Can I get a list of possible history curriculum for high school?

[Jennifer in MI]

Sorry. I tried to search and came up short. I'm starting my research for next year.

 

We're currently using Sonlight for my 8th grader. It feels like we're rushing through SO many books and not really discussing anything in depth. I want to research other options for next year.

 

I'm looking for something that has literature included in it. (We'll do a separate lit study though.) I want more depth.

 

Ideas? Thanks!

[Jane in NC]

Jennifer,

 

We have been very happy with Spielvogel, WTM reading lists and supplemental Teaching Company lectures in literature and history. It all fits very nicely, leading to interesting family discussions.

 

My vote is for SWB's suggestions.

 

Jane

[creekland]

We've been extremely happy with Notgrass American and World History (Christian content). It helps to get literature guides to go along with the literature for the English part.

[Jennifer in MI]

Jennifer,

 

We have been very happy with Spielvogel, WTM reading lists and supplemental Teaching Company lectures in literature and history. It all fits very nicely, leading to interesting family discussions.

 

My vote is for SWB's suggestions.

 

Jane

 

Thank you Jane! I have to re-read WTM for the high school level. I read it last year, but I was planning to use Sonlight straight through high school then, so I think I skimmed the history part.

 

Do you happen to have a list of what exactly you used? Which Teaching Company lectures did you find particularly good? Did you use a particular lit guide for the reading lists from WTM? (I'm a math/science type of gal. Lit intimidates me!)

 

Thanks again!

[Jennifer in MI]

We've been extremely happy with Notgrass American and World History (Christian content). It helps to get literature guides to go along with the literature for the English part.

 

Thanks! I'm going to add this to the list! Do the lit guides come with it?

[Grace is Sufficient]

I agree with the recommendation. Lit guides don't come with it. We used a smorgasbord for the guides... mostly Progeny Press I got used, or free downloads from Smarr, as well as a few miscellaneous sources.

[Tenaj]

We're really enjoying MFW's high school.

[creekland]

Thanks! I'm going to add this to the list! Do the lit guides come with it?

 

As said before, no, lit guides do not come with the books. We were able to find many of the books at the library - some had the equivalent of lit guides with them. Others we did some googling and found decent write ups. Then for the rest we looked online for some we could purchase. We only had to buy a couple - ditto the books.

 

I really liked how the literature fit in with the history being studied.

 

As a supplement in general, we're big History Channel fans though many times those shows skip parts of history or put their own slant on things (who doesn't?). It's really rewarding to hear my boys pick apart their shows (eg, they forgot _____ with Hannibal's journey).

[Jane in NC]

PMing you.

 

No to additional literature guides. We followed WEM suggestions for discussion.

 

Jane (who wishes Lori D lived next door for literature instruction!)

[readwithem]

Thank you Jane! I have to re-read WTM for the high school level. I read it last year, but I was planning to use Sonlight straight through high school then, so I think I skimmed the history part.

 

Do you happen to have a list of what exactly you used? Which Teaching Company lectures did you find particularly good? Did you use a particular lit guide for the reading lists from WTM? (I'm a math/science type of gal. Lit intimidates me!)

 

Thanks again!

 

I'm not Jane ;) but we also did WTM for ancients and medieval and LOVED it. Sadly my dd wanted more interaction with other students so she's done an online lit class for 11th and 12th grades (if you want to go that route I highly recommend Scholars Online).

 

Regarding the Teaching Company lectures, we loved anything and everything by Elizabeth Vandiver - Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Greek Myths, etc. We also did part of the big lit set, she does a lot on there as well. Then we did the 3-part Middle Ages set by Dalleader.

 

ETA we also did SL through 5th grade, but like you it felt too rushed, and looking at the high school levels I knew I would want to go deeper into fewer selections. :)

[Chris in VA]

We did Omnibus 1 and 2, skipping most of the secondary reading, adding in our own theology, and adding in more Spielvogel. If your child has a good grasp of history from going thru the 4 year rotation in the grammar and logic stages, I think Omnibus can provide a unique perspective, as you are reading primary sources and things written during (not just about) the time period that is studied.

We also did some WTM stuff, adapting Sonlight 300, and also just used Spielvogel and Martin Gilbert's 20th Century Year by Year as spines, adding in some lit.

[Peela]

I am using Connect the Thoughts. Different approach to the more academic programs, but it's working well for us.

[Osmosis Mom]

I am using Connect the Thoughts. Different approach to the more academic programs, but it's working well for us.

 

Peela,

 

Can you tell me more about Connect the Thought, specifically their history? I looked over a sample, but am a bit confused about the curriculum. Is there an asnwer key fx? Or parent guide? Also, is the text only this? How is media incorporated?

 

I ahve a ds 14 who says he doesn't like history. I think it is the format we are using that he doesn't like (textbook).

[Moira in MA]

Like Chris, we used Omnibus. We did I thru III, including the secondary readings which really addded a lot to the our understanding of the primary readings. We used Gileskirk Ancients, Christendom and American Culture to give us the history aspect, we found the Spielvogel too dry -- especially for a then 7th grader.

 

Since my eldest is in 12th grade this year, she is doing Senior English at Scholars Online and my 10th grader is doing Sonlight's Brit Lit with the intention of taking American Lit at Scholars Online next year. For history, we're doing Gileskirk Modernity.

 

HTH

~Moira

[Vida Winter]

We're doing Teaching Company lectures (Foundations of Western Civ., to be followed by Middle Ages sequence, U.S. History), with mom-created assignments and supplemental reading. Although history is not our main emphasis, I want the overview to be there and I want it to be enjoyable enough that she will want to read about history out of interest.

[ereks mom]

...for both of my dc.

[laughing lioness]

I had the opportunity to visti Highlands Latin School this past summer and spent a couple of hours with the gal at MP. As a result of our conversation I ditched Omnibus and went with MP study guides to ancient. It's far more deep than wide, and the wide was my complaint with Omnibus- how to do anything but Omni and still finish.-we spent 6 weeks on Coolidge's Trojan War and are on the Odyessey right now -it's all on hold cause of our crazy life but we just leased a house so we should get back to normalcy here soon. I love the guides. They are clear, simple, straightforward with good questions and "honor"assignments- upper level thinking/writing, with a good deal of charts, drawing thrown in.

I'm calling MP again this spring to chart out our Midieval year. My ds 15 is pretty intellectual and I was worreid the guides would be too simple. They are just right. Challenging and fun. You can go as fast or slow as you need. They aren't in the catalog=- they are what they us at HLS so you need to ask about them. I shared with anotehr TWTM groupie and her comment on them, "most excellent."

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

What is MP? :lurk5:

 

I had the opportunity to visti Highlands Latin School this past summer and spent a couple of hours with the gal at MP. As a result of our conversation I ditched Omnibus and went with MP study guides to ancient.

[Tamarind]

I just have to ask: do you play the dulcimer? And if so, the mountain dulcimer or the hammer dulcimer?

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I just have to ask: do you play the dulcimer? And if so, the mountain dulcimer or the hammer dulcimer?

 

Yes! I've been playing the mountain dulcimer for years. :)

[PeterPan]

Hey Lisa, tell us more about these HLS/MP guides!!!!!!!!!!! What do they cover, what do they cost, and how many years worth are there? I got Omnibus1 to start prepping for 7th grade, and the more I try, the less I stomach it. Do the MP/HLS guides include history schedules too? Do you think this is something they'll see a market for (which there is!) and improve and formally publish in their catalog soon? Have you talked with them about that? What components are included and what do you find yourself adding? Is there a distinct religious component?

 

To me the two main detractors on Omnibus are the dryness (lots of material, not all interesting if you don't like history, and of course flying through at that) and the lack of thorough history coverage. I think there's a need to TALK about the history, make connections on the history, see history from your religious viewpoint, etc. I need serious help in that department, and even with it in-hand I don't see Omnibus giving me that. I found study guides to go with a potential spine (not Spiel. but another I liked a fuzz better), but even then you miss the discussion, the perspective, etc. But I ask for the moon, eh? In other words, I want the education I never had, and I want it all in one book. Not likely to happen, lol. But if you can share more about these MP/HLS guides, that would be interesting. And what combo of materials you're using with it (spines, etc.)

[laughing lioness]

MP = Memoria Press.

I purchased guides to the Trojan War, Odyssey and the Iliad. I think they're about $15-$25 each and are set up like LC, Logic or CS by MP. Reading assignment, list of characters and quotes to know and memorize, comprehension questions, drawing/writing assignments, "honor" work- usually a writing/thinking or compare/contrast assignment.

 

I liked Omni and my son loved the reading assingments but it was too much with no writing instruction. The MP guides have no writing instruction either but it's not such an overwhelming pace with plenty of time left over for him to have lots of free readign time while still digging in to some quality lit/history. Plus I felt the Omni's qeustions were often times leading wheras MP's are more factual or having to do with the history/culture.

 

I hope MP makes these available in their catalog! This was my spine for history /lit this year. Since the fire everythings been topsyturvy and he's been readign Church History (cause it came in the mail 2 days after the fire and isn't smoke damaged!) I think it's enough because of how much he reads on his own and the types of lit he persues.

[PeterPan]

You're the first person I've seen comment on the leading questions in Omnibus! Yes, totally agree. That was actually the first thing that bugged me when I started looking through it. And my overall issue nagging me is that it doesn't speak to my soul. I guess that's really vague, but it just doesn't. It neither is factual and out of the way to let you think nor heart-warming enough to make you think. To me it was propogandizing, bringing in the points THEY wanted to cover and thereby leading you into opinions. I've had enough theology and know the issues so that I don't need that, kwim? And some of the articles I just didn't find well-written. Take that back, most of them in O1 I don't like. I don't like the writing style, the emphasis, none of it. Some left questions unanswered that I thought were very important. I'm interested to see O4 where Veith takes over, because I'm wanting to see if the tone or thought process changes.

 

The Rutherford guides (which I have, got from Aquinas and more after seeing them mentioned on the boards here) seem very similar to what you're describing in the MP guides...