Jump to content

Menu

Ok this has probably been beaten to death, but re: history plan...


Recommended Posts

I have 3 choices:

1) Do history ala WTM/ToG - Great books study with a spine starting with Ancients for my soon to be Fresh. and 5 gr. ds.

2) Omnibus starting Fr. year with Omnibus 3 and continuing with a 3 year cycle rather than 4.

3) Doing a traditional high school cycle: World History, Geography, Am. Hist. and Government.

 

Which plan do you think would be easiest on me to implement. Which would be most beneficial for my kids for college, etc. The 3 year cycle would work with our history very well. We have moved somewhat slowly through history and are currently just before the Civil War for both kids.

 

I am considering Oak Meadow for my 5th grader - which is American History.

 

Has anyone done Omnibus successfully? My 9th grader is a very strong reader and has been exposed to literature study before. Thanks for the help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm switching to Oak Meadow for high school history. I experimented with it this year for my 9th grader and have been happy with it, so I'm going to switch everybody over to OM for history next year except for my oldest. I need to get completely out of the picture for my oldest, so I'll do something like Thinkwell for her for history. I'll have to do any other things she can't get through the cc as an online class or meet-in-person class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure how to answer you. Any of your three plans work -- what do YOU want to do? Any of your three plans will prepare your students for college, so what do THEY want to do?

 

We did the traditional high school sequence -- American History, World History, Civics and Econ -- using the WTM as a guide for what kind of work was required, such as context pages and essays. I created my own courses using Great Books, good books and interesting spines, and it was easy for me to plan and implement as I like doing that sort of thing. You may be more comfortable with a packaged program. Omnibus is very thorough and tweakable, I know nothing about Oak Meadow.

 

I'm sorry I can't be more help -- I'm just not sure what piece of information you feel you need!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My two oldest (so far) did high school history with the WTM/WEM, after doing it WTM-style for the logic stage. I planned their schedule completely over the summer. Then I read the great books along with them. We took four years and they used Spielvogel for their spine, along with some Marrin and other books as secondary reading.

 

It was a success, but a huge amount of work for me. I am so glad we did it!

 

Here are some reasons why I'm glad:

1. Both are going into the sciences, so this was their last shot at a classical education, except on their own, later - and we know how that can go once "life" begins!

2. I was able to share in the "great conversation" with them. The high school years were such a blessing to all of us because we did them together.

3. I got to pick the books! I'm the type who would always be arguing with the curriculum if I'd purchased something pre-made.

4. As a side benefit, we've found our study to be great prep for those college-credit tests, such as AP and CLEP.

 

I'm looking forward to doing it all over again with my youngers.

 

You will be fine with whatever you chose.

 

GardenMom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess what I am asking is which plan would be best for college and which would be easiest for me to implement? The tasks of these programs seem daunting to me. I just came from Tapestry of Grace and it seemed there was so much to do for just history and lit.

 

I want good strong education with ease of use to mom. Is that the dream program at this stage? Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My two oldest (so far) did high school history with the WTM/WEM, after doing it WTM-style for the logic stage. I planned their schedule completely over the summer. Then I read the great books along with them. We took four years and they used Spielvogel for their spine, along with some Marrin and other books as secondary reading.

 

It was a success, but a huge amount of work for me. I am so glad we did it!

 

Here are some reasons why I'm glad:

1. Both are going into the sciences, so this was their last shot at a classical education, except on their own, later - and we know how that can go once "life" begins!

2. I was able to share in the "great conversation" with them. The high school years were such a blessing to all of us because we did them together.

3. I got to pick the books! I'm the type who would always be arguing with the curriculum if I'd purchased something pre-made.

4. As a side benefit, we've found our study to be great prep for those college-credit tests, such as AP and CLEP.

 

I'm looking forward to doing it all over again with my youngers.

 

You will be fine with whatever you chose.

 

GardenMom

 

Somewhat of a hijack. I am wondering if you would be willing to share some specifics on how you handled the CLEP/AP tests while doing your history with a WTM approach. For example, what tests did you choose to do and when? Also, what additionally, if anything did you do to prep? I have wondered how doing APs would work if doing history the WTM way. TIA! :001_smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did Omnibus. I think it is very do-able. I like combining history and english. I think it helped us make connections. I think using WTM/WEM would be great as well. Search for Nan in MASS posts. She has written a lot of helpful posts about using WEM. I am not sure what would work best for you though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one more going into high school. For the first, who both he and I thought was going into history, we did WTM way with Great Books and Teaching Company tapes. We added in Geography (Cross country travels and then travelling in Europe for two years plus map work) and Government (both Great Books and practical side by helping on campaigns and also Boy Scout work).

DD1 wanted to do a combined history and literature class but it didn't work out well since her ninth grade was her sickness year. SO we ended up with two years of American history (books and Teaching Company), geography (tapes and travel), government (book and class), economics (book and class), and finally next year Western Civ (book and TC tapes). FOr lit, we mostl read Great Books and next year she will be doing 20th cent. lit in a class but I will supplement it with some ancients and a Russian writer or two this summer.

Number three is my science/Engineering child. She doesn't like the Great conversation- except if it is about how things work. I am going to supplement her history (textbooks) with lots of things about history of science and technology. If she turns out to be a lot like my dh, which I think she will, she will develop the interest in literature and ideas later. She will definitely do standard classes since she likes everything orderly like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My two oldest (so far) did high school history with the WTM/WEM, after doing it WTM-style for the logic stage. I planned their schedule completely over the summer. Then I read the great books along with them. We took four years and they used Spielvogel for their spine, along with some Marrin and other books as secondary reading.

 

It was a success, but a huge amount of work for me. I am so glad we did it!

 

Here are some reasons why I'm glad:

1. Both are going into the sciences, so this was their last shot at a classical education, except on their own, later - and we know how that can go once "life" begins!

2. I was able to share in the "great conversation" with them. The high school years were such a blessing to all of us because we did them together.

3. I got to pick the books! I'm the type who would always be arguing with the curriculum if I'd purchased something pre-made.

4. As a side benefit, we've found our study to be great prep for those college-credit tests, such as AP and CLEP.

 

I'm looking forward to doing it all over again with my youngers.

 

You will be fine with whatever you chose.

 

GardenMom

 

What you said really resonates with me, but I am struggling with how to piece this together for myself. Like you, I cannot seem find a curriculum that I would not question or argue with.. Any advice on how to put something together?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm switching to Oak Meadow for high school history. I experimented with it this year for my 9th grader and have been happy with it, so I'm going to switch everybody over to OM for history next year except for my oldest. I need to get completely out of the picture for my oldest, so I'll do something like Thinkwell for her for history. I'll have to do any other things she can't get through the cc as an online class or meet-in-person class.

 

Angie,

Can I ask if you added anything to OM’s history? Did you use literature to coincide with the history, extra writing etc., or did you find it to be enough by itself?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Cindie2dds
Angie,

Can I ask if you added anything to OM’s history? Did you use literature to coincide with the history, extra writing etc., or did you find it to be enough by itself?

 

:lurk5:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love putting together courses, mixing up Great Books and interesting good books, cultural history with political history. Here's how I go about it.

 

Start with a theme, or a hook. I used theater one semester for 20th century American lit and history. We started by watching the PBS documentary on the history of Broadway. My ds read plays, a couple of memoirs, and watched some DVD versions of the plays. He had a reference work on American history, and I'd assign topics for him to research and write about.

 

This year my younger ds has used the book A History of the World in Six Glasses as a starting point. He has read major works from each of the six time periods in the book, some minor works too, he has read about the philosophers from each period and has watched several lectures from the Teaching Company's Western Literary Canon in Context series. I managed to throw in a unit on poetry, too. He has written smaller persuasive essays and longer comparison essays.

 

Not every work has to be analyzed, though we usually end up talking about each work anyway. I blocked things out in 4-6 week chunks and guessed at the time it would take to get through background reading, a major work and some shorter or fluffier works. I'd build in writing time as well. The Illiad took about 3 weeks, including watching Dr. Vandiver's lectures. We only spent a week on Shakespeare's The Tempest, as it was December and we were distracted with holiday preparations, so we capped it off by watching the movie Forbidden Planet, which is loosely based on the Tempest.

 

I use the WTM and WEM for discussion questions as well as Sparknotes. Both my kids tend to have opinions they want to express anyway, so discussions tend to start without too much prompting. The Teaching Company lectures are terrific, and a good way for teens to get used to the lecture format and to learn to take notes. Sometimes I start with a Teaching Company course then build reading lists around the lectures. I come up with essay topics based on our discussions, or my kids come up with their own. My son's favorite this year was a comparison of the historical John Locke with the television character from Lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Somewhat of a hijack. I am wondering if you would be willing to share some specifics on how you handled the CLEP/AP tests while doing your history with a WTM approach. For example, what tests did you choose to do and when? Also, what additionally, if anything did you do to prep? I have wondered how doing APs would work if doing history the WTM way. TIA! :001_smile:

 

Violet - I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to respond. You've asked an excellent question, and I feel this should go in a new thread. I'll post when I get the time!

 

Blessings,

GardenMom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What you said really resonates with me, but I am struggling with how to piece this together for myself. Like you, I cannot seem find a curriculum that I would not question or argue with.. Any advice on how to put something together?

 

The first thing I did was buy and read the WTM and WEM. I also poured over the Veritas Press, Beautiful Feet, Sonlight, and other catalogs for ideas for books. Book lists are a dime a dozen - everyone has their ideas on what is a "must read." I noticed that certain books came up over and over, some were more appealing than others, etc. One of my goals was to include at least one book from each literary genre in the WEM (poetry, drama, fiction, biography, etc.) for each year. I also tried to cover the time period fairly evenly. I made myself a bit crazy over the planning, but enjoyed activities such as page counting (goal was about 50 pp. a week from GB, plus other reading) and charts that listed which GB was included in which resource book or catalog. In the end, I had to choose, which was hard.

 

Breaking up a text like Spielvogel is easy, but how do you decide if you're going to read 1984, Fahrenheit 451, or Brave New World if you only have time for one. Or which modern era play should you read? Our Town, A Raisin in the Sun, or the Importance of Being Earnest, etc. I also chose secondary readings from books by Marrin and Foster, in a similar manner to what VP does in their Omnibus. Page counts and general angst over what to books to use applied there as well.

 

We've PMed each other from another thread, so you have one of my Rhetoric-level plans by now, but if anyone else wants to see what I came up with for R1-4 (chose any one or ones you'd like), you are welcome to PM me, too.

 

And finally, I actually read the GB, too! My dc and I still talk about them. Teaching high school has been very rewarding for me.

 

Blessings,

GardenMom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Violet - I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to respond. You've asked an excellent question, and I feel this should go in a new thread. I'll post when I get the time!

 

Blessings,

GardenMom

 

Oh my gosh, please don't apologize. I'll look forward to your posting on this. Thanks so much! :001_smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I want good strong education with ease of use to mom."

 

We're finding Sonlight fits this bill.

I am probably suffering from burnout but I'm also seeing my son is engaged and quite enjoying the selections. I thought I wanted Great Books and rhetoric and all that. This guy isn't that kind of kid. He's really enjoying the process of being on his own and learning from books that he says are approachable and enjoyable. "It's stuff I want to read about"

 

It's one thing to say you're doing the great books and have conversations about it and all that, and quite another to actually DO IT well. I needed TOG's notes because I didn't feel comfortable doing WEM. Not smart enough :)

But if I'd hung in, I would have enjoyed it. My son, though, he wouldn't have. He's just not ready yet - at almost 16 to go into some of those very mature themes.

 

We're doing SL core 300 after using TOG for years. (two years at the rhetoric level) I'm not exactly thrilled with the level of literary analysis after doing TOG's uber rigorous lit but HE is enjoying it immensly.

HTH

 

ps this is the first time EVER in high school my son has elected to take a book he had to read TO BED (Murder on the Orient Express)

pps sometimes you just have to give something a whirl and see how it goes...don't lock yourself in, kwim?

Edited by momee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...