Notgrass History Exploring America- would like feedback from anyone who has used this

[Guest MelanieS]

I have been looking at Notgrass Exploring America. Has anyone used this and if so how did you like it and how did the student like it?

[creekland]

We used it and my kids loved it. They also seem to have retained quite a bit of the info (which was helpful on a Cash Cab question on TV last night!). We supplemented the English portion with Wordly Wise for grammar/vocab and study guides for some of the books. We didn't use the Bible component for credit. We don't have a Bible component in our schooling.

[Momof3Maidens]

My daughter used the World History texts this year and loved it. She also read the recommended literature but I only gave her one credit and that was for World History. I just didn't feel that you could pull an English or Bible credit out of it without supplementing it. Hope this helps!

[Alyce]

They really liked it and like PP said seemed to retain it. The kids liked the way it was written, almost in a conversational style. One of the things I like about the American History is that it includes a source document book and they are required to read from it. So they are reading the actual speeches made etc. The literature is fairly good too. My kids liked the writing assignments and I liked the fact that they could choose from three suggestions one of which is an ongoing study. The cons are the test are way too easy. They are multiple choice and only on the general stuff not very indepth. The quarterly test are a little better. There is no literature analysis but many people just supplement with a couple of Progeny Press guides or spark notes. There is a lot of reading with American History so it can be a little challenging for those with kids who don't like to read. We did not count the Bible portion, just didn't seem like enough work and we do an individual bible course anyway.

[mom2paul]

DS loved Notgrass American History and requested that we follow up with their World History curriculum. The writing is clear and the questions following the lesson caused DS to formulate his response based on biblical teachings, which meant he needed to study the scriptures. Their lit selection was, I believe, quite good, although we did add some of our own.

[Ann@thebeach]

We used it and my kids loved it. They also seem to have retained quite a bit of the info (which was helpful on a Cash Cab question on TV last night!). We supplemented the English portion with Wordly Wise for grammar/vocab and study guides for some of the books. We didn't use the Bible component for credit. We don't have a Bible component in our schooling.

 

Did you find the other parts of the curriculum overly religious in nature at all? I'm very interested in this program but want a balanced or more secular history. I'm fine with Christian content as the part it played in history, just not interested in a history from only that viewpoint.

Thanks!

[Alyce]

It is not a secular program and does have some Christian themes running all throughout it. It has a bible study every Fri which I guess you could skip but you won't be able to skip the authors Christian viewpoint being brought in. He does not falsify the facts or skew them but he does talk about the involvement of God in the development of our nation.

[MommyThrice]

We loved it. I found that Notgrass AH was significantly harder than World History. I felt that the quizzes were too picky and trivia - laden. We had better luck with me just flipping through the text and asking questions of my son. We added lots of literature, too, so I guess we really just used Notgrass as a spine. It worked well for that purpose. I SEEM to remember that most of the Christian content was in the Friday Bible studies, not the rest of the text.

[Margo out of lurking]

I thought it was terrific, but I'm an old mom. My dd absolutely hated it. There was a lot of heavy reading from the Notgrass book (and the source book, and the literature), and it was very, very boring to my dd. We've always loved history, and our schooling has centered around history and a lot of reading from the same time period. She couldn't concentrate on any of the text; it did not hold her interest at all, and it never seemed to end. I ended up reading the entire book out loud to her. It was a poor match for her. She really, really hated Notgrass.

[creekland]

It is not a secular program and does have some Christian themes running all throughout it. It has a bible study every Fri which I guess you could skip but you won't be able to skip the authors Christian viewpoint being brought in. He does not falsify the facts or skew them but he does talk about the involvement of God in the development of our nation.

 

:iagree: I would not consider Notgrass a secular text.

[organicmom3]

I am actually an evaluator and evaluated someone that used this recently. I am quite impressed by the program. I wish we would have used it!

[Lori D.]

Below is my extended review of Notgrass Exploring America, and here are three past threads that may be of help. Do check out the extended samples at the website to get a feel for if you would be able to use this in a secular fashion or not, but I tend to lean away from it -- there are very likely other options out there that are already written from a secular viewpoint that you would not need to adapt. BEST of luck, whatever you go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

How rigorous is Notgrass American History?

Notgrass American History: does this cover enough "actual" history -- really?

Questions for those who have tried Notgrass History

 

 

Notgrass Exploring America is a full-year, high school level history program. It consists of a 2-volume history text and a 3rd volume of: source documents and speeches, essays, poems, etc. from authors of the time. The program is divided into 30 units, with each unit scheduled to take 1 week. There are 5 chapters per unit (one for each day of the week), with the first 4 chapters being the history text, and the 5th chapter being the Biblical worldview discussion chapter.

 

The history text portion is from an evangelical Christian perspective, but that is pretty much kept to the Bible chapters. It is written in an informal, somewhat conversational style. The program can be done solo by the student.

 

 

We used the Notgrass American History program two years ago, with two DSs, then grades 10 and 11. We settled on it largely because of the primary source volume, and enjoyed the program. When researching options, I had really liked what I saw from the samples at the website; and the source document book was the clincher for me -- not having to hunt all that down myself! Also, we had previously done two years of world history with Spielvogel's Human Odyssey (secular, formal textbook), and, while there are many aspects I like about it, it's... well... a textbook. In contrast, Notgrass was refreshingly informal and more conversational in tone. Spielvogel is kinda dry, and also slightly/subtly antagonistic towards The Church. Also it leans a bit pro-socialism and it glossed over just how huge and horrible the decisions of Stalin and Hitler were in wiping out huge numbers of people.

 

Just to balance this, others on this board have shared that they feel the writing of Notgrass is boring; and since it's all B&W photos and illustrations, some students have found it to be a visually dull program; in some of these cases, while parents enjoyed the program, students who were used to a "living books" approach found it dull and did not retain information. Others on this board who are looking for a Catholic or Reformed perspective have mentioned being unhappy with the distinctly Evangelical Christian perspective of Notgrass.

 

 

re: religious/secular

Every history text is written from a particular bias; in the introduction to the text, Ray Notgrass explains his Christian evangelical born-again worldview, along with where/when he was raised and some of the major events which helped shape his life. Any mention of God or Bible Scriptures are in the 5th chapter of each week's lessons, which is specifically designed as a Biblical Worldview discussion related to topics in that week's lessons. The 4 chapters each week on History are pretty straightforward history text, specifically from a white, Conservative, church-going perspective. As far as bias, I would say:

 

- the usual key events / people are covered

- the author is patriotic and proud of the U.S., but also mentions faults/failures

- from a gently conservative point-of-view

- ill-treatment of African Americans and Native Americans is barely mentioned

- Evangelical / Protestant religious movements / trends / leaders are mentioned within the historical context, but not over-emphasized

- no mention of Catholic, Reformed, Jewish, or other religious movements

 

The fifth chapter each week is the Bible lesson. I would consider it more to be a Biblical worldview discussion, as it uses events from the earlier history chapters in that week to springboard into a Christian worldview discussion, and quoting a Scripture in there. These Bible lesson chapters put specific issues/events just read about in the previous 4 chapters for that week into a worldview context, making it very easy to see WHY we read about history -- how history applies to our lives and choices.

 

There is no Biblical material in the other 4 lessons of the week, other than the just very occasional mention of historical church movement -- but it is mentioned as just one small part of what might be happening in society as a whole at that time period. You could easily skip the fifth chapter every week if you wanted, with no detriment to the history portion of the book.

 

A number of hymns are included in the source document book, but they can easily be skipped if you were not interested. The majority of the primary source documents are the key American governmental documents, famous speeches, a few essays, a short story, and a number of poems from authors of the time.

 

 

re: how much credit?

We used the history program as written, adapting it very little and counted it as 1 credit of History. We did not use the optional quiz and test resources.

 

Because I felt the Literature portion was lacking (see specifics below), and was not enough to award 1 credit to an English credit, we created our own separate American Literature course. However, in all fairness, others on the WTM Board, particularly those with math/science students rather than literature/humanities/arts students -- felt the Notgrass Literature was fine for 1 credit of work.

 

I also did not assign 1 credit for the Bible portion, but considered it as supplement. The Notgrass Bible portion consists of the fifth chapter of each week's unit. It is Biblical worldview topics usually based on something from the history chapters read that week. The Bible portion also includes Scripture references, suggested memory verses, and some suggested essay question ideas. The Bible study chapters were actually quite interesting, as they put specific issues/events just read about in the previous 4 chapters for that week into a worldview context, making it very easy to see WHY we read about history -- how history applies to our lives and choices -- but for me to count a complete Bible credit, a program would need to include:

 

 

 

re: the English/literature portion of Notgrass

The English portion of Notgrass consists of a literature list (mix of about a 12 works: about half are classics, several are biographies, and the rest are historical fiction and "lite" works). There are only a few comprehension questions, and there are weekly writing assignment ideas. There is no literary analysis. There are no discussion questions. There is no instruction in writing or grammar, or actual grammar or vocabulary work.

 

What is included for the Literature portion:

- a loose reading schedule ("Start this book now; plan to finish this novel by the end of ____ history unit.")

- (sometimes) a paragraph about the author

- 2-3 questions at the end of the novels (no questions about the poetry or short stories)

- 2-3 writing assignments to choose from each week, based on the history/research or Bible topics (not the literature)

 

 

For example:

The Scarlet Letter is assigned at the start of week two and is to finished at the end of week three. During that time you ALSO read for literature a few poems by Anne Bradstreet, some excerpts from Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac", and Jonathon Edward's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". At the end of the reading, there three paragraphs about a general theme in Scarlet Letter, each ending with one question, so the three questions on The Scarlet Letter were:

 

- "What were sins of the community, its leaders, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth?"

- (refering to contrast of light/dark, forest/community images in the book): "How is this symbolic?"

- and "How is this story similar/different from John 8:1-11, the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery?"