swimmermom3 Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 If you are doing the Great Books for 9th grade this fall per TWTM suggestions, is The History of the Ancient World your only spine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We used Harrison Short History of Western Civilization (which was recommended in my edition of TWTM) as our spine (just the chapters on Ancients for 9th grade). We supplemented with many Teaching Company lectures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Happy Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 You know, I have the book, but opted for Spielvogel. I'm going to read through it over the next few weeks and see what I think of it. (totally forgot I had it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 (edited) We used Harrison Short History of Western Civilization (which was recommended in my edition of TWTM) as our spine (just the chapters on Ancients for 9th grade). We supplemented with many Teaching Company lectures. Thank you! I do have several TC lectures that I plan on using. I am working my way through trying to do the Great Books study exactly as outlined in TWTM. I have gone through the first eight chapters in SWB's book and recorded the dates, individuals, and events as suggested under the History Foundation section in the third edition of TWTM in preparation for Gilgamesh. I didn't worry about chapters that didn't pertain to Mesopotamia; I just did them anyway. I always think I know better, so for once I am trying to do things as given, but questions keep popping up. There is this nagging feeling that this is not quite enough for a high school history credit, so I just needed to check with you all and see that The History of the Ancient World, the Timetables, and the DK books are all that everyone uses. ETA: I am trying not to run to an AP World History text that I have just because it makes me feel more secure.:tongue_smilie: Regentrude, what do you like about the book you have? Edited July 2, 2012 by swimmermom3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I used Speilvogel, SWB's book, Teaching Company Lectures, Timetables, and it seems like there was something else I am not remembering (files are on my laptop and I'm on my IPad). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 We are not using SWB's text because I know the readings are too dense for ds, so we're using Spielvogel. In comparison we will end up doing 5 total chapters of history, 4 from Western Civ, I from Human Odyssey(we're only going through Greeks). By the time we add in Great Books, TTC lectures, discussions, and doing this all the WTM way, we'll have a full year. The SWB book is much richer and deeper than Spielvogel. I know we'd have a hard time adding components if it were our spine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Regentrude, what do you like about the book you have? DD and I love it because it is an older textbook consisting of consecutive text that can be read. No annoying and distracting colored boxes, activities, sidebars, factoids - just well written text with the occasional map as illustration. DD says just now: "it is very easy to read, the text is not interrupted by boxes and stuff, it has really good summaries, you get an idea of the general feeling of the time - not just "this happened and that happened". I don't like: not everything is in chronological order, not enough dates. But it's not a big problem, and I really like it. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 (edited) Lisa (and anyone else who wants to comment), Since the student does writing related to history; i.e. persuasive papers, won't that be enough for a high school history credit along the other rhetoric history suggestions? SWB suggests two hours per day; i.e one hour for history and one for literature, or a combo that totals that amount of time, and an hour per day seems reasonable for history with the four suggestions in WTM for text work as well as essays and research. Also, aren't the context papers for the Great Books part of the history/literature mix? I am working on this for next year, so I am wondering if I am on the right track. Edited July 7, 2012 by 1Togo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 There is this nagging feeling that this is not quite enough for a high school history credit, so I just needed to check with you all and see that The History of the Ancient World, the Timetables, and the DK books are all that everyone uses. Lisa (and anyone else who wants to comment), Since the student does writing related to history; i.e. persuasive papers, won't that be enough for a high school history credit along the other rhetoric history suggestions? This is what I am assuming for the coming year...I haven't been down this road yet. But I assumed that doing the following would make a very full history credit: - Notetaking from HOAW that Lisa described (ideas in 2009 WTM) - Using the Timetables/DK research for any GB context papers - Reading further about historical topics of interest, - Writing about history (such as SWB describes in her high school writing audio) - my idealistic self is going to experiment with still keeping timelining, mapwork, and memory work in the history lineup........stop laughing at me! :lol: It's certainly a lot better and more beneficial than any high school history I had! Boring lectures, reading a history text, answering "comprehension questions," memorize info. to do well on the test... I'm curious about what others think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 This is what I am assuming for the coming year...I haven't been down this road yet. But I assumed that doing the following would make a very full history credit: - Notetaking from HOAW that Lisa described (ideas in 2009 WTM) - Using the Timetables/DK research for any GB context papers - Reading further about historical topics of interest, - Writing about history (such as SWB describes in her high school writing audio) - my idealistic self is going to experiment with still keeping timelining, mapwork, and memory work in the history lineup........stop laughing at me! :lol: It's certainly a lot better and more beneficial than any high school history I had! Boring lectures, reading a history text, answering "comprehension questions," memorize info. to do well on the test... I'm curious about what others think. Who's laughing. My train of thought was following your train of thought.:D Geography plays a huge part in shaping a country's history and its cluture. Colleen, when you list out the items, it looks like a full credit for us as long as we follow through on the historical topics of interest. Have you tried the note taking for HOTW and if so what did you think of your results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 (edited) Colleen, when you list out the items, it looks like a full credit for us as long as we follow through on the historical topics of interest. I thought about the follow-through issue as I was typing it. I can't see, if one is also doing subjects such as science, literature, foreign language, a writing course, math, electives; how one could possibly follow through (my meaning: read and write about) on topics of interest *in every chapter* of HOAW. What I am going to experiment with is assigning ds a certain amount of chapters to read per history session, and lower the number of particular notes he has to take per chapter. For example: just pick one or two most important individuals in the chapter, two or three standout events in the chapter, and one or two events/people/ideas for further investigation. So, let's say I assigned three chapters per week. I might tell him, "OK, take these amounts of notes for each chapter. Then, go to the library website and search for books on topics of interest that you picked. After you read some of them, pick one to write a history paper on this week." Or something like that. I guess my goal is to keep my kids reading and talking, but not giving writing assignments for all the topics of interest. Does that make sense? Have you tried the note taking for HOTW and if so what did you think of your results? I haven't tried it myself yet, but ds has a couple of times. Because he's just beginning, because he's 14, and because he's very to-the-point, his notes are sparser than mine would be. (I marked my Gilgamesh Tablet I WAAAAYYYY more than he did, lol) But, he did understand what to do, I'm satisfied that he is starting to learn how to take notes, and the WTM suggestions were helpful to his thinking while he was reading. I'm not aiming for him to love reading HOAW (although he likes some of it) - I'm just using it as a starting point to teach skills and to get ideas for topics of interest, so that he can look for books that really catch his interest, and so he can practice writing history papers (which we haven't started yet - this is going to be a transitive year, skill-wise). Knowing myself, when I get around to trying the notetaking myself, I will love it. It will cause me to dig in more deeply, same as TWEM causes me to do with a book. It's all because no one ever taught me how to study when I was in school. So I love this. :D I just wish I had more time to dig into everything... I wonder if anyone else has tried this in the past few years since the new WTM came out. Or did something similar without needing that direction. :bigear: EDIT: I think our high school years are going to start sounding more mish-mashy, like Nan's. I start off with organized-sounding plans, but they are subject to fluidity. I'm probably not going to say "two history, two science, and one lit. essay per week"; I'll probably just make sure there's somewhat of an even amount of each of them over the year, while doing two or three essays per week total (but I spread work out over more than 36 weeks to make our daily life easier and letting Fridays be lighter so we can go to the library or on trips while I have a vehicle in the morning.). Or something like that. But, like her, I have underlying concrete goals that will still direct me in guiding my kids. :D Edited July 7, 2012 by Colleen in NS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 - Notetaking from HOAW that Lisa described (ideas in 2009 WTM) ... - my idealistic self is going to experiment with still keeping timelining, ...:lol: Lisa, I just realized (in planning mode) that the part in the 2009 WTM where she suggests listing important dates and saying "why" *is* timelining. You could either list them, OR put them on a timeline with maybe a little note saying why it's important. That explains to me why there is no mention of timelining in the rhetoric history section of the 2009 WTM, whereas in the 2004 there was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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