(Sonlight H) Modern World History for HS

[Donna T.]

Hi! I could use some advice. My 8th grade son is using Sonlight's Core H this year. It is the 2nd half of World History. It schedules Story of the World 3 and 4. He is reading most of the core independently. I only read the read-alouds, but we do discuss almost everything that he reads. We have had a difficult second half of the school year. My dad passed away after a terrible struggle with cancer and a couple of weeks after that my grandmother passed away. He has only completed half of this Sonlight core.

 

Now I am trying to decide if I should push him through it, having him double up on reading, and attempt to complete this core before next fall OR if I should add something to the second half of the core to make it worthy of a High School credit for Modern World History. I do not want to drop it all together because we both really love this core.

 

The second half of this Sonlight core schedules Story of the World 4, Abraham Lincoln's World, and the Usborne World History Encyclopedia as the main spines. Do you have any suggestions of what I could add to these to flesh out a year that would be worthy of a 9th grade Modern World History credit? Or, do you think it would be better to wait and start counting HS credit after he completes this core? My plan was for him to complete this core and then start back over with the four year history cycle with Ancients in 9th grade. I was leaning heavily towards using My Father's World Ancient History and Literature for 9th grade.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Lara in Colo]

I am very close to this situation (my soon to be 8th grader will do H next year and American (core 100) for her 9th grade year, then start over with ancients.

 

If I were you I would try to get as much done all summer, possibly "saving" some of the readers for a later date.

[Mom22ns]

I agree with Lara. We actually did Core H my ds's freshman year. I added Speilvogel's Human Oddysey and some more advanced readers to make it high school credit worthy. However since you are already half way through, I'd just have him finish over the summer. He can always hold onto some readers to finish later If he doesn't make it through.

[Donna T.]

I had planned to have him working on the Core through most of June. I don't think he would be able to finish all of the core this summer, but maybe if we omitted a reader or two. Hmmm... maybe I could find a couple of audiobooks. We won't be able to get much, if anything, done from the last week of June through the first week of August because we are a host family with an orphan hosting program. We will be hosting during those weeks. I think it would be really hard to make progress during those weeks but I guess we should try. Also, we are trying to adopt the child we are hosting, so we may be going to Ukraine for as long as two months during the late summer (possibly mid July to mid August or August through September). In light of all this, I think the most realistic timeframe to finish the core would be in late fall. Possibly as late as December!

 

That's why I thought it may be easier to beef it up for 9th grade. But, I really, really want him to do a four year chronological history study for HS.

[at the beach]

If you do modern history for 9th finishing up this core, you could start your history cycle with modern history and go back to ancient history and move forward from there. With all you have been through and all you'll have going on in the summer, I would not worry about completing anything this summer. And why let half of something you've both really loved so far get rushed through? I would add the second half of a high school world history spine or even some TTC lectures and use the second half of the core for 9th. Best wishes! :grouphug:

[Donna T.]

We looked at the schedule closely and at our calendar and it does look like he could complete the core by the end of August if we are able to keep making progress through July. I guess he can take books to Ukraine with him if we travel in August. He won't mind because he loves to read. Then, he could start 9th grade when we get back from Ukraine. Of course, international adoption is to unpredictable, who knows exactly how that will go! The main thing I wanted to decide is if he should complete the core before officially starting High School or if I should beef it up for 9th grade. So, your input is very helpful! Thank you!

[elegantlion]

I have no advice, but wanted to say I am sorry for your losses. :grouphug:

[Donna T.]

I have no advice, but wanted to say I am sorry for your losses. :grouphug:

 

 

Thank you! It has been very difficult. I was close to both of them. As my dad neared death we made lots of efforts to visit with him as much as possible, so that slowed us down this spring too.

[Donna T.]

If you do modern history for 9th finishing up this core, you could start your history cycle with modern history and go back to ancient history and move forward from there. With all you have been through and all you'll have going on in the summer, I would not worry about completing anything this summer. And why let half of something you've both really loved so far get rushed through? I would add the second half of a high school world history spine or even some TTC lectures and use the second half of the core for 9th. Best wishes! :grouphug:

 

 

It seems much more realistic for us to do it that way. He is especially interested in Modern History and we have never really studied it with the depth that I had hoped we would by this point. He has had much more exposure to the other time-periods. I have thought about using Year 4 of Biblioplan but I am not sure if we will like their new text and it is a huge part of their new schedules.

 

I will look at TCC. I have always thought we may use some of their resources at some point.

[Candid]

I like the plan to finish up until 1900 and then do a year of modern world history, doesn't Sonlight have a core for that?

 

BUT given the what has happened this year I think you could easily just do whatever you want that will fill the time between now and your normal wrap up time and then just start fresh next fall.

[Donna T.]

Thanks everyone! I have decided what we are going to do. It is SO HELPFUL to get input from others. It's like my mind just cleared up!

 

We are going to finish the Core as it is written without adding anything to it. I think he will finish around the beginning of Septermber. Then, we are going to start back over "from the beginning" with Tapestry of Grace Year 1. Lots of reasons I decided to go with TOG but one is that I know he will eventually cover everything in-depth. He loves to read, so I think even if we start TOG in the late fall, it will be fine. He will catch up eventually!

 

 

Thanks again!