About Course

If you’re sitting there wondering why in the world you ought to take this class, let me ask you, what would you rather be doing? I’m guessing that you might say, “I’d rather listen to my music.” You might say, “My favorite TV show is on.” You might even tell me that you would much rather go see the opening of the latest feature film. I would then have to ask you what is the difference?

In this class you will hear the “music” that poetry has to offer. You will turn on the TV of your mind as you venture into your first short story. And I’ll wager the movie you want to go see either started out or ended up as a novel.

You see, the subject of language arts is the music and the stories that we enjoy every day. In this class we will be enjoying them in their printed fashion and we will be learning to develop our mind's eye and ear to see and hear all that the printed word has to offer us.

By the end of this class you will hear the music of poetry and you will see the vast worlds and interesting characters offered in short stories and novels.

This course is designed for several audiences. This class can be for a student who desires to move ahead in Language Arts at a faster pace than his or her classroom teacher feels comfortable accommodating. Using independent study agreements, we can custom tailor an interesting and challenging course of study that will give multiple opportunities for a student to meet Oregon state benchmarks.

This class is also designed for students who are progressing at a normal pace through their middle school Language Arts class but are having difficulty in the mainstream classroom. Maybe sitting still and being quiet is a problem, maybe there is not enough personal choice when it comes to the assignments. Maybe behavior issues prevent a student from being in a regular class. This class is designed for students who read at or near the 7th grade reading level.

And finally, this class is for the student who has not been able to perform at the level that he or she would like. Maybe illness has caused problems. Maybe a student in home school needs a little help meeting the state benchmarks in Language Arts. Maybe a student has moved from a place where standards are not as strict as they are in Oregon, so he or she needs to get caught up.

Maybe you are a public or private or home school student and you really want to take this course to be challenged, and you want to get a new perspective on Language Arts.

Whatever your motivation, if you read at the 7th grade level and you want to be challenged, this class could be for you.