One thing I’ve failed to mention in my earlier posts is that each book in the Art of Composition series includes notes to the teacher, letting you know what your students will be covering and indicating which lessons you might want to link to other school reading. The lessons are addressed to the student writers, but parent/teacher interaction is encouraged. You don’t have to be a skilled writer–just talking with your student about the discussion questions will grow their relationship with writing as a craft. Book 4 in the series is very specifically for high school seniors–whether you’ve done Books 1-3, just Books 1 and 2, or no earlier volumes at all!
Book 4 isn’t available as I’m writing this, but it will be out very soon. I said that if your students finish Books 1 and 2, they will be prepared for college writing, and Book 3 includes advanced material about writing and editing that will give a student confidence in his or her own writing process. What’s left for Book 4?
One of the modules in Book 4 is a review module that covers, in a condensed form, all of the basic instruction about composition from the earlier volumes. If your student has completed those books, it’s a simple review (you can even skip that module if your student is writing well and having a busy senior year). If your student hasn’t done the earlier volumes, it’s a crash course on composition that will prepare a high school senior( who is fluent in narration) for college or other future writing.
One of the things that makes Book 4 a book for seniors is the inclusion of a guided long-form writing project. The module is flexible and allows your student to decide on the topic and the form of the project. Your students will be guided through planning and finishing the project themselves. I’m hoping to see some great projects in the future from Charlotte-Mason-narrators.
And there’s one more module that I think is appropriate for high school seniors in particular. Earlier books gave students practice with different styles of writing, but one style–persuasive writing–has been left until Book 4. The art of persuasion is closely associated with the classical art of rhetoric. It includes a discussion of values and morality because being persuasive is not the same thing as being right. The persuasive writing module is a mini-course on rhetoric that will introduce your students to the elements of being persuasive as well as encourage them to give some thought to using the power of words wisely and well.
As always, Book 4 is flexible, and the three modules can be done in whichever order works best for your student.