summerreading Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 DS is a STEM kid and I'm overthinking history. Would Zinn's Young People's History of the United States plus some Great Courses be enough? How could I test and show progress when he is not doing a formal course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I don't know anything about Zinn's and whether or not it's enough. But I can answer a little bit about how to show progress using the Great Courses: Each lecture in each Great Course comes with about 2 or 3 short answer/thought questions. I have my son answer those questions as part of his grade. The grading would be subjective, of course, but at least the student is interacting with the material and you can show some output for the course. I started off this year allowing some pretty lame answers for the lecture questions and slowly taught my son how to write more complex answers. I took it slowly for my non-writer and was pleased with his progress. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summerreading Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 I don't know anything about Zinn's and whether or not it's enough. But I can answer a little bit about how to show progress using the Great Courses: Each lecture in each Great Course comes with about 2 or 3 short answer/thought questions. I have my son answer those questions as part of his grade. The grading would be subjective, of course, but at least the student is interacting with the material and you can show some output for the course. I started off this year allowing some pretty lame answers for the lecture questions and slowly taught my son how to write more complex answers. I took it slowly for my non-writer and was pleased with his progress. DS has writing phobia so this sounds like just want I need to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted May 27, 2017 Share Posted May 27, 2017 Have you seen the free FundaFunda US history schedule? One of my DC used it in 9th and another in 11th. It uses the GC US History set along with the Paul Johnson text, along with movie recommendations and some Critical Thinking Company books. It could give you some ideas and something to measure your plans with. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted May 27, 2017 Share Posted May 27, 2017 I think Zinn's volume for young people is too young for high school American history. Maybe his original paired with the Voices of a People's History and the GC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted May 27, 2017 Share Posted May 27, 2017 I am a HUGE Zinn fan, but I agree that Young People's would be the lesser choice. I also don't think the standard book is comprehensive enough for high school US History credit, as much as I'd love to call it so. Zinn focuses on the genocides, the racism, the sexism, the classism. These are all very important to me, but I feel they assume some knowledge of "standard" US History in order to piece the puzzle together. It lacks much of the more typical content in order to focus on the (worthwhile) sociological angle. IMO, it's more than worthy of a social studies credit, but I wouldn't be comfortable calling it US History on its own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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