Deck your schoolwork with boughs of holly and enjoy the Christmas season with Charles Dickens!

Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.

   How to get the most out of Christmas with Dickens with Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

• First, read the course materials below before watching the first class recording.

• Then have a notebook ready and available as you watch.

• Continue to read assignments before watching the recordings.

• Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that class.

• Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records

Special notes: Includes optional writing component.

Total class meetings: 6

Duration of each class: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: Willingness to read!

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested credit: ½ semester Literature, Victorian Literature, or British Literature (One full semester if you choose the optional paper project.)

Instructor: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

Course description: "Marley was dead, to begin with…” Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has such a deep cultural importance that most of us probably are familiar with its opening lines. To unpack this familiar and yet widely misunderstood work, we will proceed backward chronologically, exploring three of the most important Christmas stories ever written. As we become more intimately acquainted with the great writer and the period in which he lived, we will gain through him a deeper appreciation for the sacred mystery of Christmas. In addition to cultivating artistic appreciation and a love of reading, this course facilitates the development of critical reasoning, the disciplined use of the imagination, and a strong knowledge of historical and literary context.

Course outline:

Class 1: The Cricket on the Hearth (first half)
Class 2: The Cricket on the Hearth (second half)
Class 3: The Chimes (first half)
Class 4: The Chimes (second half)
Class 5: A Christmas Carol (first half)
Class 6: A Christmas Carol (second half)

Course materials: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth. Any edition is acceptable (e.g. ISBN-13:978-1593080334, https://amzn.to/3BD47uu), just make sure, if you select a Christmas Stories collection, that these three stories are included. These are also available for free online via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/.

Homework: Expect to spend 1-3 hours per class reading. Before each class, complete an identification quiz (12 questions, multiple choice, open book). At the end of the course, complete a concluding thoughts assignment. There is an optional paper project which requires Instructor Access. This paper project can increase the suggested credit for the course to a full semester. An answer key is not provided for this course.

Optional Literary Essay Deadlines (Requiring Instructor Access):

• Week 1: Commit to paper topic

• Week 2: Brainstorming document turned in

• Week 3: First Draft turned in

• Week 4: Second Draft turned in

• Week 5: Third Draft turned in

• Week 6: Final Draft turned in

Technical Help: If you have any technical trouble or questions about course content, please email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.

©2023 Homeschool Connections and Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. All rights reserved. This course is designed by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson.

• This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment (yes, the 7th commandment) and in violation of US and International copyright laws.

• You may print or download to local hard disk extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.