As they said, “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”
Literature is one of the most important subjects to learn, and different books lend you different eyes to view the world with. You can learn history through literature, poetry, science, or even grammar. American literature books for high school students can be a hodgepodge of works, but there’s a course that can help you organize how you teach and learn.
American Literature Books for High School
Apologia is known most for its science curriculum, but did you know that they also offer an American Literature course for high school? It’s fairly new to the market so I wanted to give ya’ll an inside scoop!
American Literature is an exquisite work of art that is stimulating, captivating, and it would be impossible for anyone to work through this course and not come out on the other end changed.
I love this from the Introduction section, on page 13: “good literature sometimes needs to shake us up, convict us, make us think hard, and trouble our sleep a bit if it is to help us grow.” then further down it says, “You will find deep truths concerning the human mind and heart, as well as rich beauty, in the works of American literature that you’ll be reading in this course.”
It’s an amazing course, and I’m so thankful I got my hands on it when I did. As the literature loving family that we are, this is one that will be used extensively.
Components: There are two main components to the e-course – your American literature textbook (the meat and potatoes of the course) and a Student Notebook.
What each component means:
- The Student Notebook is where your High Schooler will peel apart each of the literary works to full understand it. It’s not just about reading a book and setting it aside. Instead, it’s about diving in and taking a swim.
- The Student Textbook is the meat and potatoes of the course. It contains most of the literary content that will be studied throughout the course. There are some that are included in the Student Notebook, that cannot be found in the Textbook, but these are later in the course, so you have ample time to buy them or even find them at your local library.
- Five Units: The Colonial Age, The Age of Reason and Revolution, The Romantic Age, the Age of Realism, and The Modern Age.
- Total of 18 chapters combined.
- Each unit includes an extensive introduction with background information such as historical, philosophical, and religious.
- Literary selections include fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, essays, poetry, sermons, and plays.
- There is also an extensive online Answer Key, along with the Daily Lesson Plan outline available for free on the Apologia Book Extras site. You can find that login info in the American Literature Student Notebook.
- There is an extensive Answer Key, along with the Daily Lesson Plan outline available for free on the Apologia Book Extras site. You will find the login information for this special site inside your American Literature textbook.
A fun tidbit: Thee author of the textbook Dr. Whit Jones is the 2017 Recipient of the Educator of the Year Award from Bryan College, where is is a professor. Dr. Jones is a homeschooling father and has taught his American Literature courses to homeschool students.
Get a free sample and FAQ here!
Who Is American Literature For?
I’ve heard that American Literature is ideally saved for 11th grade. But, if you have an avid reader and a literature loving kiddo like I do, then it can be used sooner. I will say that knowing their way around an essay would be an ideal skill to have prior to starting this course. It is in-depth, thorough, and intensive.
Check out the promo video from Aplogia on the course
BEFORE YOU GO
I’d love to encourage you to sign up for TWO free eBooks, a free monthly printable, and Apologia coupons! Just go HERE to sign up! And don’t forget to grab the FAQ and sample HERE
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