SC 7&8 Book List, Theme

[cherylswope]

Good morning all!

We are ready to announce the theme and alliterated title for Simply Classical Levels 7&8.

The letters for this level are all P's. On our Instagram, @_simplyclassical_, this summer we had many good guesses!


SC 7 & 8: Poetry, Pleiades, & Promises

Attached please find the full book list for Simply Classical Levels 7&8.

We are continuing to work on the remainder of the Curriculum Manuals to provide you with good Teacher Notes and full lesson plans for both the Two-Year Standard and One-Year Accelerated programs.

A few notes:

- "Poetry" reflects the many requests for good, hard work in language, composition, and English grammar, so this became a centerpiece and includes work in poetry to aid linguistic understanding and expression.
- "Pleiades" hints at moving further into the quadrivium for our Simply Classical students. We boosted Astronomy with a glow-in-the-dark addition to "bring to life" our astronomy studies.
- "Promises" refers to the promises given by the prophets of old, as revealed in our Christian Studies, fulfilled in Christ. Both the Narnia allegory and A Promise Kept highlight these fulfilled promises for our students.

- Those of you who attended our Sodalitas Spelling Summit a few years ago will see sfhargett's winning selection, as we found nothing so systematic, clear, concise, and strong for our students at this level. We love this choice.
- Our literature for these levels was carefully selected by tone, prominence, accessibility, Lexile, and with good attention to boy-friendly books. My children helped with the selections, so we hope your children will be pleased.

[Colomama]

That looks awesome. A few exciting surprises.

There are more literature books than I expected, are they all student readers or are some parent read-alouds? The bottom says there is a list of read-alouds in the appendix, any chance we can get that list?

Thanks to the team's hard work on this! I love the title.

[cherylswope]

On behalf of the team, you are welcome!

The three Christmas books in the first column (A Promise Kept, Good King, Papa Panov) are Christmas read-alouds.

The four books at the end of the Literature list are the equivalent of "Extended Literature" in previous levels. We do not study these in the same way we study literature; rather, we planned these to give students more oral or silent reading practice. Two of those Ext Lit selections provide some light-hearted historical context for FMOR. We debated about keeping all four of the books in an optional Ext Lit category, but a few open scheduling blocks allowed for their insertion in the Literature Core.

[cherylswope]

Yes, we can share the list of read-alouds! We'll share when ready.

[howiecram]

Will Simply Classical not use Classical Composition, or just not yet? Where will the composition come from in 7/8?

[cherylswope]

We may teach from Classical Composition eventually, but not in SC 7&8. In SC 7&8 we are continuing to work on parts of speech, types of sentences, and paragraphs while working on spelling, word awareness, the mechanics of written expression, and the development of style.

Composition instruction and practice will come in these ways:

1. R&S English 4 -- Composition exercises increase in complexity all year according to the grammar and written expression knowledge gained in each lesson. In addition to practice with a slightly more analytical approach using parts of speech, direct objects, and sentence diagramming, students write a variety of sentence types, paragraphs, letters, reports, and how-to instructions. Students also write original stories.

2. Spelling by Sound & Structure (listed in the book list as R&S Spelling 4) -- In every lesson the student writes two substantive, original sentences and completes a paragraph.

3. Student Guides for Poetry for the Grammar Stage and Latina Christiana give meaningful writing practice according to the mechanics learned in R&S English 4 and EGR I review.

4. Copybook will provide continued practice in imitation in composition while reviewing astronomy facts, Greek gods, and the Christian Studies memory verses learned in SC 5&6.

5. More writing -- We will make available the Literature Student Guides and other student guides for students who need (and can tolerate) additional composition practice throughout the curriculum.

I hope that helps!

[howiecram]

We may teach from Classical Composition eventually, but not in SC 7&8. In SC 7&8 we are continuing to work on parts of speech, types of sentences, and paragraphs while working on spelling, word awareness, the mechanics of written expression, and the development of style.

Composition instruction and practice will come in these ways:

1. R&S English 4 -- Composition exercises increase in complexity all year according to the grammar and written expression knowledge gained in each lesson. In addition to practice with a slightly more analytical approach using parts of speech, direct objects, and sentence diagramming, students write a variety of sentence types, paragraphs, letters, reports, and how-to instructions. Students also write original stories.

2. Spelling by Sound & Structure (listed in the book list as R&S Spelling 4) -- In every lesson the student writes two substantive, original sentences and completes a paragraph.

3. Student Guides for Poetry for the Grammar Stage and Latina Christiana give meaningful writing practice according to the mechanics learned in R&S English 4 and EGR I review.

4. Copybook will provide continued practice in imitation in composition while reviewing astronomy facts, Greek gods, and the Christian Studies memory verses learned in SC 5&6.

5. More writing -- We will make available the Literature Student Guides and other student guides for students who need (and can tolerate) additional composition practice throughout the curriculum.

I hope that helps!

Excellent! Thank you for *spelling* that out! This sounds great.

[jejegreer]

While I am absolutely thrilled that you are dropping English Grammar Recitation, I am a bit scared of Rod and Staff level 4 English. Diagramming is introduced in Level 3, and I think Level 4 presumes knowledge of it. Clara has had some experience diagramming since we are doing Classical Conversations Essentials one day a week and they teach diagramming, but I still think it is going to be really hard for her.

I love the addition of Story of the World. We love those books!

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to make all the literature the boy-friendly books and not any of the girl-friendly books? Are there mostly boys who use Simply Classical?

[cherylswope]

Hi, JeJe.

Just to clarify, we're not dropping EGR but rather reviewing EGR I items briefly via flashcards each week in SC 7&8. This was an SC 5&6 customer's good request!

Diagramming occurs reasonably infrequently in R&S English 4 and could be omitted when teaching any student for whom it is not yet helpful. The other components will suffice. Use your own judgment there.

When I said boy-friendly, I meant only that we considered boys when making our decisions. Boys seem to comprise a significant portion of struggling or reluctant readers. This consideration does not in any way neglect our girls! Our first selection, The Moffats, tells the story from the perspective of Janey, a daughter of the family, and the chapters feature prominently the mother who sews, makes dresses, and cares for her family. Likewise the Narnia story features two young sisters, Susan and Lucy, with two very different personalities. We hope all children, whether boys or girls, will enjoy the well-crafted stories in SC 7&8!

[DiannaKennedy]

While I am absolutely thrilled that you are dropping English Grammar Recitation, I am a bit scared of Rod and Staff level 4 English. Diagramming is introduced in Level 3, and I think Level 4 presumes knowledge of it. Clara has had some experience diagramming since we are doing Classical Conversations Essentials one day a week and they teach diagramming, but I still think it is going to be really hard for her.

I love the addition of Story of the World. We love those books!

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to make all the literature the boy-friendly books and not any of the girl-friendly books? Are there mostly boys who use Simply Classical?

Chiming in with our experience with MP literature, with a neurotypical girls and boys with varying learning challenges.

I don't feel like any of the MP books are better suited for one gender versus another. My daughter has loved books with boy protagonists (think Treasure Island), and my boys have devoured audiobooks with girl protagonists (Anne of Green Gables) . I think a better description of the MP selections would be 'family friendly'. These books illuminate lessons for boys and girls, as well as adults. I can honestly say that in our 9 years of using MP, I've never said, "Ugh. That was not a worthy selection."

[andreamichele13]

Will there be an assessment for 7&8 son? I'm just on the fence about where to start my up and coming 9th grader next year. In some things (like math), he's definitely ahead. I just think since this will be our very first dive into a complete classical education, I should take it slow (he is dyslexic). Do you think 5/6 would be sufficient for 9th grade if I did it at the one year pace?

[cherylswope]

For high school sometimes it is best to customize a program.

We might best accomplish this by email, where together we can analyze each subject area, collect more background information if needed, and determine a clear plan moving forward.

If you email me, [email protected], we can work together until you have a full, customized plan for him.

[andreamichele13]

cherylswope .....Ironically, I was just going to ask if I could email you with further questions!!!! Thank you so much!!! I've done the assessments and am also in the middle of your book that I ordered the other day!!! I love it!

[Colomama]

After reviewing the book list again, I wanted to ask about the memory verses.

I bought the verse flashcards for SC 5/6 (not sure if they're actually listed to buy, but I bought them). Well, they didn't match the SC verses. SC verses were shortened, which was excellent for us. I see they are listed for 7/8...are we moving away from abbreviated verses in this level?

[cherylswope]

Very good question. We need not only shortened verses but also cards to match, if only in the back of the guide for cutting and laminating. This will be true for 5&6 and for 7&8. Then we could remove the MP Memory Verse cards. Thanks, Colomama!