You know the 35 projects in the Hewitt U.S. History syllabus?

[Penguin]

If you have used (or are at least familiar with) this list of 35 projects, please tell me what you think of this approach to using them.

 

• First off, let me say that I want to apply them to K12 Human Odyssey instead of Hakim's History of US.  But I don't think that is a big deal, as they are somewhat generic.
• Did your kid really do one per week as suggested in the syllabus?   We might have to slow that pace.
• I will either cross out the heavy-duty writing ones, or turn them into full-blown writing assignments.  Some of them could involve a lot of research. 

 

This is the modified schedule that I have in mind:

 

• 1st quarter:  syllabus projects
• 2nd quarter:  research paper (like the syllabus)
• 3rd quarter:  syllabus projects
• 4th quarter:  essays instead of a second research paper.  I envision modified versions of the writing projects.  For example, the compare/contrast two historical figures project.

 

 

[songsparrow]

 

• Did your kid really do one per week as suggested in the syllabus?   We might have to slow that pace.

 

I thought that the Hewitt syllabus suggests doing two projects per year (alternated each quarter with a written report), not one project per week.  The weekly blocks on the syllabus for the two quarters where you're doing projects are for breaking down that project into weekly steps/goals.

[Penguin]

The course overview calls for "weekly projects" with the student submitting three projects (to Hewitt) at the end of the quarter. I could see doing some of the lighter ones in a week, but I could see giving some of them a month. 

 

I hate thinking up assignments, so it was worth the $10.00 to me.  I just have to figure out how to wisely use it.

[Harriet Vane]

The principle that I go with is that the student needs to respond to the material in some way each week. I have done Hakim's books twice. When dd was using them, I required her to take notes. Ds struggled more with the general idea of notes, so when he did the books I wrote a few questions per chapter for him to respond to. Some chapters had no questions, others had only one, and others were more elaborate. Every now and then I asked him to outline a simple chapter.

 

The idea was to be able to take notes or answer questions quickly, in order to learn how to identify the main points and key information quickly. That's two skills: (1) Identifying what is important; (2) Quickly. It makes high school and college notetaking much easier if this can be learned early on and practiced throughout those older years.

 

My kids also did projects off the list. Some projects were easily accomplished in a week. Others took longer. Deadlines were based on the project itself.

 

Your organization will work, but I have one concern. Doing a whole quarter of essays all in a row may get dry. I would sprinkle essays in with syllabus projects throughout three quarters just to keep it lively.

[songsparrow]

The course overview calls for "weekly projects" with the student submitting three projects (to Hewitt) at the end of the quarter. I could see doing some of the lighter ones in a week, but I could see giving some of them a month. 

 

Ah, I see.  I had misunderstood.

 

[RegularMom]

I'm using the Hewitt guide this year for the first time, and I'm modifying it quite a bit, since our weekly schedule will be tighter than usual due to a new enrichment program we're trying out. 

 

I'm going to have the girls work on a project maybe half the time. When they reach the end of a volume, instead of a project, I'll assign that volume's test in an open book format, paying particular attention to the short essay questions at the end. 

 

We use Hake for essay writing, and instead of the dreadfully boring topics Hake assigns for essay work and/or outlining practice, we'll use a history topic instead. That way, we'll get more history writing done, while still practicing Hake's essay skills. Hake also assigns a research paper each year, and the girls will choose a history topic for that as well. I may also pepper in some science writing (biographies and such) if the history writing becomes overbearing. 

 

HTH. YMMV.