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AmblesideOnline Year 11 Lite Booklist

Based on AO's Year 11

As students mature, their reading material will present more challenging content, and may include strong language and more mature themes. We have placed footnotes linked in red beside those books that most parents will consider an issue. However, we cannot anticipate which content might be an issue for every family. We encourage parents to pre-screen material to determine its appropriateness for their child and family.

Note: These booklists and curriculum suggestions are incomplete without a thorough understanding of Charlotte Mason's ideas and methods. We cannot emphasize enough that you take time to familiarize yourself with her philosophy by reading her books.

If you're planning to use AmblesideOnline, your first stop should be the the FAQ for some information about the curriculum and basic instructions. Our FAQ answers all the questions that people routinely ask: AO's history scope and sequence, how to schedule your school days, how to do narration, and more.

Key: (What do all those symbols mean?)

Book titles are linked to Project Gutenberg (which offers free etexts in a variety of formats) or other online text when no Project Gutenberg text is available.

Asterisks refer to which term the book is used: * Term 1 ** Term 2 *** Term 3

β - manybooks.net, another free ebook site.
α - free etext at archive.org; newer books can be borrowed for one hour at a time.
(ChrBk) - purchase from Christianbook.com using AO's affiliate link.
K - free Kindle text from amazon.com.
(£amzn) - Living Books Press purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
($amzn) - book purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
(K) - Kindle purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
(£) - Purchase directly from Living Books Press with an affiliate link; save 10% with discount code: AOBooks
Λ - free audiobook at Lit2Go
Ω - free audiobook at Librivox ^[2]
∩ - other free audiobook source
^[0] - Click the bracketed numeral to view any notes about the book near the bottom of the page.
^[0] - red footnotes indicate a heads-up for parents about the title. We cannot foresee every incident that might potentially be an issue to every family, but we have red-flagged those that are commonly a concern.

AO is an affiliate of Living Book Press, which means that when you purchase from our (£) links, we receive a commission which allows us to keep offering AO for free.

AO is an affiliate of Christianbook.com, which means that when you purchase from our (ChrBk) links, we receive a commission that helps with our costs.

AmblesideOnline is part of Amazon.com's Affiliate program. If you use the Amazon links, we receive a small commission which enables us to cover the costs of keeping the website and curriculum. Amazon links are identified like this: ($amzn) or (£amzn) or (K).

AmblesideOnline Year 11 Lite Curriculum

As a help for scheduling Year 11 Lite of AmblesideOnline's curriculum, we are pleased to offer printable charts, the weekly assignments in list form below, or families may choose to use a modification of either for their own personal use. However, please see Our Fair Use Policy before sharing any part of the curriculum.

Choose a format:     PDF     DOC     ODT

You can download and edit .doc and .odt files before printing. Printable schedules include details for all three terms.

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Weekly Readings

The following weekly readings should be broken up into daily readings in whatever way works best for your family.

Bible

Isaiah 1-66, Amos 1-9, Micah 1-5, Hosea 1-14, Nahum 1-3, Zephaniah 1-3, Jeremiah 1-52, Habakkuk 1-3
2 Corinthians 1-13, Romans 1-16, Colossians 1-4, Philemon, Ephesians 1-6, Philippians 1-4, 1 Timothy 1-6, 1 Peter 1-5, Titus, Hebrews 1-13, 2 Timothy 1-4, 2 Peter 1-3, Jude, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John
Psalms 56-105, Proverbs 1-16

Bible Gateway has many versions of the Bible online. ^[3]

Spiritual Formation

Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him by Jackie Hill Perry (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[4a]
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer (about the attributes of God) α α α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[4b]
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas, first half α ($amzn) (K)
or Mrs. Oswald Chambers by Michelle Ule (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[4c]

History

Keep a century chart and Century Book of the period studied. ^[6]

A History of the Twentieth Century: The Concise Edition of the Acclaimed World History by Martin Gilbert ($amzn) (K)
OR A History of the American People by Paul Johnson ($amzn) (K) ^[5a]
OR Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred M. McClay is an option for American history. ($amzn) (K) The paperback version may not be sturdy -- we saw one that had pages falling out after a few days. This is a lighter option. ^[5b]
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain ($amzn) (K)
The Men Behind Hitler by Bernhard Schreiber

The Trial at Nuremberg (one short essay; the original link is gone, and the new site hosting the article includes graphic war images, so we've used an archive.org link until we find a replacement.)

Biography

Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank ($amzn) ^[7]
OR The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (ChrBk) (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[8]

History Supplements and Speeches

(Four per term are scheduled; others are optional but inserted in the 36-week schedule where they fit chronologically.)

* Woodrow Wilson, entering World War I, April 2, 1917 "War Message"
* Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball speech July 4, 1939 (also see biography on the site)
* Winston Churchill "Blood, sweat and tears" May 13, 1940
* Winston Churchill "Their finest hour" June 18, 1940
** Franklin Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor address Dec 8, 1941 "a day that will live in infamy"
** Eisenhower--D-Day invasion order June 5, 1944 "The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."
** Franklin Roosevelt D-Day Prayer June 6, 1944
** Douglas MacArthur's farewell to Congress April 19, 1951 "Old soldiers never die"
*** John F. Kennedy's Inauguration January 20, 1961 "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
*** John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" June 26, 1963
*** I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. Aug 28, 1963 (ChrBk) OR "I've been to the mountaintop" March 3, 1968
*** Ronald Reagan--Brandenberg Gate June 12, 1987 "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
*** What Happened on 9/11 September 11, 2001

Literature

Invitation to the Classics by Louise Cowan and Os Guinness ($amzn) ^[16]
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
The Chosen by Chaim Potok ($amzn) (K)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)

Follow AO's Shakespeare Rotation.

Short Stories

* The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (1909); also here Ω
* The Open Window by Saki (Hector. H. Munro; 1914) Ω
* Barn Burning by William Faulkner (1939)
** The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber (1939) (possibly here)
** Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell (1936)
** The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (1948) (also here)
** The Outstation by Somerset Maugham (1950) (also here, a third of the way down)
*** A & P by John Updike (1961)
*** Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1961)
*** Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor (1965) or here
*** Thank You, Ma'am by Langston Hughes (1958) or here; pdf
If you prefer some upbeat stories, there are some "feel good" short by classic authors listed here.

Essays

* In Defense of the Essay by Christopher Orlet
* The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by John Erskine, 1915
* The Superstition of School by G. K. Chesterton, 1923, from The Common Man
* Master of Many Trades by Robert Twigger, 2013
* The Second Time I Learned to Read by Stephen L. Carter
** Introduction to Athanasius' Incarnation (or, The Reading of Old Books) by C. S. Lewis, 1944 or here
** The Inner Ring by C. S. Lewis, 1944
** Politics and the English Language by George Orwell, 1946
*** Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation by Ronald Reagan, 1983
*** Can Beauty Help us to Become Better People? by John Armstrong, 2014
*** You're Regretting Wrong by Judith Shulevitz, 2014
*** Too Much Information: What Good is Information? by Dougald Hine, 2014

Or, if you prefer a book:
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman ($amzn) (K) ^[18]

Poetry

Edna St. Vincent Millay
A short anthology of Modern Poetry ^[20]

Copywork

Include selections from Shakespeare, the Bible, poetry and other sources. These selections may be the same ones used for recitation. Consider beginning a personal quote book.

Dictation

Do dictation regularly.

Grammar and Composition

On Writing Well - The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)

Recitation

Matthew 6
2 Timothy 3
Psalms 27; 33
Hebrews 9
John 1:1-14
Psalms 91; 136
Acts 2:14-47
Ephesians 6
Psalms 122, 123 (these are short)
Psalms 119:9-30

Shakespeare passages
a poem per term from the term's poetry selections

Foreign Language

Begin Latin if you've not started already, or continue with any previous foreign language studies.

Geography

The World: Travels 1950-2000 by Jan Morris, formerly James ($amzn) (K) ^[9]

Citizenship

Ourselves by Charlotte Mason (£) (£amzn) ^[14]

Follow AO's rotation of Plutarch's Lives.

Post-Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene Edward Veith (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
or Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning by Nancy Pearcey (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[11]
The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as the Basis for Public Policy by Thomas Sowell α α ($amzn) (K) ∫
The following two essays from Graves of Academe by Richard Mitchell ($amzn) ∫
1. The Seven Deadly Principles
2. Problem Solving in the Content-Area
Are Screens As Addictive As Drugs? 53-minute documentary on YouTube ^[12]

Government and Economics

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt α ($amzn) (K)
or Basic Economics, first half, by Thomas Sowell α α α ($amzn) (K) ^[13]

A basic government book ^[10]

Current Events

Keep up with daily news (resource options here) and keep a calendar of events

Science

The Handbook of Nature Study α by Anna Botsford Comstock (as a reference) (ChrBk) ($amzn)

Apologia science text ($earch) OR BJU Press Science

Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman ($amzn) (K) Online at CalTech
Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif α ($amzn) (K) ^[21]

Nature Study

Our National Parks by John Muir (ChrBk) ($amzn)
OR The Life of the Caterpillar by J. Henri Fabre (Fabre texts with photos) ($amzn)

Follow AO's Nature Study Rotation of subjects.

Mathematics

Continue your math program; for some options, see this page.

Logic

Art

Follow AO's Artist rotation; Picture Study helps on YouTube.

Music

Follow AO's Composer Study rotation.

Follow AO's Hymn Rotation.

Follow AO's Folksong Rotation.

These Folk Songs fit historically with Year 11:
* Over There
* It's a long way to Tipperary
* There's a Little Blue Star in the Window
** White Cliffs of Dover
** When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World
** I'll Be Seeing You
*** Where Have All the Flowers Gone
*** We Shall Overcome
*** Okie from Muskogee

Health and Physical Education

Study nutrition
Keep fit: Learn and play a game (kick ball, tennis, croquet, ping-pong, softball, etc.) or folk-dance, or pursue other physical activity of your choice. One option is Swedish Drill Revisited by Dawn Duran purchase

Life and Work Skills

Work on useful skills such as budgeting, gardening, cooking, car maintenance, carpentry, etc.

Free Reading

Try to use books that were not included from Year 11 in addition to the Year 11 Free reading List

Footnotes

2. Note on Audiobooks: While links to audio books are added as a courtesy, Miss Mason's approach to grammar and composition is heavily dependent upon the children receiving an immense amount of visual exposure to the written word over many years, so parents should exercise extreme caution in how many audiobooks they use each year. Our brains just work differently when we see the words.

For children who have difficulty reading, one solution is to have them follow the audio version along in a written text.
Librivox free audio is done by volunteers, and some are better than others. Heidi Nash has a list of some favorite Librivox readers. Be aware that apps, including Librivox, that have clickable ads can open a browser and allow children unfiltered access to the internet, even when browsers have been disabled by the parent. There are options: either download mp3 files from Librivox and listen without the app, or only install the app on a parent-controlled device. Librivox has a pay option to turn off ads.

Cindy Rollins did a Circe Mason Jar podcast that included the role of audiobooks with difficult books. There's an archived copy here.
(Back)

3. AO's Bible plan goes through the Bible semi-chronologically over 6 years in Years 7-12. This year's Bible readings would be as follows:
Isaiah 1-66, Amos 1-9, Micah 1-5, Hosea 1-14, Nahum 1-3, Zephaniah 1-3, Jeremiah 1-52, Habakkuk 1-3
2 Corinthians 1-13, Romans 1-16, Colossians 1-4, Ephesians 1-6, Philippians 1-4, 1 Timothy 1-6, 1 Peter 1-5, Titus, Hebrews 1-13, 2 Timothy 1-4, 2 Peter 1-3, Jude, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John
Psalms 56-105 , Proverbs 1-16
If you were using the old Bible schedule that was posted before 2023, you can find that here. (Back)

4a. Jackie Hill Perry came out of a LGBTQ lifestyle and is now married with four children. In this book, which is about God's Holiness, she quotes from Tozer's Knowledge of Holy a few times. She also wrote the book Gay Girl, Good God, about her experience in the gay culture and her conversion to Christianity. That book may be useful for teens, but be aware that she speaks candidly, though not graphically, about her own childhood abuse and attraction to females. (Back)

4b. Knowledge of the Holy is sometimes subtitled The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. (Back)

4c. Bonhoeffer: Eric Metaxas has spoken of God at work during his writing of this book, and how the witness of Bonhoeffer's life has more significance for our time than perhaps even for his own time. Only the first half of this book is scheduled this year, as the second half is scheduled in Year 12.
Eric Metaxas wrote an abridged version of his Bonhoeffer book, which is excellent, though not as detailed. (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
The Plot to Kill Hitler - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero by Patricia McCormick is much shorter and for younger readers, but covers some of the same material (condensed, of course) and the author seems to have used the Metaxas book as one of her sources. Either of the Metaxas books is the preferred option, but the McCormick book is better than skipping Bonhoeffer altogether. (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
Mrs. Oswald Chambers is the story of the writing of the beloved classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. (Back)

5a. A History of the American People by Paul Johnson:
     Term 1 1900-1940 pg 621-725 (104 pgs)
     Term 2 1940-1960 pg 725-841 (116 pgs)
     Term 3 1960-2000 pg 845-976 (131 pgs)
A weekly schedule for Paul Johnson's History of the American People. (Back)

5b. Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred M. McClay, published in 2019, is a new option. ($amzn) (K) Year 11 corresponds with ch 14-Epilogue. There's a schedule that fits it into Years 8-11. (Back)

6. Timeline: At this age, students should be keeping a Century Chart and Book of Centuries. Students at this level in the PNEU schools made summaries of dates and events, referred to maps as they read their history, and made century charts. Instructions for making your own timelines and charts are included in these Parents' Review articles: Book of the Centuries; Teaching Chronology; The Correlation of Lessons. For more details about the why, when, how of keeping CM timelines (and other notebooks), we recommend Laurie Bestvater's book, The Living Page ($amzn). Two Book of Centuries options: (£) (£) (Back)

7. Diary of a Young Girl: We recommend locating an edition published before 1989, as later editions include content that was left out of earlier editions and will need parental screening. If you use a later edition -- The Critical Edition (1989), or The Definitive Edition (1991), or The Revised Critical Edition (2003) -- please pre-read for content. (The mass paperback linked from the AO website ($amzn) translated by B. M Mooryart-Doubleday "with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt" should be fine; it's a reprint an earlier edition.)
(Back)

8. The Hiding Place: Students who enjoyed The Hiding Place may also be interested in reading The Watchmaker's Daughter, by Larry Loftis, a carefully-researched biography which adds more details and depth to the story. ($amzn) (K) (Back)

9. The World: Travels 1950-2000 - only half of this book is scheduled. There's brief non-graphic mention of the author's gender-change operation in chapter 18, titled "Casablanca." The chapter is very short and can be skipped or removed. Also some language on pg 233 and 242. (Back)

10. A basic government book: High School students will need to earn credit for basic government. This material can be done in Year 9, 10, 11 or 12. Some options:

Foundation for Freedom: A Study of the United States Constitution Workbook by Lars Johnson - This "workbook" is the text with review exercises after each chapter, which can be skipped. ($amzn) Foundation for Freedom is an updated, full-color version of The Story of the Constitution, Second Edition by Sol Bloom and Lars Johnson ($amzn). Both appear to be the same book/workbook, but the newer one is in color. (Sol Bloom's original 1937 Story of the Constitution, which Lars Johnson used as a foundation for his own book, is online at Hathi Trust.) Because it was written in 1937, it stops at the 21st Amendment. Lars Johnson did an excellent job expanding and updating the Bloom book by adding concerns that weren't on the radar in 1937. He also wrote a chapter on limited government, checks and balances, and Biblical morality as well as a full-page explanation of each Amendment; Sol Bloom's book just explains each Amendment with a sentence or two. If you are in a situation where you need an online resource, the Sol Bloom text could work, but you should also seek out a source that explains why each Amendment was added and what it does.

Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution is a twelve-week online course offered by Hillsdale College with 40-minute streaming video lectures (or you can download the audios). You have to register with a login and password, but the course is free. After you register, "you can find out how to get a copy of Hillsdale's U.S. Constitution Reader, the essential companion to the course, which contains over a hundred primary source documents edited by Hillsdale's Politics faculty." The website says the course begins on Feb 24, but their FAQ says their courses are archived so you can start them at any time, and you can go at your pace.

Exploring Government Curriculum Package by Ray Notgrass (purchase from CBD)

The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone is an easy to read explanation of political terms (such as caucus, filibuster, bureaucracy, regulatory commission, judicial review, pork barrel spending, gerrymandering) with a minimum of bias. The author glosses over the Constitution, giving his interpretation of the key points, so this is not a substitute for learning what's in the U.S. Constitution. If you decide to use this book, a schedule that divides it over either 36 weeks or 18 weeks is here. ($amzn) (K).

This 10-minute YouTube video presents a clear explanation of the difference between a republic based on law, and a democracy based on majority rule. (Back)

11. Saving Leonardo may appeal to more artistically minded students (Back)

14. Ourselves, the 4th volume of Mason's 6 Volume Series: approximately 22 pages per term. This book will continue through all the remaining years of AO's high school curriculum. If your student is graduating before Year 12, you may wish to speed up in order to complete the book before graduation. This year: pages 68-136 of Book 2
There is a modern English paraphrase that can be read online or purchased. ($amzn) (K) Relying on paraphrases will prevent your child from developing the mental muscles needed to comprehend older books. But sometimes a paraphrase is needed. If a child is completely lost, then nothing in their brain is firing up, so there are times (and specific children) where it can make the difference between giving up on a book, or using a paraphrase so the ideas at least get through. Read more about this in Wendi Capehart's blog post Imagination and the Mind's Eye.
Term 1: Book 2 pg 68-96
Term 2: Book 2 pg 97-114
Term 3: Book 2 pg 115-136 (Back)

Plutarch: Charlotte Mason recommended Thomas North's "inimitable translation." (Back)

16. Invitation to the Classics: pages 307 to 366 this year, beginning with James Joyce, and continuing to the end of the book; the chapters are short. Table of Contents arranged by Year and Term for both books.(Back)

18. Ex Libris: If you prefer a book, "This witty collection of 18 essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language." (Back)

20. A short anthology of Modern Poetry: some suggestions are Norton's Anthology of Modern Poetry or The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Third Edition, Volume 2: Contemporary Poetry (Back)

21. Microbe Hunters is a collection of science biographies. Chapters 9-12 (Bruce, Ross vs Grassi, Reed, Ehrlich) are scheduled in Year 11. (Back)

Last updated March 31, 2023 (to update Bible)