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Interesting American History text for highschool?


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My 9th grader is currently reading History of the Ancient World along with his Notgrass. I am LOVING HOAW. It is packed with information presented in a very engaging and interesting way. Notgrass is just the opposite. :glare: However we're reading it for it's conservative bias.

 

I am looking towards the rest of highschool and am wanting an American History text that is similar to HOAW...interesting, engaging and packed with information. I'm not betting on SWB having her series finished by the time we get there and I think it might be beneficial to have at least one year that exclusively focuses on US history. I don't know. I was planning on following MFW for high school but I really am not thrilled.

 

I haven't looked at Bob Jones American history. I am enjoying their Physical Science text but generally history texts are awful and I've steered clear. But maybe someone could give some positive reviews on it or suggest some engaging alternative books. Is Joy Hakim challenging enough for high school? I've heard good things about her books for the most part.

 

Thanks so much!!

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Some will say Hakim isn't enough, but it is a favorite over here. Ds read the Hakim series twice, once in middle school, and again in high school when he asked if he could instead doing BJU. He also read about 8-10 of the books in the Beautiful Feet "American and World History, Civil War to present." He says now that that year is the only year of history that he remembers (the rest were fact cram textbooks).

 

Dd read Hakim's series in middle school, then did All American History (both volumes) for high school.

 

Can you tell we don't like traditional textbooks for history??

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Some will say Hakim isn't enough, but it is a favorite over here. Ds read the Hakim series twice, once in middle school, and again in high school when he asked if he could instead doing BJU. He also read about 8-10 of the books in the Beautiful Feet "American and World History, Civil War to present." He says now that that year is the only year of history that he remembers (the rest were fact cram textbooks).

 

Dd read Hakim's series in middle school, then did All American History (both volumes) for high school.

 

Can you tell we don't like traditional textbooks for history??

 

I'm not familiar with All American History. Is that by Hakim? Did your dd like it?

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The olders read Bennet'ts America: The Last Best Hope for American history. Very readable. Dd actually re-read it for fun this summer.

 

We used the Roadmap too, mostly for tests and movie lists. I feel like we barely touched the tip of the iceberg there.

 

Thanks for the rec. I'll see if I can check it out from the library and give it a look. I'm assuming the Roadmap is a companion guide?

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My 9th grader is currently reading History of the Ancient World along with his Notgrass. I am LOVING HOAW. It is packed with information presented in a very engaging and interesting way. Notgrass is just the opposite. :glare: However we're reading it for it's conservative bias.

 

I am looking towards the rest of highschool and am wanting an American History text that is similar to HOAW...interesting, engaging and packed with information. I'm not betting on SWB having her series finished by the time we get there and I think it might be beneficial to have at least one year that exclusively focuses on US history. I don't know. I was planning on following MFW for high school but I really am not thrilled.

 

I haven't looked at Bob Jones American history. I am enjoying their Physical Science text but generally history texts are awful and I've steered clear. But maybe someone could give some positive reviews on it or suggest some engaging alternative books. Is Joy Hakim challenging enough for high school? I've heard good things about her books for the most part.

 

Thanks so much!!

 

This might be more than you're looking for, but I've been enjoying reading through Boorstin's The Americans, which is a three volume history. You would need to supplement with something else when you hit modern, but I've learned a ton from the series.

 

The Landmark History of the American People is also by Boorstin, but is more concise.

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This might be more than you're looking for, but I've been enjoying reading through Boorstin's The Americans, which is a three volume history. You would need to supplement with something else when you hit modern, but I've learned a ton from the series.

 

The Landmark History of the American People is also by Boorstin, but is more concise.

 

I think I used to own that 2nd book once. Is it a giant landmark book? I never got around to reading it. :blush: As it turns out my 9th grader is not much of a history buff. 3 volumes might push him over the edge. :D But I'll check into the other Boorstin book. Is it just as readable do you think even though it's condensed?

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Dd isn't fond of history, so we do history for her as "get 'er done." She read Hakim in middle school and really liked it. All American History is short and to the point. She was able to remember some from Hakim to expand it. All American has some very good questions in each chapter that you can pick from to expand it, and it was good for dd to expand her researching skills. It was too much to do both volumes and all of those questions, though, so I picked one every 2-3 chapters. Some ended up being actual papers. We used the quizzes in the workbook for tests. I chose to do open book with time limits, so she had to know the material, but could look up a date or a commander of a side in battle.

 

Dd has vision problems (discovered this past summer) so she is limited to the amount of reading she can do (it takes a LONG time for her to read). So AAH was a good solution for us.

 

Ds had a great set up using Beautiful Feet. BF uses a few books of Hakim, we added the entire series. He read 2-3 chapters of Hakim (quick read) a day. Sometimes he read a book that BF suggests going alongside Hakim, sometimes we stopped Hakim (during the Marrin books). We didn't read every book in the pack, because it is suggested to take two years to do it. I called BF and they suggested what books to do and what to skip. Here is the link to the pack:

 

http://www.bfbooks.com/Literature-Packs/U-S-World-History-Packs

 

A lot of the books are available at the library. Our small town library has the Hakim series. So you could get the study guide and the few hard to get titles to save money and get the rest from the library.

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I would not use Hakim for high school.

 

We used The American Odyssey. It is a high school American history text from K12. You can buy it without enrolling in their online course. It was very readable and coherent. It is the best high school American history text I've seen (and I've seen way too many). Highly recommended.

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We used Hakim for middle school and we really enjoyed it. I do think it could be enough for high school, but I'm not sure it is what you are looking for. While it is conversational and easy to read, it is not packed with information. It is chatty and light.

 

I have purchased and am planning to use America: A Narrative History next year, but since I haven't used it with the kids yet, I can't really recommend it yet.

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Is Joy Hakim challenging enough for high school? I've heard good things about her books for the most part.

 

My older dd used Hakim for high school. She is a slow but exacting reader, and to this day she knows more American history than most (she's 24 now). There are quizzes and activities from Oxford Press, as well as Sonlight questions, etc.

 

However, if your child read HOAW in 9th grade, then I imagine he might think Hakim is too easy in 11th.

 

If you don't get any replies about the BJU text, why don't you try it out before you decide?

Julie

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This is what I would use based on your criteria - I love this book!

Paul Johnson, History of the American People

http://www.amazon.com/History-American-People-Paul-Johnson/dp/0060930349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318849011&sr=8-1

 

 

That cover looks familiar. I think my mom has that book. I even was wondering in the back of my mind what was that history book my brother had recommended to her that she had raved about. I think this is it. Do you think it would be suitable for a highschool text? As you know HOAW has no support materials like this book, I"m sure. So we outline and summarize and discuss. But we are concurrently using Notgrass and get more writing assignment and discussion topics from there, and quizzes/tests. It kind of feeds my need for hand-holding.:D But I am gaining confidence as I use it. HOAW that is.

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This is what I would use based on your criteria - I love this book!

Paul Johnson, History of the American People

http://www.amazon.com/History-American-People-Paul-Johnson/dp/0060930349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318849011&sr=8-1

 

This is what we are planning to use also. I didn't post earlier b/c we haven't actually used it yet, although I can't wait to -- I've dipped into it at random places as bedtime reading, and I've found every passage engaging and well written, even for periods I thought I wasn't interested in, such as pre-Columbian America.

 

I was thinking about using it as a supplementary text, not as a spine, so I wasn't worried about support materials. However, I know I first heard about this book on this board (as with many other wonderful resources!), and I *think* someone had posted a syllabus using this book. Perhaps search the archives?

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This is what we are planning to use also. I didn't post earlier b/c we haven't actually used it yet, although I can't wait to -- I've dipped into it at random places as bedtime reading, and I've found every passage engaging and well written, even for periods I thought I wasn't interested in, such as pre-Columbian America.

 

I was thinking about using it as a supplementary text, not as a spine, so I wasn't worried about support materials. However, I know I first heard about this book on this board (as with many other wonderful resources!), and I *think* someone had posted a syllabus using this book. Perhaps search the archives?

 

Ooh, a syllabus? That would be wonderful. I'll look around. And yes, my mom does own this book and LOVES it. How great!! I guess if it comes to it I could get a traditional text to work alongside with...maybe Bob Jones. I'm really not loving the Notgrass but if one landed in my lap I guess I would use it. I'm more likely to find a very old, very used BJU for cheap. But I'm going to hunt for that syllabus. Thank you. :001_smile:

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Ooh, a syllabus? That would be wonderful. I'll look around. And yes, my mom does own this book and LOVES it. How great!! I guess if it comes to it I could get a traditional text to work alongside with...maybe Bob Jones. I'm really not loving the Notgrass but if one landed in my lap I guess I would use it. I'm more likely to find a very old, very used BJU for cheap. But I'm going to hunt for that syllabus. Thank you. :001_smile:

 

I poked around a bit, and found a number of threads (including this one) asking for support materials for Paul Johnson's book. Then I recalled that I had obtained one ... long ago ... and checked my hard drive, and there it is -- dated August 2008! Haha, it may come in handy for me too. I'm not sure how to get a pdf to you -- perhaps you pm me and I email it to you? (and to anyone else who'd like it). I'm chagrined that I don't know from whom I got it, but it was certainly via these boards, and I hope I have the right to pass it on again. Perhaps it was from the person mentioned in the thread I link to above ...

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I poked around a bit, and found a number of threads (including this one) asking for support materials for Paul Johnson's book. Then I recalled that I had obtained one ... long ago ... and checked my hard drive, and there it is -- dated August 2008! Haha, it may come in handy for me too. I'm not sure how to get a pdf to you -- perhaps you pm me and I email it to you? (and to anyone else who'd like it). I'm chagrined that I don't know from whom I got it, but it was certainly via these boards, and I hope I have the right to pass it on again. Perhaps it was from the person mentioned in the thread I link to above ...

 

 

Thanks!!! I Pm'ed you. :001_smile:

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Thank-you, Laura!

 

Caryl, I don't see your pm. Maybe try sending it again ...

Everyone else should have received the syllabus. I'm very glad to pass it along.

 

Just want to give credit where it's due -- I'm pretty sure it was "Tina in Ouray" who generously sent it to me in August 2008. Based on old threads, she taught using this outline. (I'm not sure if she made it herself or not.) She hasn't posted in several years, but if you ever see this, Tina, thank you!!! :001_smile:

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  • 2 years later...

You're very welcome, Line & Stingy! Looks like a win/win situation ... 14 downloads already, and no one had to bother with PMs! I'm glad I finally figured out how to upload a file. Big thanks to Tina in Ouray :)

 

Note: we didn't end up using the outline ourselves, but I'm glad I downloaded it way back when. (I'm better at collecting resources than at using them, LOL.) And my son did read the entire Johnson book his junior year and LOVED it.

 

 

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