Most summer reading races to the finish. This one doesn't. For six weeks, a small group will live inside Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men — reading slowly, paying attention, and letting one quiet American story do its work.
It's reading in the Charlotte Mason tradition: attention before analysis, formation over performance. Each student follows one character all the way through the novel and ends the summer with something made by their own hand.
It carries a letter grade and real high-school English work — enrichment toward an ELA credit rather than a full semester on its own, and the kind of thoughtful reading that looks wonderful on a college application.
- NarrationTelling back each week's chapters, faithfully, before we analyze them.
- One character, all summerThe single thread each student follows from the first page to the last.
- CopyworkA line worth keeping, written out by hand.
- The Relation StudyWhere the world of the novel becomes tangible — a map, pressed plants, a working-year calendar.
- A weekly habit of attentionA thought to sit with, and one small practice for the week.
Weekly recorded lessons
A new teaching video each week, yours to watch whenever the week allows — no fixed class time to build your summer around.
Two live Zoom gatherings
We meet as a group twice across the summer to talk together and share the work. Dates are set once our group is formed.
A letter grade & personal feedback
Turn in your pages through Google Classroom and get comments and a grade back from me — on every piece.
Eager readers can go further with The Existentialist Lens — reading the novel beside Camus and Sartre, who were asking its questions an ocean away. A short companion page each week, a passage in the philosopher's own words, and one or two questions to sit with. An invitation, never a requirement — and a piece a student can carry into a college application.
- Dates
- June 24 – August 5
- Format
- Recorded weekly lessonsplus two live Zoom meet-ups
- For
- High-school readers
- On the transcript
- High-school Englishenrichment toward ELA — not a full credit
- Grading
- Letter grade · A–Fwith feedback in Google Classroom
- Tuition
- $110for the whole summer
Save your student a seat
We begin June 24. Two quick steps and your student has a seat:
- Reserve your place on BACH — log in and find Of Mice and Men under Additional Opportunities.
- Send $110 through PayPal — choose Friends & Family — to @kimnp.
Once you've registered and paid, I'll be in touch with the first week's lesson and our Zoom dates.
What your student makes at the end is small, and it is theirs, and it is real. That is the whole point.