary.

Foucoult's Pendulum by Umberto Eco deals with (the idiocy of) conspiracy theories.

Those are my favourites

[CatherineM]

The seven pillars of wisdom- T. E. Lawrence

[zunshynn]

American Lit... I really liked The Chosen by Chaim Potok (I can't remember if I read that freshman year or sophomore year, or if it was an AP or general book, so I'm not sure how challenging it is... but it was very good... good for themes, and studying literary devices. I also read Angela's Ashes, which I really liked, but that was before my conversion, and I don't know if it portrays the Catholic Church badly or not. I just wouldn't have noticed that then. I thoroughly recommend Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck... I don't know if most students outside of CA read much Steinbeck, but he's so good. I liked Of Mice and Men too... both really bring up good ethical issues too. To Kill a Mockingbird, too, is a must read. And Fahrenheit 451 is pretty good. I also liked Great Expectations, and The Scarlet Letter.

My world lit. class was primarily British and Russian. In my class you had to pick a theme to read for your outside reading throughout the year... I picked E. M. Forster, and I LOVE his books. Absolutely some of the best prose, in my opinion, in the English language. Especially Where Angels Fear to Tread, but Howards End and A Passage to India are also fantastic. The characterization and the employment of the setting as an integral part of the story in his novels are exceptional, and they are good because they help you think about the relationships between people and society, and each other, and their ideas, in such a way that it allows the reader to really reflect and form their own thought processes.

During class we read Hamlet... which I liked, personally, and I don't really like Shakespeare. I did not like The Importance of Being Earnest, though most of my classmates did. I think we mostly did short stories for the Russian... which I don't remember. I think short stories, overall, are kind of pointless, at least they were for me. Even if they're excellent literature, I didn't remember them, and can't tell you what they taught me about literature in general.

About half the year we studied poetry. We would take different time periods, learn about the poets, and then we had to find a poem from each of the poets we studied and analyze them. I was surprised to discover that I really enjoyed that. I liked being able to pick the poems myself because it was a good opportunity for me to find poems that reflected the poets faith... that helped me in so many ways.

I loved learning about mythology too... and its so helpful... unlocks so much when reading a lot of literature, especially poetry. Being able to understand the allusions makes poetry so much more enjoyable, and it just constantly comes in handy.

This class was also preparing us for the AP English II test, so we did a lot of practice with timed writes, which were good for me, I think.

[Marie-Therese]

Kids today have so many choices!! I had the dullest, most traditional HS curriculum ever. Granted, I graduated in 1994 so things have changed a bit in the last few *coughcough15coughcough* years. Oh no. I really AM that old, aren't I? LOL

The only thing that we had that was a plus was our large array of AP choices...we had a very small HS (my graduating class was 150) and offered AP in English, US History, Chemistry, Physics and Calculus. I took all but the Calculus, because I hate math, and the physics, because I had way too much invested in the Chemistry to change track.

The only foreign language offered for us was French, until I was a Senior, then they started offering classical Latin, but by that point I had 4 years of French in, so I didn't attempt the Latin. I'd rather teach myself anyway.

But to think...to have forensics and all that stuff! Wow! I would have been really happy.

As far as sophomore lit, where to start? I always think that high schoolers should include To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies on the list. MUST READ. Both encompass timeless themes, fairly complex literary pieces which are age appropriate. They both involve some controversial subject matter, but in both cases I think that it is material that people encounter in the course of life, and in both cases it is important material.

[BG45]

Out of high school, but took (and this is by no means exhaustive):
Web Design, CCNA 1 (Cisco networking course), CCNA 2 (networking course), Spanish, English 9 (Paper Writing), English 10 (Mideival Lit, still can't spell the time period), Honors English 11 (American Lit, had to do 500 note cards required for one paper once), World War II History, Modern American History (1970 to present), Civil War History, Political Science, French, an introductory Art course, Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Entrepreneurship (had six weeks to make a fully operable, if rough, business plan for a final project), Keyboarding, a few basic computing courses, and ancient civs (I loathed it, my teacher would read straight from the book, only to interrupt with "your author says".), Chemistry, Physics, two basic science courses covering geology and pre-chem.

There was also a Shakespearean Lit course we were expected to memorize speeches for, it was kinda fun when we teamed up with the Latin classes to put on a production of Julius Caesar. "Friends, Romans, Countrymen. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him..."

Our school also offered dual enrollment courses with the university I graduated from in undergrad and I'm getting a Masters with. And through that I took an additional two English courses, an introductory psych course, and a required basic computer course.

Edited July 25, 2009 by BG45

[MissyP89]

If you'd like poetry recommendations, by the way, I just finished a whole course on it.