Notgrass Exploring America to prepare to CLEP in US History I and II?

[CarolynMR]

I am trying to decide which American history curriculum to use for my DD (rising junior) who is a slow reader.  I would like her to be prepared to take the CLEP exams for US History I and II.

 

Thoughts about Notgrass Exploring America as preparation for the CLEP? 

 

(My 3rd DD did well on the Western Civ I and the US History I using TOG, but my 4th child has not been able to keep up with the TOG or Sonlight readings like my older 3.  I have used a combination of ABeka (World History) and Sonlight (Story of the World) for 20th Century World history this year.  She enjoyed the SotW.  She reads the ABEKA text and answers the questions without difficulty, but she finds the ABeka quizzes and tests ask her too many details--and she doesn't like memorizing a bunch of facts.  I do wonder if because she is used to a curriculum with a bigger picture (TOG dialectic) and Sonlight, that the ABeka textbook with details is too great of a change in focus.)

 

I would greatly appreciate hearing of anyone's experience!

[CarolynMR]

Just spent a lot of time reading about MFW on the forum.  I would like to hear of people's experiences and likes/dislikes of US1 and US2.

 

Also, is it possible to do all US history in 11th and then government and econ in 12th using MFW?

[cbollin]

I'm not sure Notgrass has the amount needed for CLEP Us History or not.    I know MFW uses bju text and recommends the REA Study Guide for CLEP history.    I'm pretty sure Notgrass world history is not enough for CLEP Western Civ, so I"m guessing without evidence that Notgrass american is not "enough" for CLEP without having something extra beyond REA Guide.. but I dont' know...   I know my oldest was getting in the 60's on her practice CLEPs after BJU in the MFW program (passing is 50).

 

I wrote this on another thread not realizing you had asked here too.  but I'll add more info...

 

The way you're thinking of mixing and matching US1 and US2 to get the history, sounds like a harder thing to do with MFW.  The US history in US1 year is not only contained in first semester.   You start history, then when it gets to the time in history when the US is formed and a US gov't is needed, then you study gov't (about week 11-25 or close enough to those weeks), then you finish the first half of US history.   That's a good time to take the CLEP Us History to 1877 after a few weeks of study in the CLEP study guide they offer.    So you could plunk out the gov't weeks, and mix and match the history from end of year and then do the rest... but oh, that sounds complicated. 

 

I didn't say this on the other thread: Doing the Econ course ...  that's elective and you don't need any MFW manual for that course.  The lesson planner is in the box of Econ in a Box.  :)   I liked that course.

 

for History:

What my friend's son did:   I have a friend whose son was in the pilot program for MFW high school.  But there was a problem.  When he was in 12th grade, he was piloting US1.  so he needed the history credit for college entry, and needed gov't, but not Econ.  So...  the son basically started US1 as written, did gov't and then started the second half of the BJU text as a separate course.  So, he did the whole year of credit in 12th grade, but did US1 in order.  He treated the second part of US history text like an elective course and it worked for him.  He got full ride scholarships at engineering university and works full time in his field (had offer before college graduation).  So, he's a smart academic type.

 

What my oldest did:  she did US1 in 11th.  Then, we got our Econ from 12th grade done in summer.  Then she did the other part of US history in fall of 12th grade.  It was on her transcript as In Progress.  The colleges did not care!!!  They were fine with it.  She was admited and got great scholarships.  So it didn't matter that it "had" to be 1 credit in one grade level.   and we didn't do the CLEP right after 11th grade (we should have!!!)  but I think that could be good as well.

 

upshot... it didn't matter to the colleges she applied to. even our cover school didn't have a fit on it.

 

and I'll write later on my experiences in US2 and US1....   My oldest just finished her school work for her 12th grade year and she used MFW from 2nd grade to finish.

[cbollin]

likes/dislikes of US1 and US2 (mfw programs)

 

I'm going to start with US2, because it's fresh in my mind... My oldest (as I mentioned already) finished her high school work yesterday.  Grades submitted to cover school....  diploma en route.  wow.  I did it.  homeschooled the whole way used MFW from her 2nd grade year to end of 12th...  wow.  ok.. enough about me....  let's talk program

 

*in some ways we did the US2 semsters in reverse order.   We started 12th grade last June by doing the Speech course (Secrets of Great Communicators) and the Econ in a Box.  Additionally, to make my cover school happier, we did some Brit Lit novel reading as well.  (MFW covered brit lit in 10th grade as far as I was concerned, but for some reason...  we had to list some brit lit in 12th grade to make our legal options happy).   Really liked the Econ course.  In some ways, I wish we had done the speech course sooner.  But it all worked out.    

Fall started and she got motivated to finish US history.

 

*the Bible credit - we did the semester option and then I decided that "I'm taking the pressure off.  saying, you don't have to do a Bible class on transcript or do any of the stuff from first semester.. it's up to you."   that was a good thing to do.  She ended up joining a college class bible study, and did more when I asked for less. 

In some ways, I wish MFW had backed off and not bundled the spiritual disciplines materials into one semseter... the 2nd semester the student is supposed to make their own plans based on ideas in the manual to do these things each day.   I don't blame MFW for this... but in our house, it felt "too heavy of a burden"...  several of the books made us feel like losers in our lives without any support to reach goals.  I appreciated the content and idea of the course.... but it didn't set right with us.  So, we adjusted the feel.. and altered to fit our hearts.     It was really the first time in all of our years of using MFW that we really had to tweak in Bible area.   So overall, we were pleased with materials, but we did tweak to fit our lives, and hearts and stopped treating it like a required course and let it be life.   and maybe that's really what Marie at MFW was trying to do with the course.

 

*history:  my kid is ready to study hard for some CLEP and be done with it.  She's going into electrical engineering and computer science.   :)  MFW didn't ruin her love for history... She's just ready to not take it if she doesn't "have" to.

 

*geography in US2... was to finish out the credit that was started in WHL....  it's optional.   we did our maps and in real life, world current events is part of what we do.  we pay attention to people from around the world. 

 

*English credit in US2:  2nd semester is a formal speech course.  content was good. easy to use and do.  glad we didn't wait until last semester.  I can totally see how senioritis would take over in this class.  But, this semester my daughter took a Coursera MOOC Physics course.  all labs are turned in via audio/visual methods.  so that worked out.    First semester of US2 English, they are reading novels written in modern times  that match what you are learning in history.    you get a list, get to pick and choose.....  you write a high school level novel summary with reflections.    They can do a research paper as well.   We did that reading.    We had discussion.  and now she's going to study for CLEP Anaylyzing Literature..   turns out her college will accept that one.   so even though she's done with high school work, she's motivated to CLEP out of some college general ed stuff.  her first practice test on that one was in 60's as well.  so we learned something in MFW.

 

US1:

overall what I remember is that I liked the worldviews course (bible), we liked history..  gov't credit was designed as basic high school course (and that was fine with us.. my dd is registered voter)..  English was nice.  I was very thankful that the Stobaugh based Am Lit  Supplement was NOT the only thing in the English..  I know we had to work independently on any ACT essay practice.  didn't worry on it... places she applied don't even look at it.. 

 

anyway.... I like talking about my mfw experiences.   very positive overall after more than decade of use. My next child (middle gal) is also using MFW right now..  She's in AHL and ready to do WHL.  She's not as academic nerd as oldest, and we adjust for her needs.   She can't work as fully independently as oldest did.  and that's ok. 

 

hope you find the right fit.   :)

 

 

 

 

[CarolynMR]

cbollin--Thank you so VERY much for sharing your experiences with MFW!  (I don't personally know anyone who is using it--probably because it wasn't out when I started homeschooling in 1995, and since what I started with for my first 3 kids worked, I didn't have to do an in-depth curriculum search until what I had been doing wasn't working for #4.)  So your insights arevery helpful!

 

Question (I may have more!):  How is the literature analysis in US I and II?  When given an essay to discuss a piece of literature, does the teacher's guide have content points to use to evaluate the content of the essay?  (I asked the same question regarding history on the other thread.) 

 

Thank you for your time in sharing your wisdom!

[cbollin]

the teacher guide didn't have it.. but there were answer keys for various books, and in the Am. Lit supp used in US1, there are some key points in the answer key in the back.   same with progeny press guide.  I certainly wasn't reading everything she read that year but felt that it was easy to find out if she was on right track.  it was enough for me.. .

 

in US2, the lit analysis is very different from other years.  They write a "novel review" and personal thoughts and responses to a set of questions for each novel.  I used spark notes to check stuff if I thought she was making it up..

 

I know what you mean about finding "in real life" users of MFW.  the few around me seem to be mostly in younger years. 

[ThisIsTheDay]

I am trying to decide which American history curriculum to use for my DD (rising junior) who is a slow reader.

 

No experience with CLEP, but I would strongly advise against Notgrass if your dd is a slow reader.  My voracious reader completely loathed it and ended up switching on her own to the very simple CLE workbooks after Notgrass..

 

My younger ds is using Notgrass World History at about half the pace (through MFW); this is his second year. While he likes the rest of the MFW program, he does not like the content Notgrass and has requested that whatever he do next year not include Notgrass.

 

Both have described it as dull and drudgery.

 

I loved Notgrass American history.  It was fantastic, covered so much, and I learned a lot.  However, I'm a mom, three times older than my kids.