High school English is anchored in literature because stories illustrate some aspect of the human condition. When students learn to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize ideas in literature, they learn to think in ways that prepare them for life and other areas of study. Literature's illustration of the human condition is the content that enables great essays and great conversation and great critical thinking. 

In this ongoing class, we focus on short stories. Why? Because short literature is special. Quick narratives quickly introduce us to characters, settings, conflict, and themes that relate to our lives. Short story authors are a unique breed as well, able to craft a satisfying, thought-provoking story that we can read in one sitting. Here, we use classic short stories, but we also integrate poetry, essays, and even mythology. More importantly, students learn how to think, engage in a community discussion, and write about the human condition, illustrated by an author in a piece of classic literature. 

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒?
As students continue through the literature, they have requested more stories so they can remain enrolled in the class for yet another year. Therefore, we are working to add more short stories and literature so students can take this class for three years if they wish. We are grateful for your loyalty and honored to experience so much literature together for years! 🥰

🎓 𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐔𝐌:
Even though this is an ongoing class, if students remain enrolled throughout the year, they will complete a year of high school English in 30 weeks. We usually take a week off in November and two to three weeks off in December. Students can come and go as they like. Students complete various types of writing, read, analyze, and evaluate literature, and meet communication standards in Socratic Seminars. 

🏖️ 𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘:
The benefit of this being an ongoing class is that students can pop in and out as they are able. Taking vacation? Pause the subscription and don't feel like you need to make up the work. One of the best aspects of homeschooling is flexibility, and this class enables you to be as flexible as you need. You can also remain enrolled and watch the recordings. 

💬 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐒:
After teaching this class online for three years, I moved to a Socratic Seminar style of discussion on the second live class. This empowers high school students to "own" their conversations and to be active participants. The discussion is much more thoughtful and students are more engaged as a result. The teacher guides them along, especially on the first day, as they prepare for the discussion; additionally, the Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet work they do between live classes helps them think deeply about what they read. This class requires a lot of participation! 

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊:
★ BEFORE CLASS: Early Monday morning, I post materials so students can print the story and other items. 
♦THE FIRST CLASS OF THE WEEK: In the first class, students prepare to read by discussing essential questions. Then, we read the short story together, and the instructor annotates the story as we read. After reading, the instructor teaches aspects of the literature: author's craft, literary elements, figurative language, irony, etc. Depending on the time available, they will write their own questions for the Socratic Seminar and the instructor will give feedback on the quality of their questions. 
♣️ HOMEWORK: Students will reread the story and annotate it themselves. They complete work on a Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet, which gives them a chance to think deeply in preparation for the next day’s discussion. Students will sometimes have a poem to read that is an interesting pair with our short literature. They study the poem and prepare for discussion. This will take 60-90 minutes, depending on the length of the story. They turn this work in.
♥️ THE SECOND CLASS OF THE WEEK: Each student is given the opportunity to evaluate the story for its entertainment value and literary value, defending their ratings by using literary terms. It is my hope that they start to understand who they are as readers and begin to understand what kind of literature they like and don't like and why. The most fun is our BATTLE OF THE GIFs. Students have to find a GIF that illustrates the story, and we vote on the most creative and hilarious! Students will then have a student-led and teacher-supported Socratic Seminar, working to answer the essential questions, formulating theme statements, discussing the author’s craft and worldview, and analyzing and evaluating the piece of literature.
♠️ HOMEWORK (WRITING COMPONENT): Students complete a writing assignment, which should take 30-60 minutes. The pieces vary from informative, argumentative, literary analysis, literature response, and even creative writing. When they submit their work, the teacher will give feedback on their writing in the areas of ideas, analytical thinking, support of a thesis, conventions, creativity, and writing style. 


🎥 To see teacher introduction videos, go to the Lemons-Aid profile page where you can view the video and also read bios. 
https://outschool.com/teachers/Karen-Lemons?usid=0BAnv5zn&signup=true&authTrigger=follow_teacher&follow=true&utm_campaign=share_leader_link


♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR SCHEDULE - A mix of poetry, short stories, dramas, and myths
*Students can take this course for three years as the literature differs yearly.
**Stories are subject to change.
♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

🍁 September: 
1st week: NO CLASS
2nd week: "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" by O. Henry
3rd week: "The Perils of Indifference" by Elie Wiesel
4th week: "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron
5th week: "The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus" by Ovid

🍭 October:
1st week: "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll AND an excerpt from 𝘜𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 by James Joyce
2nd week: "Conscience in Art" by O. Henry
3rd week: "A Dog's Tale" by Mark Twain
4th week: "Berenice" by Edgar Allan Poe

🦃 November: 
1st week: "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow AND "To His Excellency, General Washington" by Phillis Wheatley
2nd week: "The Five Orange Pips" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
3rd week: "The Sphinx" by Edgar Allan Poe
𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴𝓼𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

🎁 December: 
1st week: "The Magic Shop" by H.G. Wells
2nd week: "On Tragedy" by Aristotle
3rd week: "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato AND "A Child of Slavery Who Taught A Generation" by Karen Grigsby Bates
𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

☃️ January: 
1st week: "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
2nd week: Excerpt from "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare
3rd week: "Mammon and the Archer" by O. Henry AND The myth "Cupid and Psyche" by Apuleius
4th week: "What Stumped the Bluejays" by Mark Twain

💕 February: 
1st week: "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Rose" by William Shakespeare
2nd week: Excerpts from 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘵 by William Shakespeare
3rd week: "The Duplicity of Hargraves" by O. Henry
4th week: "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber

☔️ March: 
1st week: Selected poems by Emily Dickinson 
2nd week: "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe
3rd week: "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
4th week: "The Transformation of Arachne into a Spider" by Ovid
5th week: "The Model Millionaire" by Oscar Wilde

☀️  April:
1st week: Except from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺 by Homer
2nd week: "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare AND "Sonnet XVII" by Pablo Neruda
3rd week: "The Sleuths" by O. Henry
4th week: "Luck" by Mark Twain

🌷 May: 
1st week: Selected poems by William Blake
2nd week: "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3rd week: "Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson
4th week: "Orpheus and Eurydice" by Ovid


♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
2025-2026 SCHOOL YEAR SCHEDULE - All short stories
*Students can take this course for three years as the literature differs yearly.
**Stories are subject to change.
♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

🍁 September: 
"A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry
“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 Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving
𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴𝓼𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

🎁 December: 
“The Landlady” by Roald Dahl
“The Reluctant Dragon” by Kenneth Grahame
𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

☃️ 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 Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell

☔️ March: 
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
“A Dark Brown Dog” by Steven Crane
“Ruthless” by William de Mille
"Federigo's Falcon" by Giovanni Boccaccio

☀️  April:
“A Case of Identity” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin
"The Aged Mother" by Matsuo Basho
"The Antique Ring" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"An Angel in Disguise" by T.S. Arthur

🌷 May: 
"The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde
"Yesterday Was Beautiful" by Roald Dahl
"Springtime a la Carte" by O. Henry
"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe


♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
2026-2027 SCHOOL YEAR SCHEDULE - A mix of short stories, poetry, and myths
*Students can take this course for three years as the literature differs yearly.
**Stories are subject to change.
♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

🍁 September: 
“The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton
"The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling
"Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story" by Roald Dahl

🍭 October:
"The Guilty Party" by O. Henry
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury

🦃 November: 
"The Man in the Well" by Ira Sher & Excerpt from "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol 
"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Last Leaf" by O. Henry
"The Story of the Bad Little Boy" by Mark Twain
𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴𝓼𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

🎁 December: 
"The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴

☃️ January: 
"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Eleonora" AND "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Sweat" by Zora Neal Hurston
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

💕 February: 
"The Law of Life" by Jack London
"Echo and Narcissus" by Ovid, translated by Brookes More
"Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing
"The Storyteller" by Saki

☔️ March: 
"The Open Window" by Saki
"A Horseman in the Sky" by Ambrose Bierce
"The Ambitious Guest" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

☀️  April:
"A Dead Woman's Secret" AND "Was It a Dream?" by Guy de Maupassant
"Never Bet the Devil Your Head" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Fly" by Katherine Mansfield
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

🌷 May (class may end sometime this month): 
"The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde
"Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby" by Kathleen Norris
"The Last Dream of Old Oak" by Hans Christian Anderson
"Showdown" by Shirley Jackson