Wrestling with good and evil is an important topic for homeschool high school literature. Here’s why:
Homeschool High School Literature: Wrestling with Good and Evil
I love light literature, but if I only included easy topics in my homeschool high schoolers’ reading list, I’d be doing them a disservice. Homeschool high schoolers learn to think for themselves when they read, work through, and discuss books that have characters who are wrestling with good and evil character traits.
My youngest son had the opportunity to read several books that lent themselves to the discussion of wrestling with good and evil in his homeschool high school literature group class. They class read the books and used 7Sisters Literature guides to help sculpt the class conversation.
Here are the books and literature guides that the class included in the homeschool high school literature class for wrestling with good and evil:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is an important read. Homeschool high schoolers watch the outcomes of evil choices. The user-friendly study guide helps with difficult concepts and ideas.
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells is a classic book that wrestles with the questions about what makes a person good or evil and ways people should relate to each other. The don’t-waste-time format of the study guide truly helps the book make sense.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This book discusses personal responsibility and the duality of good and evil. The study guide is designed to truly make teens think about their choices and consequences.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is popular with the teens and does a great job of showing good and evil in a culture and society. The study guide, like all 7Sisters study guides, is no busywork and inspirational (and this particular guide fills in the gaps for abridged version of the novel).
One of the most powerful books for homeschool high school literature for wrestling with good and evil is That Hideous Strength, the third book in C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. We spent and entire year on C.S. Lewis studies (a good choice for senior year). This book is challenging truly got the teens thinking and talking about what makes a person choose right or wrong. The study guide aided the students with rigorous ideas.
All 7Sisters Homeschool Literature Study Guides include tools for leveling up (from average to rigorous honors level), background information, vocabulary, comprehension and inferential questions in a no-busywork, inspirational format.
Your homeschool high schoolers will find their literature experience enriched by the opportunity to wrestle with the concepts of good and evil. Download a study guide today!
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Love this list! I remember reading Les Miserables in high school and it remains one of my favorites classics! So many great themes and lessons. I agree that it is a great example of good/bad.
I just finished Les Mis with this year’s local group of World Lit students and we had the best discussions about Javert and whether he only crossed into evil because he was SO determined to find a way to maintain “good” — the Law above all else. They really got into the ideas…one of the moments I love about reading great books with teens!
Those discussions are honestly the best! I was actually homeschooled in high school and I remember spending time in literature groups discussing books like this. Readers can dig so much more out of the stories when they get into themes and morals and such! It’s awesome.
It’s wonderful to chat with a homeschool graduate! Thanks for giving back to the homeschool community!
I loved being homeschooled! It was a fantastic opportunity. 🙂