Teaching Character Analysis to Your Homeschool Teen Through Classic Books
Great characters help us fall in love with stories, but what exactly makes a character memorable or impactful?
And what about villains? How do authors create characters we love to hate?
Characters and their development can provide an excellent gateway to help teens connect with literature and learn about classic works. Through character analysis, teens can learn about storytelling, writing, and how to engage with great literature.
In this post, families will learn how to study and discuss classic literature in their homeschool without the intimidation that can come with tackling famous works.
Yes! You Can Teach Classic Literature at Home
If you asked 10 people to name a classic story, they may each name something different.
The world of classic literature is broad, and can feel overwhelming to navigate. Homeschool parents often report feeling unequipped to teach “the classics” to their homeschoolers.
Common hurdles include where to begin, which works to choose, and how to lead teens through thoughtful literary analysis. Add to that the language and syntax change over time, and it’s no wonder that so many families don’t know how to get started.
Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis offers families a structured method for tackling the classics together. During the course of a year, this unique curriculum guides homeschool families through analyzing nine classic works—books, short stories, and even a play.
This complete literature curriculum is built around understanding character, and is part of Sharon Watson’s Illuminating Literature series. (Learn more about the Illuminating Literature series here.)
The Classics: Why Add Them to Your Homeschool?
There can be a lot of pressure to add classic literature to your homeschool during the high school years. This strikes fear in the hearts of many homeschool parents, however.
It can be hard to engage teens in classic works. The language and syntax can make older books challenging to follow, and classics often build more slowly than modern books, making them feel like heavier mental work.
So why bother? There are a lot of reasons:
Explore Big Ideas
Adding classic literature study to your homeschool is a bit like getting a guided museum tour with a docent. Just like how a docent can share history, lore, context, and themes, structured literary study allows a deep-dive into books with ideas worth pondering, plots worth dissecting, and of course, fascinating characters.
Influence on Art and Life
Modern literature is built on classics. For instance, Jurassic Park (the books, the movies, the theme park ride, etc.) probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World.
Reading classics not only helps teens understand current work with more perspective; it also increases everyday understanding. Take the idiom, “an albatross around their neck.” Referencing a bird around someone’s neck as a mark of sin makes little sense without reading the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Old, Not Sacred
Finally, classic works are considered classics for a reason. They’ve stood the test of time.
But they are not perfect or infallible.
Using the Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis curriculum gives families an opportunity to study famous works through a Christian Worldview. Students are invited to question, evaluate, and disagree with an author’s viewpoints. Discussion-based teaching invites conversation around important topics.
What Is Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis?
Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis is a complete high school literature course that guides families through studying nine classic works, read over one year.
Works studied include:
- “A Jury of Her Peers” (Susan Glaspell)
- Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
- Silas Marner (George Eliot)
- Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)
- An assortment of short works (Jewett, Borges, Lardner, Stockton, Du Bois, Dylan Thomas)
- Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)
- A biography or autobiography of the student’s choice
- The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)
Part of Sharon Watson’s Illuminating Literature series, this curriculum focuses on character study.
Students will learn character labels like protagonist and antagonist but also anti-hero, foil, mentor, etc., and how these types of characters impact the hero. For instance, who would Sherlock Holmes be without his foil, Dr. Watson?
They’ll learn about character development and how to talk about how a character changes over time.
They’ll also learn about the six types of conflict, and why readers find themselves rooting for certain characters.
Finally, drawing on advice from real novelists, Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis teaches students about how authors help readers feel, helping teens to better understand how authors create empathetic characters.
How Characters in Crisis Works
Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis uses a four-week rhythm. By following the structured pacing, students will read each work and complete after-reading analysis and activities. Suggested schedules for lessons and reading are included for a successful experience.
This curriculum can also be paired with The Novel Notebook, a free companion workbook with dedicated pages for students to record answers, complete worksheets, and record observations for each work. (A link to the free Novel Notebook guide is available inside Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis.)
Families may choose to add the accompanying Teacher’s Guide and Quiz and Answer Manual. (Additional resources can be found here.)
Choice-based activities like research papers, art projects, and rewriting a scene from another character’s viewpoint make Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis a good fit for both reluctant and enthusiastic learners.
Plus online quizzes, surveys, and activities keep learning about the class fun and interactive.
Character Study, One Step at a Time
Teaching the classics can feel like a heavy responsibility. But Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis provides step-by-step guidance to help teens build analytical skills.
Through Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis, teens will learn that “the classics,” aren’t something to fear, setting them up for a lifetime of reading and enjoying good books.
Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis is now available exclusively through Berean Builders, in paperback and digital formats. It can also be bundled with the Teacher Guide and Quiz and Answer Manual. Learn more here.
