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Regrouping in history/lit/etc -- please give direction (rotation vs traditional)


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Dd started 9th grade with:

 

LLfLOTR (intended to be part of English 1 on transcript)

World Geography (one credit, full year course)

Foundations of Civilization (covers most of the Bible, Greek Mythology, Roman History -- sort of a Bible/Lit/History unit study -- I was going to list it as a humanities credit)

 

The plan was to do World History (Notgrass) next year, along with Lightning Lit, LLATL, something along those lines. We'll call that Plan A.

 

We've been thrown a bit off course by a somewhat unexpected move, and we are not as far along as I would have hoped. However, we are at an interesting point in our programs, and I'm starting to have inklings of a "Plan B".

 

Dd has finished the first third of LLfLOTR, she is at the section of Unit Study that covers "Epics" and she is reading Black Ships Before Troy and LOVING it; we've also stumbled upon Bullfinch's Mythology, and we've been thoroughly enjoying the Drive Thru History series on Rome, Greece, etc.

 

We are making steady but slow progress through the Foundations material (I'm using Memoria Press's Intro to Classical Studies as my outline, using as-is for my younger dd but using some Omnibus I materials where they fit in the outline for my older dd). It will certainly take us the rest of the year to finish.

 

World Geography -- well, I think we've done the first two lessons. :-)

 

 

I'm wondering: What if we set aside LLfLOTR once we finish the "ancient epics" unit; pick up Notgrass World History and do the Ancient history lessons (including the literature scheduled); and just focus on the continents of Africa and Europe for geography?

 

Then, next year, we could pick up LLfLOTR and finish it (that would put us at Arthurian Literature half way through the year) and use Notgrass to cover the Middle Ages through Renaissance section (including the literature and Bible); and focus on a couple more continents in Geography.

 

I'm thinking then our subjects would read: Ancient History with Geography for 9th, Medieval and Renaissance History with Geography for 10th, etc. English would still be English 1, English 2, etc. We could finish up Notgrass and do something like Lightning Lit World Literature and call it Modern History for a third year, etc. Already planning to use Notgrass American for American history and lit (I'd probably put that in 11th grade, and come back to Modern History as an elective in 12th).

 

Dd likes the idea very much, she is accustomed to the rotation of history ala SOTW and MOH. I also like the idea, as it allows more room for extra reading, projects, history videos, etc, to go more in-depth into each era. As much as I love the Notgrass, I must say it RACES through history (any one-year program has to). Literature is NOT dd's best subject; I think we could take the literary terms learned so far this year in LLfLOTR, make flashcards, and review for the rest of the year and it would be very productive for her. I'm not convinced that she's going to retain much if we race through the rest of the program, to be honest.

 

Any thoughts as to which way to go? We're at the perfect stopping point in LLfLOTR if I'm going to do Plan B; but I can still see where Plan A is going to come out "neater" as far as record keeping and transcripts.

 

In NC, we have pretty much total control over what we determine is "credit worthy"; I believe with all the reading and projects it would be legitimate as far as her transcript goes. My one big concern is that at some point, if a college admissions office questions our materials, and ask what textbooks we used, it's going to look "bad" to have used Notgrass World History as the basis of three years of history. If we carefully document ALL of the additional reading, projects, lectures, etc, would that be reasonable?

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Hi Christy,

I wouldn't worry much about the geography. No one cared about it (even though we did it) when my son applied to college. If you do integrate it, you could give a credit when you finish it. We are doing a textbook for world history for dd this year, and you are right, you race through and don't retain much. If you are doing well with what you are doing, then I say "if it isn't broken, then don't fix it." For transcripts, you can name them Ancient and Medieval/Renassance and give two years. I know people who take two years for world history and skip geography, and the end result is the same credit wise.

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