Suggestions for Humanities Course

[Cabertmom]

So far, I haven't been able to find the "perfect" history/literature course for us. We are a Catholic family. I'm open to secular sources that inspire discussions, but I'm not open to sources that spend time Catholic-bashing. I'm also open to Catholic sources but would rather avoid the extremes of Anne Carroll as well.

 

We're finishing up modern history this year and will be going back through ancient history and literature and philosophy and art next year. We'll probably spend at least half of our time on Greece.

 

What I would like is a fairly minimal "spine" that I can read aloud to all of the children (ages 15 to 5) and then send them on their merry way to read primary texts and historical fiction and study art and philosophy in an age-appropriate manner. Along with that, I would like some literature study guides to help them delve deeper than my memory and lack of time allow.

 

What I would rather avoid is huge textbooks that suck the life out of a subject that I only found interesting as an adult. I'm not against textbooks in some cases--I just want them to be a background tool rather than the majority of the study.

 

This year, we have been using SOTW IV for everybody along with lots of great literature. We have the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and use it occasionally, but I would actually like to see something that is narrative-based rather than tidbits here and there. I'm happy to use SOTW I with my 3 younger children, but I think we need something halfway between that and Susan Wise Bauer's adult series for my teenagers.

 

My preference would be for something with somewhere between 30 and 100 pages of text on each of the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Chinese and then a smaller segment on each of the lesser known civilizations.

 

I'm considering Connecting with History by rchistory.com, but I don't know if it is much more than a reading list. History Odyssey also looks intriguing, and Kolbe's history and literature courses do too, except that I don't really want to spend a year each on Greek and Roman. None of them is quite exactly what I'm looking for. I don't think I want Tapestry of Grace either. My budget is tight, but I'm also open to The Teaching Company, except that I'm concerned about the number of things we've been switching to non-book-based courses of late. It's not out of the question though.

 

Any suggestions, ideas, or similar dilemmas?

[Mom2boys]

:bigear:

[regentrude]

If you want to read aloud, check out

The Universal History of the World, a series by Golden Press.

There are several volumes for different time periods. My kids found them very readable, with many illustrations, and not textbook-like.

The series is out of print, but you can buy them used.

[at the beach]

Great question. I will be interested in hearing replies. I've been looking at MODG but I know MODG uses the Carroll texts, which I am also not exactly thrilled about. I also think using TTC courses would be a great way to go. My initial impression of TTC wasn't the best because I really wasn't crazy about the high school level world history and American history courses, but I would like to give them another try sometime. I had the same thought as you about Kolbe--a year on each Greece and Rome just seemed too much to me. So, for us, I probably will give MODG a try and start with the 9th grade American History and Lit plans, making a few modifications such as adding an additional spine. I wish I would have bought TTC US History lectures when they were super cheap a few months back. Sigh.

 

Anyway, best wishes, and let us know what you decide.

[Cabertmom]

Violet, I just found a Teaching Company course on the Iliad and the Odyssey by Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver on Amazon for $40. You might see if you can find the U.S. History course used there as well. I will say that for U.S., we used From Sea to Shining Sea, and I really liked it.