Using Living Books in High School
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When we started our homeschooling high school journey in 2003, I was determined not to leave the learning power of Living Books behind in the elementary and middle school years.
YOU can use Living Books in high school.
Our high school learners were greatly impacted by the Living Books they chose. In fact, several titles greatly influenced their career choices and life goals.
When we began our high school journey, the first content area in which we incorporated Living Books was history. This seemed a natural choice since we had been using Living Books--biographies, autobiographies, and historical fiction--to accent our history studies in the elementary and middle school years.
History
Aristotle. Complete Works of Aristotle, Vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1984.
De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America and Two Essays on America. Penguin Classics, 2003.
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 1790.
McCullough, David. John Adams. Simon &Schuster, 2002.
McCullough, David. The Wright Brothers. Simon &Schuster, 2015.
Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. Harper One, 2007.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. On the Social Contract. Dover Publications, 2003.
The next content area in which we chose to incorporate Living Books was science. It was also a natural fit, especially for learners who had interest in specialty areas or who wanted to dig deeper to learn more about scientists and inventors. As our young adults advanced through the high school years, we included adult and college level materials.
Science
Burton, Mary June. Louis Pasteur: Founder of Microbiology. Franklin Watts, 1963.
Carson, Ben, and Cecil Murphey. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Zondervan, 1996.
Douty, Esther. America’s First Woman Chemist: Ellen Richards. Julian Messner, 1961.
Einstein, Albert. The Meaning of Relativity: Four Lectures Delivered at Princeton University, May 1921 (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books, 2017.
Keller, Helen. The Story of My Life. 1903. Signet, 2010.
Williams, Beryl, and Samuel Epstein. Medicine from Microbes: The Story of Antibiotics. Julian Messner, 1965.
Reaching our creatives with written materials was challenging at times, unless the reading was related their artistic gifting or interest. Perhaps you find yourself in that quandary. The effort you put forth to help your high schoolers find books, matters. Make suggestions. Go to the bookstore together. Visit the library and browse the shelf. Find out who influences or has influenced the field. The effort speaks to your interest in what matters to your teen.
I did discover I had to let go of my rigid definition of what a Living Book was in order to be open to the plethora of possibilities I would have otherwise discounted.
The Arts
Astaire, Fred. Steps in Time: An Autobiography. Cooper Square Press, 2000.
Kistler, Mark. You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less. Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2011.
Tada, Joni Eareckson, Joni. Bantum Books. 1978.
Trapp, Maria. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers: The Story Which Inspired The Sound of Music. William Morrow Paperbacks, 2001.
What about an athlete who loves to read? How can Living Books be interwoven in a personal fitness or weight training course? And, what about an athlete who would rather play ball than read?
Sports
Dorman, H. A., and Karl Kuehl. The Mental Game of Baseball. Diamond Communications, 2002.
Hershiser, Orel, and Jerry B. Jenkins. Out of the Blue. Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers, 1989.
Kilmeade, Brian. The Games Do Count: America’s Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports. HarperCollins, 2004.
Living Books have the power to pull in even the most reluctant reader!
Living Books can give life to any subject, if we allow them the opportunity to do so. Recently, one daughter began to lean toward personal growth and leadership materials. I worked on ways to incorporate what she was reading into an elective: Personal Development and Career Exploration. I could have also titled the course Interpersonal Communication, based on the resources she chose. When I wrote More Than Credits, I included the books and activities into an elective framework. It is one of five electives featured in the book.
