RobinL in Canada Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 How would others suggest tackling both Early Modern and Modern/ 20thC history in one year for gr 8? I posted below re using History Odyssey but no one seems to be responding, so perhaps that's not a popular program. My thoughts had been to use Spielvogel's Human Odyssey, but are there any guides or schedules out there for covering Early Modern to the present for HO? Any ideas for "spicing it up" so it's not just a series of "read this and then write about that"? This is for my youngest soan and it's been some years since I've had to cover history (not my favourite subject) at the high school level! Thanks, Robin (formerly StaceyL in Canada) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinL in Canada Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Isn't anyone using Human Odyssey for modern history? A couple of years back, it and Spielvogel's Western Civ seemed immensely popular. ?? Also, I'd love to hear about the sorts of writing assignments or projects you give your students for early modern/ modern history. History at the high school level is not my favourite and I truly dread getting into the 20th C.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) We did something similar to what you are asking about for DSs (when in grades 9 and 10). In this thread and this thread I was asking for help in setting up our Modern History, and in this thread and this thread, you'll see what we ended up doing. re: Spielvogel's Human Odyssey Here is my recent pro/con thoughts on H.O. We attempted chapters 21-34 (approximately 450 pages, covering approx. the years 1800-2000), but with what else we were doing, it was a little more than we were able to get through reasonably, and had to do some speeding and skipping mid-way to get to a point where we could finish. Especially as you would be doing it with a younger student, I'd suggest doing no more than chapters 25-34 (about 325 pages), which comes out to about 3 pages per day, 3 days a week. Those chapters cover the years 1900-2000. We did not do a lot of writing for the History -- the time line entries; writing answers to some of the in-the-chapter-questions in the H.O. textbook; and a few longer papers on topics they chose. (Most of the writing DSs did was linked up with the Literature.) We spent a lot of time in discussion, because so much of the History and the Literature overlapped with the Worldview materials we had just covered not long before. One thing I did not list in those past posts (above) is that we DID watch a lot of documentaries and films set in the times. That was extremely helpful (not to mention enjoyable!). Below are links to threads with lots of great ideas. BEST of luck in finding what works best for you! Warmest regards, Lori D. Ideas for "spines", textbooks, or programs for doing Modern History: Need ideas for modern world history course 9th grade Modern History Ideas? (1900 to today) Modern history suggestion Options for textbook on Modern History? Modern History question Any thoughts on Teaching Company's Europe & Western Civilization in the Modern Age? Modern History: Historical Fiction; Great Book (Classic Lit.); and Film Suggestions: Recommendations for very modern historical fiction Modern (WW2 to present) Lit? Three modern novels with literary merit? Great Books (early modern/modern) My 11th grade "Modern Literature book list… opinions? Modern Era must reads? Still working on my modern history through books and film, weak in 1980s to now Edited March 3, 2012 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinL in Canada Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Thanks, Lori. Always glad when you drop in to answer a question ; ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 How would others suggest tackling both Early Modern and Modern/ 20thC history in one year for gr 8? I posted below re using History Odyssey but no one seems to be responding, so perhaps that's not a popular program. My thoughts had been to use Spielvogel's Human Odyssey, but are there any guides or schedules out there for covering Early Modern to the present for HO? Any ideas for "spicing it up" so it's not just a series of "read this and then write about that"? This is for my youngest soan and it's been some years since I've had to cover history (not my favourite subject) at the high school level! Thanks, Robin (formerly StaceyL in Canada) Sonlight's History/Geography H covers early modern and modern and is targeted for that age group. It does use SOTW 3 & 4, so if you've used those before it would probably not work well. Also, I haven't used it, it's something I'm considering for next year, so I really have no useful input other than that it's out there. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 We are using the second half of Spielvogel's Human Odyssey for 10th grade course. The pacing has her cover a chapter every two weeks. We are supplementing with Teaching Co. Foundations of Western Civiliation, Part 2. I don't know how these would be for your 8th grader, but my motivated 10th grader has really enjoyed the lectures. I also have checked out documentaries from the library. In addition, I've assigned essays, current events summaries, and a research paper. Again, you'd want to scale down for an 8th grader. I also googled and found several project ideas from various high school websites. A favorite of dd was writing and filming a WWI newscast. I found a couple of webquest assignments - one on the Industrial Revolution and another on WWII Propaganda. If you're inclined to research some of these type of project ideas, PM me and I'll dig up some of my links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 We are using the second half of Spielvogel's Human Odyssey for 10th grade course. The pacing has her cover a chapter every two weeks. We are supplementing with Teaching Co. Foundations of Western Civiliation, Part 2. I don't know how these would be for your 8th grader, but my motivated 10th grader has really enjoyed the lectures. I also have checked out documentaries from the library. In addition, I've assigned essays, current events summaries, and a research paper. Again, you'd want to scale down for an 8th grader. I also googled and found several project ideas from various high school websites. A favorite of dd was writing and filming a WWI newscast. I found a couple of webquest assignments - one on the Industrial Revolution and another on WWII Propaganda. If you're inclined to research some of these type of project ideas, PM me and I'll dig up some of my links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Sorry for double post - system was stuck, and then posted twice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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