Welcome
Hello, home-schooling parents and teachers. If you’ve accessed this site, you’re probably wanting information about the doc.steele English/Language Arts curriculum. The doc.steele site offers a comprehensive ELA curriculum for students in grades 6-12. The cost of the curriculum is only $5.00 annually for an entire household (access limited to a single email). So the curriculum is virtually free.
You will incur some limited expense purchasing the necessary textbook(s). The curriculum features companion activities and testing materials for stories from the 2005 edition of the Prentice-Hall Literature textbook(s). For example, using the Google search engine, I bought all the 2005 texts I needed (grades 6-12) for only $34.00. Other editions (e.g. 2003, 2007, etc.) can also be used since most of the stories remain in the texts for many years. However, the pagination does change, so all stories and other materials are always reference by story title and author’s name. Thus if you ‘dog-ear’ the “Title/Author” index in the back of the text, you can readily find the proper pages.
doc.Steele offers a full range of ELA activities and assignments, including a strong emphasis on reading, vocabulary acquisition, and writing assignments, to include reader-responses, narratives, various types of essays, and researched-writing assignments. In addition to the Prentice Hall stories, each grade-level also features a YA novel, including testing materials to insure completion and comprehension. And for 7th-12th, each grade level also features a classic full-text novel including very extensive testing/retesting materials to foster understanding and vocabulary acquisition. The following are novels featured at each grade level: 7th – Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, 8th – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 9th – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 10th – David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, 11th – Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, and 12th – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Students will encounter and test on the same words over and over in these language-rich classics, thus greatly improving their vocabulary. Parents need to know that the verbal half of the SAT test is nothing more than a huge, extremely challenging vocabulary test. Your child’s strongly ingrained mastery of that extensive vocabulary will save you many thousands of dollars in college tuition. Bear in mind that 95% of what drives scholarships is the SAT score.
I have a Master’s Degree (4.0), and I also have a Doctorate in Educational leadership through the University of Texas System. I’ve taught in numerous public schools, private schools, and universities over the past 40 years. Additionally, I’m a veteran with ten years of active duty. On a more personal note, I am a devoted Christian with 26 home-schooled grandchildren. I also have very conservative political views. However, my views and beliefs will never be thrust upon you or your children as this is not within my purview.
Sincerely,
Richard Steele, MA, Ed.D
+1 (512) 481-2258