Help, if you have or had a homeschooler that LOVES History,

[Leonor]

what do you do or have done with that student for High School.

DS will be a 9th grader in the fall and I am trying to plan the high school years.

Your comments are deeply appreciated.

Thanks

[Leonor]

what do you do or what have you done starting in 9th and throughout 12th.

This child is thinking of majoring in History.

Thanks again.

[Jane in NC]

Prior to high school, my son read just about all of the Albert Marrin books that we could find in the library. He has also been studying Latin which includes a study of Roman history, again beginning before the high school years.

 

In high school, we are doing things as suggested in TWTM: Spielvogel as the spine and Great Books, supplemented by Teaching Company lectures on history and literature.

 

And as is often recommended on this board, talk, talk, talk. I have learned so much as my son explores his passion for the past.

 

Jane

 

P.S. With my son's interest in Ancient and Medieval history, the need for Latin is apparent. We added French in 9th which I thought we might drop after 10th, but no go. Languages are necessary for historians. My son realizes that these two are only the beginning if he continues with history.

[Leonor]

My thinking is along the lines of what you are doing.

I looked Spielvogel in Amazon and some of the reviews said they loved history and this was a boring book or disappointing.

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

[Anne/Ankara]

You could certainly enrich history study in many ways in the high school years. We have done the National History Day competition for several years, http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/ which challenges students to write a research paper (or website, documentary, exhibit, skit) on a historical topic. Very fun and motivating!

 

You could also have the student write historical articles for Calliope World History Magazine, http://www.cobblestonepub.com/magazine/CAL/ which has monthly topics that are classical history subjects.

 

Do you have any local historical museums? It seems that all of them would love to have volunteers, which might be very fun. Also many areas have local re-enactment festivals.

 

Lastly, consider taking online advanced classes in history through PA Homeschoolers, http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/courses/index.html. These are very nice courses in World History, US History, European History and other social sciences like econ, psychology, government, art history.

[Chris in VA]

I don't think Spielvogel is boring at all. Have you looked at Omnibus? Not sure which period of history is your child's fav, but the combo of Spiel and Omni is solid. Reading the Great Books in order to illuminate the period gives you a deeper and far more interesting insight into the people, culture, and thought of the time.

 

I'd supplement with lots of film and even some TC stuff.

[Maura in NY]

My 14 yo has always preferred history to any other subject. It started with a Civil War obsession when he was 5. (He was in ps then, and I can laugh now about the foolish notes in his school file because of his "interest in war".)

 

This year we used Spielvogel's World History: Human Odyssey. I choose this over the Western Civ simply because it appealed to him more. We own both, and the much of the content is identical. He enjoys the map work supplement. We have the study guide workbook, but we put that aside part way through the year because it felt like busy work. For each quarter, he chose 3 projects from a list I made for him (based loosely on Hewitt's syllabus for Streams of Civilization). These were things like creative writing assignments (a letter from/to a historic figure, etc), PowerPoint presentations, home videos, etc. Then I concoct an essay exam at the end of each unit, which basically includes a choice of topic for each of the chapters in the unit. He also reads historical fiction from the corresponding time period, and we discuss what he's read.

 

I'm not positive what we'll do next year, but I'm leaning towards TRISM's Age of Revolutions because he said he wants to cover from WWI to the present in depth, and I'd like to see him work more independently. We both like the idea of getting away from text books for a bit.

 

I'm very interested to see everyone's responses, because I can always use more history input!

 

Peace,

Maura

[leslie]

We have a friend whose son is probably the most gifted-in-history person I have ever seen. He did Omnibus I online for 9th grade this year and just loved it. All this boy talks about is history and this has been the case since he was very young. You might look at the Omnibus online classes.

[DB in NJ]

My 17 yo loves history; always has. He is considering majoring in history or political science.

 

He first fell in love with history when we did Learning Adventures when he was 8 years old.

 

Anyway, to answer your question:

 

9th grade: Geography

10th grade: Notgrass World History

11th grade: Notgrass American History & US Government

12th grade: Sonlight Core 300

 

He also listens to talk radio, watches TONS of news (he's more up on current events than I am), and watches every political debate. He has visited museums, civil war battlefields, and historic sites.

[LisaNY]

If you have a dc that loves history, I would *definitely* go the WTM/WEM Great Books route. I just bought an excellent book that I believe SWB recommends, entitled "A Short History of Western Civilization" by John Harrison. It gets into the "whys" of major historical events. I am even having my 13yo. read it right now.

 

I bought it used on Amazon.

[Laurie in CA]

I would love a list of films or a web site or link that would have this information. I have never seen any Teaching Company courses either so I would consider trying one of those too if someone can recommend one they especially liked for history.

[Leonor]

are great as well as the High School World History ones by professor

Linwood Thompson.

These courses rotate being on sale throughout the year. Every month they have different courses on sale, check them out at www.teach12.com

[Denise in PA]

I highly recommend teaching and encouraging your child's love for history with Tapestry of Grace, unit studies. While reading a wonderful plethora of real books on historical time periods TOG includes topical studies in geography, literature, world view studies, church history, etc.

[hsmamainva]

My oldest ADORES history!

 

She used Sonlight Core 100 with the History of US books in 8th grade, BJU Geography in 9th grade, and Spielvogel's Western Civilization in 10th grade.

 

She took US History at the community college this past year and just loved it!!! She had a really terrific professor and she now loves history even more than she did before, so I highly recommend an outside class at a community college or university, if you can possibly do so, once they reach their junior and / or senior years.

 

This coming year, she'll be studying british history at home using Fraser's The Story of Britain, and taking British Literature at the community college.

[LisaCA]

History Odyssey is what I will probably use with my DD10 when she gets to HS. She loves history and we have been following the WTM method and use KFHE and STOW along with library books. To me, the History Odyssey looks to be similar.

 

http://www.pandiapress.com/history_odyssey.htm

[Gwen in VA]

I would second the suggestion to pursue volunteering in a historical museum.

 

History is a great major in preparation for law school, but there are actually very few jobs that use a history degree for history. If your child has a leaning towards a specific career that would use history as training, that's great -- but if he wants to "do history" after college, he will probably end up either at a university or in the world of museums. Spending time in a museum would be helpful for many reasons, one of which would be exposure to a possible work environment.

 

Since we live in an area that has an ABUNDANCE of historical museums around, my kids have all done volunteered at several museums simultaneously. (Dd1 did over 1200 hours at historical museums during high school!) After volunteering for three years at one museum ds will be a paid costumed interpreter this summer, which is certainly a VERY cool job for a high schooler.

 

My kids have enjoyed interacting with ALL different kinds of people. They have learned the fine art of when to speak up, when to be authoritative, when to be submissive, how to entertain, etc. And they have also learned how to present history to sometimes uninterested people in ways that make the history interesting.

 

Dd volunteered at a museum where she was encouraged to write up a children's guide for a specific exhibit. It sounds SO easy and was SO challenging. She learned a LOT about history, about behind-the-scenes work creating exhibits and tours, and about museum work in general.

 

Probably the most important thing dd learned was that she does NOT want to work in museums! She is going into art conservation, but she wants to work as a researcher for a large foundation or even at a university, but she does not want to "do" exhibits or visitors.

 

All of the volunteer work obviously has the additional benefit of looking good on college applications. Museum people also wrote many college recommendations for dd.

[Laura in OH]

9th grade: Geography

10th grade: Notgrass World History

11th grade: Notgrass American History & US Government

12th grade: Sonlight Core 300

 

 

...and will supplement 9th Grade Geography with history books about each place studied, from the Geographical History lists in All Through The Ages by Christine Miller: http://www.nothingnewpress.com/atta/contents.html

[Veronica in VA]

My favorite would be Sonlight. But I was surprised when my daughter started reading Spielvogel the other day. She wanted to read about World War I. I didn't think she would like it, but she told me how well it was written. It's amazing what they pick up when you leave something out on the coffee table.;)

 

Veronica

[Brindee]

9th grade: Geography

10th grade: Notgrass World History

11th grade: Notgrass American History & US Government

12th grade: Sonlight Core 300

 

What did you do for Geography? My ds14 will be in 9th, and it's going to be heavy on Geography, so am just curious.

[mcconnellboys]

If WEM had been out, I would have used it, along with SWB's history on the ancient world for that time period. As it was, I used WTM recs and included a lot of really great living books, such as the Marrin books someone else recommended. The last year he was home, I enrolled him in dual credit courses for history and lit.

[summer]

My DD loves history and I want to keep it that way, so I am just continuing to let her read and watch videos and such so she will continue to love it. I am sure this is enough.

 

Teaching Company has history videos. My children watch a lot of history channel also. They are quite the history buffs at this point.

[Langhaven]

I agree with Denise that Tapestry of Grace units or year plans are fabulous for history. Their combo of history, geography, fine arts history, philosophy, government and church history is great. For the books that my ds has already read, we've just substituted with a selection from All Through the Ages. It isn't just the reading, but the thinking through and discussion - as well as connections from consecutive, unbroken history study that have made this curriculum a winner with us.

[4wildberrys]

Sonlight and Notgrass!!! Simply amazingly interesting history programs---we use both together and LOVE it!

[DB in NJ]

I actually brought this up with my ds the other day. He said that if he had to name the ONE thing that got him really interested in history, it would be our visit to Springfield, IL and Lincoln's house when he was about 8 or 9. This has been followed by trips to Philly, Gettysburg, Washington's Crossing, the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Anthropology & Archaeology, Historic Cold Spring Village (an open-air living history museum), etc.

 

So more than any curriculum, I think SEEING history -- walking where the people in the books walked -- has done more for his interest than anything else.

[Denise in PA]

If your teen really "loves" history - and especially, if he/she does not - I highly recommend Tapestry of Grace unit study. Years ago I began my home school odyssey implementing Learning Adventures, written by Dorian Holt (geared to junior-high years). When my oldest child entered ninth grade it was time to move on to the "big leagues", so to speak. Marica Sommerville's Tapestry of Grace (TOG) provides all the necessary "hand-holding" for the mother has the family uncovers rich layers of history. She brilliantly parrallels historical events with literature, geography, church history, and worldview studies. Written for grades K-12 grades it really shines in the high school years. Students are encouraged to read real books pertaining to a weekly topic, they analyze and then synthesize questions while preparing for discussion time with mom. We do not attend a co-op using TOG, but the kitchen table has provided a lively, rich forum for weekly discussions. TOG recommendes a wealth of literature and historical books (based on many different reading levels and interests), but you can always choose your selections. I find TOG very flexible with my family's time table and interest. Academically, TOG is exceptional! A student can learn just the basics or really explore rich historical threads.

Check our the website www.tapestryofgrace.com.

Wishing you a rich exploration in your search!