Anyone use Keystone for Lit?

[Heather in AL]

Has anyone used Keystone for Eng. Lit?

I am at a loss here. I need help with Eng Lit. My ds hates to write, so I turned to online writing programs, signing him up for a "9th grade comp" class. Well, they are helping with the writing, but the 9th grade comp that he is taking is mostly creative writing which he has done over and over. Had I known this was the focus of the class, I wouldn't have bothered. :glare:

Anyway, what I need is something/someone that will assign essays and critique them. I have a *hard time critiquing my kids' writing for some reason. I can write well, but I can't *teach it. I find that very frustrating, to say the least! Toss in lit analysis, and it's a train wreck waiting to happen.

So, my search has lead me to Keystone. Their Eng 1 & 2 course descriptions seem to be what I'm wanting, but I'm very hesitant, as I don't see them mentioned here. Any opinions? Any alternatives? As an aside, we prefer secular classes, but don't mind Christian companies as long as they don't include religion in the writing assignments.

If lit-based classes aren't plentiful, are there companies that will just critique assignments? I can discuss the lit and assign essays, etc, but would need help with critiquing them, so if a service like that exists, that would work, too.

Help? Anyone?

[Michelle in GA]

My son did the Honors English 3 four years ago. It was American Literature.There were lots of poems, essays, and short stories, but only one novel(Huckleberry Finn). We added more novels at home. There was a lot of writing(an essay every week, plus journaling). Also, the tests had lots of essays as well. There was no added grammar or composition instruction-- the ability to write five-paragraph essays was assumed. All in all, I liked it. It got the job done, and I didn't have to plan out the curriculum.

[Kareni]

My understanding is that Hewitt Homeschooling provides a grading service for their Lightning Literature program.

Regards,
Kareni

[EKS]

I have reviewed the book Keystone uses for its 9th grade literature course and I was not impressed. The content is similar to K12's 8th grade course. Have you looked into K12's offerings? We have used both (we used Keystone for Spanish and I was not impressed) and I far prefer K12 over Keystone.

[Heather in AL]

Since I don't know how to multi quote...

Kareni, thanks for that tip. I'm off to check them out. I know Write@Home has a per paper review, but I'm betting it's more for large research papers.

Kai, I'll look in more depth at K12. I went to the site yesterday, but I think I have information overload, as I had a hard time retaining what I was reading. Heh.

Michelle, thanks for the detailed description of the class. I was hoping someone would post something like that. The journaling we could do without, but the other stuff sounds more like what we're after. I'm just nervous in general about Keystone, as I know someone IRL who used them for Bio and I wasn't impressed. It was more of the parent doing the grading and it involved *lots of trips to the post office to mail labs and stuff. I avoid the P.O. at all costs, so that is really not my cup of tea!

I'll keep looking and hopefully will find something that will fit. I'm nervous about spending more money for an online class after my experience this year. Sigh.

If I decide to try this on my own for a while, does anyone have any thoughts on Excellence in Literature? We used IEW two years ago and thought it wasn't bad. My dd is using Lightning Lit right now, and it's going OK, but I'm not sure about the high school levels.... Kareni, any experience with those?

Thanks again. I appreciate the help!

[Michelle in GA]

Since I don't know how to multi quote...

Kareni, thanks for that tip. I'm off to check them out. I know Write@Home has a per paper review, but I'm betting it's more for large research papers.

Kai, I'll look in more depth at K12. I went to the site yesterday, but I think I have information overload, as I had a hard time retaining what I was reading. Heh.

Michelle, thanks for the detailed description of the class. I was hoping someone would post something like that. The journaling we could do without, but the other stuff sounds more like what we're after. I'm just nervous in general about Keystone, as I know someone IRL who used them for Bio and I wasn't impressed. It was more of the parent doing the grading and it involved *lots of trips to the post office to mail labs and stuff. I avoid the P.O. at all costs, so that is really not my cup of tea!

I'll keep looking and hopefully will find something that will fit. I'm nervous about spending more money for an online class after my experience this year. Sigh.

If I decide to try this on my own for a while, does anyone have any thoughts on Excellence in Literature? We used IEW two years ago and thought it wasn't bad. My dd is using Lightning Lit right now, and it's going OK, but I'm not sure about the high school levels.... Kareni, any experience with those?

Thanks again. I appreciate the help!



Yes, the journaling was my son's least favorite part of the class, but the rest was fine. We have a lot of experience with Keystone. As with most programs, it depends on the class. My son did Chemistry which was awful.Spanish ,we dropped. The Pre-Calculus was also bad. The book was great, but their was no instruction, just a book and a schedule. That is why Keystone is not a good choice for maths, sciences, and foreign languages unless you have someone at home to "teach" the material. Humanities are MUCH easier to implement at home. We also did the Honors World History was also very good.Again, we added extra books and DVDs for enrichment. Their English and history classes are solid high school level classes.They provided the spine, schedule, and grades, that I really needed that year. We added 10 novels for the American Literature class and that bumped it up from adequate to excellent.

I have also heard great things about k12!