momto2blessings Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Is there anyone who could outline pros/cons of each? My dd will be in 7th gr. next year, and I feel like I need to make a firm decision on which route to take. I'm most attracted to Notgrass for h.s....I'd really like her to have more independence. But is it as rich as AO or Omnibus? We're currently using TQ/SCM for history and AO for lit. I want rich literature, Biblical worldview teaching....and I don't want to have to read everything myself:) Thanks for any input! Blessings, Gina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 The biblical worldview in Notgrass is *fantastic*. They have a wide variety of genres included in their lit package, along with discussion questions and writing assignments. If you'd like more literature than what Notgrass includes, you could easily add more lit from AO. Another option.... MFW uses Notgrass Exploring World History as the history spine in years 1 and 2, and have added more literature, Bible, and composition to make it a two-year, in-depth study of both world history and the Bible. http://www.mfwbooks.com/category/M50/50 MFW does schedule the *whole* Bible (Notgrass does not, but schedules a large chunk of it), but here's a reply re: English and Bible credits that Ray Notgrass typed in response to someone's question on the yahoo group. Might be helpful? "I noticed your question about giving English and Bible credit for the World History curriculum. I certainly understand your concern. Here is our thinking. For English, the student reads a wide variety of literary forms: novel, essay, biography, autobiography, poetry, short stories, drama, devotional, fable, and tale. Our purpose was to have the student read widely and not take a long time in analyzing a particular work. Literary analysis is good and needed, but for this course we chose to encourage reading widely and reading good lit as opposed to focusing on fewer works in more detail. Sometimes analysis can kill off a student's interest in reading, and we wanted to encourage the students to be readers all of their lives by opening up the fascinating world of literature to them. Of course, literary analysis can help a student understand more fully (and thus enjoy more completely) what he or she is reading. If you want to do some literary analysis on some of the works, I'd suggest choosing maybe two or three for that analysis. Cliff's Notes has a website that offers their analysis of literature free. Spark Notes is also available, although I haven't used theirs. The analysis offered on Cliff's Notes seems to be legitimate and has been helpful to me. Some university websites also have essays and analysis on some works. If someone feels a need to do a grammar study, we suggest doing something like Easy Grammar Plus or some other grammar study that is available. Also with the English, the weekly writing assignment gives the student a great deal of experience in writing. You are taking care of that with another course, and that is fine. I certain think it should count as part of the English credit. Regarding Bible: Much of the first third or so of the course is heavily Bible, with a great deal of Bible history as part of the world history study. The student reads several books of the Bible as a whole: Genesis, Amos, Ruth, Esther, Luke, Acts, Philippians, and Galatians, as well as several of the Psalms (and some literary analysis of the different kinds of psalms). The student takes a week on the Gospel of Luke as the study of Christ, and a week on the book of Acts as the study of the early church. There are also lessons on the inspiration and authority of the Bible and on how to read a New Testament letter. I think the student has the opportunity to study the Bible at a depth that they probably have not done before. This is all in addition to the topical studies related to various themes in many of the units. I think if a student reads the assigned passages in the Bible, studies carefully the lessons at the end of the units, and answers the review questions in the Quiz and Exam book, he will earn a credit in Bible. That is my take on your question. I hope this helps. Please feel free to continue the discussion and ask further questions if you would like. Thanks you so much for using our materials. Blessings, Ray Notgrass" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Oh, I just realized I already gave you some of that information in another thread. Oops. :lol: Did you join the Notgrass yahoo group? Also, you might post your questions over on the high school board here for more responses from those using it at the high school level. (But maybe you've already done that.... I haven't peeked into the h.s. board recently.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2blessings Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 I haven't joined yet...but do plan to. My eldest is only 6th, but I do want to get this planned out since it affects our history cycles prior to it. Thanks again for your help! Blessings, Gina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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