In the Ron Paul Curriculum, a homeschooling course, I take an English class, which I have recently finished the first semester of. Technically, the semester ends next week, but according to the teacher, he has such large assignments ready for next semester, so this is the end for this half of the course instead.
The first 20 lessons covered the basic writing process of brainstorming and creating a mind map, then organizing it and adding the required structure to make an outline, and finally the proofreading to finalize it into a paper. During this time I read Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” as my reading assignment.
21-35 covered rules on how to make a quality paper with regards to symbols, fonts, noun-verb agreement, and other basic rules used to make a high quality essay, as well as having me write many short essays to practice these skills. I read both “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens and “Out on the Pampas” by G.A. Henty.
36-40 had me write 1-2 page essays within a time limit, with the shortest time limit being 30 minutes. This helped speed up my writing and rid me of my problems with dillydallying and not paying attention to my writing. this week’s reading assignment was Baroness Orczy’s “The Scarlett Pimpernel”
The next two weeks, lessons 41-50, was spent learning about book reports. These are summaries and essays that analyze a part of a story, like the setting, or the characters, or the plot, or really any part of the book. I read “With Clive in India” by G.A. Henty during the section.
51-60 was very similar, though more extensive, on book reviews. Book reviews focus much more on my own opinions on the book, as well as the more objective material from a book report. I read the first half of “Uncle Toms Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
61-80 was all devoted to research papers, with the first two week consisting mostly of the teacher walking me through the process of researching and writing the paper, though all the sources were provided by him. He also taught how to properly cite sources and organize a bibliography. The latter two weeks I was on my own, however, and had to research and write using only the advice from previous lessons, with minimal help from the teacher. I also read “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.
School Essays 