For Teens

What is Lit Group, who are we, what do we do?

We're all homeschoolers, all teens except for a parent. We read books and meet weekly to discuss them. We also get together (or just stay later) for book-related special events about once a month. We might go to (or perform) a book's onstage adaptation, or attend a lecture by its author, or visit a museum or cook some food related to it. Or just watch the movie version.

Our goals include reading literature, discussing it, learning to discuss it, enjoying it, getting smarter, and having fun.

We read classic literature

Which is what, by the way? Here's one definition:

A classic is something that everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
- Mark Twain, The Disappearance of Literature

Some people might define classic literature like this:

Boring stuff that's impossible to understand and I hate!
- Anonymous

or worse. Serious definitions also exist, of course.

You may already have your own definition of classic literature: "Hard to read." It's true: the language of these books is different from everyday language, and it takes some work to get used to it. Once you do, you can enjoy the stories, the intriguing ideas, the parts that can make you cry, or groan, or gnash your teeth in anger or despair, or laugh out loud, or even exult.

How to get used to the language? Read the books and discuss 'em with us. That's what we do.

We also read teen literature

"Teenagers urgently need books that speak with relevance and immediacy to their real lives and to their unique emotional, intellectual, and developmental needs and that provide a place of commonality of experience and mutual understanding, for in so doing, they bring the outsiders out of the darkness and into the light of community."

- Michael Cart, author of From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature. Quote from Literature for Young Adults, 8th edition, by Nilsen and Donelson.

"Urgently needed?" Maybe not. But, some teen literature, like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank, really should be read. So should other, more current teen reads. Generally easier and shorter than the classics, teen reads can be a break from the heavy reads like Dickens, the Bronte sisters, or Dostoevsky.

We also read "Modern Classics," and other things

Besides classics and teen literature, we read modern authors like Steinbeck and Hemingway (whose works are sometimes called "Modern Classics"), popular fiction, and recent works.

From time to time we read poetry, essays, articles, and other non-book things.

We try for a balance that suits us: a mixture of heavy and light, new and old, work and fun.

Speaking of fun...

Lit Group has a second purpose - to be a safe, encouraging place to hang out with other teen homeschoolers, talk, enjoy, goof off, and just be yourselves and have fun. Our book discussions last only an hour; the last hour of Lit Group is for socialization. Shy? That first hour of Lit Group is a great icebreaker. After an hour of talking with, questioning, and interacting with each other, it's easier to keep on interacting. It's a good way to get to know people, and to have fun.