Read with Peers in these LIVE Book Clubs!

We LOVE using the combination of a Charlotte Mason / Unit Studies approach to homeschooling. It’s the base of our curriculum, our school days, and all of the novel studies we love to share with you!

The Society of Literary Adventurers provides you with the tools to engage your teen in the classics and give them all they need to earn a high school level literature credit.  While many teens might balk about having to read "old fashioned books," adding just the right amounts of technology and adventure are the keys to engaging in the classics while still checking off the boxes for a high school literature credit!

Membership includes thirty-eight book units (and more coming), courses on how to write a research paper and a month-long, family-style Christmas unit, printable nature journal and unit study planner, plus several video workshops for parents about homeschooling teens.

 Each book unit includes:

• Rabbit Trails – Diving off of themes from the novel, meander down paths about pop-culture, history, biographies, poetry, music, and more.
• Magic Dust - These hands-on projects will take you into the book through science, art, games, and more.
• Vocabulary & Grammar – Copywork and dictation to help with spelling and grammar, plus literary elements, are included here.
• Writing Assignments - Covering various literary themes, each book club features a different topic and element for the essay.
• Party Time! (one per club) – This is the last lesson of each club, and includes ideas for food, decorations, and activities to celebrate the novel.

There are also resources for parents, such as the Book Club Planner, which offers you a simple way to add the joy of reading to your homeschool while also giving your kids the added fun of socializing with their friends. There are 46 pages to help you create and plan a monthly or weekly book club.

Learn more about the Society of Literary Adventurers, and take a video walk-through of a course, here.

Monthly Interactive Book Club

As part of the society, each month Literary Adventures for Kids hosts an interactive book club.  Participation is not required, but students really enjoy this live, interactive component where they delve deeper into the novel, discuss various aspects (symbolism, foreshadowing, and even just how the weather is looking that day around the country), and make peer connections with other homeschooling teens.

The photo to the right shows The Hobbit book club from last summer, where the participants dressed up like elves and enjoyed a discussion of all things Tolkien in addition to delving into the nuances of the book.  Each month students are invited to embody the book through dressing up for the live meeting!

In addition to the monthly book clubs, there are also Tea Times, which include the same interactive peer components, but instead of focusing on a classic book, each month features a different classic poet and their works.  In these Zoom meetings, everyone gathers to share poems, have some snacks, and write some poetry inspired by the poems read in class.

For the month of February, we've been doing all things Tolkien (did you know it's actually pronounced Tol-KEEN?), focusing on his works for both the Tea Times and the featured Live Book Club - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

If you're interested in checking out the program, but not necessarily ready to commit to a full year, the Summer Live Book Club is always a great place to start!  This is where we did The Hobbit last summer, and this summer's feature is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  This is a weekly meet-up for students to read, learn, and chat together over the summer....and there might be an early bird registration special.  But you'll need to follow our Facebook page to find out!  😉

Different Strokes for Different Folks

One thing I'm often asked about is why I promote Literary Adventures for Kids while also hosting my own classes at Sparks Academy.  To that I say, everyone has a different style that works best for their family.  At Sparks, we take a more traditional approach, using the Good & the Beautiful as the spine curriculum and working with peers in a structured, teacher-graded, online classroom.  (There is a self-paced option as well, for folks who want more flexibility.)  

Like Literary Adventures for Kids, we host live book club meetings, but we also discuss the coursework during those live classes, and the students have a thread-based community chat for each class.  Literary Adventures for Kids uses more "popular" literature and lends more flexibility and parent-graded coursework, which appeals to a different set of families than the courses at Sparks.  All of that to say -- both are fantastic options, and only you can decide which groove fits your families needs best!

Want to try out an online book club?  You can access a completely FREE course from both the Nature Club and the Literature Club for a limited time!