Help with US1 and US2 LA

[jer2911mom]

Hi,

We are considering US1 for my dd, who will be a junior this fall. She is solid in grammar and has had practice with the different types of essays and MLA formatting/research papers. I think she would like the creative writing in US1, but I also want to continue to shore up her essay writing as well as practicing MLA format in different types of papers before college. The writing instruction she received in her previous program was not as step-by-step as we had hoped, which has caused some frustration and scrambling to fill the holes. My goals for LA for her last two years are to give her better college-prep essay writing instruction (including papers longer than 5 paragraphs), help her learn how to write literature analysis papers, continue practicing MLA format, and increase her thinking and reasoning abilities in her papers. I feel like the narrations would help with the thinking and reasoning aspects. How much does US1 cover the various types of essays, MLA formatting, and literature analysis papers? What about US2? What would you recommend I add or substitute to meet those goals the next two years?

Thanks,
Kathy

[christianmom]

One of my sons completed US History I.

He had already completed CLE English I for 9th, which is the equivalent of R&S book 8, so I didn’t have him use that portion of the box since he had already done plenty of grammar and essay compositions coming into US History I. Instead, he spent extra time writing longer stories for the creative writing assignments than required. He really enjoyed the creative writing portion!

Critical thinking is woven into the Constitutional Literacy. On occasion the assignments required minimal research, but it was for a paragraph rather than for a paper. The analytical thinking in it was good.

The written narrations were similar to writing essays; they are assigned to be 4 - 5 paragraphs in length. I had him type them to paste into the notebook. I required 5 paragraphs so he was doing an essay each week with Introduction, 3 paragraphs for the body, and a conclusion. Since he typed them the 5 paragraphs fit into the notebook.

Literature study is woven into the program, and it does include writing and analysis.

He didn’t do a research paper for US History I. Could you add it? It would depend on your child, how fast they complete US History I assignments, etc. You could pick a topic and assign it and require a certain number of resources for the bibliography. You could do one for the year or one for each semester and give extra time since it isn’t in the program. Some colleges do require turning a research paper in with the application. Most of the colleges have students write an essay as a part of the application.

I hope this information is helpful.

[jer2911mom]

Christianmom, thank you so much for your reply! We have also used CLE English I. It's nice to know your son enjoyed the creative writing portion so much and that you used the extra time to allow him to write longer stories.

Thank you for sharing that the Constitutional Literacy involves so much critical thinking!

Thank you also for sharing how you used the written narrations to provide essay practice with openings and conclusions. I had considered doing that as well.

With the literature study writing, does it involve essays/literature analysis papers?

How much do the students practice MLA format with sources (even the novels themselves) in US 1? I believe I saw a little bit of it in the sample.

Thanks,
Kathy

[christianmom]

I’m glad it helped!

The literature analysis involves responding three times a week in the Literature Journal, and once a week doing an oral narration (or some units a written narration). The written reflection response in the Literature Journal can be a paragraph or a page depending on the reflection being asked. It can include quotes. It is more of a CM style reflection response rather than a formal, academic paper. The CM response does require thinking and analysis for the reflection questions, but it isn’t in an essay or paper format or MLA format; it is more informal in style.

The literature analysis and critical thinking also includes the literature synthesis sheets that have literature elements such as man versus man or man versus nature and other similar types of analysis.

Lastly, critical thinking is included in the discussions that you get to have with your child. These discussions are frequent.

The following link, that you may have already looked at, could be helpful in understanding the writing in US History I. Each assignment type is listed on pages 19 - 45.

https://heartofdakota.b-cdn.net/wp-cont ... uction.pdf

I hope this is helpful in your decision. CM style is unique, and it does play a large role in US History I. I thought the literature preparation was college prep due to the level of thinking required.

[jer2911mom]

Thank you again for the help, Christianmom!