Mosaicmind Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I am looking at both of these programs for my 5th and 6th grade boys for history. Anyone want to give me their opinion on either or both? Cost wise EXploring is a little more expensive but not much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Are you talking about Notgrass' America the Beautiful or Exploring American History? America the Beautiful is for 5th-8th graders and Exploring American History is a high school history course. My daughter did American the Beautiful this past year as a 5th grader and really enjoyed it. My son did Exploring American History his freshman year. We tried All American History with my son when he was in middle school, but he didn't care for it. Both my kids have enjoyed the Notgrass history programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosaicmind Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Anyone have any thoughts? Even if you haven't used it, which one looks more appealing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosaicmind Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Are you talking about Notgrass' America the Beautiful or Exploring American History? America the Beautiful is for 5th-8th graders and Exploring American History is a high school history course. My daughter did American the Beautiful this past year as a 5th grader and really enjoyed it. My son did Exploring American History his freshman year. We tried All American History with my son when he was in middle school, but he didn't care for it. Both my kids have enjoyed the Notgrass history programs. Yep, you are right. I got the program names mixed up---they are all similar. Did you get the literature books that go along with America the Beautiful? I think I either have many or I can get them at the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Yep, you are right. I got the program names mixed up---they are all similar. Did you get the literature books that go along with America the Beautiful? I think I either have many or I can get them at the library. No. We didn't do the literature books with it just because we used it in conjunction with Sonlight and read the books assigned with Sonlight instead. We did use the map book and the activity book with my dd. She really enjoyed it. I am considering getting Notgrass new civics curriculum for middle schoolers for the coming year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunnyDays Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I love the look of Notgrass ATB. I was thinking about doing it this year with my 4th grader and looked at it closely. I decided to hold off and perhaps do it down the road if we do another American History year before high school. I ended up piecing together my own program, but had I gotten anything else, it probably would have been Notgrass. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 All American History bored us to DEATH and we stopped using it after a quarter. It spent way too much time on explorers, and it presented the information in a disjointed (to me) way. My son begged to stop it, and I agreed with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancer67 Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 We used All American History for half a year with my oldest daughter and she was bored to tears. Notgrass did not have ATB then. We do have ATB now for my 8th grader which we will start in September. I looked at all of it since it just arrived this week, and I love it. My dd does as well. And she HATES history. We will prob use Notgrass World History for 9th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 We used All American History for half a year with my oldest daughter and she was bored to tears. Notgrass did not have ATB then. We do have ATB now for my 8th grader which we will start in September. I looked at all of it since it just arrived this week, and I love it. My dd does as well. And she HATES history. We will prob use Notgrass World History for 9th. :iagree: I started AAH with my 10th & 7th graders this past spring and we got through one 8-week unit before we chucked it. :tongue_smilie: It was okay, but not what we'd hoped for. My 8th grader is continuing with Notgrass America the Beautiful, and we LOVE it. My oldest was lamenting that it's not a high school course. ;) She's going to do MFW US1 instead, but I'm thrilled that my non-history loving girl is really enjoying ATB. She wanted to started it right away when it arrived, but I made her wait until we started school last week. Her wanting to start history right away has NEVER happened before. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 We are using AAH this year for 6th, 4th and 2nd ("tweaking" for the younger ones). I've looked over the lessons and it looks ok to me. My kids don't really like history so we'll see how it goes. I am scheduling "extra"...more living-type books and requiring a lot less for the younger ones. If I had just ONE middle schooler or all middle schoolers, I might have chosen Notgrass. We'll see how it goes...I'm hoping for a better experience than the PPs. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 We are using AAH this year for 6th, 4th and 2nd ("tweaking" for the younger ones). I've looked over the lessons and it looks ok to me. My kids don't really like history so we'll see how it goes. I am scheduling "extra"...more living-type books and requiring a lot less for the younger ones. If I had just ONE middle schooler or all middle schoolers, I might have chosen Notgrass. We'll see how it goes...I'm hoping for a better experience than the PPs. :) This was my plan, too. Adding the living books (TM has some good suggestions) was helpful, but just didn't add the spark that we were looking for. :tongue_smilie: That said, I'm keeping my AAH for right now because there ARE some good activity and field trip ideas in the TM that we'll probably utilize. But we could do those without AAH... so I'm really just keeping it as a reference tool, I suppose. Sue, if you decide that AAH is a bust and you want to try ATB after all :D I think it IS "tweakable" for younger kids. I'm finding that it doesn't take my 8th grader long at all do each lesson, even with all the assignments at the end, so I'm adding more to her workload. One (of several) reasons I chose ATB for her was because she's not a history lover, so I thought it would be a very doable workload for her. It is.... but it's even lighter than SHE can handle. (And she's doing *everything* assigned.) So while I'm still saying that we love ATB, it just needs a little "more" for some kids. (And can be used below 5th grade for others, while still others may do it as written with nothing added or taken away.) ATB is a fantastic starting point. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Thanks, Donna. I am hoping AAH will work since I have absolutely NO MORE $ in my homeschool budget, lol! Some things just HAVE to work. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I hear ya, Sue. I splurged on ATB and now I'm having to wait to order high school stuff. :glare: Oldest has enough to keep her busy until then, but still.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in VA Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I worked the Notgrass booth at my state convention this past June and over the two days I was there at least twenty moms came up and told me that their kids absolutely loved using America the Beautiful. They raved and raved about how their children loved it and that many of the kids said it was their favorite part of the day. I have used AAH and will say that it is sufficient, but not all that engaging - at least for my son. If America the Beautiful had been available for him, I would have used it instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I have both AAH and ATB. Weare about half way through with ATB and are mostly happy with it. My preference would be to do this over two years instead of one and I wish there were a little more depth to the history (hence the preference for two years so we could read more). I love all the extras though - learning about different monuments, natural wonders and interesting people. If I hadn't been more pressed for time, I would have done this over two years and lined up more of the Sonlight books with it. Good luck, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Sue, if you decide that AAH is a bust and you want to try ATB after all :D I think it IS "tweakable" for younger kids. I'm finding that it doesn't take my 8th grader long at all do each lesson, even with all the assignments at the end, so I'm adding more to her workload. One (of several) reasons I chose ATB for her was because she's not a history lover, so I thought it would be a very doable workload for her. It is.... but it's even lighter than SHE can handle. (And she's doing *everything* assigned.) Sorry to hijack, but I was wondering how long it is taking her to finish the lessons. I'm trying to determine how much time I should expect this to take my son this year, and would love some input from experience. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna A. Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Sorry to hijack, but I was wondering how long it is taking her to finish the lessons. I'm trying to determine how much time I should expect this to take my son this year, and would love some input from experience. Thanks! So far, ATB is taking her about an hour a day (give or take), and that's doing everything assigned. I've given her additional reading to go along with it until the first assigned literature in Week 4 when she begins Sign of the Beaver. All the extra reading they assign before then is from the We the People supplemental book, but those don't take long. She does have writing to do every day, whether it be a short creative writing assignment, answers to questions in the Lesson Review book, or both. Her literature reading adds to that hour a little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 So far, ATB is taking her about an hour a day (give or take), and that's doing everything assigned. I've given her additional reading to go along with it until the first assigned literature in Week 4 when she begins Sign of the Beaver. All the extra reading they assign before then is from the We the People supplemental book, but those don't take long. She does have writing to do every day, whether it be a short creative writing assignment, answers to questions in the Lesson Review book, or both. Her literature reading adds to that hour a little bit. Thankss Donna. That is about how long I was estimating, so it is good to know I'm on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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