If our country had a required reading novel for high school students, it would be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. People have been trying to ban the book since it was published in 1960, and it does contain racial slurs that make it problematic to read with children today. However, it is an incredible work of modern American literature. I believe everyone should study it at some point in their schooling.
Themes of the novel center, primarily, on racial injustice—specifically in the Deep South in the 1930s, with plenty of “I see what you’re doing there, Harper” commentary that very much applied to the late 1950s, when she was writing. Other themes are woven throughout, of course, including faith, coming-of-age and womanhood, education systems, parenting, and acceptance of others.
We studied this book at our homeschool co-op over four weeks. However, we had a break for Labor Day during that time. Since most of our students just take one day off, not the whole week, I assigned a very big chunk of reading that week. If you are doing this without a holiday break, I’d recommend breaking the 2nd week of assignments into two weeks. I have fairly detailed notes in the homework answer key, and this is what I used to lead discussions with the students.
Our quizzes are intended to be comprehension quizzes that provide accountability for doing the reading. I allow them to be open book, but not open homework/notes. I give them a five minute time limit. My thought process is this: if they’ve done the reading but forgot a detail, they will be able to find it within that time limit. If they haven’t done the reading, having the quiz be open book won’t help them. My goal isn’t to trick them with the quiz questions, but to show me that they did the work.
Introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee —use this to introduce the book the week before they begin reading.
Week 1: Chapters 1-6
Student Questions for Homework
Homework Answer Key
Quiz
Quiz Answer Key
Week 2: Chapters 7-16
Student Questions for Homework
Homework Answer Key
Quiz
Quiz Answer Key
Week 3: Chapters 17-23
Student Questions for Homework
Homework Answer Key
Quiz
Quiz Answer Key
Week 4: Chapters 24-31
Student Questions for Homework
Homework Answer Key
Quiz
Quiz Answer Key
Spilled Milk 
My favorite book…I loved teaching it!
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