How I Chose Great Books for Excellence in Literature
I often get questions on how I chose the books that are included in the Excellence in 
Literature curriculum, so I thought I’d address it today. It may help you decide whether or not this is the right curriculum for your family.
There were many factors that went into my choice of books, but I considered the following questions to be most important as I selected what to include.
- Is this work foundational to an understanding of western civilization and culture?
- Is it a classic work that is regularly alluded to in current conversation (including newspaper, radio, books, movies, etc.)?
- Does it tell the truth about life and consequences?
- Is there something compelling about this particular work that makes it, more than another, deserve a place in the curriculum? Read more
Carnival of Homeschooling- The NaNoWriMo Edition
Preface
Don't miss our Thanksgiving Sale!
Welcome to this hundred-and-umpteenth Carnival of Homeschooling! Because November is National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo or nano), and I’m over 10,000 words into the writing process (and can’t think of anything but writing, writing, and more writing), I thought it would be appropriate to format this Carnival as sections of a book. I even consulted the Chicago Manual of Style for an authoritative list of book parts!
Introduction
For me, homeschooling is first and foremost a heart matter. In Mangled Schedules and Grateful Hearts, an article I wrote for Home School Enrichment magazine, you can read how a father’s presence and influence can shape a family school. Enjoy! Read more
Great Books Week- October 4-10, 2009
Join Excellence in Literature as we celebrate the beauty of great books with a blog tour!If you’d like to participate, write a post on your own blog on the appropriate topic each day, then visit the appropriate post on the NAIWE NewsWire blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!
What are great books? First and foremost, literary classics are the standard for great literature. Few people would make a great books list that left out William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, or Mark Twain, and most of us probably have a list of special books that have touched our lives. Great books are the books that stay with us long after we’ve put them down. Read more
Motivation: What Gets People Moving?
Before you start school this year, you may want to consider motivation. What is the most effective way to encourage your children to study and learn?
Some of us (ahem–me, anyway) respond well to doing things I find intrinsically interesting, but can coerce myself into doing tedious stuff (balancing checkbooks, anyone?) by the promise of a hot-fudge sundae at the end. Not sure about the quality of work! My boys sometimes did hard stuff just because they were interested, but balked at what I thought was easy and quick. Daniel Pink’s video talk for TED is an interesting look at some detailed studies on motivation and the effect of rewards. Very interesting!
Why Christians Should Read Fiction
I recently met someone who had been raised without fiction. No Little Golden Books, no Dr. Seuss, no Little House on the Prairie, no Chronicles of Narnia…nothing. I can’t begin to imagine, but the thought makes me feel a bit hollow inside. The reason? Fiction is “not true,” therefore it violates the admonition in Colossians 3:9– “Lie not one to another…”. What a horrifyingly incorrect notion to base an entire life upon.
The opposite of fiction is non-fiction, and the difference is not in whether they convey truth, but the method by which truth is told. Both can tell the truth, and both do (unless the writer’s goal is to do otherwise, and even then, truth usually shines through somewhere). Fiction shows the truth through story, one of the most powerful lenses available. Non-fiction relates fact, usually as a linear narrative.
Of the two methods of telling truth, story is the more powerful and memorable, because it engages the emotions. Remember King David’s reaction when the prophet Nathan related the story about the poor man’s lamb, then said, “Thou art the man!” Wow. Stories are told throughout scripture because we have been created with minds designed to receive teaching in that format.
There are so many reasons Christians need to be readers, and they’ve been ably addressed in a recent Breakpoint article, Why Should Christ-Followers Read Fiction? Defending Story by author Mary DeMuth. Please visit the link and read it, if you’ve wondered about the issue. She clearly addresses most of the major reasons we need to read.
This issue is important, so that another child won’t grow up in the impoverished environment that my recent acquaintence experienced. As an adult, she’s worked hard to make up for the lack of story in her childhood, but as she said, “I realize that I’m still missing areas of important emotional understanding that I believe I’d have developed if I’d been able to empathize with characters in a book.” When you consider that one of the characteristics many psychopaths have in common is the lack of ability to empathize, it reinforces the need for reading great literature, especially in those who are commanded to “love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Great Literature is Great Because It’s Sticky
I’ve been thinking about Antigone all morning. She’s the heroine in the ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, and though the story was written over 1000 years ago, Antigone is a fresh, vibrant, unforgettable character. Her story raises more questions than it answers, and it sticks in my mind because those questions are about some of the most important issues that humankind can consider. A few of the questions raised in Antigone’s story are:
- To whom do we owe loyalty?
- Should the demands of the state supersede responsibility to family?
- Should loyalty to one’s faith come before loyalty to family or state?
It’s possible, even easy, to discuss these questions as abstract issues, then quickly forget them. However, when Sophocles paints them in the context of Antigone’s loyal desire to care for her brother’s body and Creon’s demand that he remain unburied, those questions become “sticky.” They’re clothed in intense emotions we can all understand, and they stay in our mind. We see them through the eyes and the pain of another human, and the questions become our own, and are joined by others:
- How would we react in a similar situation?
- What circumstances could lead to this sort of stalemate in the 21st century?
- What do we truly believe?
It can be fun to occasionally read “twinkies for the brain,” but our minds need more in order to grow. A steady diet of trivia will cause us to become more and more shallow, while a diet that contains generous helpings of great literature will help us grow both mentally and spiritually. We need to think about big issues so that we can absolutely know where we stand when confronted with difficult situations. Great literature should be part of every student’s preparation for life. It’s good, and good for you!
[If you haven't yet read Antigone, and you're using Excellence in Literature, you'll study it in the second unit of World Literature. That level isn't quite finished-- we're proofreading and laying it out, but if you need it, you can pre-order it and receive the body of the book and the first unit as an e-book so you can get started.]
Charlotte Mason on Teaching With Literature
In the chapter, “Liberal Education in Secondary Schools” in A Philosophy of Education, Charlotte Mason suggests that “the mind refuses to know anything except what reaches it in more or less literary form.” From my observation and experience, this is largely true. Truths and principles conveyed through stories, especially in the context of a learning lifestyle, stay in the mind as useful and usable ideas that can be incorporated in a student’s writing, conversation, and life.
In support of this idea, Miss Mason discusses how vaguely we remember the daily newspaper we read or how little children remember of worksheets and exercises. “The mind appears to have an outer court into which matter can be taken and again expelled without ever having entered the inner place where personality dwells. Here we have the secret of learning by rote, a purely mechanical exercise of which no satisfactory account has been given, but which leaves the patient, or pupil, unaffected… Now there is a natural provision against this mere skimming of the ground by the educational plough. Give the sort of knowledge that they are fitten to assimilate, served in a literary medium, and they will pay great attention.”
Miss Mason observed that most people remember ideas that reach them in the form of story, and they are able to apply and use these ideas in other areas of study, as well as in their writing. The only way to easily achieve the retention of knowledge is through “a great deal of consecutive reading from various books, all of some literary value; …one reading is sufficient; nor should there be any revision for the distant examination.”
As an example of the cultural literacy that comes through exposure to literature, she provides an impressive “list of 200 names, used with ease and fitness in an examination on one term’s work by a child of eleven in Form II.”
Abinadab, Athenian, Anne Boleyn, Act of Uniformity, Act of Supremacy, America, Austria, Alcibiades, Athens, Auckland, Australia, Alexandria, Alhambra.
Bible, Bishop of Rochester, Baron, Bean-shoots, Bluff, Bowen Falls, Bishoprics, Blind Bay, Burano.
Currants, Cupid, Catholic, Court of High Commission, Cranmer, Charles V, Colonies, Convent, Claude, Calais, Cook Strait, Canterbury Plain, Christchurch, Cathedral, Canals, Caliph of Egypt, Court of the Myrtles, Columbus, Cordova.
David, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Guise, Dunedin, Doge’s Palace.
England, Emperor, Empire, Egmont (Count), English Settlement
Flour, Fruits, French, Francis I, Francis of Guise, Ferdinand, Foveau Strait, Fuchsias, Fiords, Ferns.
Greek, Germany, Gondolas, “Gates of the Damsels,” Gondoliers, Granada, Gate of Justice, Gypsies.
Henry VIII, History, Hooper, Henry II, Hungary, Haeckel.
Israel, Italian (language), Italy, Infusoria.
Jesse, Jonathan, Joseph, John, Jerusalem, James, Jane Seymour.
King of Denmark, King of Scotland, Kiwi.
“Love-in-Idleness,” Lord Chancellor, Lord Burleigh, Lord Robert Dudley, Lime, Lyttleton, N.Z., Lake Tango.
Mary (The Virgin), More (Sir Thomas), Music, Martyr’s Memorial, Milan, Metz, Monastery, Mary, Queen of Scots, Mediterranean, Microscope, Messina, Middle Island, Mount Egmont, Mount Cook, Milford Sound, Museum, Moa, Maoris, Mussulman, Moorish King.
Naomi, Netherlands, Nice, New Zealand, North Island, Napier, Nelson.
Oberon, Oxford, Orion.
Pharisees, Plants, Parliament, Puck, Pope, Protestant, Poetry,
Philosophy, “Paix des Dames ,” Philip II, Paris, Planets, “Pink Terraces,” Piazetta, Philip of Burgundy.
Queen Catherine, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, Queen Isabella, Queen Juana.
Ruth, Robin Goodfellow, Ridley, Reformation, Radiolaria, Rotomaliana (Lake), Rea.
Saul, Samuel, Simeon, Simon Peter, Sunshine, Sugar-cane, Spices, Sultan, Spain, St. Quentin, Socrates, Stars, Sycamore, Seed-ball, Stewart Island, Seaports, Southern Alps, Scotch Settlement, St. Mark, St. Theodore, St. Maria Formosa (Church), Sierra Navada.
Temple, Titania, Testament, Treaty, Turks, Toul, Thread Slime, Tree Ferns, Timber Trees, Trieste, Toledo.
Verdure, Venus (Planet), Volcano, Volcanic Action, Venice.
Whieat, Wiltshire, William Cecil, Walsingham, Winged Seed, Wellington, Waikato.
Zaccharias, Zebedee.”
I won’t suggest that an American student in the twenty-first century should have the same list, but they should have a similar wealth of knowledge ready to use “with ease and fitness.” There is a story at the bottom of every subject, and when it is told (once, as she states, is usually sufficient), it can help children understand and remember the essence of an idea.
Application
To apply this concept to your daily teaching, I suggest copious amounts of reading (or listening, in the case of auditory learners). In addition to literary fiction, bring in biographies of artists, explorers, architects, writers, scientists, musicians, and mathematicians; stories of expeditions, inventions, discoveries, compositions; travelogues; magazines such as National Geographic or Smithsonian; and whatever fits your family’s interests.
You’ll find that your students will deeply understand the concept of justice after suffering with Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and they’ll remember the bitter cold and peril of the Arctic circle, as they try to survive with Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd’s expedition. Contrast this with what they would understand or remember after filling out a worksheet with the definitions of justice, love, and faith, or a scientific report on the weather in the Arctic or Antarctic.
Stories bring knowledge alive and engage emotional memory in a way that makes abstract principles and arcane facts easy to understand and remember. When learning can be joyous and simple, why make it boring and difficult (and pointless because they are unlikely to remember anything) by using tedious worksheets and canned curriculum? It’s never too late to start teaching well. Resolve now to make literature and stories a major part of your educational adventure!
*****Don’t forget the Convention Season SALE!
Also, I’ll be speaking at Cindy Rushton’s Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2009. This online homeschool convention includes:
- Online Seminars with With 35+ Speakers!
- Virtual Vendor Hall!
- Free Gifts–ebooks, audios, downloads!
- Special offers from your favorite Online Vendors!
- Mp3 Downloads for all audios (over $1000 in workshops!)
I think you’ll enjoy this, especially if you can’t make it to a live conference this year.
Free Reading Speed and Comprehension Test
Do your students do well on the reading comprehension section of standardized tests? Practicing for these kind of exams and getting accustomed to the format and the type of questions asked can help boost scores. Here’s a website that offers a free Speed Reading Test. I suggest having students use it once a week or so, and see how quickly they can boost their reading speed. Read more
Newbery Awards- My favorite, Your Favorite, Nobody’s Favorite
The 2009 book award winners were revealed yesterday by the American Library Association. You may read about them at the NAIWE NewsWire blog.
As a counterpoint, I’d like to share a thoughtful piece from the School Library Journal, “Has the Newbery Lost its Way? ” by Anita Silvey. After you read it, please come back and leave a comment here, sharing what you think and answering the following questions:
- Have you enjoyed the recent Newbery books?
- What is your all-time favorite Newbery or Caldecott winner?
My all-around favorite book when I was child was Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” I loved the adorable monsters, and as a quiet child, I was enchanted by the idea of a “wild rumpus.” My boys enjoyed Sendak, but had other books for their ultimate “read it again, mommy” favorites.
Reading for Fun is the Foundation of Literary Appreciation
I just came across a book review (of the Truth Seekers Mystery Series by Christine and Felice Gerwitz) that clearly articulated the natural progression of learning. The review was much more than a simple review– it was an introduction to the art of reading. The reviewer, Magistra Mom, wrote of her own self-education:“I decided to get to that end point, graduation, I would need to start… at the beginning. To do so, I began reading at their level, and worked my way up. I began with simple science readers, juvenile level biographies, and historical fiction. From there, and over a few years, and by joining an amazing book club, I worked my way up to the classics…
“As I read “simpler” books, I built up a schema within my mind - a whole structure that later, enriched my understanding of more difficult readings. Without…these early readers, I would not have the appreciation, nor understanding today as I read classic literature, texts from the past, biographies and diaries, and historical documents.” Read more
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About
Hi, I'm Janice Campbell, and I'm glad you're here! I invite you to join me in focusing on things that matter- family, literacy, creativity, growth, and service. It's so easy to be entangled by the mundane, but it doesn't have to happen.
Among other things, I'll write about home-schooling through high school, and some of the opportunities you can explore with your teens- entrepreneurship, travel, early college, college alternatives, and more. I'll also share favorite poems, classic literature, announcements of special events and reviews of good resources, as well as a dollop of opinion on mostly education-related topics. I welcome your comments!
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