Jump to content

Menu

OUP history question--esp Pages from History books


Recommended Posts

I am trying to figure out a history plan for middle school (6th, 7th, 8th).

I am learning toward using:

OUP The World in Ancient Times set (6th grade)

OUP The Medieval and Early Modern World set (7th grade)

 

That leaves 8th to focus on American History. 

Has anyone used the OUP Pages from History books?  Are there study guides or TM's with these?  I checked out The Bill of Rights; A History in Documents from the library, and I like what I see quite a bit.  There are too many volumes to read them all, but I am wondering if using some of the these volumes could make a decent American history year. Perhaps something like this:

 

7th (for Civics study)--The Bill of Rights

Summer before 8th--Colonial America

8th--American Revolution, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Cold War

 

That could be over the top regarding amount of war reading, and I could replace one or more of those with other volumes.  On the other hand, knowing and understanding the major wars of the US gives a good framework of the history.  We could fill in the areas between those wars with resources that are less detailed.  We have done quite a bit of American history already, so I think doing something in depth such as these volumes may be just the thing before high school.

 

This is my idea for the time being anyway.  If anyone has used these books or has any opinions, I am all ears.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am using Pages from History with the K12 text The American Odyssey for dd's eighth grade year :)

 

If you look in the mess that is my signature, there is a link to this year's American history plan. I've added in many documentaries (American Experience series, various Ken Burns).

 

We're only up to the Civil War right now, though I did read all the books this last summer. My impressions:

 

Encounters in the New World and Colonial America go very well together. I believe dd read all of both books (she may have skipped small sections of overlap--I can't tell from my notes right now). She appreciated the documents pertaining to the lives of "real people," not just leaders.

 

The Bill of Rights was excellent, though she hasn't read all of it yet. I appreciated all the reading all the very old English documents that led to our founding documents. You can see the same language popping up over the centuries.

 

The Struggle against Slavery is a strong lead-in to the Civil War from all perspectives, north and south, white and black. Highly recommend.

 

The Civil War is powerful.

 

Parts of The Industrial Revolution can be read before and then after the Civil War---you may want to see what you prefer. It is not American-centric.

 

Don't skip The Gilded Age! The Jacob Riis photo essay (ch 5) on life is the cities is striking. I also like the chapters on the Progressive Era.

 

The Great Depression is excellent.

 

World War I, World War II, and The Cold War deal with the totality of all three conflicts. You might want to add in additional American-centric materials.

 

Please ask if you have any questions!

 

(And could you tag your OP with "OUP", "Oxford University Press" and "Pages from History"? I'll go back to my posts from last summer and tag mine the same way so that all will come up together in a search :))

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckymama,

Thank you very, very much for your reviews and your schedules!  They look amazing.

 

May I ask how do you implement the American history year?  Does your daughter do one chapter per week?  Do you have her do writing in addition?  I was thinking of having my son practice note-taking and write up reports/summaries rather than full essays since it seems to be a lot of reading.  I am very curious how you get it all done!

Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dd does about 5 hours of history per week. Depending on the amount of Pages from History reading and if there are an documentaries to watch, that may be equivalent to a half chapter, a full chapter, or two chapters in her main book!

 

We discuss everything---I have preread all the books, and I watch all the documentaries with her. She does not take notes from the books as she has amazing recall and I want this to be an enjoyable intro to American history before high school. Discussion is easy to fit into our day because she is the only one at home now.

 

She does have writing assignments but not for every chapter or era. I planned writing topics for every chapter, but I only assign one on her lower writing weeks (she takes an outsourced English class).

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckymama,

 

I was reading some of your past posts, and you mentioned having your daughter do the reading Monday-Thursday and do a writing assignment Friday. Specifically you mentioned using the free response questions from past AP US history exams as writing assignments. I could definitely see that working for us, and it would give great preparation for AP tests.

 

I think the Pages from History books would be an excellent resource with this approach since the AP exam has document based questions.

 

So thanks again for sharing your work and experience.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
  • 9 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...