High School Literature & Composition

Course: High School Literature and Composition I & II - Shelley George 
Olivia Oster class listed below
Grade Level: 9-10
Day/Time: Tuesday 8:20 – 9:50am OR Tuesday 10:30am – 12:00pm OR Tuesday 12:15 – 1:45pm OR Wednesday 10:40am – 12:10pm
Instructor: Shelley George
Cost: $86 per month + $40 application fee
Online Availability: Students can enroll in this class as an Online Real Time student, pending teacher approval.
Books: Books may be purchased at Amazon, AbeBooks, or Christianbooks.com.

• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience, 1994, ISBN: 978-0138382698 or 978-0137224487 

• The Chosen by Chaim Potok, ISBN: 0449213447 or any copy of it

• Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: 180 Daily Teaching Lessons - Grade 9 Student Workbook, ISBN: 9780936981598

• Write Source Student Book 9, ISBN: 978-0669009064 or any copy of it. 

• If you own the Write Source Student Book from last year’s class, you do not need to purchase Student Book 9; they both cover the same material.

Description: God’s redemptive work and man’s sin will be addressed as we take an introductory look at American Literature. Extensive reading, five-paragraph essays, vocabulary tests, and other literary projects will be assigned. The Write Source books will equip students with strong grammar skills, polish their existing sentence structure, and help prepare them for the grammar section of the ACT. Each semester students will choose a biography to read and analyze, in addition to the required reading. A two-year rotation of literary works and grammar books is incorporated so your child can take the class two years in a row without repeating information, homework, tests, etc. Next year, in 2025-2026, we will focus on World Literature.

Course: High School Literature and Composition I & II - Olivia Oster 
Shelley George classes listed above
Grade Level: 9-10
Day/Time: Tuesday 1:50 – 3:20pm
Instructor: Olivia Oster
Cost: $86 per month + $40 application fee
Online Availability: Students can enroll in this class as an Online Real Time student, pending teacher approval.
Books: Please note that we will use the full, original version of each book.

• A New Grammary by Olivia Oster 

• Please purchase in class for $15 - Do not purchase on Amazon, it is much more expensive.

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, ISBN: 1508475091

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, ISBN: 0553210793

• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, ISBN: 0486264653

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, ISBN: 0684801221

• Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, ISBN: 0802139256

• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, ISBN: 014240733  

Description: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” This year we’ll be seeking truth through these American Literature selections. Not only will we see an overview of the history of our country through these classics, we will also grow closer to understanding ourselves and our God. We will look for the ways these books challenge our worldview and our stereotypes, and we will seek to grow in our faith in Christ through the truths that they show. Each semester we will read, answer questions, learn new vocabulary, and write journal entries, stories, and essays  to further this goal. The book list above is in order of appearance with the first three books covered during the first semester and the last three during the second semester. Our grammar book this year can be purchased from Amazon, but it is cheaper to purchase it from Mrs. Oster in person on the first day of class; this book will cover grammar formulas for advanced sentence writing. Students will write paragraphs following this grammar text each week. A two-year rotation of books is incorporated so your child can take this class two years in a row without repeating information, homework, tests, etc. Next year, in 2025-2026, we will focus on Literature from around the world. 

Course: High School Literature and Composition III & IV – The Classics II
Grade Level: 11-12
Day/Time: Wednesday 12:40 – 2:10pm OR Thursday 10:30 – 12:00pm OR Thursday 12:15 – 1:45pm
Instructor: Shelley George
Cost: $86 per month + $40 application fee
Online Availability: Students can enroll in this class as an Online Real Time student, pending teacher approval.
Books: Books may be purchased at Amazon, ChristianBooks.com, and EasyGrammar.com.

• Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: 180 Daily Teaching Lessons, Grade 12 Student Workbook by Dr. Wanda C. Phillips, ISBN: 978-0936981567

• Write Source Student Book, ISBN: 0-669-00908-3 

• If you have the Write Source Student Book from last year’s Literature and Composition grades 9-10 class, you can use it – instead of purchasing this new one

• 101 Amazing Stories of Hope and Faith: Inspiring Stories from Real Life, ISBN: 978-1496446671

Students also need to purchase one book from each section below:

Section 1:

• Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity by Michael Card, ISBN: 978-0830832545

• Be the Change, Revised Edition: Your Guide to Freeing Slaves and Changing the World, ISBN: 978-031072611

• I Am Not But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story of God by Louie Giglio, ISBN: 978-1601424280

Section 2:

• Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez, ISBN: 978-1587680267

• Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom, ISBN: 978-0767905923

Section 3:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• Any copy of these classics will work

Section 4: Shakespeare Unit - Books will be purchased from Hilger.

Each semester students will also choose one of the following books to read and report on: 

End of the Spear, God’s Smuggler, Through Gates of Splendor, Chasing the Dragon, The Cross and the Switch-Blade, Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom, George Washington Carver: The Man who Overcame, Frankenstein, Animal Farm, Moby Dick, The Pearl, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea, A Raisin in the Sun, or The Count of Monte Cristo.

Description: Take a literary ride through the classics! Students will read, analyze, and respond to selected works. These works will be discussed from a Biblical worldview, and universal themes will be addressed. Extensive reading, vocabulary tests, weekly journal responses, five-paragraph essays, and other literary projects will be assigned. The grammar work will equip students with strong grammar skills, polish their existing sentence structure, and help prepare them for the grammar section of the ACT. A two-year rotation of books is incorporated so your student can take the class two years in a row without repeating information, homework, tests, etc. Next year, in 2025-2026, the class will focus on The Classics I.

Course: High School Writing Intensive (fall semester only)
Grade Level: 9-12
Day/Time: Wednesday 2:20 – 3:20pm
Instructor: Olivia Oster
Cost: $62 per month + $20 application fee
Online Availability: Students can enroll in this class as an Online Real Time student, pending teacher approval.
Book: You can order this book from Amazon

• A New Grammary by Olivia Oster, ISBN: 979-8210544629

Description: Writing well is an essential but uncommon skill that can win scholarships, open occupational doors, and clarify important communications. Your child’s writing ability will be enhanced through this dedicated time during the school week. Using four writing assignments, this single semester course will improve writing skills through group work, discussions, revisions, in-class exercises, and homework with the end goal of instilling confidence in the college-bound writer. The course will reinforce writing fundamentals, including sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, paragraph structure, self-editing, and proofreading as well as increasing writing abilities through mastering each step of the writing process. We will cover thesis development, the use of citations of secondary sources, effective organization, using mature grammatical structures, and developing strong transitions and unified paragraphs. Peer and teacher feedback will be available while all homework, classwork, and writing assignments will be accessible on the teacher’s website. Various handouts will be used to create a college writing resource notebook.