Honors English Literature & Composition 2 is designed for advanced homeschoolers in the 10th grade (15+) and up who are seeking a comprehensive, full-year English class. 

Through analytical reading, engaging discussions, and targeted essay writing, students will delve deeply into the souls of literary characters and into the minds of the writers who created them.​ Beginning with Old English Beowulf and ending with a piece of equally imaginative literature written during their lifetime, students and their classmates will explore the many facets that equip novels, plays, short stories, and poems to stand the test of time--moving us emotionally, intellectually, and socially.

 

Class Details

• Honors English Lit & Comp 2 is a full-year class.

• Tuition: $800

• Instructor: Christine Proctor

• Dates: August 21, 2022 to May 5, 2023. See our FAQ for a complete list of dates and breaks.

• Format:

  • This class can be taken synchronously or asynchronously. 

    • A weekly optional mid-week "check in" will be offered on Zoom on Wednesdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Eastern, where students can drop in to ask questions and get assistance.

    • Topics in the optional check in might include current writing assignments or student and teacher-directed discussions about the class reading.

  • This class is highly active. Students will be interacting with one another--and with the instructor--on the class website in multiple text-based discussion forums each week.

• Grade level: 10th and up​

  • For age/grade guidelines, prerequisites, and class-fit recommendations for all classes, please see our FAQ.

• Class size: 30-35

• Course materials are listed HERE.

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A Lift to Lit Analysis

As experienced readers, students who join this class realize that an author’s intent and what we glean from fiction and non-fiction may be quite different. In weekly class discussion forums--where students and their peers post opinions and consider their classmates’ and instructor's additional points of view--perspectives will be broadened. Writing essays about the assigned reading will challenge the class to think deeply.

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• A variety of resources, assignments, and discussions interweave to help students and their classmates hone their skills in the areas they need it the most. 

• Beginning with identifying the simplest simile, students quickly move to appreciate the reasons writers use extended metaphors, motifs, and many other literary strategies.

• Everything assigned in Honors English 2 is planned with focused and purposeful objectives in mind--there is never any random busywork.

• Practicing annotation skills that are needed for close reading will help students excavate their way to becoming more discerning readers and writers.

• Students should expect to spend 7-9 hours per week on their classwork.

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Pump Up Your Writing

Honors English 2 is a course for students who already feel comfortable composing and editing multi-paragraph essays that apply sound grammar conventions, arguable thesis statements, a variety of sentence structures and word choices, and topic/closing sentences. This will be our starting point.

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• Short and efficient grammar and vocabulary exercises will avoid a rehash of what is already known. These assignments will be designed to pump up writing skillfulness.

• Students and their classmates won't simply be writing to an audience of "one." They will be sharing their ideas and strategies with a friendly group of students in helpful writing forums, collaborating with their peers and receiving detailed instructor feedback on each essay that is written.

• Regularly recurring test-prep exercises will help prepare students for the English and writing portions of the SAT and ACT. Tailored assignments will be geared expressly towards fine tuning for those standardized tests. 

• With the likelihood of AP English on the horizon, this class will offer a solid pre-AP grounding.

 

Enjoy Reading & Writing Poetry

And what English course would be complete without a jaunt through the green, fragrant pastures of poetry?! Instead of a separate unit buried deep within a literature framework, students can look forward to weekly reflection as they reading, write, and--most importantly--understand this sometimes-daunting art form. They’ll be amazed how easy it is to spot figurative language and other literary devices in a Mark Twain novel after taking apart a poem by Ogden Nash!

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