American Government Help

[HRAAB]

Quick background: my dd attends a part-time, private, classical school 3 days a week and has a very heavy workload. I'm looking for an Am. Gov. course since the school will not be covering Gov. until they get to modern times, and she will have graduated by then. This is what I've found so far by searching old threads:

 

Holt US Government Principles in Practice

Steck Vaughn American Government A Complete Coursebook

Oak Meadow's Am. Gov. course using Glencoe's Democracy in Action

Thinkwell

 

I'm looking for a complete, thorough course but not extremely time consuming because of her already heavy schedule. Her other classes are writing intensive. Would one of these work well or are there other suggestions? I was leaning towards Thinkwell, but we haven't used them before, Also, I would appreciate any recommendations for Great Course classes.

 

Thanks.

[Cindy in FL.]

We plan to use Tocqueville and the American Experiment from the Great Courses. I have heard good things about it, but don't have first hand experience. We are also going to use The Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government.

[history_junkie]

I reviewed the Holt and Oak Meadow (Glencoe) textbooks, in detail, as part of a research project in college. I have in my notes that both do a decent job of covering information, but do little to promote critical thinking about the issues. Holt does a better job of incorporating primary sources, but it is still a textbook.

 

Both are thoroughly secular. Of the two, I would pick Holt, though my preference would be a course based on primary sources.

[HRAAB]

We plan to use Tocqueville and the American Experiment from the Great Courses. I have heard good things about it, but don't have first hand experience. We are also going to use The Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government.

 

 

I'll look for the American Experiment from Great Courses. Maybe it will be on sale. :001_smile:

 

I reviewed the Holt and Oak Meadow (Glencoe) textbooks, in detail, as part of a research project in college. I have in my notes that both do a decent job of covering information, but do little to promote critical thinking about the issues. Holt does a better job of incorporating primary sources, but it is still a textbook.

 

Both are thoroughly secular. Of the two, I would pick Holt, though my preference would be a course based on primary sources.

 

 

Do you by chance have any other suggestions?

[history_junkie]

 

Do you by chance have any other suggestions?

 

 

When I write the one I'm envisioning, I'll let you know ;) I primarily reviewed textbook based courses, and those are not my preference anyway.

 

I'm approaching everything from a Christian perspective, so I would probably choose Notgrass with supplementation. Of the secular texts Magruder’s American Government, Pearson, was my favorite. It is a massive textbook and designed to cover a full year of study. It had far more critical thinking than other texts.

[AngieW in Texas]

I had my oldest do Thinkwell Government. It's a one-semester course, but it worked well for her. She didn't want to have to read a textbook and she was taking 4 classes at the cc at the time, so it needed to be something that was not time-consuming.

 

My middle dd did GOVT I and GOVT II at the cc and now won't have to take it at her university where it is taught in a lecture hall with 300 students. She got to take it in a class with just 30 students.

[GoodGrief]

My ninth grader used Thinkwell this year. Like you, I was looking for something not would be thorough but not overly time consuming, as her other courses were pretty heavy. She's an independent worker, and Thinkwell fit the bill prefectly. We did add a couple of things, just because they became available. She did training through our local Youth Court system to be a peer attorney, and attended the Close Up program in Wash DC/NYC. Also bought some prep books so she could take the AP US Govt and Politics exam, and she went through those (5 Steps to a 5, and...soemthing else, can't remember.) She has not gotten scores back from the exam, but feels confident.

 

Long story short: Thinkwell worked just fine.

[teeterbunch]

Sounds like you have a Classical bent, so you might like....http://www.classicalhistorian.com/american-government-and-economics.html

 

Very strong in critical thinking.

 

Also, I think they are on sale with the HomeschoolBuyersCo-op right now.