mamato4 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 For those who've used SWB's History of the Ancient World for 9th grade, how did you use it? Along with the great books suggested in WTM? (I have the second edition one, so no mention of HAW.) If you have a schedule that you can share, I'd appreciate it. Thanks! Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niffercoo Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'm interested in this as well. Considering HOAW for my 9th grader with learning challenges and Aspergers. I really wish there were an audiobook version for him so he could follow along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Just speaking for myself, HOAW would be great for an advanced high schooler or an adult, but it would be a stretch for a learning-challenged 14yo. I've been reading it and it takes me some time to absorb or retain much. It helps that I've been through the history cycle with my kids a couple of times, but it isn't a quick read for this college-educated reading-lover. Maybe I over-think things? Or maybe I will improve after I get further into it?! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I agree with Julie. I think it's a challenging read even for an adult. I wouldn't recommend it for a child with learning challenges. I tried to use HOAW for my 10th grade dd (who is not learning challenged) this past fall, and she found it almost incomprehensible. Since we liked SWB's Story of the World series in elementary, I thought this book would be an engaging alternative to a textbook for high school. So I was really surprised when dd came to me almost in tears after struggling with the first few paragraphs, saying she just couldn't understand it. I then sat down to read it and immediately saw why she was having trouble. The style in which it's written is hard to sort through, and it really does take time to absorb and retain--you need to already have a pretty good understanding of the history in order to make sense of it. To learn the history for the first time, I think a more straightforward (even if dry) presentation is better. We ended up dropping HOAW and focussing on Spielvogel's Western Civ instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I used it for my 15 yo last spring during her freshman year. She had no trouble comprehending it, but she is gifted. She is also stubborn and only read a few great books along with it (she hates history if she has to take it, which, of course, she does. ) Dd read the text and either wrote a short paper or answered questions (usually one-three paragraph answers) for the most part. She retains well, and so for her I feel that she has at least the equiavalent of what she would have had in ps, if not better. She wanted me to find a US history text written the same way that SWB wrote this book, but I didn't find one. This is not my ideal plan, and I hope my second one will be at home for her freshman year so that she can use it in a better way. I think that with a teacher the book would be easier to understand, particularly if the lecture/lesson is given prior to the reading assignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 My dd used the Ancients in 9th and the Medieval in 10th. She was disappointed the next books were not out yet. She reads very well. She read the entire book and wrote some papers about topics that interested her. I'm sorry I don't have a better schedule worked out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I just got the book and I'll start reading it to get a feel for the book. My dd loves to read and I'm hoping the book will be a good fit for her. Now I have to find which great books to tackle without overwhelming her (and me) in process. I like the idea of writing papers. This is what she does now almost every week with our history. But her papers are pretty much just spouting back the facts. What are some ideas to get her to write more than spouting back facts? I really am clueless when it comes to writing about history and literature in depth. I'm a science person. To me, science papers are less subjective than history or lit papers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 One of my dd's did that book last year. We did not have a formalized "plan". (I would have loved some tests.) She read the book. A few times a month I would have her give me an oral narration. She chose 3 or 4 topics to do short research reports. I assigned 3 or 4 topics that I felt were important. The papers were typed, single spaced and were 3 pages or less. A couple of reports were only one page. She found pictures online and most papers had a picture. I gave a grade for "content" and a grade for grammar/writing for each paper. Those two grades were averaged for the final grade per paper. The grammar/writing grade was part of her English credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niffercoo Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I agree with Julie. I think it's a challenging read even for an adult. I wouldn't recommend it for a child with learning challenges. I tried to use HOAW for my 10th grade dd (who is not learning challenged) this past fall, and she found it almost incomprehensible. Since we liked SWB's Story of the World series in elementary, I thought this book would be an engaging alternative to a textbook for high school. So I was really surprised when dd came to me almost in tears after struggling with the first few paragraphs, saying she just couldn't understand it. I then sat down to read it and immediately saw why she was having trouble. The style in which it's written is hard to sort through, and it really does take time to absorb and retain--you need to already have a pretty good understanding of the history in order to make sense of it. To learn the history for the first time, I think a more straightforward (even if dry) presentation is better. We ended up dropping HOAW and focussing on Spielvogel's Western Civ instead. Well, bummer. I do appreciate the input, though. Saves me money on something that would frustrate him. :( Back to the drawing board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendall Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 My young 11th grader(won't be 17 till late summer) is using it this year and the last 2 years used Johnson's History of the American People. I think that book was as difficult if not more than HOAW. My son stuggles with comprehension at times in all areas of life:). I'm not doing the greatest job with it, but what we are doing is reading 3 chapters a week. I choose 5-9 terms/people/events etc to identify/explain in 2-3 sentences. I chose to do this because my son in college had these kind of questions on tests. He also had essay questions and I hope to think of some of those for my 11th grader to do as well. This takes 3-4 days a week. I try to add in a little map work and for the 5th day I like to find a primary source and have him read/summarize that. Literature is a separate course though with ancient literature much could really fit in history. I've assigned Odyssey, Iliad, some Bible chapters, Aeschylus, Plato, we are still in progress so I can't list farther than that! By his own reluctant admission, he understands/retains it best when he does these identify/explain terms or when he does what we did last year with AHoAP-write summaries of every paragraph. But those are time consuming! The newest edition of WTM mentions how to use it I think. We tried that and he didn't like doing it at all. Really what I am having him do now is similar but he doesn't recognize it:). Here is a previous thread that tells about the WTM methods for HAW might help. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187587 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Thanks for the link :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in SouthGa Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 My 9th grade son is using it this year with no problems. However, he is a huge history buff-used to read Streams of Civ and Kingfisher for fun when he was in 4th and 5th grade! I prepared a syllabus for him using HoAW, Josephus: the Essential Works, MapTrek (not coordinated, just do a lesson each week), History Scribe notebook pages, and a few other books. We are finding that the History Scribe pages don't match up real well, so he just outlines or summarizes those chapters. I posted a link on here to scribd that you can probably find if you search or I can email it to you. For the literature, he is using SMARR Ancient program (taking this at a coop) and it is going very well. Don't know that I would have tackled it on my own, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 I posted a link on here to scribd that you can probably find if you search or I can email it to you. For the literature, he is using SMARR Ancient program (taking this at a coop) and it is going very well. Don't know that I would have tackled it on my own, though! I don't see the link. Can you e-mail it to me? Thank you very much for sharing this with me. I know I won't be able to tackle it on my own. Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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