AHL Discussions - Literature/English Credit

[cbollin]

When it comes to the questions in the Smarr portion of the lit. guide, have any of you had your children answer the questions orally instead of writing them all out of paper?

some of the questions are intended as out loud discussion or just "food for thought". that would be the critical thinking questions. (those can also be used for extra essays to write for those people who believe there isn't enough essay writing in AHL? but I seem to remember somewhere in the LP (lesson planner) it said those are not written. hmm? somewhere I remember that)

Some of the question from Lit/Comp Guide will be vocabulary exercises (I would encourage her to do those written.
and the "recall questions" - my daughter did those as as a few words or one or two sentences as most. except apparently in Epic of Gilgamesh we did some out loud. but other books in there... answered in writing in short phrases.

The critical thinking questions were not written out.

another thing to consider? reading summary from something like spark notes.. that can help to get the summary before or after reading a chapter to make sure a reader got the big stuff. it's a tool and it's ok to use it. (check libraries. or even online?)

-crystal

[4littlehearts]

Thanks Ladies for you input!

[Julie in MN]

We will be using AHL next year.

And there isn't a lot of detail on the website about what the language arts covers...unless I missed it, which is quite possible. Can someone give me the lowdown? I am curious about what types of compositions are assigned.

My dd can write very well but really hasn't had much instruction...she just writes and does it well. She is finishing Applications of Grammar I this year. So I think she will do just fine with AHL, but I am wanting to know about assignments. One thing we have NOT done is learn how to write different types of letters or done a research report.

...and I found my answer...on the website...lol
However, I am still interested in those who've used it. : )
Thank you.

Hi Jean,
We're in year 3, so hopefully someone with fresher memories will answer after the weekend. But I did post a few times when it was closer in mind, so I'll mix those in here.

First of all, know that MFW doesn't schedule "every topic possible" in every year. I'd say that's a good thing, considering that one cannot probably succeed at everything in one year. So, AHL...

1. There are 3 "big" literature studies that year: Gilgamesh, Bulfinch's Mythology, and the Odyssey. Each of those is studied using the Literature Supplement, which is based on the Smarr program, adapted for MFW. The guide will include extensive comprehension questions to insure students are getting this step up in reading, as well as thinking questions, and vocabulary quizzes. I think there are samples here:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 776#p70945
Gilgamesh is not too long, and it's an adapted version by the Smarr author, so it's not quite as racy as the original, but it shows one of the earliest flood stories which has many parallels to God's story. Bulfinch and Odyssey are a challenge for some 9th graders, raising the bar in literature as well as apologetics (and the Odyssey is read by most public schoolers in my area).

2. The Lit Supplement also includes instruction in writing the argumentative essay, which will be the writing focus for the year. There will be 5 formal essays over the year. For some of us, there was a lot of hair-pulling in getting our 9th graders up to speed on this, but in looking back, 5 is reasonable, I think, and gives some practice in this new (and important) skill. The Lit Supplement starts with basic instruction in the essay, but then continues with various grammar topics and asks the student to go back to their "own" essays to work on these topics. Also worth mentioning is that the essay topics are very tied in with the apologetics bent of AHL, in my opinion.

3. There are also 6 less formal Notgrass essays that are graded for history, so they are not really part of English, but I thought worth a mention because of the writing.

4. Three other books are assigned: Bubastes (by Henty) and Eric Liddell are not really studied, but they give historical/geographical background as well as additional worldview/character lessons. The Iliad is studied with brief thinking questions written by Marie Hazell, and one of the essays is on this book, but the guide also mentions that the Iliad *can* be somewhat optional. Also note that most AHL literature (and the Old Testament) can be found on audio.

5. There is room for some free reading during a lot of AHL, with a box on the grid for write-ins, and a short list of popular fiction related to the topics this year. My son did his book club reading for this slot.

6. A few sections of the Bible are assigned for English instead of Bible credit - Job, Proverbs, some of Psalms. There are two "writing projects" assigned during Psalms and Proverbs, which are more casual and several options are given, such as writing poetry and fables.

7. Near the end of the year (as I recall), the Lit Supplement goes over some of the more in-depth grammar topics daily. I think this is while students read Eric Liddell??

HTH,
Julie

[IdahoGrown]

Julie, that is VERY helpful! Thank you so much!

From what you've said, I think my dd will really enjoy the lit/comp portion of AHL. : )

[RachelT]

Hello! Have any of you found an audio version of The Epic of Gilgamesh A Poetic Version from AHL? It has MFW listed as the publisher, so I am not finding an audiobook version in other places where we usually look for them. Thanks for any ideas you may have. We may need to read this one aloud together.

Hi Rachel,
I'm afraid it is unlikely this version of Gilgamesh will be recorded on audio. You could contact Smarr Publishers, the original author/publisher, but it is a small homeschool company.

I think reading it together is a great idea. We did that as well. By the way, here was my own reaction when I tried the full-length audiobook:

The poetic version sold by MFW is very unique. It was created by the author of the literature studies used in AHL, just for students. I recommend using it for several reasons.

First, it is shorter, which is nice to get to the point without being drawn out forever.

Second, the MFW version will correlate with the study questions in the Literature Supplement. It's something like a Progeny Press guide, and the vocab questions in particular will be easier with the matching version.

Third and most importantly... it is less embarrassing! I found this out by researching audiobooks for my son's AHL year. I checked out an audio version of Gilgamesh and was going along fine until, my, oh my, I blushed and turned it off and knew we wouldn't be using an audio for that one. The AHL version still gets the story across (it's for high schoolers not for elementary kids),

[4Truth]

I highly recommend reading it aloud together. For one thing, *I* enjoyed it, too! But it also gave my daughters and I the opportunity to discuss it well. Since this is the one of the first pieces of literature assigned for the year, reading and discussing it aloud together also helps with acclimating the student to the new year.

[terrylee66]

I noticed in the sample lesson plan for AHL that there is a place to schedule reading. Is there additional reading that needs to be scheduled? If so, does MFW have a suggested reading list for 9th grade?

Thank you!

Reply from Julie in MN » Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:05 pm
Extra reading is not on the schedule every single week in AHL, but it is suggested that students read an additional book each month. In the front of the Lesson Plans, there is a 2-page list of book ideas that tend to be fairly easy reading, high quality, and set in the time periods being studied. Some of them were on book basket lists in earlier years.

Julie