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What's your favorite hs history sequence?


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Do you have a favorite sequence? I've heard of doing geography first for the overview, then a broad world history, then American so you can see how it fits with what you learned in world, and then a modern history with a focus on today's happenings. Or the 4-year cycle. Or do you just squeeze in whatever courses are offered near you that year and hope to get them all in no matter what order? 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

I'm having the hardest time deciding what to do for my 9th grader. 

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We're pretty much done with geography by high school. We do a year of ancient/medieval, 2 years of US history with some world history context thrown in, and a semester each of government and economics.

 

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Check with the colleges or universities that your child might be interested in attending, and see what they require.   (This is for all HS subjects, not just history!)

 

We've most often seen the requirement of 1 credit World History, 1 credit American History, 1/2 credit U.S. Government, and 1/2 credit Economics.   If you wanted to add a 4th credit of history, you could do Geography, Ancient History, or something else.   Most of the kids we know at the local public school do Geography or AP Human Geography in 9th, World in 10th, American in 11th, and Govt/Econ in 12th.

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Our community college has classes in US history, state history, government, economics, and geography. But they don't offer world history for dual credit. Part of me thinks that I should focus on world history in 9th and 10th if I plan to use the cc in 11th and 12th for some of these credits. 

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I don't have a favorite sequence for high school. I think it depends a lot on where you've been.

 

We did a 2 year world history sequence in Jr. High so then we started high school with a 2 year American History, followed by Psychology, then Government. I don't necessarily think that was ideal, but my kids are history haters and it met all the criteria we saw from colleges. 

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I don't have a favorite sequence for high school. I think it depends a lot on where you've been.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

I like the chronological approach and lean toward the 4 year cycle, although that is not what we ended up doing. 

 

9th - Renaissance and Reformation 

10th- Great books approach with Ancients (we read Spielvogel's Western Civ and a handful of literature)

11th- "Themes in Human Cultures"  - ds is not a history fan either (*sigh* see signature for my major), so this thematic approach worked well. I used a lot of what we already owned and we looked at religion, the development of time (a fascinating study), power, and ethics. I think there was one more, but I can't remember. 

12th - American/World History with a focus on 20th century (ended up being a lot of WWI and WWII study)

 

At the university I attend, I do group tutoring for the ancient and medieval civilization course. So many students have a deficit in both periods, imo trying to the entirety of world history in one year is part of the problem. There's just too much to cover. Even in the above sequence, we'd ended up shorting the medieval era, which we had studied earlier in middle school. 

 

If I were structuring a program now (with hindsight and more experience), I would try to go through a series like this in middle school, What Life was Like, there are several of these. Then do chronological in high school with a sort of thematic approach to each period and include primary source readings for each year and some Great Courses. 

 

So just off the top of my head, something like this: 

 

9th - ancients -  while studying epic poetry, plays, and the idea of a liberal arts education

10th - Medieval - movements of people, establishment of church and state ideals and power,  

11th - Early Modern - Governments, science and technology, ???

12th- Focus on 20th century and modern - Wars, film and entertainment as a unifying part of culture, consumer culture, contrast the voice of protest in America with other historical protests movements from around the world. Mostly looking at identity issues. 

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DD did medieval history in ninth grade and will do European history from Renaissance to modern in tenth. Probably then American in eleventh, maybe via dual enrollment, and twelfth is undecided yet. I wanted all the kids doing medieval together last year, and then I was waffling on whether I wanted her to do American in tenth with the younger kids or if I wanted to wait until dual enrollment is possible in eleventh, but when she asked to do European, I went with that because high school is a time for exploring your own interests.

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I have history loving kids-#1 has already declared it as her major in college and #2 is considering it.

 

Sequence for kid 1-

 

9th-Ancient World

10th-Early Europe

11th-AP European History (also AP Comparative Gov)

12th-US History (also AP US Gov) (took WTMA Advanced US History with AP exam)

 

Kid 2

9th- AP European History

10th- Ancient World (WTMA)

11th- Middle Ages (WTMA) (also AP Comparative Gov)

12th (planned for next year)-US History (also AP US Gov)  (WTMA Advanced US History with AP exam)

 

We did lots of geography in elementary and middle school and the kids both took AP Human Geography in high school.

Also, I did write AP syllabi which were approved by college board for several of the above classes.

Edited by JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst
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:iagree:

 

I like the chronological approach and lean toward the 4 year cycle,

 

So just off the top of my head, something like this:

 

9th - ancients - while studying epic poetry, plays, and the idea of a liberal arts education

10th - Medieval - movements of people, establishment of church and state ideals and power,

11th - Early Modern - Governments, science and technology, ???

12th- Focus on 20th century and modern - Wars, film and entertainment as a unifying part of culture, consumer culture, contrast the voice of protest in America with other historical protests movements from around the world. Mostly looking at identity issues.

I really like this. dd wants to study modern, but I'm feeling like she doesn't have sufficient background to really get the most out of it. She's studied geography, U.S. history, and civics in middle school. It's really time to study world history, but she says it's her least favorite time period.

 

 

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We are taking a unique path. If it's a favorite or not, yet to be seen as we're only 1 year into it. Starting 10th next year.

 

9th - AP Human Geography / AP US Govt

10th - AP US Hist (chose US Hist as I have read there is much reading of US Hist original documents on SAT and familiarity with these can be helpful) + Micro/Macroeconomics

11th - World Hist

12th - ?? Maybe Comparative Govt - maybe choose favorite time period and take it at the DE level

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