Creating a history program starting with a spine and adding in books?

[Night Elf]

If I were to start with a history spine and add in historical fiction and non-fiction, how would I go about finding books that cover the topics and are age-appropriate?

 

I can start with some of the Sonlight titles, but I cannot depend on their entire recommended list because ds13 will not read religious books. I am having to use amazon and my library to figure out what each book is about and if my library has a copy. It's taken me over half an hour just to search for one book. There surely must be an easier way!

 

I printed out a list from Paula's Archives and encountered the same problem. I have to first figure out what the book is about and then see if my library has it. My library doesn't seem to carry many of the books on her list. We are a fairly small suburban area and our library system includes 2 branches only.

 

I'm using Joy Hakim's History of US series. Ds13 finished K12's two-year program. I want to repeat the series but change the worksheet focus to outlining and writing summaries. I also don't want to read just the series. I want to add additional historical fiction and non-fiction to make the series a more in-depth study for him, especially as it is one of his main interests (Asperger's).

 

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[dragons in the flower bed]

Try searching YA +[whatever the topic is]. I use Zuckerman's Barn Advanced Search, the publishers' own websites (HarperCollins, etc.) and my library's "find other books on this topic" feature. But, yes, Amazon is my best resource. Do you know how to search Listmania? And to go in by genre instead of searching it? Also search Google kidlit + YA so you find the reviewers' blogs. Search awards + "historical fiction" so you can find lists of books that have won awards. It does take time. It's my favorite way to kill time. Oh and remember to look in the back of each History of Us volume at the "If you want to read more..." listings!

[KarenNC]

For starters, request the Sonlight print catalog. It is much more informative than the site about which titles are religious and which are not. Religious titles are marked with an "X" at the end of the description. There are some, however that surprise me as they don't have that mark.

 

For Core 100 (I presume that's the one you want), here are the titles that are listed with an "X" in the catalog I have:

Cross and the Switchblade

Peace Child

Cameron Townsend

 

 

Check "Christy"---doesn't have a mark, but I seem to remember it as religious?

 

Let me know if you want me to check a different level.

[Veritaserum]

Since we use Story of the World for our history spine, I use a combination of books recommended in the Activity Guide and books from the Well-Trained-Mind reading list. Your ds is older than SOTW is geared for, but many of the recommended books in the AG should still work.

[Night Elf]

Rose - I have never used those search features at Amazon before. I'll give that and your other suggestions a try.

 

Karen - I can't find my Sonlight catalog! Argh! I just placed an order with them for the Book of Time for dd11 but didn't click on 'free catalog' assuming I still had mine on the shelf. I'll see what I can come up with tonight.

 

I am starting simple with a book on Jamestown because we are starting with Book 2 of the series. I figured it should be fairly easy to find something on that topic! :)

[OnTheBrink]

I bet the Veritas Press catalog would have some suggestions. Naturally, many of their choices are going to be religious, but I bet not all of the are.

 

In my Jackson Spielvogel texts, at the end of each chapter is a list of books for further reading. If you tell me what time periods you want, I'd be happy to list the suggested books.

[PeterPan]

TQ and Artners (published by MP I think) both have book lists. Oh, there's another such guide too. TQ books are not necessarily religious, just older and often oop. Remember, you don't necessarily need to find every single book. Instead find some favorite authors and then read all their books. I'm not up on books for the level/age of your dc, but I know I've seen some common names of biographers whom you'd be able to read across and read a variety of books by, just by determining you like that biographer's writing style. Marrin, that's what I was trying to think of. Marrin would be an example.

[kalanamak]

Call it cheesy, but I look at "what other people who looked at this book bought" on Amazon, plus the related books, or click on the author and see what else they have written.

 

Rate books you like on Amazon and they change their recommendations for you.

 

It may be slow, but it is my way. Found some real pearls.

[swimmermom3]

Beth, check the back of each of your Hakim books. There is an additional list that can supplement the Sonlight list. Also, if your ds is not going to do one of the upper level Sonlight cores, you can scavenge from there as well. We added in Julie of the Wolves, The Crucible, The Dry Divide (Ralph Moody) and A Tree Grow in Brooklyn. I am assuming you have done SL 3 and 4. If not, some of the books in there, like Carry On Mr. Bowditch, are more sophisticated than some of the reading in Core 100.

 

For the Civil War, don't miss Ken Burn's series by the same name at PBS. Get the movies at the library and follow some of the great activities on the website. You can replace Hakim's Civil War book with it and it gives you some variety.

[swimmermom3]

Calico Captive, Fever 1793, The Captain's Dog (Trail Guide to US Geography has a unit study on this), Jip, and Octavian Nothing.

[Night Elf]

Ooh, lots of great ideas! Thanks so much!

 

We started reading Blood on the River: James Town, 1607 today. Hopefully it will be a great start.

[mazakaal]

I don't know if this will help you at all, but I put together a list of American history books for my 11yo & 13yo. They're just titles that were recommended or I saw in SL. I don't think any of them happen to be religious, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I thought I'd pass it on...

 

Of Courage Undaunted

Johnny Tremain

Poor Richard

Little Britches (and others in the series)

Witch of Blackbird Pond

Shades of Gray

Sign of the Beaver

Winged Watchman

All Sail Set

Call of the Wild

Red Badge of Courage

To Kill a Mockingbird

[Laura Corin]

There's a Sonlight Secular Yahoo group that might help you out with the titles. If you like, you could have a look in the side bar of my blog and see what books I have paired up with SOTW. I do suggest some books-that-deal-with-religion to my boys, but not books-that-preach-religion, if that makes sense.

 

I do feel for you - putting together my Chinese History list, in particular, involved weeks of research on line.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Rebecca VA]

The suggestion about using the Ken Burns Civil War videoseries is a really good one. The PBS "American Experience" tapes are wonderful as well, and there are dozens of them, which cover everything from lives of the presidents to Tupperware and women in World War II. I often put my daughter on the sofa with her knitting and have her watch historical DVDs. That is far more effective (for her) than reading historical fiction.

[Gwen in TX]

All Through the Ages: History through Literature Guide by Christine Miller

 

This book lists books by topic and grade level groupings. Wonderful resource. She has compiled from various catalogs to make this list. Then you request your library ILL (interlibrary loan) them for you. Request what you want several weeks in advance in case they have trouble finding it.

 

However, first, go to your library, use the catalog to find the Dewey number fo the various subjects you are interested in, and browse the shelves. You aren't looking for the 'perfect' book for each topic, just several to call on. Write down the titles you find (use an Excel spreadsheet or develop a table in Word) next to each topic, or you won't be able to find it the week you do that topic! Then for the topics where you have gaps, you can look further in All Through the Ages or decide that will be a 'lite' week with less extra reading. My library also has online access to the World Catalog, which shows what other libraries have in their collections. I can search my subject (and add the word juvenile to limit to children's choices if I want) and find books to request too.

[sueleimom]

I would suggest All Through the Ages by Christine Miller.

[JFSinIL]

Biblioplan

[joannqn]

I use SOTW as our spine but add in lots of library books. I search subjects on our library's card catalog and write down the dewey decimal numbers that come up. Then I go to the library (I prefer the main branch because they have the largest selection) and find those numbers on the shelf. I can easily flip through all of the books to determine if they might be appropriate for my kids. I literally just flip through them in a few seconds. I take home the ones that look like they might be ok and take a closer look at them when I get home. It takes a lot less time to find books this way than to look for individual books.

 

Here's an example:

 

SOTW2 chapter 2 is on the Celts. Based on the suggestions in the AG, I looked up "Celts", "Celtic fairy tales", "Celtic myths", "barbarians", and "Beowulf". That gave me a bunch of places to look on the shelves. The reason I don't specifically look for the books listed in the AG is that most of them aren't in my library anyway and it takes forever to look up each title individually. Plus, the books might be at several different branches which means I'd either have to travel to each branch or put them on hold and risk them being ready to pick up after we don't need them anymore. It takes me probably half an hour online and another 30-60 minutes in the library...depending on how many and which kids are with me.

[Laura Corin]

I would suggest All Through the Ages by Christine Miller.

 

Many of the books are quite heavily religious, however.

 

Laura

[keptwoman]

It's really quite a lot of work isn't it! I'm yet to find a shortcut. C was just saying to me today that he wanted to choose from "the list" rather than me assign books. So I explained the labourious process to find the right books and he agreed I could keep doing it :rofl:

I'm incredibly relieved to be using Sonlight for J next year so that's one less to worry about.