Questions re: All American History and Runkles Geog.

[Peggy in Va]

Hi - I have 2 ds (currently 4th & 5th grades) that we are seriously considering bringing back home next year. Mainly because the older is in the gifted program and not being challenged but also for social reasons. I have hs before so this is not new to me.

 

Anyway - I am looking at various different materials and someone mentioned All American History and Runkles Geography. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these books and if so what do/did you think of them. What did you love/hate about them. Can you compare them to other programs. If you have used them would they be appropriate for a rising 5th grader.

 

I have SOW 1-4 and A History of US by Hakim. I'm just not sure if I want to use these or move on to something else.

 

Any and all thoughts, opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Peggy

[Chris in VA]

I think Runkle is adaptable to a variety of ages. We actually used it, along with other resources, for .5 Physical Geography credit in 10th grade (heavily supplemented, as I said). But I could see a bright 5th grader doing fine with it.

I liked that Ds would finally learn the placement of the countries of the world (i.e., where things are!), along with the principles of geography. There was a neat, hands-on component in many of the chapters. We used both the workbook (which is memorizing the countries of the world) and the hardbacked text.

It's a good stand-alone, but could really be used with a cultural geography, or as a history supplement. Versatile that way. I say go for it, with whatever SOTW you want and the History of the US. You could, for example, do SOTW 4, Hakim and the Runkle--since there's so much global war at that time, it's a great time to add in explicit geography.

[Miss Marple]

I would hesitate to use Runkles with a 5th and 6th unless they are quite motivated and do well with scientific readings. I *love* Runkles and have used it with my boys. I also taught it in our co-op several years ago to 7th and 8th graders. My own son was in 7th and did well, but he tends to work above grade level esp. in the sciences and math. Some of the kids found it difficult - one mother even said that her dh told her it looked like "high school level" to him LOL!

 

I did switch out the mapping component with another program, Our World from a Canadian publisher. It was more accessible for these younger students - more colorful, more game-ish.

 

Runkles is one of my favorite programs. It would rank in my top 5, but I would definitely want to make sure the student would get the most out of it, and that might mean holding off for a year or two. Definitely look at it before purchasing - your kids might be able to do it.

[Beth in Central TX]

I used Runkle Geography this year to supplement with our history studies and to prepare for our local homeschool geography bee for my 5th & 6th grader. We didn't go through the whole book, but what we did do was understandable by both of my boys. They enjoyed the pictures, and we did the review questions orally. The lessons are packed with a lot of information, so I'm not sure it would be appropriate for the grammar stage.

 

For 4th grade, I used R&S Homelands around the World. I generally don't use the history products by R&S because of their pacifist views, but this is a great geography resource. Mapmaking is emphasized throughout the book, and outline maps are included in the back of the student book for tracing and labeling.

 

HTH!

[swimnactmom]

Right now we are doing History of US using the elementary school teachers guides. My plan was to do Runkles next year in 6th grade. I presented the ASK questions (from the teacher's guide) in History of US to my ds as written assignments. I didn't think the questions were easy. In fact, I was hoping after doing History of US for a year he would be ready for Runkles. I remember coming across the Runkles books at a home school fair. They looked like 6th grade level to me. I thought Usborne World Geography and the internet links might work nicely with it for a year devoted to geography. I don't know. I guess I may need a back up plan.

[HiddenJewel]

Here was our experience with All American History:

 

My dd11 used All American History I independently this past year and she loved it. She kept asking if she could keep reading and not stop at the end of the lesson. We supplemented with books from the library that pertain to the time period we were studying. There are long lists of suggested books for each of the units separated by age group in the TE.

 

The TE and Activity book are very important to making it different from a textbook approach. The activity book has a notebooking-type page where the student relays information from the chapter. There is a little mapping that goes with the lesson. Then there is a multiple-choice review for each lesson.

 

The TE has information for all the For Further Study ideas. It also has a large list of living book suggestions as well as ideas on how to adjust the material for younger or older students. There are also family activity ideas to cement the teaching.

 

I would feel comfortable using it with 5th grade and into high school as it easily expandable for the older student. My 4th grader was not getting much out of it so we dropped it for her. My plan was to do at least one of the For Further Study activities each lesson but found that there was plenty of material for a 6th grader without it. For a high schooler I would just add all the For Further Study activities and then have them do additional research using the extra forms in the back of the activity book. There are forms for researching individual battles (vs just learning about the wars), individual Presidents, individual colonies, European explorers, and Native American tribes.

 

So you can make as much out of this curriculum as you want. I feel it is a great combination of a textbook, notebooking, and literature-based curriculum.

[Peggy in Va]

Thanks for the thoughts - I guess I'm just going to have to mull this one over.

 

AAH look very interesting but I also like my Hakim books. The only problem is if I were to use the Hakim books, I would have to buy more of the TM and blacklines in order to reach the period that AAH vol. 1 covers. What can I say - I like tests. That being the case, it would actually cost me more to use the Hakim than it would to buy AAH.

 

The other issue is that I'm not sure if vol. 2 of AAH has come out yet or not.

 

RE: Runkles - it looks interesting too. The website says for 6th-12th. I'm not worried so much about it being too much for the rising 6th grd. - he's advanced across the boards. The 5th grd however is another issue. But then again he never ceases to amaze me.

 

Sometimes trying to combine is so much trouble - yet the alternative seems even more stressful.

 

Sorry for the rambeling. Thanks again for the thoughts and letting me think out loud.

 

Peggy

[HiddenJewel]

Thanks for the thoughts - I guess I'm just going to have to mull this one over.

 

AAH look very interesting but I also like my Hakim books. The only problem is if I were to use the Hakim books, I would have to buy more of the TM and blacklines in order to reach the period that AAH vol. 1 covers. What can I say - I like tests. That being the case, it would actually cost me more to use the Hakim than it would to buy AAH.

 

The other issue is that I'm not sure if vol. 2 of AAH has come out yet or not.

 

I just got the email notice this week that AAH 2 has arrived in their warehouse.

[Peggy in Va]

Thanks - I'm not sure if that make the decision easier or more difficult. At least I know that if I do switch, I will be able to continue with that course.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Peggy

[HiddenJewel]

Thanks - I'm not sure if that make the decision easier or more difficult. At least I know that if I do switch, I will be able to continue with that course.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Peggy

 

Have you seen the AAH samples on the Bright Ideas website?

[Peggy in Va]

I have, that's what makes them soooo appealing.

 

I like the Hakim books, and my boys enjoyed listening to them when we hs a couple of years ago. I could not, however, use them w/out the TM and blacklines. They're great for reading, but I would always feel like they could be getting more out of them if I had the TM, etc. Make sense? That being the case - I figured it would cost more to actually continue to use what I already have - especially if I want to take it modern times.

 

When I originally purchased HoUS, I looked at them as something that could be used as reference material when the boys hit American history again. Of course I don't have the complete set. Hence the problem - it would cost more to use them vs AAH.

 

Howver, since AAH vol2 has come out, it's looking more and more like a viable option.

 

Thanks again

 

Peggy

[Rhondabee]

I used Runkle Geography this year to supplement with our history studies and to prepare for our local homeschool geography bee for my 5th & 6th grader. We didn't go through the whole book, but what we did do was understandable by both of my boys. They enjoyed the pictures, and we did the review questions orally. The lessons are packed with a lot of information, so I'm not sure it would be appropriate for the grammar stage.

 

For 4th grade, I used R&S Homelands around the World. I generally don't use the history products by R&S because of their pacifist views, but this is a great geography resource. Mapmaking is emphasized throughout the book, and outline maps are included in the back of the student book for tracing and labeling.

 

HTH!

 

Can you use the Homelands around the World out of order? IOW, could I do the chapter on Japan when we cover that in history, and then back-track and do Nigeria when we touch on Africa? Or, are there map-skills that build from chapter to chapter, meaning the chapters need to be done in order?

 

Thanks!

Rhonda

[Storm Bay]

We have both of these. My eldest (12) is doing both. However, she is doing Runkles non-classically, and by that I mean on her own. She reads it, does the assignments, I check them. I'm not sure how well it would work for my younger one who is in gr. 5, but I know I'd have to be doing the teaching for sure (which you probably want to do).

 

All American History has worked well for both of them. I have nothing else to compare it with as far as how good it is, and we're doing it right now because it's required--my girls had no interest in this and I didn't study it in Canada. My younger dd loves history, but it took several months after she finished her latest SOTW before she began to like this one. You can augment with writing assignments, and there is plenty of room for you to add the discussion to it. The teacher's guide has lists of additional reading, so you can use this as a spine--also you can incorporate anything else you want, and there are suggestions for areas of further study at the end of each workbook chapter.