HOD users & non-HOD users... What do you think of the new upcoming World History Guide?

[Michelle My Bell]

I am curious what people think of the new high school guide coming out? All the different subjects are listed here: http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14776

 

I am especially curious what people's thoughts are on the literature? They include:

 

Ben Hur

Julius Caesar

Pearl Maiden

King Arthur and His Knights

A Man for All Seasons

The Scarlet Pimpernal

The Count of Monte Cristo

Les Miserables

Animal Farm

The Celestial Railroad

 

I also have a list of books that will be used in their "living literature" portion of the program. This is in addition to the regular lit. I would love honest thoughts and such on all this.

 

Here are the extra lit books: 

 

The Hero Schliemann - The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy

Cyrus the Persian

A Sparrow Alone

The Silas Diary

Spring Tide

The Lantern Bearers

Son of Charlemagne

The Kings Shadow

The Magna Charta

Joan of Arc

 Luther the Leader 

Caught in  the Web

Johannes Kepler

Stronger Than the Sword

In Search of Honor

Patriots Daughter

John Newton Audio Drama 

Lillian Trasher

Between the Sword and the Wall - A Novel of WWI

Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Freedom Audio Drama 

Basher Five-Two - The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'Grady

 

 It looks like if you go with the whole program, it would be around $1500. 

[strange_girl]

Not helpful, but...

 

I love HOD. I really do. But :svengo:  oh, the price!

 

So I'm just reading about it and telling myself that I can do better by putting things together myself, and that we'll end up covering more.

[Michelle My Bell]

I know, I struggle with this every year. The high school guides have been a good fit for my daughter, but the price is higher than anything out there. Also, I haven't heard of a lot of these books and I wonder if they are good or even high school level. 

[Rebecca]

I do think the books are good, if that is the concern. I am not familiar with all of them - but am with some.

 

Blessings,

Rebecca

 

[Michelle My Bell]

Which list of books are you referring to Rebecca? 

[Rebecca]

I was actually referring to both lists. We adore the Lantern Bearers here. Although we enjoyed it at a younger age than high school, my son would love to read it as part of his high school program. We also have the Dietrich Bonhoeffer audio. Awesome audio. The living library selections look like it was chosen for enrichment rather than high level literature(which I think it was). My son (8th grade) read Son of Charlemagne this year. He really enjoyed that as well.

 

As far as the lit books, we have experience with some. I am not familiar with a few.  My son has read the King Arthur version she recommends. He also read most of unabridged Les Mis. After that experience, I do think an abridged Les Mis is a good idea. My husband read Monte Cristo(unabridged) a few years ago. We also have experience with Ben Hur. I think Julius Caesar is Shakespeare? That work is usually recommended as a first true Shakespeare play...

 

I think, as far as the literature goes, it might depend on your goals?

 

Did you do the World Geo guide and if so, were you happy with the lit?

 

 

 

 

[Michelle My Bell]

Yes, we have done every guide since CTC. I just get nervous each year spending so much and being unfamiliar with the books. 

[Crimson Wife]

Some of the listed books I would say are more appropriate to jr. high than sr. high. High school students should be reading Mallory or T.H. White IMHO, not Pyle for King Arthur.

[Sew happily ever after]

The price is KILLING me!!!!

 

I love HOD, it works well for my kids, but we will not be continuing it into high school, especially because of the cost!

 

A lot of what the author has done is choose several different texts/courses which are already written. All she does is plan and schedule them for you. Then you need to purchase all of the student materials and also the teacher guides for each of those subjects. Then you also must purchase the HOD guide, which basically tells you what to do and when. It seems like the only original parts that she actually plans is the history schedule and related things like the timeline and notebook pages.

 

The living library is unique (at least in name). The notebook pages are unique as well. As for everything else, I'm pretty certain I can handle all that.

 

I also do not like her choices for several subjects. Basically the only things we would use are the history related boxes. It's just too much $$$ for us to pay for just those boxes. I would literally have to re-write all the other parts of the curriculum.

 

We are not on the same science cycle that they are scheduling.

 

My daughter is studying French, not Spanish.

 

The art projects we will do together as a family. I will add picture study using some things from Simply Charlotte Mason.

 

We use Analytical grammar and IEW for language arts.

 

I also want to schedule my own literature and living library titles, and I'm completely ok with doing that.

 

We are going to use the most important thing you will ever study. My daughter will complete 1 book each year of high school. This will enable her to study and read the entire Bible during her high school career, something I wish I had been challenged to do in high school.

 

So even though I desperately want the high school guides to work for us, they simply won't because of cost mostly and then because I would need to supplement/change too much of it for it to be worth it.

 

Personally I think HOD shines the most from Preparing through MTMM. Once they have completed those guides, they have a solid foundation for knowing how to learn and study on their own. They are independent. At that point, I think you could assign almost anything and they would be able to understand how to learn so that they can get the most out of it.