Favorite american history course

[skissugar]

What is your favorite straight up American History Curriculum to use?

 

And then what is your favorite straight up Govt. curriculum to use?

 

I am in the process of planning for my sons High school years :)

 

thanks!

Christina

[skissugar]

anyone???? we will finish all 4 sotw books before my son goes into 9th grade. I really really want him to do a solid one year of american history his 9th grade year. So I am researching now ...i know i have a few years but we will most likely be overseas at that time and if its something i am interested in then I would like to see it in person before we move..

 

thanks!!!!

christina

[Liza Q]

What do you mean by straight up - just a textbook? Or a program with activities/tests? Or one that includes literature?

[skissugar]

i guess what i mean.. is i dont need a program that is going to do literature and anything else.. just history.. or a program that has it that i can tweak ..

 

for instance : notgrass... it has bible, literature and history all in its course its a 3 credit course (1 credit for each) I dont need the bible or literature stuff as i have those courses already covered. I will use some but not all of the literature choices and projects for reinforcement if i choose notgrass but I wont use any of the bible stuff (we have that covered already as a family) ..

 

so yes test.. exams.. etc are fine.. just something that is very meaty and will cover all of american history...

[Lori D.]

We are loving Notgrass American History program "Exploring America", this year. It is first explorers to the New World through year 2001 in 2 volumes (full year), plus a terrific "American Voices" volume with loads of source documents, and writings, essays, speeches, poems (some are excerpts) from writers of the times. We are enjoying the friendly, informal tone of the book, and also the Christian perspective of the author as a break after 2 years of a secular history textbook with a slightly liberal, slightly antagonistic perspective toward religion. Written at about an 8th grade level, written to the student, with optional quiz/test packet.

 

see it at: http://www.notgrass.com/american-history-high-school-curriculum.php

 

 

One caveat: Notgrass is billed as a 3-credit course, with supposedly 1 credit each for history, literature, and Bible. However, while the history is *definitely* worth a full credit, the Literature is more like a "supplemental book list" (some of the works are not what I would call Literature, and there is NO literary analysis or real discussion questions); and the Bible portion is also not what I would consider a full credit Biblical studies program. We are substituting other things for the Bible and Literature portions -- and the program works *great* just for American History.

 

If you need a secular American History program, not sure what I would recommend -- I believe some people have used the Joy Hakim "History of US" set of textbooks in 9th grade, though it is written at a middle-school level.

 

 

As for American Government, we are using the textbook from Great Source. It's very thorough, but VERY dry and textbook-y. I would call it a full 1-credit course. We are using only the textbook (no other accompanying material), and bought it used from Amazon for about $10. Notgrass also puts out 0.5 credit American Government course ("Exploring Government"), again with a source document volume to accompany the program.

 

Great Source American Gov't = http://greatsource.com/store/ProductCatalogController?cmd=Browse&subcmd=LoadDetail&level1Code=07&level2Code=070&level3Code=028&frontOrBack=F&sortProductsBy=SEQ_TITLE&division=G01

Notgrass Government = http://www.notgrass.com/american-government-high-school-curriculum.php

 

Hippocampus has some very good free material online for American Government = http://www.hippocampus.org/American%20Government

 

 

But my best recommendation for Government is to LIVE it through either the YMCA-sponsored Youth & Government program (http://www.ilymcayg.org/), or the Teen Pact program (http://www.teenpact.com/), in which high school students learn government firsthand by actually writing bills, lobbying, debating bills, visit the capital, etc.

 

 

BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmly, Lori D.

[Lori D.]

for instance : notgrass... it has bible, literature and history all in its course its a 3 credit course (1 credit for each) I dont need the bible or literature stuff as i have those courses already covered.

 

 

 

Hi Christina,

See my post below, but we are very happy using just the history portion of Notgrass' American History program. The literature and Bible portions of Notgrass are very separate, and so you don't miss a thing by using other programs. Warm regards, Lori D.

[skissugar]

thank you lori!! I have heard great things about notgrass so i am checking it out this weekend at the st.louis homeschool expo for sure.. im glad to hear someone using it like I would be using it!

 

thank you!!!

christina

[TXMary2]

I also love Notgrass and I agree with Lori that it is definitely a history credit, but not for literature and bible. Bible is like one question a week! Literature only covers the reading of novels, but no analysis or discussion of literary terms etc. The comprehension questions are severely lacking and aren't even covered until the end of the novel. So please don't discard the idea of Notgrass because of how it is billed. It is quite an awesome history program.

[merylvdm]

We loved Sonlight 100 - my dd did it as an 11th grader and then took the AP US History exam and scored a 5.

My dss did it at the same time but were only in middle school so I am using the Teaching Company US History DVD series for them supplemented by Critical Thinking through US History and a few readers (Up from Slavery etc).

 

For Govt my dd did Sonlight's course and loved it - but it was more than my son wanted and so he has done Thinkwell's course and he loves loves loves that. In fact, he has decided to write the AP Govt exam. You can buy it cheaply through Homeschoolbuyersco-op.

 

Meryl

[Judy in WA]

I second Sonlight 100. The Hakim series got a little monotonous after volume 5 so I found it on cassette at the library. I found my daughter (age 12 at the time) would listen to a volume 2 or 3 times while she folded laundry, worked on crafts, or just hung out in her room. Even a year later, she is able to recall facts she learned from that year.

[Liza Q]

We also use Notgrass as history only - my daughter just reads the Bible section without doing any of the work and we do our own literature.

 

We do supplement it with the Teaching Co. History of the United States dvds. But I would probably do that no matter what textbook we used because I never think that we have enough information for history!!!

 

I especially love the weekly writing assignments that Notgrass gives! We have the tests but we just use them to review. My daughter is studying for the SAT2 US History test and she feels very well prepared.

 

For Government we used the Great Source text that Lori mentioned. I had each of my girls do a research paper to finish up the class, so to speak, and I gave them each a 1/2 credit for the class. I do like the Notgrass Government text, though, and wish that I had used it instead! I am planning to use Notgrass Economics next year.