CarolynMR Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I am looking for recommendations for a US History curriculum for a slow reader who will be in 11th grade. I would like the curriculum to prepare her take both the US History I and US History II CLEP exams. (My 3 older children used Sonlight or TOG for history in high school, but my 4th child does not enjoy reading and is a slow reader.) I have considered ABEKA US History, but not sure if (a.) it would be too dry after reading books instead of textbooks and (b.) if it would prepare her to take the CLEP tests. Would love to hear recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I've been using Tindall's America: A Narrative History for my university class this spring. I plan on using it for my son in 11th grade next year. However, we are using 1 volume, not 2. Depends on what you mean by slow reader, my son is a slow reader and I plan on using the 1 volume spread over the year, my college level class uses the one volume in the semester, which is a much faster reading schedule. IMO, I would focus on covering one CLEP for a slower reader, instead of trying to study for both. Also, check with colleges they might be considering. I'm considering having ds do the CLEP test, but one school he is considering does not grant credit for the US History test while another does. Acceptance will vary from school to school. Here are some of resource college board recommends. http://clep.collegeboard.org/exam/history-us-i/resources Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the recommendation. Do you know if Tindall's America comes with chapter questions and answers? quizzes? essays? (answer key with suggested points to be included in essays?) I would prefer to not spend time creating my own quizzes and tests. Thank you for the link. I will check it out, also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Here's the College Board's tips for the US History 1 CLEP test, which includes suggested texts and other resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the recommendation. Do you know if Tindall's America comes with chapter questions and answers? quizzes? essays? (answer key with suggested points to be included in essays?) I would prefer to not spend time creating my own quizzes and tests. Thank you for the link. I will check it out, also. Here's a study site for the 8th edition. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america8/full/ The 9th edition is the latest, but not much different from the 8th, which can be purchased much cheaper. This is also an 8th Brief edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I used The Great Courses US Hstory DVD course as the "spine" for my boys who both scored 5s on the AP exam so CLEP shouldn't be a problem. I did make the write an essay per week (suggested in the guide) and there are no quizzes or anything like that as it is a college level course. There are 84 1/2 lectures. They used to watch 3 a week. I supplemented it with other DVDs and Critical Thinking through US history (which does have exercise for students to do - but you have to grade unfortunately). And I added in Sonlight books from the Civics and Govt core as they had no trouble with reading but you could obviously leave the extras out. There are lots of good DVD series that flesh out US History (eg John Adams) and so you can consider using DVDs instead of books to get around the reading issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the suggestions! I will look at the Great Courses in US History DVD series. I do not mind grading at all--just don't want to create my own tests and would prefer not coming up with daily reading questions. Did you have your boys take notes during the DVD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I used The Great Courses US Hstory DVD course as the "spine" for my boys who both scored 5s on the AP exam so CLEP shouldn't be a problem. I did make the write an essay per week (suggested in the guide) and there are no quizzes or anything like that as it is a college level course. There are 84 1/2 lectures. They used to watch 3 a week. I supplemented it with other DVDs and Critical Thinking through US history (which does have exercise for students to do - but you have to grade unfortunately). And I added in Sonlight books from the Civics and Govt core as they had no trouble with reading but you could obviously leave the extras out. There are lots of good DVD series that flesh out US History (eg John Adams) and so you can consider using DVDs instead of books to get around the reading issue this sounds really good. How did you decide on the essay topic? I'm not really good at writing essay questions. Did you use the 'You Decide' books as well as the 'Critical Thinking through....'? What books from Sonlight did you add? Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the suggestions! I will look at the Great Courses in US History DVD series. I do not mind grading at all--just don't want to create my own tests and would prefer not coming up with daily reading questions. Did you have your boys take notes during the DVD? Here is a link to the course I developed: http://fundafunda.com/products/ushistory.pdf I did tell them to take notes. They sort of did. They are boys! And one of them has an amazing ability to remember things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 this sounds really good. How did you decide on the essay topic? I'm not really good at writing essay questions. Did you use the 'You Decide' books as well as the 'Critical Thinking through....'? What books from Sonlight did you add? Heather Here is my course: http://fundafunda.com/products/ushistory.pdf . I eventually wrote it up as a few friends used it as well. I do give the essays I used out of the guide. I didn't use the You Decide books and only the pertinent parts of the Critical Thinking ones as it would have been too much otherwise. The books are listed in the pdf but I can remember some were Lies my Teacher told me and Up from Slavery. I also include many of the other movies my boys watched. They didn't watch all of them as some they had already watched in previous years. For many people my course is more rigorous than what they want - but then you just leave some out. I developed it as mine had done the Sonlight US History as 8th graders and I needed something for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 Merylvdm, Thank you for the link with your course! Would a slow reader have a difficult time with the Paul Johnson book? Did the essay questions come with a list of points a good essay would include (for the teacher to assess content of the essay)? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 I've been using Tindall's America: A Narrative History for my university class this spring. I plan on using it for my son in 11th grade next year. However, we are using 1 volume, not 2. Depends on what you mean by slow reader, my son is a slow reader and I plan on using the 1 volume spread over the year, my college level class uses the one volume in the semester, which is a much faster reading schedule. IMO, I would focus on covering one CLEP for a slower reader, instead of trying to study for both. Also, check with colleges they might be considering. I'm considering having ds do the CLEP test, but one school he is considering does not grant credit for the US History test while another does. Acceptance will vary from school to school. Here are some of resource college board recommends. http://clep.collegeboard.org/exam/history-us-i/resources Elegantlion--Thank you for the text suggestion as well as the link to a study guide. Is the book engaging for a high school student?--Did you find it to be more of a narrative or a textbook (like ABEKA)? As far as covering only 1/2, I am really hoping to cover all of American history in order to give her a full credit for American history on her high school transcript. Do you think she could earn a whole credit and only cover "half" of American history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 America: The Last Best Hope comes as an audiobook, and reads like a real book (as opposed to a textbook. There are quizzes, tests, etc on the Roadmap but rumor has it they aren't selling access any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 America: The Last Best Hope comes as an audiobook, and reads like a real book (as opposed to a textbook. There are quizzes, tests, etc on the Roadmap but rumor has it they aren't selling access any more. I was very excited about America: The Last Best Hope about 3 weeks ago, and I thought it was my answer until I could not access the Roadmap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Elegantlion--Thank you for the text suggestion as well as the link to a study guide. Is the book engaging for a high school student?--Did you find it to be more of a narrative or a textbook (like ABEKA)? As far as covering only 1/2, I am really hoping to cover all of American history in order to give her a full credit for American history on her high school transcript. Do you think she could earn a whole credit and only cover "half" of American history? While set up like a text, Tindall is very readable and would be engaging for a high school student. I don't think you need to cover the entirety of American history to grant one credit. The one volume of Tindall covers 1865 to present and is used for a semester college class, which usually translates into one full year of high school level work. For a slow reader (I have one) if you want to cover all of American history you'd need to pick something besides Tindall, probably. I have no experience with it, but Notgrass has an American History curriculum designed for high school that covers all periods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Thank you, Elegantlion. I posted a question about Notgrass today, but no one has replied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Merylvdm, Thank you for the link with your course! Would a slow reader have a difficult time with the Paul Johnson book? Did the essay questions come with a list of points a good essay would include (for the teacher to assess content of the essay)? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Merylvdm, Thank you for the link with your course! Would a slow reader have a difficult time with the Paul Johnson book? Did the essay questions come with a list of points a good essay would include (for the teacher to assess content of the essay)? Thank you! I think that wouldn't be an ideal spine for a slow reader - but you could just omit it entirely as the lectures do cover a lot. My course is very rigorous ie for those looking for something less rigorous - just take the harder stuff out. It is not a hard book to read ... we tried the Penguin US History first (my older son used that - Collegeboard had it listed as one that doesn't read like a textbook) but he found it incredibly dull. Which is when I remembered reading Paul Johnson about 20 years ago for fun ... and so I put that in instead. If you are looking for a course that will prepare them well for college - then they will have to learn to read books that are much harder the the Paul Johnson book. Obviously for a student in 9th / 10th grade one isn't looking for the same thing as for an 11th /12th grader who has college just round the corner. I give an example of an essay but I don't go through and list points for each different one. That is something I could do if people wanted it - I would need to charge a bit for that version ($9.95 probably) but I like history and would be up for doing that if it is something people ask for. As I know history fairly well, I just read their essays and could easily point out major things they had forgotten. But I understand not every parent may have enough knowledge to adequately grade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolynMR Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Merylvdm, Have you had an interaction with My Father's World US History I and II? If so, do you think it is a college-prep course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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