Help with 10th grade 20th century history...

[pbjmeyer]

Could you provide suggestions on a curriculumd for a 10th grade boy to study 20th century history? I am asking for a friend. My son is younger, and I don't know exactly what makes a curriculum appropriate for HS level.

 

I checked out Notgrass for her, but they do not have modern history.

 

She has looked into TOG, but she thought it seemed like a lot of work for her. Would this be true (for those of you who have used TOG?)

 

She is also going to look at Sonlight, but wondered what the assignments would be that would make SL 300 a high school level study.

 

Any help you can offer would be appreciated!!

[April in CA]

We will be using TOG year 4 next year for 20th century world and American history plus literature. It is rigorous and challenging, but so valuable. TOG takes some effort on the part of mom, to plan and lead discussions. Really understanding that the goal is a Socratic discussion rather than just checking to see if the student has correctly answered all the thinking and accountability questions is key to successfully implementing TOG discussions. I also find that it helps to have a group to discuss with. Being part of an on-line virtual go-op has really made our experience more profitable (not to mention timely!)

 

This year, in year 3, we had some very powerful discussions about a variety of issues such as racism, imperialism, etc, and I anticipate many more with year 4. TOG always incorporates looking at things from a Biblical point of view, and I have never found it to sugar-coat issues. Sin is addressed, even if it is Americans doing the sinning!

 

On the other hand, TOG is likely to be more time-consuming than some other curriculum choices. I don't know much about SL core 300, but I know that SL is also quite reading intensive, so I would expect the time commitment to be high also.

 

I hope this was helpful!

Blessings,

April

[Susan C.]

Check out Beautiful Feet (bfbooks.com).

 

They have a great high school study with great book recommendations. It is called U.S. and World History from Civil War to Present for Senior High (I'm guessing on the name, it will be close to that). The Marrin books are great. We pared it down (Beautiful Feet helped us do that) because we only had one year. My son really enjoyed it. He read the Hakim books, then several of the suggestions as well. The guide is inexpensive, and then you can get most of the books at the library, and order the ones you can't find. I've not seen the Marrin books at the library, and they are not to be missed!

[Veronica in VA]

SL 300 is definitely a high school level study. The language arts section was just re-done for next school year. DD and I did 300 and she just finished up. We both learned a lot and it was very reading intensive, but very interesting.

 

Veronica

[Miss Marple]

My 10th grader did SL 300 this past year in our co-op. We only used the history portion but included some readings, a research project, some essays, current event presentations, etc. I think you can tweak SL to be less rigorous if necessary. SL was a good fit for us this year.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 11th grader will be using SL Core 300 for 20th century world history. We're dropping the below-level books (Great Brain, Great Gilly Hopkins, My Father's Daughter, The Snow Goose, You Want Women to Vote) so we'll have more time to spend on the high school level books. My dd has already read the first and last books on our drop list anyway. She has also already read Hope Was Here. It's an excellent book, but I don't see a need for her to re-read it.

[Sarah CB]

I also find that it helps to have a group to discuss with. Being part of an on-line virtual go-op has really made our experience more profitable (not to mention timely!)

 

 

I hope this was helpful!

Blessings,

April

 

I'm piggybacking here but wanted to ask you about your virtual co-op. I'm doing Year 4 with my kids and would really like to have some community to share with.

[April in CA]

Hi Sarah,

 

Ask away! I love our virtual co-op, and I am pretty sure we still have some room for next year. We do a D level and R level. D level is history (I don't know if we will add D lit or not). R level has both history and lit. We split the teaching duties evenly among the moms in each level. For instance, last year, I led discussions about 6 or 7 times each for hist and lit (I could go back and check - I really can't remember how many times!). We used WizIQ and TEamspeak to communicate. our co-op was on Thursday last year; I expect it will stay there. Several of our families are on the east coast, and I am in CA, so we worked to accommodate each other's schedules. My guys (and I, when leading) were on the computer and in action by 7:30 am (my time) on Thursdays. The D level history had just concluded. If you were to join and put your 13yo in D, we would need to adjust the time and /or day so you wouldn't be up at 4:30 to do co-op stuff. You can PM me (I will try to remember to look!) here and I will put you in touch with our co-op leaders, if you would like.

Hope this is helpful!

Blessings,

April

[Orthodox6]

Sonlight Core 300 focuses on the 20th century. I would suggest that you review the entire book list before committing to buying/using this Core. We threw away (as into a box to be sold or given away) over seventeen of the books because they were unsuitable for our family's views on "what to read at what age" and "what not to read under any circumstances". The program was the worst "bomb" of a homeschooling purchase we ever have made.

[Lori D.]

In case it is of help, below is what we used. Best of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

 

1. textbook (Spielvogel Human Odyssey -- p. 688-1123)

2. bits and pieces of various supplemental books

3. timeline entries of key world events (date, continent, 1 sentence); 20 entries per decade, due once every 3 weeks

4. "decade reports" (4 research papers, 1 per quarter, on event/person in the decade studied)

5. solo read: 6-8 works of 20th century historical fiction

6. together read/discuss for literature: 4-6 classic works of 20th century lit.

[jibaker103]

Check out Beautiful Feet (bfbooks.com).

 

They have a great high school study with great book recommendations. It is called U.S. and World History from Civil War to Present for Senior High (I'm guessing on the name, it will be close to that). The Marrin books are great. We pared it down (Beautiful Feet helped us do that) because we only had one year. My son really enjoyed it. He read the Hakim books, then several of the suggestions as well. The guide is inexpensive, and then you can get most of the books at the library, and order the ones you can't find. I've not seen the Marrin books at the library, and they are not to be missed!

What is your copyright date? I bought a used copy with a 1997 copyright date and it only goes up to Vietnam! Did I screw this up? :confused:

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[danielle]

I've looked at the reading lists for both Beautiful Feet and Sonlight and I'd be very cautious about whether these were actually high school level. They are far below the rigor of what high schoolers are reading at our local (fairly hi level) public school. IMHO, books which could be classified as YA (written for "young adults") might be okay for pleasure reading, but as academic works they are better placed in 6-8th grade. Some of them are not going to sound great to a selective college that wants to see book lists--it depends on your aims.

 

By high school, students should be grappling with adult works, and again IMHO, with divergent viewpoints. I think Spielvogel is a good spine. We won't be doing modern history until 12th grade, but here's the list I've put together so far (no particular order as yet), besides the appropriate parts of Spielvogel.

 

We also use the Annenberg series Western Civilization, and the Teaching Company's Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition (the parts appropriate to the era. Video programs can provide a good spine--listen to the lecture, read the works discussed. We have always combined lit and history, and the list reflects this.

 

My Antonia

Henry James: the Turn of the Screw

James Joyce: Dubliners and/or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joseph Heller: Catch 22

Hemingway (your choice)

Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird

Things Fall Apart

Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi

Golda Meir: My Life

Brave New World

Animal Farm

1984

Naguib Mahfouz

James Baldwin (any)

The Things They Carried

Martin Luther King: Knock at Midnight or Why We Can’t Wait

Malcolm X: Autobiography

Raymond Carver: Where I’m Calling From and/or Cathedral

Doris Lessing: Short Stories or The Golden Notebook

The Great Gatsby

Sylvia Plath, the Bell Jar

Encounters with the Archdruid (John McPhee)

Bill Bryson

Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat or another work)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

The Stranger (Albert Camus)

Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)

All Quiet on the Western Front

Something by Kurt Vonnegut

 

I usually require dd to read a minimum of 15 works, her choice, from the reading list. A lot of these are difficult works, but easy reading compared to plowing through the Ancients or Middle Ages.

 

Danielle

[Julie in MN]

Could you provide suggestions on a curriculumd for a 10th grade boy to study 20th century history? I am asking for a friend. My son is younger, and I don't know exactly what makes a curriculum appropriate for HS level.

 

I checked out Notgrass for her, but they do not have modern history.

 

She has looked into TOG, but she thought it seemed like a lot of work for her. Would this be true (for those of you who have used TOG?)

 

She is also going to look at Sonlight, but wondered what the assignments would be that would make SL 300 a high school level study.

 

Any help you can offer would be appreciated!!

 

Has she homeschooled before? Is her son advanced? If the answer to both of those is "no," then I would tread gently this year as they both transition to homeschooling. A list like Danielle's is wonderful, but honestly our local public schools read about 2-3 short novels per year along the lines of Tuesdays with Morrie. Reading something like all of Hakim's books may not include college prep analysis, but they still include a huge amount of information; if the student didn't know that information and he learned it well, then that's a good education in my book.

 

Since she wants such a narrow topic, she could also use half of a book such as Notgrass and fill in the rest with writing, literature, projects, notebooking, additional reading such as Marrin who was suggested, etc.

 

JMHO,

Julie

[danielle]

Julie,

You're right about the range in public schools. Another school in the Chicago area that a friend's daughter attends took a year long American lit class and never read an entire novel--just short stories, plays and excerpts. We live in a "good" district, tho, and the reading lists are much more ambitious.

 

I guess it boils down to goals, and how reading-oriented the student might be. But i did think of something else--How about one of the Hewitt lit programs combined with Spielvogel? For example, the World Lit is pretty much 20th century, and I think they read about 5 books per semester. Throw in a few videos, and I think it would make a good, moderately challenging lit/history combo.

Danielle

[Julie in MN]

But i did think of something else--How about one of the Hewitt lit programs combined with Spielvogel? For example, the World Lit is pretty much 20th century, and I think they read about 5 books per semester. Throw in a few videos, and I think it would make a good, moderately challenging lit/history combo.

Danielle

 

:iagree:

[Janice in NJ]

I hear you, Danielle. But SL's philosophy of education is to alternate easier works with harder works. If you take a look again at their 200, 300, and 400 level lit lists, I think that you will find that each of them serves up at least 10 titles that belong in a strong high school literature class. And the easier reads are great quick-n-easy reads that can easily be used to develop the literary analysis skills that the student needs in order to be able to dig deeper into the tougher texts.

 

But I'm a momma who still regularly uses a great picture book to flex those literary analysis muscles. "What is the author really saying here? And how does that agree with or refute the theme in The Scarlet Letter?"

 

I don't use SL's program exclusively; TOG tends to be our main vehicle. But I do own all of the high-school cores and I have found them to be very helpful. We use lots of their lit in addition to/in place of some of the TOG titles. I do like their easy/hard/easy/harder/much-easier philosophy though. It's an encouraging way to pace a school-year. (Sometimes you just want to feel smart, KWIM? :001_smile:)

 

And it's fairly easy to put the advanced titles on the English Class list and the easier titles on the kids' free reading list. Keeps things neat-n-tidy and impressive for the college admissions folk.

 

Just another way of thinking about it.

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

 

P.S. And yes, I agree with you, TTC is awesome. We use lots of their lectures. Great stuff!

Edited August 20, 2009 by Janice in NJ

[danielle]

Janice,

Smart thinking. I don't know why I always have to make stuff so complicated:willy_nilly: Congenital know it all--inherited it from my dd, I guess.

Danielle

[Pamela H in Texas]

SOS has a new 20th century history program. It's a semester worth of work so would need fleshing out if you wanted a full credit. It is being released next month :)

 

I'm sure it's not as rigorous as the other options, but not every student is going to do that level of work.

 

I can get 2-3 novels read by my son, but I *know* 15 isn't going to happen. It wouldn't be possible even. And that is even more true considering the quality of reading being suggested.

 

So though other people outlined some stronger options, I think a weaker option may be worth a consideration, depending on the student.

Edited August 20, 2009 by 2J5M9K

[Janice in NJ]

Oh no worries, Danielle. I almost hesitated to post because I thought that I might come off sounding like a know-it-all. ;)

 

I have bumped into similar comments about SL's booklist for years; I used to think the same thing. :001_smile: Their methods only became clear to me when I picked up copies of their guides. Their thought process makes a LOT more sense to me now. Granted, this seems to be a topic of perpetual debate - even on the SL boards among folks who use the program much more diligently than I do. There is also much debate about their approach to LA in general and the completeness of their guides at the high school level; it has been going on and on for years.

 

The more I know, the more I appreciate their easy/hard approach. For our family, I combine a lot of things (typical homeschool programs) with a lot of resources that I have picked up along the way - including lots of things that I don't see much in homeschooling circles. So I do use lots of materials without feeling like I am tied to one program. And I always start with goals in mind rather than programs, so I feel free to use things to teach. I try to teach with the materials and not let the materials themselves drive us along.

 

I guess I'm saying all that to say that I certainly don't think that I know it all either!!! Oh my, NO! But I do think that the SL program can be used to produce a strong literature student. As with most programs it's the execution of the program that makes the difference. KWIM?

 

Peace,

Janice