COURSE TEACHER
When I was ten years old, my favorite book was Homer’s Odyssey.
The Odyssey and Beowulf were the first books I read that showed me the magic of storytelling. Reading the Odyssey showed me that a page can be as real as a movie. Of course, I have always loved to read anything and everything (to the point where my mom had to take “reading time” out of my schedule as a kid because I would always run about two hours over). It took falling into the world of the Odyssey to show me why ... [more]
ESSAY WRITING
This course teaches the basic five-paragraph essay in a comprehensible, step-by-step, week-by-week process. By the end of the course, students will have written multiple essays and will have learned to use a solid thesis, strong introduction and conclusion, clear organization, supporting evidence, as well as paragraph-level skills such as varied sentence structure and use of vivid language.
LITERATURE ANALYSIS
So many great books! Not only myths and fairy tales, but also the Odyssey, Beowulf, the Norse Prose Edda, Robin Hood, The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, even Star Wars all offer rich ground to discuss literary elements such as theme, characterization, contrast, setting, tone, context, and symbolism. Students will grow in analysis skills through multiple short "approach papers" - a powerful tool that makes literary analysis accessible and interesting.
BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
A key element of this course will be analysis of the worldviews of different cultures and eras through the heroes they idolized and glorified. We will discuss these worldviews through the lens of a Christian one, while also comparing to our modern American culture and heroes.
“Not only is the instruction carefully conveyed through meaningful assignments and patient explanations, there is an intentional investment in the relationships as Anna shows genuine interest and care for them.”