mtomseth Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Hello, I'm considering using the books A History of US by Joy Hakim along with the student/teacher study guides. Has anyone here used these books for their homeschool curriculum? If yes, and you did history every day, how long did it take to read and complete the studies for each book in the series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 We got the syllabus and tests to go with these from Hewitt Homeschool for DS15 when he was in 8th grade. Ds got thru the whole series in about 30 weeks using the syllabus. As I remember, the cost for these was very reasonable. DS enjoyed the books and they spawned some interesting conversations when DS didn't immediately agree with Hakim's assessment of a historical situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Our co-op uses these books, and takes two years to go through them. The dividing line is the civil war. They do include a few additional things - map work, additional readings, etc., and they don't read every single chapter. One year they offered a combined history/literature/composition class, where the students did the history part and also read historical fiction of the period, and did their writing work on the material also. It was a great class! The books are available as audio books, and the reader is excellent. We often listen to them in the car. I think a history buff could go through them much quicker (as a PP mentioned), but two years is a stable pace that allows time for associated activities (field trips, literature, map work, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 My then-middle schooler did these over 2 years with the student questions from Sonlight. The student questions allowed me to discuss them with her even when I had not read the chapters. I used to have the student questions bookmarked, as they can be difficult to find on Sonlight's website, but as they have revamped their website, I doubt my bookmark still works. She also did some "economics in U.S. history" lessons from the Council on Economic Education (these were fabulous) and activities from American History Activities for Grades 5-12 by James Silver (also great). My daughter read all chapters, all volumes, using the reading schedule Winter Promise used in their "older learners" U.S. history program. I do not know if WP publishes this any more, and I am pretty certain that it is not available without the IG for their program. We enjoyed this series, and my daughter learned a lot of history. We also used a test series from the publisher or Johns Hopkins. I own some of the study guides published by Johns Hopkins, I believe, but we never used them. They're crazy expensive! Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 The books are available as audio books, and the reader is excellent. We often listen to them in the car. :iagree: I love her voice and way of reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtomseth Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 I didn't know the books were available on audio. Where did you purchase the audio books from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I didn't know the books were available on audio. Where did you purchase the audio books from? I found the best way for me was to subscribe to Audible.com and to download one each month. In the long run, it was the cheapest way to go. Of course, getting your library to carry them would be cheaper!!! My dd is more of an audible learner, so the investment was worth it for us. (We already had the books, from a previous dc.) As I said, the reader is excellent; so much so that we wondered if she was actually the author, because she got the tone just right. (She isn't.) I do like the study guides published by the same folks as the books. They have good discussion questions, suggestions for vocab words, places to map, and people to notice in each chapter. I've used them informally, but never as a formal resource. I think our co-op used them in part to create their curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I didn't know the books were available on audio. Where did you purchase the audio books from? My library carries them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 I have really appreciated the CoreFoundations blog over on Wordpress. Christine has a wealth of information there that she provides to homeschool families for free. If you go to this link and scroll down the page to American History Schedule (upper levels) you will find a schedule for 8th grade students that uses Hakim's History of the US as it's spine. Check it over and I think you may find what you're looking for. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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