Planning our school year.

[conuly]

"So, let's see, Ana. We should do some sort of formal literature study this year. Hm. Well, we'll definitely be doing Julius Caesar, because that's showing at the New Vic and I got a discount on my tickets. And we should probably do To Kill a Mockingbird. What else, what else? Pigm- wait a minute."

That's the moment when I realized I was effectively recreating my 8th grade English curriculum.

So we're not doing Pigman. (Probably.) We'll have to find some other book with an insouciant young narrator. Right now I've got her doing The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, but I think I may need to corner her tomorrow and make sure she reads some more of it. She's been busy writing lately.

Comments

[siderea]

We should do some sort of formal literature study this year.

Why? That is, what do you hope she'll get out of it?

[conuly]

The ability to say to high school admissions "Yes, we've studied these worthwhile books this year" and hand them a portfolio of what she's done.

We've spent two years reading and writing as she pleases, and it has been a roaring success beyond my wildest imaginings, but the plan is for her to actually attend high school, so it's good if between now and - gosh, October - she can prove she's done something between, um, now and October.

[siderea]

October? What happens in October?

Have I shared with you my idea for the best and most epic English literature class ever? (It won't fit between now and next October, though.)

[conuly]

...actually, I think I may be confusing the high school admissions process for most schools with the SHSAT. Which happens at the end of October. But by October I need to be running around to high schools talking to them about how wonderful Ana is and of course they should consider her for admission.

And then the application is due the first of December.

God, I freaking hate the NYC high school admissions process. It's easier to get into Harvard than some of these programs.

[conuly]

And no, I don't think you have...?

[siderea]

Start with a copy of Silverlock. Every time you come to an allusion to a work you're not already familiar with, drink look it up and read it. By the end, you will be dead of cirrhosis have read: a whole lot of Shakespeare, some Norse mythology and eddas, some Greek mythology and the Odyssey, the Book of Job, Paradise Lost, some Child ballads, some Mark Twain, and a whole lot else.

I figure if someone mostly does only this and stays focused, they could get through it in about two years.

[conuly]

Can we drink hot cocoa instead of alcohol?

[siderea]

dead of diabetes

[conuly]

Hm. This isn't a very fun drinking game.

[siderea]

Yeah, works better as a literature class.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

"Been busy writing " is an excellent reason not to have been reading!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The Pigman sucks. It's right up there with Go Ask Alice for smug sanctimonious 'lessons' thinly disguised as fiction. And I don't care how many awards it got from the Kiddie-lit cohorts - it doesn't count as 'formal literature'; the only time anyone ever reads that book is when they're forced to in 8th Grade English, or when they're inflicting 8th Grade English on someone else.

Did you already do The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? How about Travels With Charley, or The Diary of Anne Frank, or The Hunger Games, or The Earthsea Trilogy, or - if she's up for it - The Dispossessed, which has a lot deeper exploration of social issues. Or The Lord of the Rings, a literary classic if ever there was one.

To Kill A Mockingbird, meh; another book people mostly only ever read because it's assigned. Julius Caesar, sure, why not - Shakespeare's plays are like popcorn; once one gets started, one generally has to finish the whole bag. A Midsummer Night's Dream is funnier and spicier, though, and there's that hilarious movie version with the bicycles, which is enough to get anyone hooked on Shakespeare, if they weren't already.