8th grade level History suggestions

[DawnM]

We did SOTW in Elem.

 

I need something for "not quite ready for high school level but not wanting Elem. level."

 

I also want something I don't have to put tons of prep work into. TOG is out for example!

 

It seems to me that most Classical Homeschool curricula is sectioned off by "4th-8th grades" and then "9th-12th grades" but the lower level ones are far too easy and boring for my 8th grader and the high school ones require some reading of books that we really aren't ready for.

 

Is there anything geared for actual Middle School levels? Something that will challenge him enough to start gearing him towards high school level work, but not so challenging that he really isn't ready for it.

 

I would love something I don't have to tweak heavily. I am so tired of creating a curriculum out of a curriculum.

 

Dawn

[Chris in VA]

YES--I loved k12's Human Odyssey books. There are three, world history in scope. I have only read (and have) the 3rd one, but it is GREAT. Very readable without being an elementary book, and has some excerpts from primary sources.

I found it on amazon.

Here is the cheapest--looks like they are selling the cheap ones fast as parents are buying for next year...This is the 3rd one, IDK if you want the first or whatever.

 

I don't know if you want a companion guide, but you could supplement with literature, and have your child pick a topic every week or so (less if you want less writing) to write a short report on. No tweaking necessary.

 

I have a list of books I was going to use to supplement 6th grade that would easily fit into 8th grade, if you want it--but it's for 20th cent. You could use some of Sonlight's suggested books for that age if you wanted.

 

I also liked Veritas Omnibus; we used their first year Omni in 9th grade. Lots of reading, but at a logic level. I can tell you more about that if you want. Very step by step in the teacher's guide, and the only tweaking I did was skip a few books and not do the progym writing (we are not Reform). We used Omnibus 1 and 2.

[DawnM]

Is there also some sort of workbook to go along with it or is it just a reading source?

 

YES--I loved k12's Human Odyssey books. There are three, world history in scope. I have only read (and have) the 3rd one, but it is GREAT. Very readable without being an elementary book, and has some excerpts from primary sources.

I found it on amazon.

Here is the cheapest--looks like they are selling the cheap ones fast as parents are buying for next year...This is the 3rd one, IDK if you want the first or whatever.

[Chris in VA]

Here's a thread that might be helpful. I was not going to use the student pages (and they are expensive).

 

You could also use something like Barron's World History the Easy Way. I used it as a supplement for my ds. It is kind of a reading source/text with questions, essay-type assessment, vocab, etc. Really basic and you can get it at B&N. Not the most exciting, but if your child just needs a spine to read from and you go from there, it's not bad.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Matryoshka]

Is there also some sort of workbook to go along with it or is it just a reading source?

 

For the first two volumes there are Student and Teacher pages, which are the offline portion of the K12 course. I started using them, then found them a bit to busy-workish, and I preferred to assign my own papers rather than theirs, and I supplemented a lot with Oxford's World in Ancient/Medieval Times series, historical fiction, biographies and documentaries.

 

Now my older two are in high school and I only have my youngest at home, I've broken the K12 Student pages back out (we're halfway through Volume 2). She is not a big reader, so all the supplementary reading isn't going to fly for her. I'm having her do the Guided Reading for each chapter as I read it to her, then we discuss. There's also some sheets on the Primary Source materials in the book that I use as discussion points rather than having her fill them out. I'm not having her do the other stuff in there. I still plan to do some documentaries.

 

There are no Student/Teacher pages for the third volume; I believe all the lessons that go with the text are online. At that point I'll probably have her take notes/outilne the text; the Guided Reading we're doing now should work her up to that, and then discussion and documentaries.

[DawnM]

On the website it seems to be similar to the others.....5th-8th and then High School.

 

Is this teacher intensive or could a child do most of it on his own?

 

Beautiful Feet? My rising 8th grader will use their ancient set that combines the middle school and high school work in one guide. The reading level of the middle school books seemed light for her, but it was easy to decide on a combo of both for her. Several of the books overlap between them anyway.

[DawnM]

I think honestly the most frustrating thing is that I can't SEE these books! There are a few samples, but when I see, touch, feel a book and browse I get a feel for whether it will work for us or not. Heavy Sigh.

[DawnM]

I see.

 

Yeah, I did all of this (tweaking, supplementing, etc.. with Sonlight). If it will require me to do a lot of planning I will stick with SL as at least I am familiar with it enough to do so without a huge amount of effort.

 

I really, really want something they could do mostly on their own. It may not exist.

 

Dawn

 

 

For the first two volumes there are Student and Teacher pages, which are the offline portion of the K12 course. I started using them, then found them a bit to busy-workish, and I preferred to assign my own papers rather than theirs, and I supplemented a lot with Oxford's World in Ancient/Medieval Times series, historical fiction, biographies and documentaries.

 

Now my older two are in high school and I only have my youngest at home, I've broken the K12 Student pages back out (we're halfway through Volume 2). She is not a big reader, so all the supplementary reading isn't going to fly for her. I'm having her do the Guided Reading for each chapter as I read it to her, then we discuss. There's also some sheets on the Primary Source materials in the book that I use as discussion points rather than having her fill them out. I'm not having her do the other stuff in there. I still plan to do some documentaries.

 

There are no Student/Teacher pages for the third volume; I believe all the lessons that go with the text are online. At that point I'll probably have her take notes/outilne the text; the Guided Reading we're doing now should work her up to that, and then discussion and documentaries.

[SilverMoon]

On 5/18/2013 at 6:24 AM, DawnM said:

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[DawnM]

Thank you.

 

I am looking at the samples for Volume 2, Medieval History, and they only have 3 pages of samples and they are listed as "Week One" or whatever week. They don't seem to be listed by days.

 

I have gone to CBS and RR and can't find more samples than what the website has.

 

Dawn

 

The two levels are meshed together in one guide, and nothing says this one is for 5-8 and this one is for 9-12. They expect you to just get the book set for the level you want, and skip entries to read books you don't have. Rainbow Resource and CBD usually have better samples. I can type one up when I get back from my walk with said rising 8th grader.

 

My dd will be doing hers independently. One day's worth of work is clearly marked and explained in the slim guide.

[Matryoshka]

I see.

 

Yeah, I did all of this (tweaking, supplementing, etc.. with Sonlight). If it will require me to do a lot of planning I will stick with SL as at least I am familiar with it enough to do so without a huge amount of effort.

 

I really, really want something they could do mostly on their own. It may not exist.

 

 

Well, if you want them to do it all on their own, and you don't mind spending a few $, you can always just buy the K12 course. Then you're out of the loop entirely. They read themselves, do the assignments online (they have a lot of supplemental stuff online that I don't have access to with just buying the text) or in the student pages.

 

Connect the Thoughts also has a self-directed history, which I think is offline. There's also History at Our House, which is video-taught, you can choose either live class with discussion or asynchronous.

[DawnM]

No, I don't want a class online.

 

I just don't want heavy teacher intensive. I don't mind grading or looking over what they have done, but I don't want to recreate a curr OR do heavy teacher planning.

 

I will look at Connect the Thoughts. I haven't heard of it.

 

Well, if you want them to do it all on their own, and you don't mind spending a few $, you can always just buy the K12 course. Then you're out of the loop entirely. They read themselves, do the assignments online (they have a lot of supplemental stuff online that I don't have access to with just buying the text) or in the student pages.

 

Connect the Thoughts also has a self-directed history, which I think is offline. There's also History at Our House, which is video-taught, you can choose either live class with discussion or asynchronous.

[SilverMoon]

On 5/18/2013 at 6:40 AM, DawnM said:

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[HollyDay]

We did geography for 8th grade. Dd's reviewed several programs with me and chose PAC World Cultural Geography. I added literature from the various countries we studied, art, music, and food. It was a fun study and perfect for 8th grade!

[DawnM]

What is PAC?

 

We did geography for 8th grade. Dd's reviewed several programs with me and chose PAC World Cultural Geography. I added literature from the various countries we studied, art, music, and food. It was a fun study and perfect for 8th grade!

[DawnM]

I did see those RR Ancients samples, but was wondering about Vol. 2 samples.

 

I am wondering if this is all that different than MOH or Notgrass. It seems quite similar......ranges 4th/5th-8th and then High School. All seem to have 2-3 lessons per week and a reading list that looks fairly similar.

 

Dawn

 

 

I didn't see which period you were needing. Medieval got a makeover and isn't combined. Most of the books in the high school set are also in the 5-8 set. A kid that's done Sonlight for years would probably be fine with the 9-12 set. I don't see anything in there I wouldn't hand my DD, and the assignments aren't difficult.

 

We have the same situation this fall. DD did Veritas Press history and literature for years, but she's not ready for a high school course. BF's reading level seems light, and a good stair step. Ancients is broken into individual lessons. RR shows it. The guide is a slim spiral bound book. The pace is 2-3 lessons a week. DD plans to do the reading one day and the work the next, which would put her right at 2.5 lessons a week. She can do the planning herself. We bought the 9-12 books, and added a couple larger picture books that were more architecture related (Pyramid, Grand Constructions).

[FriedClams]

I'm planning on Veritas Press' Self Paced Omnibus for next year when I'll have a 7th and 8th grader.

[HollyDay]

What is PAC?

 

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum

 

http://pacworks.com/newpac/?page_id=337

[DawnM]

Thank you all. I have spent a couple of days looking up the suggestions listed here and I think I have a little better grasp of what I would like to have.

 

It has helped to see samples of curr. choices!

[Chris in VA]

What did you choose?

If you don't mind sharing! lol

[Vida Winter]

We are planning on using a History at Our House live class - European History - this fall.

[HeatherH720]

I bought K12's Human Odyssey vol 1 for my rising 7th grader last month and have been reading chapters here and there through out it to see what I think. I do not like it. I think it's very dry and it puts this history-lovin' mama to sleep in every section. I jumped around from Mesopotamia to Rome to see if it was just Mesopotamia I personally found boring. (I love Roman history.) Nope, I even struggled to get through the reading on Rome.

 

HO is definitely not the worst textbookish material I've come across, but it's still textbookish enough to me to not want to use it. Christian Bookstore has a few sample pages, I believe.

 

I'm looking into The World in Ancient Time series now to see if it'll be a better fit. I'm also looking into Creekedge Press's task cards for ancient history and History Portfolio. Not sure on those yet.