Notgrass, vs BJU, vs Beautiful Feet history

[Love2Smile]

Can anyone compare the World and American History from Notgrass and BJU?

I am torn between the two. I have read great and not so great reviews about both.

 

I have read that Notgrass is extremely boring. Is BJU any better?

 

I have read that Beautiful Feet lacks A LOT! That it doesnt really teach history it's mainly a book guide.

 

I'd love to hear from anyone who has used these

[Jan P.]

BJU's American History book is very much a "just the facts" type of book. However, that is what my children want with their history. I prefer a more literature based program, but there you have it. I have no experience with the other two programs.

[Yolanda in Mass]

Yes, BJU's American History is very much a "just the facts" book, and lots of facts at that! Notgrass is more of a narrative than a text, but it is still a text. Check out their samples at http://www.notgrass.com/american-history-high-school-curriculum.php. I've used both and prefer Notgrass. As for Beautiful Feet, I used part of US and World History, tweaked it a bit, and substituted some of their books because they were either too young or we simply didn't care for them (Hakim's History of US fits both categories). I was quite happy with the results! My son loves history and he learned a lot using BF; so did I.

 

I don't know why anyone would say that it doesn't teach history. I've learned more from biographies and the like than any textbook I've ever used, which is what BF uses primarily. However, I do understand that statement if they mean it seems to cover less ground than other programs, especially text-based programs such as BJU, ABeka or others.

 

Yolanda

 

 

Yolanda

[Spy Car]

Take it with a grain of salt, but Notgrass was recommend to me as an example of a work I would NOT LIKE (given a strong difference in world-view).

 

Curiosity aroused, I read the samples available on-line and found them highly interesting.

 

I wish I had my own copy as I'd like to read it fully. I appreciate the intelligent tone and deft writing abilities of the author, and it certainly din't strike me as boring.

 

Bill

[HollyDay]

You've raised my curiosity Bill! I too am exploring history options. I love the literature approach of BF, but dd does not. She is more of a "just the facts" type dc. But, she does NOT like BJU. It is too dry. Too "scattered". They tend to jump from topic to topic or region to region. However, dd seems to like Notgrass. I just talked with the company and found them very helpful. The literature is recommended, not required. Dd can pick and chose a few books to dig down into. But, she does not like the fact that there are writing assignments!

[Susan C.]

First child, ds, did Beautiful Feet using Joy Hakim as a spine. Not usually recommended for high school here. Ds is in college, he says because of Beautiful Feet, he actually remembers what he did which he thinks is far more important than pushing hundreds of facts or doing critical thinking above his level. He likes having the base we built on homeschooling to expand on in college.

 

But with dd now, I am trying textbooks. We are on our third textbook for World History this year.... she doesn't read as fast as ds did, so whole books isn't an option for her (she would be 30 before we cover it all, lol). Streams of Civilization Vol. 1 was alright, but no questions, no review, and the tests were straight fact recall with no prep. BJU World History is a lot of facts, so after four or so chapters, we have ducked out of that. Now, we are in Human Odyssey. We have done one chapter so far, and it went well, I saw her actually processing the history for the first time instead of remember facts. HO is HUGE, I don't think you could ever do it in a year. If I had more kids, I would think about ditching geography, and taking two years to do Human Odyssey (or using it as a spine for the four years of high school history as in WTM).

 

HTH

[Love2Smile]

First child, ds, did Beautiful Feet using Joy Hakim as a spine. Not usually recommended for high school here. Ds is in college, he says because of Beautiful Feet, he actually remembers what he did which he thinks is far more important than pushing hundreds of facts or doing critical thinking above his level. He likes having the base we built on homeschooling to expand on in college.

 

But with dd now, I am trying textbooks. We are on our third textbook for World History this year.... she doesn't read as fast as ds did, so whole books isn't an option for her (she would be 30 before we cover it all, lol). Streams of Civilization Vol. 1 was alright, but no questions, no review, and the tests were straight fact recall with no prep. BJU World History is a lot of facts, so after four or so chapters, we have ducked out of that. Now, we are in Human Odyssey. We have done one chapter so far, and it went well, I saw her actually processing the history for the first time instead of remember facts. HO is HUGE, I don't think you could ever do it in a year. If I had more kids, I would think about ditching geography, and taking two years to do Human Odyssey (or using it as a spine for the four years of high school history as in WTM).

 

HTH

Susan,

For you child who used BF. Did he use all of JH books for both World/History?

Also, what writing program did you use during this time

 

Thanks

[Alphabetika]

My dd wanted a "just the facts" approach to American history and Notgrass worked very well for her. I've said it before and I'll say it again: what made Notgrass attractive to me was the extra book of documents such as speeches, short stories, poetry, hymns, other writings, which brought the history alive by bringing me and dd into the minds of the people who lived it. For instance, it's one thing to hear that the people in the confederate states wanted slavery to remain legal, entirely another to read the "Confederate Constitution" and learn what the attitude towards "the Negro" really was, in their own words. That's just one example.

 

I'm glad you liked the writing, Bill, though I agree that you'd hate the worldview. ;)

[Chloe]

:lurk5:

 

I'd love to hear more about Notgrass vs BF for high school.

[Liza Q]

I have read most of the BJU U.S. History text as I have used it for years as a reference. It is thorough but dry. I am sure that if you use the entire program with the dvds it would be quite interesting!

 

Several years ago, I had one of my daughters read a chapter of BJU World and a chapter of Streams of Civilization and she preferred Streams. Last year, I had my other daughter read a chapter of BJU US and Notgrass US and she preferred Notgrass. She really enjoyed BJU Biology so I was surprised that she did not choose the BJU US text!

 

I just asked my daughter and she explained why she liked it better. Notgrass is more streamlined and each chapter has a clear focus, without those little sidebars and extras that BJU has. She liked all the information for Biology but thought it distracting for History. It is like she is reading an essay every week - clear and interesting. The writing assignment choices make things easy. She likes the book of extra readings because it is always directly related to what she has been reading about. However, the amount of reading really varies so it is hard to plan. And neither of us find it boring! It has one voice, not the "textbook" voice, kwim?

 

I believe that Notgrass has less information than BJU but this is a feature, not a bug! Since there is less textbook reading she has more time to watch the Teaching Co. History of the US dvds. This has made it just about perfect for us - watching the lectures from a secular pov, reading a text from a Christian pov, a good selection of primary sources and a weekly writing assignment..

 

While I like Notgrass as a text I am not crazy about it as a program. The Bible portion is...well, she reads the chapter and it is always interesting and to the point but I do not have her look up any of the verses or use it as a real study - she does her own thing at this age. And the literature is light, so I just made my own program for her.

 

Beautiful Feet is just so different!! I have a very dear friend who used it and we spent a lot of time looking at it together at the BF table at a convention a few years ago. I thought that books like the Jean Fritz bios and the History of US books were just - light for High School. My daughters had read them all in Jr. High but, since hers had not, it was a good choice for them. And it the sort of program that I would find hard to modify (and I modify everything!) - I think it easier to use a text as a base and then add to it.

 

Hth!

Edited March 24, 2010 by Liza Q
got two books confused!

[Susan C.]

Susan,

For you child who used BF. Did he use all of JH books for both World/History?

Also, what writing program did you use during this time

 

Thanks

 

Here is what we did, remember, he is my oldest (translated: guinea pig), an avid reader and presently an English major at college. (I may not do the same for our dd):

 

9th grade: BF Ancient History, Abeka English 10 (Writing/Comp and World Lit, and Spelling/Vocab.)

10th grade: BF US and World from Civil War to present, about half of the books (we did the Jr. High Foster program that covered US and World up to the Civil War), Abeka English 11 (Writing/Comp. and American Lit. and Spelling/Vocab.) He started with BJU US History, at three weeks in begged for BF. He read the Hakim books from Book 4 or 5 on (where BJU left off). He read a few chapters of Hakim and 30-40 pgs. of the books each day, he is quite the reader.

11th grade: Streams of Civilization Vol. 1, and the last half of BJU World History, BJU Writing and Grammar 11, and Abeka English Lit. We also did Format Writing. When I asked him a few weeks ago how he liked the BJU World, he said it was awful..... so I changed dd to Human Odyssey.... he never told me until now....

12th grade: BJU Govt/Econ., and BJU Writing and Grammar 12 and BJU World Lit (w/dvds).

 

Most of Beautiful Feet books are biography style, so I added a regular lit. book for more lit. exposure. I skipped the extra book assignments in Abeka because he was reading so many books already.

 

HTH!! Homeschooling is so fluid.... I change my mind with each kid as to what I use, because each is different, and I am still learning about homeschooling as well.

[cshell]

Don't forget Omnibus too!!!:001_smile:

[Love2Smile]

Here is what we did, remember, he is my oldest (translated: guinea pig), an avid reader and presently an English major at college. (I may not do the same for our dd):

 

9th grade: BF Ancient History, Abeka English 10 (Writing/Comp and World Lit, and Spelling/Vocab.)

10th grade: BF US and World from Civil War to present, about half of the books (we did the Jr. High Foster program that covered US and World up to the Civil War), Abeka English 11 (Writing/Comp. and American Lit. and Spelling/Vocab.) He started with BJU US History, at three weeks in begged for BF. He read the Hakim books from Book 4 or 5 on (where BJU left off). He read a few chapters of Hakim and 30-40 pgs. of the books each day, he is quite the reader.

11th grade: Streams of Civilization Vol. 1, and the last half of BJU World History, BJU Writing and Grammar 11, and Abeka English Lit. We also did Format Writing. When I asked him a few weeks ago how he liked the BJU World, he said it was awful..... so I changed dd to Human Odyssey.... he never told me until now....

12th grade: BJU Govt/Econ., and BJU Writing and Grammar 12 and BJU World Lit (w/dvds).

 

Most of Beautiful Feet books are biography style, so I added a regular lit. book for more lit. exposure. I skipped the extra book assignments in Abeka because he was reading so many books already.

anks

HTH!! Homeschooling is so fluid.... I change my mind with each kid as to what I use, because each is different, and I am still learning about homeschooling as well.

Thanks Susan!