My first shot at 9th grade english....

[Farmgirl70]

My dd is entering 9th grade. She's a strong writer and reader. She reads slowly, but remembers well and comprehends well. I have not assigned lots of independent reading, but she's done it for others. I want this year's reading list to be accessible (not too long and fairly interesting) but strong in a literary sense. Here is my idea for English for her this year:

Grammar: Easy Grammar Plus
Writing: The Lively Art of Writing plus roughly an essay every other week related to literature or other subject areas.
Literature list: (we'll discuss using questions like the ones found in "The Well-Educated Mind"--I have a few other sources for discussion questions as well)
-"Great Expectations" by Dickens
-"Huckleberry Finn" by Twain
-"The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy
-"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
-"Anne of Green Gables" by LM Montgomery
-"A Wind in the Door" by Madeline L'Engle
-"A Gathering of Days" by Joan Blos
-"Walden" by Thoreau
Short Story Selections
-“The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank. R. Stockton
-“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain
-“The Ransom of Red Chief” by O’Henry
-“The Pit and the Pendulum” or “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
-“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving
-Something by Tolstoy
-A selection from “Fidelity” by Wendell Berry

She'll also read some poetry throughout the year and have other reading for history and science. What do you think?

[Ellie]

I think it looks good to me. Well done :-)

[Michelle in AL]

Well done, the only other thing my 9th grader is doing is vocabulary, but she needs it. Looks like a great literature list!

[threetreasurs]

Some Shakespeare maybe?

[Chris in VA]

It might be nice for you to compare and contrast some of the literary movements--You read Huck Finn and then have her read Lord of the Flies, to contrast the idea of the noble savage (society corrupts) with the idea that man is corrupt all on his own. You could add in Red Badge of Courage, which is a Naturalistic piece (not as full of symbols as the Romantics).

I am reading Poe this week to prepare for ds' lit--and I think it's really interesting how he was not as accepted in America during his time as he was in France and England. The idea was that the Americans were in the middle of the Transcendentalism stuff (Thoreau/Emerson) and the Europeans were into Romanticism. (Same "book," different "chapter!") His Gothic stories fit better there. If you are going to do this, I'd be sure to cover some of Rousseau's ideas to set the whole thing up.

So, you could bring out these points and have your child read Thoreau, then read Poe right after.

[Farmgirl70]

Chris,

Thanks! I appreciate the information! It's good stuff to bring out in our reading.

[Farmgirl70]

She loves Shakespeare and has read many plays, so I thought we'd focus on something else. She's also performed 4 of Shakespeare's plays--it's been a long love for her, so I thought we might not do anything "academic" with Shakespeare this year yet. Otherwise, I would be amiss not to include something from the bard.