US History/Literature for tenth grade?

[happypamama]

Who here has done US history and literature in tenth grade? I'm not necessarily looking at AP level, although maybe SAT subject. Probably not online. My school did US history in eleventh grade, along with American lit, and I'm trying to decide if there's a good reason to wait until then or not. The rest of my children will likely be doing US history, so it might be nice to have everyone doing US, but it also might not matter. The advantage to waiting until eleventh is that she could take USH at a community college or branch campus, but for several reasons, I don't want to do that in tenth grade.

 

If not US in tenth, then what? And what literature? I figured on government/econ in twelfth, but I'm open to suggestions as to why I might do that in tenth. She's doing medieval now in ninth (with corresponding literature). Her 7th-8th early modern to modern history was pretty in depth, so I think a one year workd history might be really dull to her. Ancients, with ancient lit, would probably be a logical choice. Or maybe I'll just leave it up to her since I didn't give her a choice this year. That could be a lot of fun.

[Lori D.]

We did American History / American Lit / Government all in one year when DSs were 10th and 11th grades. I esp. liked how the Gov't and the History fit so well together, and would definitely recommend that as an option, if you have enough room in your credits for it (that will take up 2.5 credits).

 

We spread out the 0.5 credit of Gov't over the whole year to make it easier to work it in, and we also used some of DSs' involvement in YMCA Youth & Gov't towards the Gov't credit. (They each participated for 3 years, so I had no problems counting some of the hours towards the Gov't credit AND the rest of the hours toward an extracurricular. :) )

 

A lot of the American Lit. is much more modern in style, so on the "pro" side it is much easier to read; on the possible "con" side is that much of the American lit. is "darker" in tone and theme -- but when done in context with the History, it helps you understand what's going on and why.

 

We made our own American Lit. ala WTM/WEM style and did a big focus on American poetry and short stories (which allowed us to cover many more American authors through short works), as well as several classic American novels such as The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and several others. No problems for either our 10th or 11th grader.

 

If you decide to do American History in 10th, but wait to do American Lit. for a later year, you have options as to what to do for Lit this year:

- make your own study of works/authors of high interest to your student

- take an online Lit. class that looks esp. exciting and interesting

- focus on a specific genre

- focus on a pot pourri of short stories / plays / poetry

- make a "survey of Lit" of works that you really want to cover in high school and might not get to in 11th and 12th grades

 

As far as whether or not to do American History in 10th... Nothing particularly difficult about it that a 10th grader couldn't do it (DS with mild LDs and only average interest in History who was 10th grade certainly did not struggle with the subject ;) ). Things you could to instead of American History:

- World Cultures / Geography and Comparative Religions

- Philosophy

- Anthropology

- History period of the student's choice (ex: 20th century Europe, Age of Exploration, full range of history for China and Japan, Golden Age of Middle East, etc.)

- Cultural study of the student's choice (ex: Oceania peoples/culture/history; Native Americans; U.S. minorities in the 19th-20th centuries, etc.)

 

Have fun talking it through with DD about what excites her! :) And have a great adventure with your 10th grade Social Science, whatever you decide on! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Lori D.