Please... help with American/US history for 9th grade

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I'm researching to plan for my dd's first year in high school, and I'm not convinced that I have the qualifications to evaluate most subjects. (High school *feels* so official!) It has been years since I was in school, so themes and details are lost on me now. I keep arriving at the conclusion to just enroll dd in a class like The Potter's School, and call it done. (I'm more familiar with this school than others.) But any on-line course is SO expensive. Ugh... I'm starting to feel that all-to-familiar going around in circles feeing.:tongue_smilie:

 

Currently, I am researching for US History, and I've narrowed my choices down to three courses (for the moment). Would you all help me with pros/cons for these? Please vote for the one you would do if you are not an accomplished historian.

 

Also, please tell me HOW you grade subjective assignments (essays and discussion questions) if you are just an average mom who hasn't stepped a foot in school in oh, say over 20 years!:D

 

• NROC US History I: http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/US%20History%20I/nroc%20prototype%20files/coursestartc.html I am not sure which text is most interesting and engaging for a 14 year old. I am not trying to do AP history. Love how this class is very well planned... just not sure how to evaluate writing/discussion questions.
  
• Notgrass Exploring America: This seems to be a popular choice with homeschoolers although it has definite pros/cons. I have not decided how to handle the lit and comp yet. I think I could also work in the American Government book too... a bonus. There is a definite problem with the Notgrass testing for this course. I would need to find a way to evaluate this class. Please offer suggestions if you have any.
  
• Finally, the expensive but most complete choice: The Potter's School. They have three classes that are part of their Classical Track that I would want to use (ignoring the expense...). Ameircan History, American Lit and Composition, and Starting Points. I'm assuming we could take all three... not sure of the rules, yet.
  

American Government

It would be a great to be able to do American government with American history and to also work in the up-coming presidential election. Suggestions?

 

Literature and Composition

Of course, literature and composition are two subjects that naturally accompany history, and I'm researching for these as well. That is probably a subject for a different thread. I feel better with someone else giving an evaluation... trying to avoid "mom grades" (Considering Smarr w/ writing instruction, Home2Teach, Lively Art of Writing, Lightning Lit, WTM approach, Scott Foresman's American Lit, Annenburg lectures on American lit., etc...) Nevertheless, if you know of a history/lit/comp class easy for an average mom to pull off, by all means, please share! :lurk5:

 

Hoping someone can help me get off this merry-go-round of planning high school! Thanks so very much!

Edited November 23, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Truly, any help would be appreciated.

 

I know with TPS, I could turn the teaching over to someone with experience. That sounds GREAT! I would hate, however, to do this and miss the interaction with my dd as I have read about how rewarding the high school years can be between parent and child.... yet how do I give grades when so much of history, lit, and comp is subjective?

 

How have you all handled this?

[Julie in MN]

Just thought your post looked lonely :) Probably the holiday weekend.

 

But a lot of us do a "history cycle" in high school, so 9th grade is ancients. And I haven't used any of the options you mentioned, so no help here.

Julie

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Just thought your post looked lonely :) Probably the holiday weekend.

 

But a lot of us do a "history cycle" in high school, so 9th grade is ancients. And I haven't used any of the options you mentioned, so no help here.

Julie

 

Thank you, Julie. :001_smile:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Are you committed to the US history for 9th grade? Maybe if you waited until junior year some of the AP classes would seem more possible.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Are you committed to the US history for 9th grade? Maybe if you waited until junior year some of the AP classes would seem more possible.

 

Honestly, my original plans were for dd to do MFW AWL in 9th.

 

She is currently doing medieval in 8th with younger brothers who are in 6th and 3rd grades; we love doing history together. They will continue on with Early Modern next year, and dd feels a bit left out because she would be doing something completely different if we use MFW.

 

For this reason, I started researching American history for 9th so that all of my kids could at least study the same topic even if she had to work independently on a high school level.

 

Am. history isn't a bad idea for 9th when you consider the up-coming presidential election. I can imagine doing the first part of American history with a half-credit for government. I think this is the way MFW works in their 11th grade curriculum. (The government class would have to wait if we use TPS; otherwise, I might try to include it if we use something else for history.)

 

I'm trying to decide what to use and have come to a snag because high school history involves subjective questions/papers. I know I can't evaluate writing like this realistically, and this is why I've brought my question to you all here.

 

In order to come up with a grade for high school history, lit, and comp I need a way to evaluate assignments. What do you all use to grade these subjective classes? How do you grade if you are not an "expert" in the classes your students are taking?

 

I'm stumped.

[lauracolumbus]

I think it would be great to do American history for 9th grade, and I now I've read on here people who do.

 

I'll have a 9th grader and if he's homeschooled (great private all boys classical school option so we're not sure yet), we'll do ancients.

 

However, if I were to do American, I'd look at some of the college texts for teaching it and work very hard to tie in the election with a college government text. Not sure if the MP materials are appropriate for high school either. I would also use "All Through the Ages" to bring in the literature studies. There are some great books/poetry that could be included like "Scarlet Letter," "Last of the Mohicans," "Midnight Ride of Paul REvere" and so on...

 

Does IEW have an American history writing program?

 

Sorry, I'm not more help. Just thought I'd give you a little bump and a couple of ideas. I do think it's completely doable and recall reading at least one thread here on it, but I don't remember if they had any concrete suggestions on how to do it.

 

Laura

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I think it would be great to do American history for 9th grade, and I now I've read on here people who do.

 

I'll have a 9th grader and if he's homeschooled (great private all boys classical school option so we're not sure yet), we'll do ancients.

 

However, if I were to do American, I'd look at some of the college texts for teaching it and work very hard to tie in the election with a college government text. Not sure if the MP materials are appropriate for high school either. I would also use "All Through the Ages" to bring in the literature studies. There are some great books/poetry that could be included like "Scarlet Letter," "Last of the Mohicans," "Midnight Ride of Paul REvere" and so on...

 

Does IEW have an American history writing program?

 

Sorry, I'm not more help. Just thought I'd give you a little bump and a couple of ideas. I do think it's completely doable and recall reading at least one thread here on it, but I don't remember if they had any concrete suggestions on how to do it.

 

Laura

 

Thanks, Laura. I am toying with choosing a text and incorporating the lit and comp. That is sort of what I have in mind with NROC. It uses a text with a video which supplies some teaching. Then I would attempt to put lit in with that. I think that part would be doable. Dd and I could read most anything together although I would rather not have to do that. I have 2 other kids who will also need me.

 

The composition part is the one I feel mose insecure with especially when paired with historical content. I simply don't know enough about this to grade.

 

A 3-in-1 program would be my first choice- something that integrates history, lit, and comp... something open-and-go. (Bible would be bonus!) These kinds of programs are expensive, so I am also trying to put the pieces together to make it more affordable which leads me to both NROC and Notgrass.

 

We've already used IEW Early American History Themed Writing, but that was a great idea.

 

I own the History Channel's DVD A Story of US. To get the kids together, it seems like we could come together to watch these episodes and discuss. Otherwise, the high schooler would work independently.

[StillStanding]

We have used some Oak Meadow courses and have been very pleased with them. I used Notgrass and it was O.K--will not use again with next child.

If you want more Lit. You may want to look into Lightning Literature by Hewitt (We have enjoyed their courses and were easy to implement).

 

U.S. History

This course explores American history from 1775 to the dawn of the 21st century and the War on Terrorism, through an interdisciplinary approach that includes literature, art, and biographies. Students are encouraged to integrate information, discover patterns, and develop critical thinking skills in their responses to significant issues and events in American history. Throughout this course, students are required to use information from the text and related sources to evaluate causes and explore values in history. All assignments are designed to help students think more widely, make connections, and reach their own conclusions. The following books are included with this course:

Oak Meadow U.S. History Syllabus

The American Vision (Glencoe)

Click here to view a sample lesson.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

We have used some Oak Meadow courses and have been very pleased with them. I used Notgrass and it was O.K--will not use again with next child.

If you want more Lit. You may want to look into Lightning Literature by Hewitt (We have enjoyed their courses and were easy to implement).

 

U.S. History

This course explores American history from 1775 to the dawn of the 21st century and the War on Terrorism, through an interdisciplinary approach that includes literature, art, and biographies. Students are encouraged to integrate information, discover patterns, and develop critical thinking skills in their responses to significant issues and events in American history. Throughout this course, students are required to use information from the text and related sources to evaluate causes and explore values in history. All assignments are designed to help students think more widely, make connections, and reach their own conclusions. The following books are included with this course:

Oak Meadow U.S. History Syllabus

The American Vision (Glencoe)

Click here to view a sample lesson.

 

 

Thank you for recommending Oak Meadow. Maybe you can help me understand how it works. I can remember looking at it and wondering the same thing: How would I evaluate/score the writing/discussion questions with them?

 

If this curriculum is clearly written for both student and teacher, I would certainly consider it.

 

I don't see any kind of composition integrated into it. What do you do about writing instruction?

[StillStanding]

I have not used Oak Meadow History, but I have used the Chemistry, the Geography and The Ninth Grade English program.

 

Each Course comes with the textbook, some come with more books to add to the main textbook and then they have two supplements to help the teacher with the course. One is a "syllabus," and the other is the Teacher Manual. In the syllabus the student finds weekly units of study--they call it "lessons," so you have 36 lessons for the year--, it takes a week to complete each, and you and your student will need to decide how to break it down for the week. They also give you many options to choose from (essays, projects, etc), so based on your child's interests you pick and choose. It comes with tests.

 

The teacher manual, doesn't appear on their website and when you place an order you need to ask for it, has the answers.

 

When it comes to grading, it doesn't tell you how to do it. I decide how much value I give to the tests, quizzes (end of chapter questions), daily work, essays, etc. I use engrade (free online gradebook), so once I decide how much each category is worth for the total grade, the engrade computer does the calculations for me. You can break the work into semesters, quarters, etc. It also allows to drop the lowest grade per grading period.

 

Ex: In my Chemistry class: Tests are worth 25%, Quizzes are 35%, Lab Notebook 25% , Chapter work (outlines, and section questions) is worth 10% and Class participation (I teach it at a co-op) is worth 5 %.

 

Then for each quiz, test, lab, etc. you would have to give it a value (usually for quizzes and test each questions is worth one or two points --or more if it is an essay question)--you would grade the work and give it a grade.

 

For example a quiz with 25 multiple choice questions and your student got 23 right would be 23/25 on the grade book and it automatically computes it as 35% of the total grade.

 

I don't know it this makes sense. Engrade is really easy to use, but you are still the one to decide what grades to give your child.

 

English essays are hard for me to grade. I have used rubrics and that helps some, but dd works on an essay until her father (the native speaker and good writer in the family) says the paper is good, so by the time we give it a grade it is already a good grade.

 

I revisited Oak Meadow after your post, and it looks like they also carry an American Lit. Course.

You may want to search the forum and see what other people have to say about Oak Meadow and grading.:001_smile:

[lauracolumbus]

Sweet Home, I completely understand trying to find something that already combines all three subjects so that you can give time to your other kids.

 

One minor suggestion is to look at the TC History of the United States dvd in addition to the History Channel's Story of the US. The History Channel's dvd is more interesting, but doesn't go into great depth, whereas the TC's goes into great depth, but might be considered boring. My ds in 8th grade is enjoying the TC's series. He watched the HC's in a few days.

 

Laura

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Sweet Home, I completely understand trying to find something that already combines all three subjects so that you can give time to your other kids.

 

One minor suggestion is to look at the TC History of the United States dvd in addition to the History Channel's Story of the US. The History Channel's dvd is more interesting, but doesn't go into great depth, whereas the TC's goes into great depth, but might be considered boring. My ds in 8th grade is enjoying the TC's series. He watched the HC's in a few days.

 

Laura

 

Thank you, Laura. This is a good idea. Just in case anyone else is following this, I found a very interesting video series by Annenberg Media called A Biography of America. I've thought it might work in the same way as TC's history videos. It's free- a good advantage.

 

http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/

[Susan C.]

One thing to think about is that it works nicely to teach American History the same time as American Literature. I have homeschooled two 9th graders, I can imagine studying the American History in 9th, but not the literature. So then things might be out of sync. And, I wouldn't combine government with the history, government is a great second pass at it.