I'm planning on starting a literature and writing class for high school students if I can find a few interested homeschoolers.  The theme of the class would be "Stories Can Change the World."  The idea all began when a fellow homeschooler and I were chatting about how it would be great to study Les Misérables for an entire semester.  A couple of weeks later, I was reading about Elizabeth Gaskell, who I knew as a contemporary of Charles Dickens.  It turns out that she was also friends with Charlotte Brontë.  Suddenly I realized how many of the authors from the mid-1800's wrote books with the idea of improving the world they lived in.  Dickens is obvious, as is Gaskell.  Charlotte and Anne Brontë also wrote books that exposed some of the social evils of their day.  Add in Victor Hugo, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, and you can see how the authors of that era influenced the world they lived in.  I started thinking how much fun it would be to mentor a class, reading some of these authors, discussing them, learning about the actual society they lived in.  Then, of course, I wanted students to accomplish a project themselves, so the idea of writing their own story was born.  Whether the story is fact or fiction, the story of their life or of an ancestor or just something they made up, they can learn so much from the writing and revising process.

Here is what the class will look like:

• Cost will be a modest fee (probably $15-20 for the year) to cover supplies.  Families will provide their own copies of the books to be read, but these will be classics that can be purchased as cheap paperbacks or free for Kindle.
• Classes will be held once a week at my home in west Layton.
• Fall semester the class will choose 3-4 books from my list to read and discuss.  These books will all be from the mid-1800's and will all have at least one societal issue that is brought to the public notice.
• Spring semester we will study Les Misérables for the whole semester
• Fall semester each student will prepare an oral presentation on a social issue from the 1800's.
• Spring semester each student will prepare an oral presentation on a social issue from our day.
• Each class will include some writing exercises.
• During the fall, students will outline and rough-draft their story (ideally writing a novella length story, but this can be adapted to individual students).
• During the spring, students will complete rough drafts and revise their stories.
• As a final reward at the end of the year, each student will receive a bound, print copy of their story.  Through createspace.com, we will have the books assigned an ISBN, a price for ordering on Amazon, etc., so that any doting parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can buy a copy for themselves. 

This class will be awesome for students who are ready to work hard and read the authors I've mentioned.  With the writing, I will be able to adapt to the level of individual students to a certain extent, but the reading will need to be done in order for this to be a positive experience for the whole class.  While this is primarily a language arts class, there will definitely be elements of history and government to be explored as well. I am targeting my own 16 year old daughter in creating this class, so I'm hoping to find at least a couple of older high school students to join her.  If those students have younger siblings, I am open to hosting some classes for them as well, depending on the willingness and ability of other moms to help.  I have a 14 year old girl and 10 year old boy/girl twins who could participate in other classes.

A little bit about me:  I recently moved from Texas to Layton, but I grew up in Logan, Utah.  I have a BA in Political Science from the University of Utah.  I've always loved to read, and I've always loved to discuss the problems of the world and possible solutions, so I see this class as a great opportunity to bring those two loves together.  I come from a conservative, LDS worldview, but that does not mean students have to have that worldview.  I just want parents and students to know what they're getting.  Last year I helped mentor a Shakespeare Conquest class in my homeschool group in Texas, and I loved working with the youth in that class.  I am very excited to mentor a class where I get to choose the reading though.  I have 5 kids, ages 10-18 whom I have always homeschooled.  I consider myself an eclectic homeschooler as I find inspiration from various philosophies.  I most closely align with leadership education and Charlotte Mason.

If you are interested in this class or have questions for me, please email me at lauralyna@gmail.com