6packofun Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 First, I'm trying to decide for my high schooler, between the History of the United States lectures: http://www.teach12.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8500 and the high school level course by Prof. Linwood Thompson (all dressed up LOL). Very different, obviously. Is the first one OK for an average high schooler (he'll be a senior)? If it is, what book/text would be a good spine (or supplement) to the lectures? I'm trying to figure out Am. History for this fall for my oldest and can't seem to find quite what I want. I appreciate the WTM approach to study U.S. history in the context of world history, but I need a *little* more focus because we haven't done enough U.S. history, IMO. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) I think you are wise to search out a spine. The TTC high school program gives lectures on very few topics, so I only liked it to add variety or fill gaps, myself, unless you just want light coverage. I don't think it was meant to be a class on it's own, as it would only be a class a week, I think. I haven't listened to the 2nd edition on the other set (History of the United States), which I believe is by totally different guys. I enjoyed the 1st Ed. but I needed a previous framework to hang all those details on, or it would have been lost to me. But I wasn't a history person before I started homeschooling. Julie Edited January 10, 2011 by Julie in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 First, I'm trying to decide for my high schooler, between the History of the United States lectures: http://www.teach12.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8500 and the high school level course by Prof. Linwood Thompson (all dressed up LOL). Very different, obviously. Is the first one OK for an average high schooler (he'll be a senior)? If it is, what book/text would be a good spine (or supplement) to the lectures? I'm trying to figure out Am. History for this fall for my oldest and can't seem to find quite what I want. I appreciate the WTM approach to study U.S. history in the context of world history, but I need a *little* more focus because we haven't done enough U.S. history, IMO. Any suggestions? I would recommend the History of the United States, not Linwood Thompson's set, for a high school senior. A good text is Tindall's America; you can easily align the reading to match the lectures. The brief edition is fine. Older editions work well too and can be purchased for much cheaper. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=15373 Norton's Study Space for this text will provide plenty of things to do and discuss. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america8/brief/ And Hippo Campus is also a nice addition to an American History Course. Just an FYI: http://www.hippocampus.org/?tab=course Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I would recommend the History of the United States, not Linwood Thompson's set, for a high school senior. :iagree: My elementary age kids sometimes even get annoyed with Thompson. My older kids wouldn't watch him b/c they would feel like he was talking down to them. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Definitely go with the "college" level - not the Linwood Thompson set. The other lecture series is excellent. Three different professor teach it, and we liked each one so much that we were grumpy every time somebody new came on . . . but they are all fabulous. I've shared it with another homeschool family and they considered it excellent as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 My elementary age kids sometimes even get annoyed with Thompson. My older kids wouldn't watch him b/c they would feel like he was talking down to them. :tongue_smilie: :iagree: We tried to watch Thompson's World History course when DS was 11, and even he thought it was "lame" (so did I). The only one who liked it was DD, who was 7 at the time. Definitely not HS material, IMHO. I have TC's regular 84-lecture American History set as well; I've only watched a couple of the lectures, but I thought they were excellent. I plan to use them as the basis of our high school US history course, combined with lots of documentaries, living books, and literature (no text). Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Also, if you're interested in documentaries for US History, here's a list I've compiled so far: Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower (History Channel) Conquest of America (History Channel) Liberty! The American Revolution (PBS) Revolution (History Channel) Washington the Warrior (History Channel) Ben Franklin (PBS) Thomas Jefferson (Ken Burns) John Adams (HBO) The Civil War (Ken Burns) Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery (Ken Burns) We Shall Remain (PBS) The West (Ken Burns) World War I in Color The First World War: The Complete Series The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) The War (Ken Burns) American Presidents (History Channel) The Supreme Court (PBS) I believe Netflix has most of them. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 The college level series combined with Bill Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Also, if you're interested in documentaries for US History, here's a list I've compiled so far: Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower (History Channel) Conquest of America (History Channel) Liberty! The American Revolution (PBS) Revolution (History Channel) Washington the Warrior (History Channel) Ben Franklin (PBS) Thomas Jefferson (Ken Burns) John Adams (HBO) The Civil War (Ken Burns) Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery (Ken Burns) We Shall Remain (PBS) The West (Ken Burns) World War I in Color The First World War: The Complete Series The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) The War (Ken Burns) American Presidents (History Channel) The Supreme Court (PBS) I believe Netflix has most of them. Jackie Nice list. I have just finished about a third of the PBS documentary on Ben Franklin, and so far, so good. I also *love* the Stanford iTunes U lectures on Franklin, which you can download for free. One note about The Teaching Company US history lectures. We're watched about 30 so far, and I agree they're wonderful. But I would caution you that the recommended readings are quite dated. I was able to rustle them up from the college library where I work, and some were fantastic (usually the professor recommends a chapter or two) and some were... befuddling. So I would second finding a good all-round text to read alongside, and if you can find a few in the library, do check out the recommended reading to glance through. (The Economy of Slavery lecture and reading made me finally, after all these years, have an a-ha! moment.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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