Course Details:
- Pre-recorded video lessons
- Learners Work at Their Own Pace
- 1 year of access to interactive curriculum
- No seat limit for this course type
- Lessons open as learners finish (no due dates)
- Activity & completion reports offered
- Materials
The teacher will provide all materials. Students will need to use Google Docs.
Long Story Short: Interactive Literature & Bible
$99.00
- Online Curriculum
- Yearlong Curriculum
- English Language Arts
- High School, Adult
Section Options / Enroll:
- Description
- Lesson Schedule
- Class Intro Video
- A Biblical Worldview
- The Lemons-Aid Way
- Teacher Bios
- Outschool
- Request a Section
Description
Introduction:
We love stories because they reveal aspects of the human condition. Literature makes people think deeply about life. We study literature while applying a biblical lens to that human condition, which is practice for applying biblical principles in our own lives. We don’t just tack on a verse of scripture in our curriculum; instead, we are diving deep into the Bible first to establish and understand what God’s word says about life and the human condition. Then we practice how to live a biblical life by analyzing and evaluating literature according to precepts in the Bible. Additionally, older, classical literature is written with rich vocabulary, beautiful imagery, layered themes, and complex sentence structures; further, they contain ideas that make us ponder ourselves and our world deeply. When we study classic literature through a biblical worldview, we can better understand our world and strengthen our Christian perspective on life. The stories chosen in this curriculum have some value of beauty in regard to the literature and help us bring out important biblical principles.
Short stories are special.
Short literature quickly introduces us to characters, settings, conflicts, and themes that relate to our lives. These authors are a special breed as well, able to craft a satisfying, thought-provoking story that we can read in one sitting. Stories reflect life and help us understand God and see ourselves and the world in which we live correctly when understood from a biblical perspective. In this course, we will use classic short stories to learn how to analyze literary devices, figurative language, story elements, characterization, theme, etc. while thinking about and discussing essential questions.
Yearlong Interactive Curriculum:
This is online, interactive curriculum. Learners will write and complete assignments, quizzes, watch videos, and complete tasks. If all 26 weeks are completed, this course serves as an entire year of high school literature. In most weeks, students study one story. Some weeks covers two stories in order to compare and contrast. We encourage parent involvement. You will have fantastic conversations, I promise!
We have a LIVE VERSION! Join us in once-weekly live meetings to discuss the literature with your peers.
A Snapshot of One Week of Work:
- After reading and thinking about the essential questions, students write a short response explaining their initial thoughts. For example, while reading “Araby” by James Joyce and “Witches’ Loaves” by O. Henry, students study and ponder two essential questions:
- What is the difference between infatuation and love?
- What effect does infatuation have on the mind and heart?
- Students study the Bible. This includes scripture reading, watching a video lesson, or other interactive activities to build a foundation of biblical knowledge of important precepts that inform the answers to the essential questions. For instance, to answer those two essential questions, we read Judges 14 about Samson and the Philistine woman who seemed “right in his own eyes.” He was infatuated! Then we read Hosea 3 about Gomer and Hosea, a story of agape love that will move the hearts of readers as we see a picture of the gospel! Students hear video teaching from Mrs. Lemons to help them understand how these precepts relate to teenagers. They complete a practice quiz to help them solidify their understanding.
- Learners continue their preparation for reading by learning new vocabulary with an interactive activity and quiz. Then they learn a few idioms and literary elements. Last, they read a mini-biography on the author and take another practice quiz
- Finally, learners read the story and take a practice comprehension quiz. The story text and audiobook are always provided to help with comprehension. Remember, we are reading classic literature and these stories are written at the upper high school level.
- Next, students dive deeper into the literature. In this case, they study the vast religious allusions in “Araby.” They go back and read the story again, annotating and exploring in close-reading activities.
- Students evaluate the story as a piece of literature, both for its beauty and value as a piece of entertainment.
- A final, cumulative quiz measures a week’s worth of learning.
- Last, students respond to the literature through writing. This is their final opportunity to think through the material and synthesize all they have learned into a coherent response to given prompts related to the essential questions. This writing is graded and it may be anonymously posted to the Lemons-Aid website as an example of how to read secular, classical literature from a biblical worldview. Students are writing to a real audience and should do their best.
Classic Short Literature – The Schedule:
September-
- “Ruthless” by William de Mille
- “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
- “Araby” by James Joyce and “Witches’ Loaves” by O. Henry
- “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
October-
- “The Bet” by Anton Chekhov
- “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathanial Hawthorne
- “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain
- “The Body Snatcher” by Robert Louis Stevenson
November-
- “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
- “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving
**No coursework the week of Thanksgiving. Enjoy time with your family! Your subscription will be paused automatically.**
December-
- “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl
- “The Reluctant Dragon” by Kenneth Grahame
**No coursework from December 16-Jan 6. Merry Christmas! Your subscription will be paused automatically.**
January-
- “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” by anonymous (Arabian Nights)
- “A New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
- “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
- “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
February-
- “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
- “The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
March-
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
- “A Retrieved Reformation” by O. Henry
- “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
April-
- “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner
- “A Case of Identity” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin
- “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry
Doctrinal Statement
We have adopted The Master’s Seminary Doctrinal Statement. Learn more about Karen Lemons, the course author.
Parental Guidance:
***While we read many touching and sweet stories, others have mature themes, such as murder, violence, suicide, revenge, alcohol, death, prejudices, racism, guilt, betrayal, etc., and are intended for mature secondary students. For example, in Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale, “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character is a murderer getting revenge. He takes a drunken man down to a cellar and buries him alive. We read everything with a biblical worldview, so in this example, students learn what the Bible says about taking revenge, the potential for wickedness in men, and the dangers of drunkenness. We study a heavy dose of Proverbs with this particular story. I avoid stories with sexual themes as well as modern stories. The stories we do read are classics and most–if not all–were written a century ago or longer and are commonly read in high schools. They help students understand the world in which they live as they ponder deep questions that are as relevant now as they were then. Stories are written with a Lexile score between 700-1400. I encourage students to talk to their parents about the stories and the issues they study in the lessons.***
Lesson Schedule
coming soon…
Class Introduction Video
Coming soon…
Taught From a Christian Perspective
Our mission is to equip learners’ minds and shepherd their hearts. We want them to have saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and then develop a biblical worldview. This means they view their world, themselves, and God in a way that aligns with what the Bible teaches. This brings great peace and understanding to the believer because we serve a good, sovereign God. This course is taught with these goals in mind. In class, we may pray, read scripture, and discuss how to view the content from a Christian perspective.
We have adopted The Master’s Seminary Doctrinal Statement.
Learners Need Explicit Instruction!
Explicit teaching is a method of instruction students desperately need! It is the opposite of a constructivist philosophy whereby students try to construct meaning themselves.
Well…
Instead of leaving students to magically figure out how to write an essay or read or do a geometry proof, we teach explicitly, which is backed by a large body of evidence, and it’s how Mrs. Lemons teaches her undergraduate and graduate teacher candidates in college to teach! We do it this way because it’s how kids learn.
Explicit instruction is “a structured, systematic, and effective methodology for teaching academic skills. It is called explicit because it is an unambiguous and direct approach to teaching that includes both instructional design and delivery procedures. Explicit instruction is characterized by a series of supports or scaffolds, whereby students are guided through the learning process with clear statements about the purpose and rationale for learning the new skill, clear explanations and demonstrations of the instructional target, and supported practice with feedback until independent mastery has been achieved.”
-Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes.
Anita Archer trained Mrs. Lemons in workshops, and it changed her teaching. Read a little more about the research behind explicit teaching here and here.
To read more about your teaching and learning methods, read Mrs. Lemons’ blog.
The Lemons-Aid Team
Lemons-Aid teachers have a few things in common.
❤️ They love their students and value each of their unique strengths and personalities that make our classes special. Our classes can be described as fun, personal, academic, challenging, and supportive.
🤩 We work to keep learners engaged, so there is always a degree of student accountability for their attention and focus, whether that be through asking them direct questions or by using the chatbox.
💭 We know all kids can learn, but sometimes things are hard! To support students, we teach them how to develop effective thinking and learning habits that will bring them success in class and in life.
🌟 Building relationships with students so they know we care about them helps us balance the high expectations we have for them regarding their effort, work quality, and behavior. Our students are encouraged, cared for, and they achieve!
𝙆𝘼𝙍𝙀𝙉 𝙇𝙀𝙈𝙊𝙉𝙎: English Language Arts
#High-Energy #Skilled #Experienced #Relational #Fun
Karen is the Founder of Lemons-Aid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English, a minor in Education, and a master’s degree in Education Administration from Liberty University. With a teaching certificate and a principal’s license in both Washington and Colorado, she has many years of experience teaching English Language Arts and History / Social Studies at the middle school and high school levels. Additionally, she is TESOL and TEFL certified and enjoys teaching English Language Learners from all over the world. She has worked in private and public schools at every level and is currently an affiliate faculty member at Colorado Christian University, supervising teacher candidates in their undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs. She is a teacher of teachers. A homeschool mom herself, she admits that teaching other people’s kids is easier than teaching her own teenage boys! She lives in the Denver, Colorado area where she cheers on the Broncos, Avs, and the Rockies, but her favorite athletes are her own kids who play hockey and baseball!
🎥 Karen’s Intro Video
𝑱𝑬𝑵𝑵 𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑳𝑬: English Language Arts
#Experienced #Knowledgeable #Empowering #Patient #Rises Above the Ordinary.
As a certified English teacher, Jenn has taught in some capacity over the course of the past twenty-five years. She has taught middle school and high school English classes in both private and public school settings, tutored international ESL students online, developed and taught literature and public speaking classes for a local homeschool co-op, and homeschooled her own two children. Jenn has a bachelor’s degree in English Education. A strong believer in lifelong learning, Jenn has also taken several graduate-level courses related to teaching. Jenn enjoys spending time with her husband, Mark, and their two teenagers. She enjoys taking day trips close to where they live in upstate New York. In her spare time, Jenn enjoys singing and performing in plays. Additionally, she enjoys curling up on the sofa to read a good book. More than likely, one of her four cats will be curled up at her feet.
🎥 Jenn’s Intro Video
𝙆𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙈𝘼𝙉: Elementary
#Fun #Inspiring #LoveForLearning
Kristen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with a minor in child psychology from Liberty University. For nearly a decade, she has worked in elementary school classrooms, as a private tutor, and as an online ELL teacher. While passionate about education in general, her favorite subjects to both study and teach are reading, grammar, and writing. She and her husband are actively involved in a church where she works as a Sunday School teacher and Children’s Ministry teacher to ages 4-6. No matter where she is teaching, Kristen tries to find ways to connect with her students and to create an exciting classroom that builds a passion for education. It is her desire to not only teach a subject but also to foster a love of learning which inspires students to want to learn more even once the class is completed. Kristen lives in Virginia with her husband, daughter, and their new baby boy! In her spare time, Kristen loves to create teaching content such as interactive lesson plans, worksheets, and more! She also enjoys doing family outings and crafting.
🎥 Kristen’s Intro Video
𝙈𝙍𝙎. 𝘼𝙇𝙄:
Elementary
#Engaging #Fun #Patient #Kind #Encouraging
Ali has a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and has worked with children over the last 11 years. She taught for 6 years in public school, 2 years in Kindergarten and 4 years in First Grade. She has worked as a reading tutor and ESL teacher online for the last 4 years; she has also tutored children in-person in reading, writing, and STEM. Ali believes that every child is a natural learner; she believes that an educator’s goal is to engage each child in the way that they learn best! She is passionate about creating a safe and FUN environment that teaches the whole child. Each time she enters a classroom, whether it is in-person or online, you can find her singing, playing games, and making learning fun. Ali lives in Missouri, near St. Louis with her husband and fur-child (an 80 lb. German Shepherd who doesn’t know how big he is). In her free time she loves reading, writing, crafts, hiking, working out, and spending time with my family.
🎥 Ali’s Intro Video
𝙆𝙄𝙈𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙇𝙔 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙄𝙎𝙄: English
#Energetic #Kind #Encouraging #Authentic #Enthusiastic #Guide
Kim loves life, loves people, and loves learning! She views each student as a team member with his or her own unique talents, skills and life experience to bring to the group. She loves helping students expand their knowledge and sharpen their skills to reach their greatest potential. Kim has a Bachelor’s degree from Cairn University in secondary Education with certification in English (NY and PA) and endorsement in music. Her classroom experience has focused on English, PE and Bible education, but she has tutored in a variety of areas including ESL, special ed, math, history, science and music (piano and voice). She lives in northeast PA with her wonderful family. She has homeschooled all of her seven children. The youngest five are still in school and ensure that every day is an adventure. Kim also coaches intramural and competitive sports throughout the year. She loves music, sports, reading and taking long walks up her dirt road admiring wildflowers, listening to birds and reflecting on what she is learning in life!
🎥 Kim’s Intro Video
Christian Teachers on Outschool
We want to serve you on Lemons-Aid! For first-time learners on Lemons-Aid, you can use the coupon code Newbie20 to get $20 off your first class.
However, if the schedule doesn’t work for you, we will happily teach you on Outschool, but we can’t talk about Jesus.
Use this referral code and get $20 off your first class on Outschool: LEMONSA2020
Request a New Section
Want to see this class offered at another time? Send a request, and we’ll see what we can do!