Level 5 & 6 English
Choose ONE one-credit course of study for each year of high school
The levels and years listed here are recommendations and may be moved around to different years, though they are designed as a sequence to parallel the history sequences. 1 credit English Literature: Poetry, Prose, and Drama, Book One, Memoria Press, 1x weekly N (a family might opt to use the study guide for this book for narration/essay prompts) Plus: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Canterbury Tales (Prologue and excerpts) Great Myths of the World, Colum (free online here) Classical and Old English Epic: Term 1: The Iliad 2x weekly N (free online version) Term 2: The Odyssey 2x weekly N (free online version) Term 3: The Aeneid (free online version), Beowulf 2x weekly N (again, a family might opt to use the study guides that accompany the Memoria Press books) Drama: Shakespeare 1x weekly: Term 1: Twelfth Night (Globe Theatre 2012 Original Practices production) Term 2: Henry V (Kenneth Branagh) Term 3: Julius Caesar (Marlon Brando) Watch one live or filmed production per term (recommendations above) Honors option: write a finished essay evaluating the production Additional drama 1x weekly: Term 1: Antigone (Sophocles) Term 2: Everyman (in Memoria Press Poetry, Prose and Drama: Book One) Term 3: (ad lib another Greek drama or medieval mystery play if time) Watch one live or filmed production per term Honors option: write a finished essay evaluating the production Studied Dictation (optional at this stage, but recommended for Level 5): Spelling Wisdom Book 4: Study a given passage for 2 days, write on the 3rd day, weekly Composition: Term 1: daily written narration, 7 Sisters Introductory Guide to High School Essay Writing OR BraveWriter’s Help for High School 1x weekly Term 2: daily written narration, 7 Sisters Introductory Guide to High School Essay Writing OR BraveWriter’s Help for High School 1x weekly Term 3: daily written narration, researched essay in Weeks 30-35 End-of-term essays and essay exams, research project on a chosen topic at the end of Term 2, per Help for High School, longer research paper on a chosen topic at the end of Term 3 Honors option: at least six extra short essays (300-500 words) or pieces of creative writing per term. These essays may touch on readings in English or any other subject, including current events, and may count as honors credit in any subjects touched in these essays. 1 credit Lesson plans (scroll down for Y2) Literature: The British Tradition II, 1x weekly N Great Myths of the World, Colum (free online here) 1x weekly N Epic: The Divine Comedy 2x weekly (1 Canto per reading, typically) Term 1: Inferno Term 2: Purgatorio Term 3: Paradiso Study guides are available for all these Memoria Press resources A helpful online Dante study guide Drama: Shakespeare 1x weekly: Term 1: As You Like It (Globe Theatre) Term 2: Richard III (2012 Globe Theatre Original Practices production) Term 3: Macbeth (Ian McKellen/Judi Dench) Watch one live or filmed production per term N Honors option: read then watch the play and write a finished essay about the production Studied Dictation (optional at this stage, but recommended for Level 5): Spelling Wisdom Book 5: Study a given passage for 2 days, write on the 3rd day, weekly Composition: All Terms: written narration, end-of-term essays, Traditional English Sentence Style, Einarsson. The lesson plans will also continue to make reference to Help for High School. Honors option: at least six extra short essays (300-500 words) or pieces of creative writing per term. These essays may touch on readings in English or any other subject, including current events, and may count as honors credit in any subjects touched in these essays. 1 credit Literature: The British Tradition II (continued from Level 5 Year 2 into Level 6 Year 1, Term 1), AND Poetry Book Three: The Romantic to the Victorian Age 1x every other week (alternating with American lit) N Poetry and Short Stories: American Literature 1x every other week (alternating with British poetry) N Readings in American Prose, as scheduled in the lesson plans N Great Myths of the World, Colum (free online here) (Term 1 only) Novels 2x weekly N: Term 1: Pride and Prejudice Term 2: David Copperfield Term 3: Huckleberry Finn Drama: Shakespeare 1x weekly: Term 1: Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh or David Tennant) Term 2: Hamlet (Mel Gibson or David Tennant) Term 3: The Tempest (Globe Theatre w/Roger Allam) Watch one live or filmed production per term N Honors option: write a finished essay evaluating the production Composition: On Writing Well, Zinsser 1x weekly Term 1: Parts I-II Term 2: Part III Term 3: Part IV Composition will also continue to include daily written narration across all readings in all subjects, plus one finished essay per term and end-of-term essay exams. The lesson plans will continue to make reference to Help for High School. Honors option: at least six extra short essays (300-500 words) or pieces of creative writing per term. These essays may touch on readings in English or any other subject, including current events, and may count as honors credit in any subjects touched in these essays. Literary Genre Study: Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, Arp and Johnson OR (better) Structure, Sound, and Sense, Perrine Note: I have the 1970 edition of Structure, Sound, and Sense. It’s worth searching for inexpensive early editions with Perrine as sole author. I actually own three copies of the 1970 edition, two of which I bought for under ten dollars at the same time via either ThriftBooks or AbeBooks, but any edition you can find will work. I will schedule from the edition I have, trying to avoid page numbers, because those might not be consistent. I often give my children some choice of short story or poem to focus on after reading a chapter, which gives you leeway if you have a different edition with different choices. – Sally Term 1: Fiction 3x weekly N, but study questions and exercises are helpful Term 2: Poetry 4x weekly N, but ditto Term 3: Poetry and Drama 3x weekly N, but ditto Novels (ad lib/free reading): Term 1: My Antonia, Cather Term 2: The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald; Gaudy Night, Sayers Term 3: Invisible Man, Ellison Drama: Shakespeare: Term 1: The Winter’s Tale Term 2: King Lear Term 3: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Watch one live or filmed production per term N Honors option: write a finished essay evaluating the production Honors option: read and/or watch Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning and write an essay about this contemporary play by a Catholic playwright. Composition: Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay, Crider (Term 1 only) Written narration daily, plus one finished essay per term. Honors option: at least six extra short essays (300-500 words) or pieces of creative writing per term. These essays may touch on readings in English or any other subject, including current events, and may count as honors credit in any subjects touched in these essays. *** High Honors option: a year-long Senior Thesis on a topic of the student’s choice, researched, written, and (optionally) delivered as a presentation at the end of the year. A family may choose to use Classical Academic Press’s Senior Thesis program as a guide. Further options for studied dictation passages include: Level 5 Year 1
Classical Epics, British Literature to 1500
Level 5 Year 2
Dante, British poetry to 1900
Level 6 Year 1
Novels, English Poetry, American Literature
Level 6 Year 2:
Novels, Literary Genre Study: 1 credit
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