POLL: K12 Human Odyssey

[dancer67]

I would like to know for those who have used K12's Human Odyssey, if you liked and why, and if you hated it and why.....???

[Capt_Uhura]

We will be using it this fall so I won't vote. Giving you a bump though.

[PollyOR]

I also plan to use it this fall. We only have the student text.

[dancer67]

thanks! It is holiday so I think the boards are slow.

[Night Elf]

We used it for 2 weeks but had to drop it. It was over my youngest dd's head even though she wanted to study the topic. And it was boring for my son who hates world history. That was over a year ago. I loved the textbook so much I refuse to give it up. I'm still hoping to use it with dd12 at some point, but I doubt it will happen. I won't give up the program without a fight. I wish I had a chance to do it so I can see if I would really like it! DH wants dd12 to do American History so she's working in K12's 5th grade history program that uses the Joy Hakim series.

[hoosiermom]

Dd used K12 World History A as a 7th grader. I thought most of it was pretty good, some of it excellent. I especially liked the textbook.

 

Dd, however, hated it. She's not a big history fan to begin with. In retrospect, I would not require her to do all the workbook exercises and I think that would help alleviate some of her frustration/boredom with the program. I do know that she learned a lot, because the other day we were having a discussion and she compared the teachings of Confucius, Buddha, and the Hindus (she took the course 2 years ago).

 

Beware if you use the on-line content because we did find several mistakes in the answer keys. Dd would insist that her *right* answer had been counted wrong. When I asked her to prove it by showing me the passage in the textbook, she was usually correct. All I had to do was make an adjustment to her grade, but it did give her another reason to complain about K12. :tongue_smilie:

 

I didn't vote, but it would be a yes from me and a no from dd.

[michmom]

We used the first two volumes of Human Odyssey with the K12 program. My two ds both liked it but they had done K12 history for many years and we had done a lot of history on the side as well. They love history. We did not stick to the way K12 did the program. I personally do not like a lot of writing for writing's sake. The boys write a lot for composition but I do not have them fill out worksheets in other subjects so we orally went over a lot of the things that K12 would have had them do in writing. Some of the K12 activities are optional and we would skip those and do our own thing with other sources in areas that were of particular interest. So, bottom line, we did do all of the reading in Human Odyssey and used that as the spine which worked well, we used some of the K12 material both online and in the teacher/student manuals and then we did our own thing. Done this way, it was a big success.

 

Lynn

[EKS]

I have read all three volumes aloud. I've found that reading aloud really brings out the strengths and weaknesses in a text. The books are coherent and well written. There are essentially no grammatical or typographcal errors (I've found many textbooks that are riddled with them). I like that the big ideas of history are traced through time. They also include elements of story and biography without going overboard. And they are colorful without being "TV textbooks." Very well done. I can't wait to use them again with my younger son.

[dancer67]

Would someone like to share a list of "real" literature books to go along with Volume 1?

 

And thank you for voting, and your input. This is helping me a lot.:grouphug:

[Barb_]

I have nothing to add except a bump and to chime in and say we loved it, but my girls also love history. I'm noticing a trend.

 

Barb

[Matryoshka]

Well, we're only just finishing up Egypt so far, but we're loving it. I am using it as a read-aloud spine for all three kids (12 and 9.5), along with lots of living books. I also have them read other non-fiction books independently (Oxford's World in Ancient Times for olders, Peoples of the Past for the younger). Also lots of videos.

 

I do very much like the student and teacher guides, but I'm not doing every thing (as we're doing so much that's not in it) but selectively picking what seem to me to be the best bits - and I'm only having the older kids do them at this point. :)

[Luckymama]

I can't vote because we're going to be starting with Human Odyssey this year too :) I've only received the teacher's pages yet, the book is somewhere between TN and here... I can't wait to get the two together and make some plans!

[dancer67]

Thanks everyone for the replies:D

[mo2]

What ages are these meant for?

[EKS]

They're supposed to be for grades 7-9, however I plan to use them for my son in grades 5-7 and I'm sure they will be absolutely fine. But we will not be using K12's course or student/teacher pages.

[JennyW]

What is in the student and teacher pages, exactly? I hadn't been planning to use them (because I didn't know they existed), but I'm curious. Thanks.

[EKS]

The student and teacher pages/books are what comes with the course when you enroll with K12. These books are usually available used at Amazon, etc. Most of the K12 course is contained in the combination of HO, student, and teacher books. For these particular courses, there is very little online.

 

Personally, after using several K12 courses at various levels, I find that they are full of what I consider to be busywork, which is why I decided not to use their world history course for the middle grades (that, and that the entire sequence isn't available for independent use). But I do love the Human Odyssey series itself. They did a remarkable job.

[JennyW]

Thanks! I'll skip getting the extras then.