Movies as Literature by Kathyrn Stout - A Review

I received this program in the mail last week and I've liked it so much I've wanted to do a review.

In a nutshell, I considered using this curriculum last year, but in the end was afraid it would be too much like Ms. Stout's other guides. I've found her guides helpful but too bare bones for me. I need more hand-holding.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that this program is a full curriculum, containing both a teacher's manual and a student workbook.

At the front of the manual we find guidance on what to do before, during and after watching the movie. The teacher's manual has all discussion and composition questions with answers provided. In addition, it provides guidance on how to make Movies As Literature an honors course. An exciting bonus is that each unit has activities for extended study. These assignments may range from reading a book or comparing and contrasting another movie, to watching for propaganda in commercials or reading a Shakespeare play.

This course can be used with younger middle school children, but it's recommended that only the first six movies and their units be used. (In looking through the unit pages I believe that this is because the units become progressively more difficult as the children are trained in discernment. They must have strong thinking skills, such as those that come with developmental maturity.) There are reproducible pages of the student workbook in the teacher's manual, but it's probably less expensive to purchase the student workbook. That said, I could have easily used the teacher's manual as the textbook and had my son write his answers on notebook paper or in typed format.

Both the student workbook and the teacher's manual contain a glossary of all literary terms for easy access. Many of the movie units list the book from which they were derived. In some instances, reading the book is assigned...but with honors credit if I remember correctly. There are usually two or three composition assignments to choose from in each unit. This makes it much easier to assign an appropriate composition assignment based on our children's strengths and weaknesses.

The movies included in the course are:

Shane
Friendly Persuasion
The Quiet Man
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Music Man
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
The Maltese Falcon
Rear Window
Emma
The Philadelphia Story
The Journey of August King
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Raisin the the Sun
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Henry V
A Man for All Seasons
Chariots of Fire

I'm very excited about this curriculum and I feel that it will be an awesome addition to our program next year.

Movies as Literature can be purchased from Design-A-Study. Invidivual movie units are available for $5.00 with that amount being credited back to you should you decide to purchase the full curriculum. I found it a bit less expensive at Christian Book Distributors.