Dunwoody Home School English Classes
2008-2009 School Year
Teacher: Sondra Sparks 770-804-0081 Email: tsparks1@bellsouth.net
Teacher address: 5510 North Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338
Students will learn to write various different genres, and topics will coordinate with the literature being read.
Students will gain experience in paragraph writing, journal writing, short stories, poetry, different types of essay
writing, and report and research writing. Students will either be working on a lengthy paper or have a short
writing assignment each week. Some writing will be done in class so that I can assess writing skills. Learning to
write involves one-on-one mentoring from an adult. Therefore, parents are encouraged to help students with
writing. However, be sure you are only giving advice or showing examples of what to do. I usually encourage
parents to be available to listen to the students’ ideas for writing and then be the final editor of the paper.
Students will also have experience in note taking and outlining. Mini-grammar lessons will be taught as the
students’ writing assignments necessitate them to be taught. Sixth grade will include a short weekly grammar
lesson (materials provided by the teacher). Research papers will be assigned at least every other school year
for 7-8th grades and high school. Vocabulary workbooks by Sadlier-Oxford are provided for the high school
students. Middle School students will receive weekly vocabulary words.
All books need to be purchased by the student/parent and should be unabridged editions.
Tuition: $225 per semester (monthly payments may be made)
Registration fee: $75 ($25 registration fee plus $50 deposit on first semester’s tuition in order to hold space.)
This fee is non-refundable unless class is cancelled.
Tentative Book List:
6-7th Grade
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Robinson
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
7-8th Grade
Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Paul Curtis
The Yearling by Rawlings
Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Carry a Big Stick by Grant (biography of Theodore Roosevelt)
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
White Fang by Jack London
High School-British Literature
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Frankenstein by Shelley
British Poetry unit as time allows (Keats, Wordsworth, Blake, Shelley, Tennyson)
An Austen book or Dickens book will be required summer reading