That could be a good plan. I was just on the author’s site, and you can download the first month’s lessons for free. I promise I’m not affiliated with this author in any way, but I really love this first book! It really did tie history together for me. Good luck with the planning! Enjoy! My son is finishing up high school with AP history classes, and I so miss doing history with him. The time really flies...

I just dug out my old copy of Year 1. You have made me want to re-read it! The set-up is VERY teacher friendly. Each lesson is about a page and a half to three of reading. There are three lessons a week. You really can go as deep as you wish with it. After each lesson, the book suggests some activities for younger, middle, and older students. The author also encourages the children to make their own ‘memory cards’ to use for review. At the end of each week (three lessons), instructions are included for who/what to put on your timeline. Map work is included as well, if you wish to add it. The book even includes some quizzes and tests, but I never used them with my elementary student. Book 1 is written in a very conversational voice, as is SoTW. The voice becomes more mature as the volumes progress. Hope that helps! Hope this is somewhat coherent. I’m trying to make dinner as I type ...I’m not a good cook even under the perfect circumstances... I’m editing to add that I just saw that there is a much improved edition of this book. I have the first edition. The new one is much prettier!! The activities are on a cd, rather than after each chapter, but it all does come with the book...just FYI... ...and now, I want the new pretty hardcover book, of course.

Honestly, if you want the intersection of ancient history with Biblical history, I recommend The Mystery of History. I am on the fence about the age of the Earth (and don’t think it’s a salvation issue), so I took the first couple chapters of the book as just one possibility. However, I grew up in the Church of Christ, and was taught the Bible thoroughly both in Sunday School and at home. I also received a so-so public school history education. Like you, I was NEVER taught how those stories all fit together. Mystery of History does that really well. In fact, my mom sat down one afternoon and read the whole book and bought copies for her sisters because she was so excited to understand the big picture. Hope that helps...good luck in your decision-making!

Hopefully, someone will chime in who has gone through elementary history more recently than I, but I have used and liked both. Mystery of History is MUCH more Christian/young Earth/creationism based. It served us as a fabulous road-map to the story of the Old Testament. Story of the World includes stories from the Bible, along with myths from other cultures as well, but does not present them as fact. My son must have listened to the SoTW cds at least fifty times as he played with his cars and legos... I don’t think you can go wrong with either series. If you are a curricula hoarder like me, you can easily use them both 😊. adding this...Mystery of History does have a great timeline guide and instructions throughout the chapters, if that interests you...

Myers Psychology for AP is very readable, and you can find used copies on Amazon. I used this text years ago when I taught school, and I used it a couple of years ago to prepare my son for the AP exam. It’s a good introductory text.

Not for all the tea in China would I get near the metro on the Fourth of July...and I love DC! Just another option to consider. Old Town Alexandria is very historic, and one of my favorite places around the area. The area is near George Washington’s Mt. Vernon and dates back to the gentleman Washington himself. I believe that it is usually the weekend after the fourth that Old Town has a great fireworks show over the Potomac to celebrate the city’s birthday. I find this event much more enjoyable than fireworks in DC, and every bit as historic and patriotic! The flights into DC might be cheaper, also, if that’s a consideration. Congrats to your son on his internship. I hope he has a ball and learns a ton!

I’m just popping back in to say that we just watched the 1996 version and had a great, juicy conversation about it. It was MUCH better than I remembered! I hope my earlier post didn’t deter anyone from giving it a chance. I must have grown up quite a bit since I first saw it 😉. Thanks for the help!

Thanks! I didn’t know about this version. I may end up showing the more recent movie, but I’ll check this out.

Any thoughts on the 1996 movie version of this? I read that the script was approved by Miller. I don’t love it, but prefer to watch plays after we read them. Any other versions of the play I should check out? Thanks!

This may have to do with teacher evaluations. It’s been many moons ago, but part of my yearly evaluation called for display of ‘evidence of learning’ in my classroom. I used to have the hardest time coming up with these types of assignments. I detest busy work, and many of my English students objected to having their essays displayed. I didn’t blame them! I spent one long semester surrounded by drawings of labeled brains courtesy of my AP Psych class just so that I could check this box!

I was just pondering this as I showered and had a deep thought😊 I think I need math with words. Math finally came alive for me years ago when I walked through the first couple of AoPS books with my son. Without a text, math has too few words for me. I also used to teach AP Psych. I had a recent tutoring student who came to me for help studying for a unit test. She had nothing but a huge pile of xeroxed papers and a notebook of notes. She and her mother kept insisting that her teacher told her that the book was useless. I found that all I was doing in our session was showing her how all of the sub-sections of her worksheets fit together into a greater whole. I was being paid to do what her textbook had already done for her. We all have such different learning styles. Perhaps I just need good transition sentences to move from one topic to the next!

I do think that you make some very valid points. I think, in this particular case, that a road map to scope and sequence or a guide to how the worksheets might meet the text would be helpful. My son is very mathy, so he will be fine. I would have been the student who very much wanted and NEEDED to read the text. Class time spent with worksheets would simply not have been enough for me. I would have needed follow-up outside of class practice, and there does not seem to be much of a vehicle for that in this particular class. I also know, from much life experience, that we are all different types and one can’t please everyone!

My son’s sitting on a 98, so I’m not too concerned about the ‘tricky’ mc questions. I think the vocabulary has been a bit unclear in a few, from what he has shared with me. I’m ducking for cover now... I think it’s pitiful that teachers dumb-down delivery methods because students choose not to read. I taught school for years, and those who chose not to study for my class also chose not to receive credit for the class. I’m old school. I think students need to learn to rise to class requirements, rather than teachers lowering their standards to meet the students’ apathy. Of course, this only applies to students who have no learning challenges that would preclude them from handling the material. I accept the fact that this approach may not be popular. It’s a large part of why I left teaching in the public schools!

The textbook was required, but then the teacher told the kids that he wouldn’t use it after we had already opened it, and now it can’t be returned. I do agree with you about teaching without textbooks in my homeschool, but this is vastly different. Even when I use living books, I follow some sort of a plan. I did not check Rate My Professor. It’s a shame-on-me situation. This has been our first foray into dual enrollment. My son wanted to squeeze in this class, and he found a night class that would fit his schedule. The truth is that he likes the teacher and enjoys his class. It’s just terribly disorganized... I’m sure I’ll live 😊

Very interesting. I guess this makes sense, but it does beg the question why did I have to pay $800 for this course? The instructor is a grad student. I’m not sure that budget cuts are the problem here. I’m still left not understanding the need for ignoring the textbook that we paid for and using random worksheets, but it is what it is, I guess. I do appreciate the fact that you are still fighting the good fight.

Ignore me if you wish. I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but I almost lost my dad several years ago over a brain bleed that went undiagnosed because doctors kept sending him home without doing any real tests. He hit his head and had a headache for six weeks. He had been to three doctors who all sent home with no answer. He passed out one morning at breakfast and was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery. Doctors did not think he would come out of the surgery alive. He is now alive, but has lasting consequences from the injury. It could have been avoided if someone had taken his headache complaints seriously. Please, if you have any doubts, get another opinion. Again, I don’t mean to scare you, but I didn’t want to read your post and move on. I hope you are back to 100% very soon.

This is a huge vent. I miss textbooks. I miss tests and homework in any other form but multiple-choice! My son is taking a dual enrollment statistics class. It’s a mess. The professor ignores the text and uses a grab-bag of worksheets in class in lieu of a lecture. All homework and quizzes are online multiple-choice questions. They are not hard, but very tricky from what I can tell. I tutor kids in our local (very top ranked) high school , and they seem to be in the same boat with their classes. It’s just a big, disorganized mess—like my post here! My son is plowing on with this class, and will do fine. I just am so frustrated with the lack of organized, methodical teaching in our schools. I’m so glad I finished grad school before this crazy trend began. I would not have made it through!

You have great timing! I just closed my teacher’s guide for WTtW and picked up my phone to play on The Hive. I just said aloud to the room, “This has been a really good course!”. I am teaching the last lesson today to a group of students. I think it has done an excellent job of teaching annotating, slow reading, analyzing, and writing literary analysis. I think it’s worth working through, and it would always be easy to add other short stories to the course. The author does make some suggestions about alternative stories. My class often had discussions about current and classic movies using these same techniques. I, personally, would use it next year if I were in your situation. I do believe that the students have enjoyed it as well as I have.

Has anyone used this with a teen? What did you think of it?? I have used the philosophy sections of Tapestry of Grace, and love the study of philosophy, but don’t love the pageants.

As a freshman, the longest paper he wrote was a seven or eight page research paper. Most papers fell more into the 3-5 page category. He didn’t write a paper every single week, but was always working on a paper, if that makes sense. The essays for history class were shorter to prepare him to write the miserable five paragraph AP history exam response. I also refuse to assign or grade what I consider to be busy work, so he was not doing additional worksheets, etc. in these classes while he was working on these papers. We basically have always just read and written papers. Neither one of us is into projects or creative assignments... I do agree with other posters who adhere to quality over quantity.

Years ago, when I taught public high school, I left an entire stack of graded literature exams on my dining table. Upon returning, I found several of them had been digested by my beagle puppy. Very awkward situation. I had to tell students that my dog ate their homework. I may or may not have snuck her into my classroom to apologize. I’m now a huge advocate of the Kong toy.

It’s hard to say, not knowing what the rest of your student’s schedule will look like. Is he taking higher level math and science classes? Heavily involved with extra-curricular activities? Just as a comparison, I have always had my STEM -focused student work on at least one writing assignment a week. That may mean churning out an essay a week for a history class, or spreading a research paper over several weeks for a literature class. On occasion, as he has moved into later high school, I have assigned multiple papers a week (different subjects) so that he can learn how to pace himself and juggle different assignments. If you intend to teach the whole process of how to write a proper research paper next year, I might consider dropping the research paper from your history class if things are too overwhelming. Remember, he has four years to practice these skills in high school😉. I’m not sure that I helped much, but hopefully it helps to see what the writing load looks like in someone else’s house. Happy planning!

I’m not sure I understand your question. Will she be a senior next year or does she graduate this year? Also, what is L2 childcare? I would have her speak with her college counselor about where to find job placement help. Most campuses have a wealth of resources, and teachers are always needed.

Thanks for this! I’ll have him look into it!

Thanks for linking that, Freesia! I bet your daughter has a blast with this course!