GreenKitty Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I am considering using one of thse for High School. Do/Did you like it? Any info about it would be great!!! THANKS!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Beware of Diana Waring for high school. I went to one of her conference presentations on Church History and found that she is perpetuating a lot of untruths based on bias. I'm not sure how her other books are. If you use her for high school, definitely supplement with other materials that will offset the bias so your children can see more than one perspective. This is probably true with all histories... I've not found one yet that I was happy with, but some are worse, unfortunately, than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 What in particular was the problem, if you dont mind answering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praisefor3 Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 After much researching for world history, somehow somewhere we came upon Notgrass. Everything I read about it was just what we were looking for. Then I had the opportunity to talk to the author (Ray Notgrass) on the phone. I called their office number and he answered and spent nearly a half hour talking to me. At the time we were just starting to homeschool and I was a bit overwhelmed (our oldest was going in to 9th grade.) He talked to me about not just their curriculum but homeschooling in general. He also voluntarily sent me a couple tapes on homeschooling that played in big part in our foundation for homeschooling. He truly was a God-send. Our dd loved the world history. When it came time to choose American History I thought we should explore our options and maybe try something different just for the sake of doing something different. After exploring our options and listening to our dd's request, we went right back to Notgrass. American History was great as well. Now this year we are using government and with only a slight glance to the side to see what was out there, it took little to convince me to stick with Notgrass. It is true that if you don't like the format of one you are not going to like any of them but they worked well for us and our dd has enjoyed every class - an important part in my book since I hated history but think if I had had this curriculum I would have felt differently about it! The Bible portion (last day of the week in World and American) is not as strong as the other history part (I think it may have been written by a daughter) but we were primarily looking for strong history with a Biblical perspective so it was fine for us. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Like Greenkitty, I, too would like to know specifically what issues you had or untruths you found in DW. I am considering this program for next year (not HS, however) and was wondering if you could give a bit more detail? Thanks in advance. Cynthia PS. Gee, it is trickier to hijack a thread with the new board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 Thanks a bunch. I have been looking at this for a while now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in MD Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 We also use Notgrass for AM history, that is this year, BTW. We like it a lot and goodness knows I've tried just about everything to try to make history palettable for my ds. We are usign it just as a history course because ds is taking an American Lit class through our homeschool oversight academy. We don't use the bible study part either because we need a real 1/2 credit for bible every year and I wanted to do world view with him. We also added in the Teaching Co The HIstory of the United States video lectures. We watch two or three a week during lunch break. They dovetail wornderfully with Notgrass. HTH Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in TN Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 My 9th grader is using Notgrass World History. She really likes it, but thinks some of the literature books are boring. She isn't doing the Bible part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Oh, gosh, it's been a long time since I heard that lecture. I'm looking over her syllabus for the class... there was no distinction between the Roman and the Celtic Church in the Medieval period. There were schisms but they had to do with the separation of Church and State and heresies, which mostly involved individuals and not whole movements, except in the Eastern Church before about 1000AD. The Church was not "in charge" during the whole of the Medieval period, but was often bullied by the Western and Eastern Emperors because of their strange alliance. She leaves off the Catholic Church after 1500, which is predictable but unfortunate for a Protestant, as the Catholic Church was a formidable influence in Christian life in many countries at that time, and similar issues confounded England's church as well, so the phenomenon really should be covered. The above is omissions based on her syllabus, available at her site. When I heard her lecture I wrote a whole page of errors that I heard in her otherwise engaging, dynamic presentation. I'm sorry I don't have examples... I turned in that evaluation and tried to stop thinking about her after that. Of course I have a bias for the Catholic perspective, but I have been reading other perspectives like Orthodox and Reformed, to get a handle for what was really important to the majority of Christians of each period and the impact of those events for our time. I don't blame you for dismissing my warning since I have little proof, but please do consult a variety of sources about Church history... not to prove or disprove or proselytize, but to get understanding of the historical events themselves, which have little to do with ones own personal faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 Laura -Thanks so much for the info!!! I just haven't decided what we will be using for history and am trying to narrow it down. Notgrass has been one of the ones I have been interested in for a while now along with DW, mainly because we like audio books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I did not mean to sound like I was dismissing your concerns. The issues you presented are far deeper than we would be delving into for middle school anyway, which is reassuring to me. She is extremely engaging in her audios tapes which was the main draw for me. We would not be using her materials for high school anyway. I appreciate your thoughtful response! Thank you! Cynthia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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