I hesitated about this for too long. At first I rejected her suggestion because I already owned some college level literature anthology texts that I figured I could use. Those collections usually have only the literature with little or no background context. I felt overwhelmed because I believe strongly in context and I was a bit frozen about the work needed to look up that data online or to use Cliff Notes. I was confused about how I would find context info on short stories. I also still had no idea how many short stories to read and which poems. I recall in college English we read just a little bit of the giant book's content. It is hard to custom create a curriculum if you don't have guidance or are not a subject matter expert. I am a reader but I am not a literature expert and I was not an English major in college.
The next thing that happened a few weeks ago was I had a chance to buy very good condition used cheap high school level literature texts that are used in local private schools at the library's fundraiser little used book shop. Forking out $1 each for a few seemed great. However the books are huge and surely they don't read it all, do they?
So I still felt confused and just bit the bullet and bought the grade nine and grade 10 literature texts my friend recommended, used for dirt cheap on Amazon through Marketplace sellers. The series is:
Prentice Hall PENGUIN EDITION Literature
teal cover is grade 9 general lit
purple cover is grade 10 general lit
Every reading selection has an introduction to introduce the reader to the context and background. There are questions in the sidebar to check reading comprhension (although they are really simple). There are questions at the end for discussion and to provoke thought.
The general lit books have fiction book excerpts, short stories, poetry, and plays. Grade 9 has the unabridged Romeo and Juliet, for example, and that play is about 120 pages long (of the 1200 or so pages of the text).
There are also links in the book to go to the publisher's website to access more learning materials and information.
I have been reading the grade 9 book. My one observation that makes this different from what homeschoolers I know do is it has more modern writings. Instead of focusing on the classics or old writing, these are more recent writings. There are writings of women and minorities not just "dead white men". Some show different ethnic experiences. One of the first stories in the book is set in the 1950s where a teen who is a giant is struggling with living with his condition. Perhaps some would criticize these selections and say in their homeschool they desire older stories and classics because they feel they are superior.
We are going to start using this series as a spine. We will supplement with other writings if I feel that is worthwhile.
Considering that I got clean page used copies of each of these texts for under $10 plus $3.99 shipping I'd say they are a low cost investment. New editions are listed at $48-$110.
I am unaware of a similar product textbook being published for the homeschool market for self-study or home use. All the homeschoolers I know either use online classes, community college classes, or make up their own curriculum based on reading whole classic books or older high quality literature, if they are not using a school in a box curriculum.