I googled the book and started reading reviews, and found this one from July. I'm going to assume the curriculum they're using is GH. But I'm guessing this review probably sums up the book accurately, from what I'm seeing here. "History should, ideally, be the simple recounting of historical events. This book is full of name-calling and vast generalizations about groups of people. It certainly does not have a Christian tone, though it seems to be marketed as a "Christian perspective". It's not helpful or professional. Instead of just explaining things that happened, there is a clear political agenda being asserted. This book is not neutral. It's full of insults and rude remarks.In our homeschool program, our daughter has been taught how to find appropriate sources for debate and how to discern logical fallacies. This book, which is, ironically, part of our homeschool curriculum, is loaded with fallacies and very poor sourcing. (The author, many times, quotes his own books, though you would only know the source if you look in the appendix.)I'm disappointed in our homeschool curriculum for not selecting something with a more professional, unbiased tone. I do not want my daughter (or her peers) to read this text and come away thinking it's okay (or even "Christian") to make sweeping yet uninformed generalizations about groups of people (including fellow Americans). Hopefully the kids' other training in fallacy detection, etc, will help them sniff out all the poor argumentation in this book and it will serve them that way... But you should find another source for your American History. (And your etiquette)."

You'll never get through to them. Those that defend stuff like that do so for a reason.

We're also in an area with no grad requirements for homeschoolers, so we're largely working based on what college entrance admissions are for the schools my son is interested in. So, the "strictest" requirements are English 12, Fine Arts 12, and 4 other grade 12 academic credits. We are also requiring a history course. Other than that, it's just all stuff HE wants to do. For comparison, public school requirements here are: A min of 18 credits (single semester course = 1 credit, and only grades 11/12 count): - English 11 (2 credits) - English 12 (1 credit) - Math (must have 2 credits - they do count grade 10 math as a credit for graduation) - Science (1 credit) - Modern History (1 credit) - Fine Arts (1 credit) - 10 electives If all goes to plan, our son will probably graduate with the following: 3 English credits 2 Math credits 2 science credits (Physics and Ecology) 2 geography credits (full-year world geo course) 2 history credits (full-year Canadian history course) 8+ fine art-related credits (drawing, music, animation, film studies etc...) 1-2 other electives (mythology is one for sure)

Is that the only troublesome section in geography? I was planning on using their Geography this year. Granted we were just going to do a "lite" version - reading literature, watching the videos etc... but not necessarily reading through the whole textbook.

Our start date is just a smidge over 6 weeks away and yet here I am still planning 😬 What it's looking like so far, though: Math: still a bit up in the air. We're not forcing much for advanced math as we have 0 requirements here as homeschoolers, and the programs he's applying to also do not require math for entrance, nor have any math classes in their programs. So, currently planning to have him read through the Everything You Need to Know to Ace Geometry book. Not sure beyond that. English: Writing for Animation, NYT Writing Contests, NYT Vocabulary, maybe Spelling Wisdom. Unsure. Literature: assorted stuff. I make him read from a variety of genres. We just discuss it after. Science: Physics for Animators, Crash Course videos, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics Social Studies: Guest Hollow World Geography, keep up with current events (pulled from the countries we're studying) Fine Arts: continue trumpet lessons, unsure yet on art... either Aaron Blaise drawing tutorials, Ever Ancient Ever New Vol. 1, or he may take Visual Arts 110 through the local high school. Misc: The Animation Course 4, Mythology, Masterclass courses (Voice Acting, Comedy, Directing). May be taking a Playwriting course through a local theatre school. Just waiting for the schedule to be released to see if it works out. Extra Curricular: playing for the local high school band as well as a community band. May also be in the pit orchestra for the high school musical. You can probably figure out my son's career goals based on his curriculum list 😁

My son is going to be entering grade 10. He's an artistic, creative soul though he doesn't really care about "projects". What he does love to do is creative written narrations, especially ballads, epics, poems etc... I'm really torn on what to use for social studies (and Language Arts) curriculum for him. He despises textbooks - prefers engaging living books and videos. LOVES humor. He also really likes open and go stuff - he likes having a checklist to work through. He appreciates creative writing prompts. I also wouldn't mind something that has comprehension questions (long answer/oral discussion) that encourage critical thinking, and also something that encourages him to develop his research skills. Also, I want World History and/or Geography, not American. Does such a curriculum exist?

Whether it's Covid, whether it's just the typical winter Blahs, I don't know, but I am bored and tired and DONE, lol. We're doing okay for most subjects, except science. Science seems to be the one we never get to. My son just isn't a science kid. Most text books bore him. We can't afford the "cool" video-based programs. He loves watching Crash Course videos, which is great, but then I feel like we never "do" science. I would love, rather, NEED, something open and go. Suggestions? I have considered Guest Hollow. Reviews? DS is grade 9 and is not headed for a STEM field.

Yes, we've talked about university and how he'll have to learn to take notes whether he wants to or not, lol. And I say he struggles with auditory input but as I think about it... does he really? He's taking an online course this year, and has had no issue at all learning from listening to the teacher (and it's primarily lecture style with a few visuals thrown in). Granted it was a course he was interested in. So maybe I should rephrase this all as: my son finds history boring and as such struggles to learn from auditory methods, and needs visuals to make it more interesting for him so he'll remember easier, so what can I use? The post-its is a great idea. And you may have just hit the nail on the head: "the intent of every reading assignment isn't necessarily to read for pleasure". And honestly, I have very much made it that way. My goal for learning has always been enjoyment of learning, so I suspect I haven't pushed him as much as I could have. Probably because I wanted to give him the opposite of my own educational experience (bor-ing! not to mention arbitrary).

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My son is enters grade 9 this fall and does not do well with auditory input, and needs to see/do it himself to "get it" (something he inherited from moi, I must say). He's an artist at heart. Things I've learned: - He needs high interest materials. He dislikes textbooks because they're too "facty" and "boring" . - He loves videos, graphic novels, pictures, comics, comedy etc... and I have to say, learns/remembers well with them. I had him read a great history living book this year that he really didn't mind, but always struggled to narrate from (could never remember more than the last paragraph or two). Then he fell in love with Horrible Histories and wouldn't you know, he could remember and narrate entire chapters with ease, even hours later. He was constantly spouting off interesting history tidbits to us, and this was our self-avowed history hater. - His special areas of interest lie in the arts and natural science: he loves poetry, Shakespeare, theatre, drawing, animation (Walt Disney is his hero), music (both listening and playing), and then anything to do with nature, animals, conservation etc... and of course like most teenage boys, video games, lol. - The only thing he really struggles with (besides remembering things that are boring, not interesting, not visual) is writing, specifically, remembering form and format (properly formatted paragraphs and remembering the punctuation rules for dialogue etc...). When he sits down to write he just writes it all out at once as it pops into his head. Many a time I've been given a 2 paged writing assignment with pretty good spelling and grammar, but that is one long paragraph LOL. So... with that... I'm at a loss as to what to do/use next year, especially for science and history. We are going to use Oak Meadow for English and MUS for math. But I'm at a loss for science and history. We've always leaned more Charlotte Mason, using living books, but for a few reasons I'm not convinced that's the best path to continue down. Is there such a thing as history or science that uses videos, graphic novels or cartoon style books etc... Especially something open and go for me? I don't find I am good at coming up with comprehension/discussion questions etc... so I would love it if those were provided. I was considering Crash Course for history since he enjoys those videos, and using one of the sets of worksheets available on TpT, but is that "enough" (haha, million dollar debate I know)? I'm looking for world geography and/or history, and any life/natural science, biology etc... I really feel like he needs to get his facts from something simple, colorful, engaging etc... and then maybe it can be supplemented with a good living book or two, but I don't think living books should be his primary source (if that makes sense).

NM.