History: what would you use to cover 1800-present in one year?

[Jodi-FL]

My oldest will be a senior next year. She has really struggled reading the Great Books. I've had to scale way down. We have one year to cover history, the years 1800 to the present AND Civics and Government.

 

So. what would you recommend? we've used TQ this year, and she's done well. She's enjoyed the reading selections and we've had great discussions. I'm not sure she totally has a grasp of the whole time frame....?

 

I had one friend recommend Beautiful Feet, and while I"m sure she would like the books, I'm concerned about her actually making the connections of history (and I don't think it covers to the absolute present).

 

I had another friend recommend Sonlight 100. But I think it looks way too simplistic for high school (though this particular daughter does not have high and lofty academic aspirations once she graduates. she's already pretty much met the requirements to get into her college of choice, which is a university that offers a 2yr degree in Pastry Arts).

 

She's doing a week of Teen Pact this year to get a jump start on Civics/Government, and honestly, I was hoping to not put too much money into this one area. I think Sonlight's Core 300 looks great for this, very thorough, but I doubt she'd have the time to put into it, plus history too.

 

oh, and I'll also have a 10th grade girl, and a 9th grade boy that I'd like to tie in to at least the history part. I'll be doing VP with the 7th grader and 4th grader.

 

any/all advice appreciated.

Jodi

[Lynnatbeach]

Have you looked at Diana Waring's History Alive? - World Empires,World Missions, World Wars

This is something you could use for all your children! Her CD lecture seires are very entertaining , and the study guide has lesson plans, projects and research paper suggestions for your children's age/grade levels.

www.dianawaring.com

 

 

• Napoleon and Early Missions Industrialism and The Church's Response;
  Nationalism and The Crimean War The British Empire, The Intellectual Revolution
  and The Missionaries of Africa Franco-Prussian War, The Salvation Army
  and The China Inland Mission The Turn of the Century and The Balkans World War I and The Bolshevik Revolution The Rise of Facism, Nazism and
  The Struggle for Independence World War II and Miraculous Deliverance The Cold War, The Korean War, Israel
  and Unto The Uttermost Parts...

 

[ereks mom]

Unfortunately, I couldn't find ANYTHING that did what I wanted it to do for this period, so we are using a combination of Beautiful Feet U.S & World History, TruthQuest guides, and self-produced TRISMS-style studies. It has required a phenomenal amount of work on my part to put it all together. (Maybe I should check into the legalities of publishing what I've come up with! :p)

 

Online I found a list of World & American History topics meshed together chronologically, and that, along with the BF & TQ guides, has been what I used to select topics for study. For literature, I chose books from the lists in BF & TQ guides, and also used several older chronologically-arranged American & British lit texts from various publishers for studying poetry & short stories. Some of these have wonderful writing assignments. For history, we have used various American & World History books, including BJU, ABeka, Spielvogel, & Asimov. We also borrow videos from the library and watch pertinent History Channel programs. For art, architecture and music, ER does limited research on the various movements as well as artists/works, buildings/builders, & musicians/composers of each period or style.

[vmsurbat]

If she has done well with TruthQuest, why not keep on with it? I used Notgrass Gov't last year for my 12th grader. It is a very easy to use text that covers the basics of good government from a Christian perspective in 75 lessons. Unlike other Notgrass courses, there is no additional reading outside the student text. There is an optional quiz and test booklet which we did use. I think you could easily add this to the TQ history that you are doing.

 

Regarding not "getting the big picture"--that is not as unusual as you may think. In one of Ruth Beechick's books (an early advocate of homeschooling), she includes a quote in her "how to teach history" chapter that it isn't until one is at least 26 years old before one *really* begins to appreciate history....

 

HTH,