Hakim's History of the US

[rockala]

I would love to hear feedback if you like/dislike the series as I am trying to decide on it, I am thinking I want to leave it out, but has anyone done Sonlight Core for 8th grade without using Hakim's History of the US?

 

If so, what did you use and how did you coordinate with the IG? Or did anyone use History of the US and not struggle with the world view aspect?

 

Thanks,

Kathy

[Mom22ns]

We did core 100 with a 7th grader and LOVED the Hakim books. The kids thought they were very interesting to read. It certainly does contain a strong liberal bias, but we read them out loud and discussed naturally when something flagged for us. See if your library has them. Both county libraries near us did and we were able to check them out as needed instead of buying. You could do the same to preview.

 

Most people love or hate these books. There doesn't seem to be much in between. You'll really never know which side of the fence you are on until you read them for yourself.

[rjand6more]

We loved the Hakim books with Core 100 in 8th grade! They are laid out in a fun kind of way and are not dry and boring to read. Lots of pictures, diagrams, and political humor(which my son loved) They were easy to read, but honestly, when it comes to history, do you really want a heavy,dry text??

[mom31257]

DD did SL Core 100 this year. After 3 volumes of Hakim, she pleaded with me to find her some other spine to learn "what actually happened" in history. She did not like the style of the author at all. She felt there was too much fluff and commentary instead of the actual facts.

 

I owned BJU's 8th grade textbook and let her go to the next topic in it. She said she learned so much more from the textbook, so I let her switch.

 

I had already rearranged my IG sequence because dd preferred to read one book at a time. I just tried to arrange them as chronologically as I could according to time period covered in the book. Some books were very short and could be read quickly, so it was fairly easy to keep her reading the literature that would correspond to her history topic.

[Nan in Mass]

I tried to get my youngest to read them. He said the tone was condescending and refused to read them.

[Myra]

My sons enjoyed the series. They actually retained alot because of her special style, blatant presentation, and obvious opinions/slant. So many times when they were reading, they would shout out about what they just read and want to discuss how she presented it, etc - not at all like my sons to volunteer to start a discussion with me about school work! It is definitely a junior high text, but I'd definitely use it again!

 

Myra

[Harriet Vane]

We loved the Hakim books with Core 100 in 8th grade! They are laid out in a fun kind of way and are not dry and boring to read. Lots of pictures, diagrams, and political humor(which my son loved) They were easy to read, but honestly, when it comes to history, do you really want a heavy,dry text??

 

:iagree:

 

Plenty of solid information made more interesting with stories and other nifty additions. Well written and engaging. We love it.

[SoCal Sandra]

Dss read the first chapter of the first volume at the beginning of 5th grade. Both dss told me the author's tone was too condescending for them.

[Farmgirl70]

We actually used Hakim for high school, along with some other resources. My older two originally thought that it was too "young", so I bought a textbook as well. They found the textbook dry and stripped down in comparison so they ended up back with the Hakim books.

[Julie in MN]

We actually used Hakim for high school, along with some other resources.

 

My dd did, too. Wasn't Sonlight 100 originally for high school? Anyways, that's what she did, with adjustments. We used the Oxford quiz book, so she kept up on the details. I also had the Oxford books with activities & maps & such, although dd didn't like those as well as I did :tongue_smilie:

 

We had the Sonlight notes, which try to balance some of the viewpoints. Honestly, they were too long for me & too focused on the North/South bias that Hakim has, but there were some good points that were well supported. In the end, I just put some sticky notes in various places in the books and said "talk to mom about other points of view."

 

She still remembers details about American history today that I am less likely to keep straight (she's 24 now).

[4wildberrys]

My dd did Sl 100 for 10th, using the Hakim books and LOVED it all! I used the tests from Hewitt for the History of US books and did much of the IG notes and questions, although the old style SL IG was SUCH a nightmare we couldn't keep up. It's totally streamlined now and looks great. My ds will be finishing up SL 100 +400 in 12th. I agree with the pp who mentioned that Hakim's books are either loved or hated----really doesn't seem to be an in-between on that one. I know they are considered middle school, but honestly I don't care because using the SL IG adds so much more and they are SO much more interesting than your average textbook.

[mom2paul]

Core 100 was probably my son's favorite of all time. He loved the Hakim books and was not pleased when I sold them. :tongue_smilie:

[AK_Mom4]

Dss read the first chapter of the first volume at the beginning of 5th grade. Both dss told me the author's tone was too condescending for them.

 

DS did these in 8th grade and his reaction to the 1st chapter of book one was the same. I made him keep reading, though and he ended up enjoying the series very much. Enough that he comes back and reads them on his own now and then!

 

BTW - did not use these as part of Sonlight. I found a syllabus and tests from Hewitt that was very good after I found the books super cheap on ebay.

[Book Nut]

:iagree:

 

Plenty of solid information made more interesting with stories and other nifty additions. Well written and engaging. We love it.

 

I agree! We really liked these books.

[beachnut]

I used "A History of US" with my 5th & 8th grade boys, and they LOVED it. My 8th grader kept reading ahead so he could find out what happened next. The narratives are very engaging.

 

There's a great website at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/index.html that correlates to Hakim's 10-volume series. It's got teacher's guides, student activities, photos, audio clips, timeline info, etc.

 

Overall, I'd highly recommend Joy Hakim's books.

[HollyDay]

We used Hakim's for 6th grade this year. I'll be continuing the timeline next year for 7th. They have been fine. Lots of pictures, cartoons, political cartoons, drawings, and such. It helped give a "feel" to the time period we were covering.

[Greta Lea]

.

[Book Nut]

My dd did Sl 100 for 10th, using the Hakim books and LOVED it all! I used the tests from Hewitt for the History of US books and did much of the IG notes and questions, although the old style SL IG was SUCH a nightmare we couldn't keep up. It's totally streamlined now and looks great. My ds will be finishing up SL 100 +400 in 12th. I agree with the pp who mentioned that Hakim's books are either loved or hated----really doesn't seem to be an in-between on that one. I know they are considered middle school, but honestly I don't care because using the SL IG adds so much more and they are SO much more interesting than your average textbook.

 

I so agree about them being more interesting than a typical textbook! I'm using them with the tests and student pages for my 10th grader for US History. I could not find a more engagin & thorough text for US History After a short-term class my son had, I realized that he really needed more practice with traditional tests (especially multiple choice). He's dyslexic & we've always used SL or a literature approach.

[6packofun]

I saw in another thread that you used Notgrass *and* Sonlight 100. Can you share a little about how this worked? I was seriously considering it and thought I was nutty for doing so. LOL I was hoping to use a Christian text *with* a mostly objective secular text for history (and science, for that matter) and thought this would be a great combo! Just wondering how to make it work without overdoing it.