More formal literature study, 12-13 onwards
At somewhere around age 12 or 13, you might want to set out on a broad sweep of English Literature, starting with our great Anglo-Saxon heritage and moving on over the next few years through the ages to the twentieth century. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, most children at this age love the older stories such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain (especially if they are already familiar with them from their earlier reading). At this age you can really begin to look at (albeit in a very simple way) the historical and literary background of such stories, their style, their authorship - in a word, what it is that makes them just what they are, and makes them classics. Secondly, many students' knowledge of literature is confined to whatever texts are set for (I) GCSE - usually, a Shakespeare play, a modern play, some poetry and a novel from the 19th or 20th centuries. With my eldest son I found myself suddenly having to teach him from scratch about Shakespeare and 19th century Romanticism and Gothic literature (and how to analyse poetry) - all in the year before his English Lit exam. It was not the best approach!
By covering a broad sweep of literature starting at about age 12, by 15 you will already have studied a Shakespeare play, learned how to analyse poetry, read a range of novels, and be able to put the 19th century (be it Austen, Dickens, Stevenson or Poe) firmly in its historical context. This provides a connectedness and contextualisation which is often lacking in a school approach to literature study.
One other consideration is that in our English schools, literature seems to begin with Shakespeare: this misses out on a wealth of English and European literature in the Catholic tradition which we don't want our children to forego (The Dream of the Rood, The Song of Roland, and Dante's Divine Comedy spring to mind).
There is an excellent textbook which covers a broad sweep of English Literature, from a Catholic perspective, and give suggestions for further reading. It is, ironically, an American publication but is available for a very reasonable price second hand. The title is 'Prose and Poetry of England' by J.Maline and J. Divine, published by Singer in 1955 as part of the St. Thomas More Series.' Don't mistake it for another volume of the same title published at around the same time which is quite anti-Catholic in tone! It is also available from Seton Homeschool, here. The book comes with exercises for word study and appreciation (for which Seton sell an answer key), though these are pitched at High School students not 13 year olds. I've written simpler ones for the earlier chapters which are available on the relevant age level page (including scene by scene study questions for Macbeth aimed at pre-GCSE level, as an introduction to Shakespeare).
At somewhere around age 12 or 13, you might want to set out on a broad sweep of English Literature, starting with our great Anglo-Saxon heritage and moving on over the next few years through the ages to the twentieth century. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, most children at this age love the older stories such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain (especially if they are already familiar with them from their earlier reading). At this age you can really begin to look at (albeit in a very simple way) the historical and literary background of such stories, their style, their authorship - in a word, what it is that makes them just what they are, and makes them classics. Secondly, many students' knowledge of literature is confined to whatever texts are set for (I) GCSE - usually, a Shakespeare play, a modern play, some poetry and a novel from the 19th or 20th centuries. With my eldest son I found myself suddenly having to teach him from scratch about Shakespeare and 19th century Romanticism and Gothic literature (and how to analyse poetry) - all in the year before his English Lit exam. It was not the best approach!
By covering a broad sweep of literature starting at about age 12, by 15 you will already have studied a Shakespeare play, learned how to analyse poetry, read a range of novels, and be able to put the 19th century (be it Austen, Dickens, Stevenson or Poe) firmly in its historical context. This provides a connectedness and contextualisation which is often lacking in a school approach to literature study.
One other consideration is that in our English schools, literature seems to begin with Shakespeare: this misses out on a wealth of English and European literature in the Catholic tradition which we don't want our children to forego (The Dream of the Rood, The Song of Roland, and Dante's Divine Comedy spring to mind).
There is an excellent textbook which covers a broad sweep of English Literature, from a Catholic perspective, and give suggestions for further reading. It is, ironically, an American publication but is available for a very reasonable price second hand. The title is 'Prose and Poetry of England' by J.Maline and J. Divine, published by Singer in 1955 as part of the St. Thomas More Series.' Don't mistake it for another volume of the same title published at around the same time which is quite anti-Catholic in tone! It is also available from Seton Homeschool, here. The book comes with exercises for word study and appreciation (for which Seton sell an answer key), though these are pitched at High School students not 13 year olds. I've written simpler ones for the earlier chapters which are available on the relevant age level page (including scene by scene study questions for Macbeth aimed at pre-GCSE level, as an introduction to Shakespeare).