Help me decide what to add to Notgrass World History....

[WaterLily]

So we're making curriculum changes... ack!!! I think we've decided to drop MFW (despite all the wonderful advice!) and just do Notgrass. So I'm trying to decide what I need to add. After doing some reading here, I think I'll flesh out the lit but adding some guides. I don't think I want to do a whole other lit program - we'll just do guides to a few Notgrass books.

 

One of my concerns is writing since there really isn't any instruction in Notgrass. My son does not like to write... He can write well with enough help and instruction but he has a lot of trouble when he's simply told to "write about such-and-such". I think we'll do some, but not all, of the Notgrass writing assignments but I think it might be good to supplement. I don't want to add too much to the workload though. I'm actually considering Writing Strands?

 

My other concern is bible. I wonder if we should add more to that. I have no idea how to flesh that out though. Maybe I should just have him do a separate bible study? I have "The Old Testament Challenge" and "The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History"... I also have "The Victor Journey Through the Bible" which looks great, but I'm not sure it's a book you just read? Ugh. I don't know.

 

I'd appreciate any input! :)

[mom31257]

Are you having your son do Notgrass in one year? If so, doesn't it say that you get 1 credit in 3 subjects if you do it as written? If not, how many credits do you want in each subject, especially bible?

 

We are doing a four year cycle, and I'm having dd read a secular history text along side her Christian text (BJU) so that she can compare the different world views.

 

Dd hasn't started it yet, but she is going to use IEW's The Elegant Essay writing starting very soon. It looks good, and I read it can really help fine tune essay writing. There is a weekly class schedule of once a week for 14 weeks (with homework, too). There's also an essay boot camp schedule that you can follow in as little as 3 weeks, but it does state that is agressive.

 

I would think using those 3 books you have for bible would be great for bible study. Are you wondering about grades for a credit? Why not make up some quizzes and give a few writing assignments and a project or two?

[1Togo]

OTC would be good for Bible along with reading The VictorJourney... Then, I would just use Notgrass as is for a history credit and add something else for the English credit. For example, use The Elegant Essay for the first semester and then add Windows to the World for the second semester. At the end of the year, after you have worked through EE and WttW and your son's writing is on track, you could add a few of the books and guides from MFW literature. You don't need to follow the schedule as it is written.

Edited September 26, 2011 by 1Togo

[cbollin]

same question..

do you plan to use all of book one, or just up to the same cut off point that was in MFW AHL? (that's more about credit and stuff like that)

 

Bible: I'm in the camp that wonders what I am missing in Notgrass to call it a full credit in Bible? are my standards too high? or??? I don't know....

but, you already have OT challenge and want to use it as a lesson plan for reading through OT Testament and discussion points, that would be good enough. How do you feel about adding service projects/church stuff for rest of the Bible credit? Adding a touch of memory work from Psalms or Proverbs.

 

English: hmm... I'm in the camp that has a hard time giving a full credit in English from just Notgrass stuff. It lacks writing instruction, grammar, literature analysis. It has a reading list. :) wow.. I sound so critical of this program. I'm sorry.

 

Writing Strands might work. IEW might work. I haven't used Brave Writer to know what it is like. But there's the "help for high school" program they have?

You don't "have" to have all writing instruction related to literature. I love doing it that way, but it's ok if it isn't.

 

Grammar: what about the high school levels of Easy Grammar? shouldn't be too hard to add that in?

 

 

hmm.. forgive me for not retaining why AHL was a bad fit. But in a nutshell can you describe it on this thread so it might be more helpful to know what would be good to suggest and what would be a poor fit suggestion to help you switch gears out of AHL and into the better fit things?

 

Was it the amount of reading? level of reading? lack of using cliff notes/spark notes? change in philosophy of when to "cut off" ancients (greek vs. rome)? If it's just the English credit or readings? or ??

 

I know I should search on your posts and figure it out on my own... but thought I"d ask. and it's just more to know what might fit better.

 

-crystal

[WaterLily]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Sorry... I should have clarified that we're going to use Notgrass as is - in one year. So yes, they say that if you use it that way it will give you 3 credits (History, Bible, Lit/Comp/Eng) but I'm considering beefing it up. It's probably due to my reading on here that others have found it to be insufficient. ;)

 

As far as why we're dropping MFW... well it was just too much. It was too much reading for my ds (the level of reading is fine) and he felt that sometimes the directions/instructions were unclear...which frustrated him since he wasn't enjoying it anyway. He did enjoy some of the things he was reading and learning, but any joy of learning was squashed by frustration. It was also too much jumping around for my scattered brain to bear. After 5 weeks I was still having trouble organizing my brain enough to remember where the answers were for the different things I was supposed to be going over and grading. I need to simplify. That's why I want to do Notgrass in one year, as written. I loved MFW until we started using it lol! I still love the "idea" of it and what they teach but when I decided to drop it, I literally felt like I could breathe again.

 

Ok, having said all that, even though I want to supplement a bit, I do NOT want to add too much and get us back to that frustrated and overwhelmed state! For writing I'm still considering Writing Strands - we've used it before and it's simple and straightforward (which we need right now!). I don't have The Elegant Essay but am considering that as well as Jensen's Format Writing which I'm thinking about purchasing. So after I choose one, do I hit it hard at first or spread it out throughout the year? The first Notgrass essay was rough b/c the assignment was rather vague and my ds had trouble coming up with much to say - he couldn't get more than a page and half (typed and double spaced).

 

As far as grammar, he went up through Rod & Staff 8 and I feel his grammar is pretty solid. That's why I just want to add some writing and maybe lit guides to flesh out the English credit.

 

Then bible... I don't want to assign too much reading since there is definitely a fair amount of bible in Notgrass. I'm still considering the books I mentioned....

[1Togo]

The Elegant Essay is set up to be a one semester course, and it can be done in that time frame. After finishing it, your son could practice the essay types he has learned for the rest of the year. Format Writing is a full year of work or more since it covers paragraphs, many types of essays, and a long research paper. As regards a schedule, I would just start with the curriculum of your choice and schedule 45 minutes per day. I would work on writing every day. If you are using Notgrass with the suggested reading, then I would schedule about two hours per day for that, and OTC would be about 30 minutes. Does that help?

[rieshy]

My 10th grader is doing Notgrass World History.

 

FWIW:

I found the Bible light- but I'm having her write the daily Bible question in a formal essay form- not just jot down the answer. That said, I don't plan on giving her a separate Bible credit because she has enough electives already.

 

She is also taking an academic writing class at a local tutorial. Between the Notgrass and the tutorial class she's getting a solid English credit with lots of writing.

[cbollin]

hmm... ok, with all of that in account..... I'm stepping in again...

 

well, with all of that... do Notgrass in one year as written.

Add in the English components that you see your child needs in small controlled ways (Writing Strands worked before, so go back to it). And over the whole year there are grammar points in Notgrass so don't feel like you have to add too much. Perhaps it would be enough to "add" in the SAT question of the day?

Then lit. analysis on some of the books, right? PP, TLP,??

 

Bible: do it as is and only use other books if you need some references. maybe service projects or helping at church or something could be part of the overall year and could count toward the credit. Remember, most colleges (even Bible colleges) will see any high school Bible as elective, so you can do Notgrass as is in 9th and no worry about it.

 

history will be fine. nothing to add to it.

 

 

You'll be fine (((hugs)) increase work load each year, it'll all work out.

 

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

My other concern is bible. I wonder if we should add more to that. I have no idea how to flesh that out though. Maybe I should just have him do a separate bible study? I have "The Old Testament Challenge" and "The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History"... I also have "The Victor Journey Through the Bible" which looks great, but I'm not sure it's a book you just read? Ugh. I don't know.

 

Then bible... I don't want to assign too much reading since there is definitely a fair amount of bible in Notgrass. I'm still considering the books I mentioned....

 

I'll chime in about the Bible, since I've used all of these resources you're asking about. Although I will say that even though we've been using Notgrass World for a year, I'm not getting where the "fair amount" of Bible is in Notgrass. Maybe because we're not doing the extra readings? Not sure. The early chapters of Notgrass are somewhat focused on faith, and a few lessons along the way focus on a particular book of the Bible (e.g. today ds read the Notgrass lesson on Luke) - is that what you mean? If so, it seems like those weeks you would have to be doing both Bible and history in some fashion, order to be earning both credits?

 

Anyways, I'd look at your goals. The thing is, reading the entire Bible was one of my major goals for my kids in high school, so I may be more gung-ho than you are on it.

 

Just reading the Bible itself is worth a full year's credit, in my opinion. Even just the Old Testament in a year. But at our house, we always need a little something to keep us alert.

 

One method we've used is just having the student write a little response after each day's reading. It can be open-ended, or I've known folks who have a standard set of questions after every reading about the most important person, event, quote, etc.

 

Another method is to have a set of questions to use after each Bible reading. Greenleaf and OTC are both just about the Old Testament, and Greenleaf mostly just covers the historical books of the OT (not much on the prophets, psalms, etc).

- Greenleaf is much more Bible-focused questions, most are easy questions (*if* you have been paying attention), & sometimes there are added notes (to remind you who a particular people descended from etc.). There is no answer key, but every answer can reliably be found in your Bible. Greenleaf's OT guide is one of my personal favorite homeschool resources :) but I've heard of others who found it uninteresting.

- OTC has more life application questions, New Testament connection questions, and open questions that don't really have any right or wrong answers (at least in my opinion).

- Victor Journey is simply extra photos and explanations about life in the middle east, or maps of the areas being discussed in the Bible. It's nicely organized according to Bible chapter. So if you're reading along about a city in the Old Testament or a money unit, you can usually find an explanation or even a photo in Victor right on the page about the chapter that you just read. (I think the name of Victor recently changed, but it's the same thing.)

 

HTH,

Julie

Edited September 26, 2011 by Julie in MN