Literature Class

We joined the co-op at our church! Arielle used to go years ago every Wednesday morning for art, music and P.E. but when Liana started school it was just too much time away from our regular studies. Neither of the girls could settle down to classwork at home after being away all morning, so we lost a whole day of the week.

I had to convince the woman in charge that Arielle really is a 7th grader even though she is not yet 12 because this afternoon class is for the older kids. We only have to go four times during the year as a lot of the work is done at home. Arielle has to read four books throughout the course and do a written report on specific topics. The first assignment was to read The Yearling. The other kids had much more time to read it than Arielle because we found out about this class a little late. We checked it out from the library just two weeks before the assignment was due. This is a 400 page book! I divided the chapters up for her and gave her a reading schedule. We had a lot of interruptions with family events too, so many days she had to double up on her reading. She complained about it initially and said she didn't want to do the class and why was I making her?

Arielle did finish the book and now had to write a two to three page typed report on one of the suggested topics. She wrote (and re-wrote and re-wrote) on Jody's changing relationships with the other characters in the book. She did a fine job! And she went to her first class yesterday. I am very proud of her that she worked hard to complete a task.

In the class the children read their reports and discussed the novel. Arielle had the opportunity to interact with others in a group setting and to gain more insight into this novel, plus learn to read other novels with a more open mind, looking for particular ideas and symbolism. In a way, I wondered if I had ruined this beautiful story of The Yearling by forcing it on her. Maybe she would have enjoyed it more reading it on her own? Would she be sick of it now? We went to the library in the afternoon and she found the DVD and wanted to check it out. So she isn't ready to leave Jody and Flag behind.

The next assignment is to read an autobiography of someone who made an important contribution in history. She has to present a report on this person, plus add something of her own personal autobiography. She's not ready to tackle this yet. At the library she chose "fun" books, the kind she truly enjoys.