Language Arts
Composition 1 (Grades 7-9) 12:30 - 1:55pm
Instructor: Mrs. Wendy Carter
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $40
Writing students need to develop the foundational building blocks of good composition. These include the ability to write a strong sentence and a solid paragraph. Once these skills are mastered, they will have the tools to produce longer compositions and reports. This course is taught systematically and incrementally. New ideas are introduced in each lesson. Meanwhile, students continue using previously learned material in their writing. This course is designed to instill growth in the student’s ability and confidence through a step-by-step writing process that teaches self-editing and revision techniques.
Text: Writeshop I Student Workbook $39.95 www.writeshop.com
Composition 2 (Grades 9-10) 9:00 - 10:25 am
Instructor: Mrs. Wendy Carter
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $40
A continuation of the Composition I class, but also able to stand alone, this course moves beyond the fundamentals of writing and delves into advanced writing applications. After a review of basic concepts, students will build upon previously learned skills as they cover a higher level of descriptive and narrative writing. The development of persuasive writing and essay skills will be emphasized.
Prerequisite: Composition 1 or the satisfactory completion of the placement exercise
Text: Writeshop II Student Workbook $39.95 www.writeshop.com
Creative Writing: Learn to Write the Novel Way (Grades 9-12) 10:30 - 11:55am
Instructor: Mrs. Marji McIlvaine
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $50
Learn, or practice the language arts you have already learned, while writing and publishing a novel! Students will work on a novel following a structured curriculum and end the year with their own published works! This teaches (and more importantly, practices, and gets your student involved in applying) all the language arts in one major project. It is multi-level and takes the student where he or she “is” and moves them to excel.
“General objectives: By the end of this course, your student will have written an entire novel with excellent style, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. All of these skills will transfer to his next writing project. Look also for the smile when he presents a finished piece of work that he knows is stellar.
Specific objectives: The scope of this course is creative writing, but this college-preparatory course equips your student to plan and executeany written piece. He will become well-acquainted with the 13 steps offictional writing, practice all standards of excellent English usage, and havea finished product to demonstrate proficiency.This is a one-year credit in English Composition, or Creative Writing. The student will type and format his own novel and then we will have it published through an online publisher (The cost of the publishing depends on the length of your student’s work – parents will order and purchase their students’ books.)Novels may be about any subject as long as they conform to the Scriptural standards found in Philippians 4:8.
Parents should purchase Learn to Write the Novel Way by Carole Thaxton (available online).
Prerequisites: Composition 1 & 2 OR the satisfactory completion of the placement exercise.
Young People's Classics: Selections from American Literature (Grades 8 - 10) 10:30 - 11:55 am
Instructor: TBA
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $40
While reading and discussing classic works of American Literature, students will learn analytical and critical thinking skills, practice writing essays, biographical reports and character analysis papers.
Prerequisites: Composition 1 OR the satisfactory completion of placement exercise. Please note that all writing assignments must be critiqued and proofread by the parent prior to being turned in.
Texts include, but are not necessarily limited to:
Eight Cousins Louisa May Alcott
The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain
The Striped Ships Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Shane Jack Schaefer
The Incredible Journey Sheila Burnford
Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare
Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maude Montgomery
Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
Honors American Literature (Grades 10-12) 9:00 am - 10:25 am
Instructor: Mrs. Delnora Williams
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $30
In speaking of English, Pat Rogers once wrote that "a nation achieves through art self-recognition, self-awareness, self-definition. In literature a race--which means here in effect a linguistic community--confronts its own aspirations and despairs. Here we shall find its conversation with itself, its quarrel with others, its inner thoughts and its outer experience, its private meditations and its public utterances." The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature This is certainly true of American Literature with its own unique perspective on the world, its own reflection of its people.
This Honors class for students in 10th - 12th grades will examine the various periods and movements in American Literature, especially the 17th through 19th centuries. Writing assignments will be included in every unit. In addition to the short works and excerpts included in the textbook, at least two full length novels will be studied.
Texts include, but are not necessarily limited to:
Adventures in American Literature, student, ISBN 0030986362
Prerequisites: Composition 1 & 2 AND at least one year in Young People's Classics OR the satisfactory completion of the placement exercise available on the website.
Honors Parables (Grades 10 - 12) 12:30 - 1:55 pm
Instructor: Delnora Williams
Tuition: $320
Material fee: $40
At the mention of parables, many people assume that they know exactly what is meant. Yet, as Robert Capon observes, “their enthusiasm is narrowly based. Jesus’ use of the parabolic method can hardly be limited to the mere handful of instances they remember as entertaining, agreeable, simple and clear. Some of his parables are not stories; many are not agreeable; most are complex; and a good percentage of them produce more confusion than understanding.” And it is precisely in this that the invitation lies to wrestle with what is meant by ‘the kingdom of God’; to discover a depth to grace we never imagined when we memorized the definition; and to pursue God and who we are in relation to Him in a fresh way.
This class will be an in-depth study of parables from both the Hebraic Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Apostolic Writings (New Testament). We will be learning hermeneutical principles, researching biblical passages, having lots of discussions and doing hands-on activities, such as dramatic presentations, to “flesh out” the stories themselves.
This is a High School class. The successful completion of a placement exercise indicating mastery of basic grammar and essay writing is required. Enthusiasm for the subject, fresh creativity, a willingness to think seriously and a sense of adventure are strongly recommended.
Texts:
The Holy Bible.
A concordance for the Bible version the student will use.