The guide is mercifully accessible for homeschooling high schoolers in terms of price and content. For a homeschool teacher, there is an answer section to guide discussions and process interpretation of challenging literature in the same book, so no additional book or purchase is necessary. Classical content is challenging, but attainable and enjoyable!

Learning Language Arts through Literature is based on the educational philosophy of Dr. Ruth Beechick and her natural learning method as outlined in her books, The Three R's, Language and Thinking for Young Children, and You Can Teach Your Child Successfully. The curriculum is authored by Greg Strayer. Greg received his Ph.D. in English from Florida State University. He is one of the co-founders of Homeschooling Today magazine.

Learning Language Arts through Literature is a comprehensive language arts curriculum which teaches spelling, reading, grammar, composition, research/study skills, higher order thinking skills, creative expression and penmanship.

The Gold Book American Literature is divided into four units:

Unit 1 The Short Story

The Real Thing

The Open Boat

Unlighted Lamps

The Catbird Seat

To the Mountains

Young Goodman Brown

The Fall of the House of Usher

Bartleby the Scrivener

Baker's Bluejay Yarn

A Village Singer

Unit 2 The Novel

The Red Badge of Courage

The Old Man and the Sea

The Pearl

Unit 3 The Essay

The Expository Essay

The Descriptive Essay

The Narrative Essay

Unit 4 Poetry

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Emily Dickinson

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Stephen Crane

Robert Frost

William Carlos Williams

John Crowe Ransom

E.E. Cummings

W.H. Auden

Teacher Section

Literary Terms

Bibliography

The Gold Book American literature guide is comprised of easy to use lesson plans spanning a period of 36 weeks. Each lesson is covered over a five day week period including assignments and questions. The teaching parent is encouraged to adapt the assignments to meet the students needs. The students section is located in the front of the book, while the teachers section is located in the back of the book. A key of literary terms is also included in The Gold Book World Literature.

Common Sense Press also publishes a Course Notes and Unit Test Booklets with Answer Key as a companion to the Learning Language Arts Through Literature Gold Book American Literature.

In order for the student to complete the assignments in Learning Language Arts Through Literature Gold Book American Literature the following books are needed:

Great American Short Stories Edited by Wallace and Mary Stegner, Random House

The Mentor Book of Major American Poets Edited by Oscar Williams and Edwin Honig, Penguin

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Simon and Schuster

The Pearl by John Steinbeck, Penguin

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Random House

As a homeschooler, I have perused several language arts curriculums. I cannot praise this curriculum enough! Learning Language Arts through Literature receives an A+ from this homeschooling parent!

I have loved using this curriculum series with my children in the lower grade levels. When I found it, my oldest son had some issues with learning to read and we started with the blue book and it made all the difference. He is now an avid reader, at age 15, as is his next younger brother, with whom I have also used the lower grade levels of this series. But once we got to high school, we found that there is so much poetry. I have very active boys who plan to pursue jobs in labor industries and have little patience for poetry. I never studied weeks on end of poetry in high school and don't understand why there is so much time dedicated to it. With so much wonderful literature and non fiction available, why are the kids expected to spend nearly a third of their year on one type of literature? It is the same for the British Literature book. I would highly recommend this series until the gold books, then I suggest looking for something else, unless you want a major emphasis on poetry.