notgrass america the beautiful? anyone use this

[pjssully]

Has anyone use this series?  I have rising 7th graders and wondering if this would be o.k. or too easy?  We would use only book 2 as we have covered the 1st part already.  AND I would probably substitute my own reading.

thanks for any input

pam

[Murrayshire]

We are using it this year with my oldest. We supplement the literature and she usually reads Hakim books per topic of ATB. We add in documentaries and time travelers for projects. I think ATB is a bit light for my dd taking in account that she is a history buff and can't get enough of it! For a child that doesn't care for history, this may be enough. I think the unit tests are silly....usually multiple choice. At the end of each unit, she chooses a topic or important person/place and researches more writing a paper on it. Sometimes she will do a project from Time Travelers instead of writing. She also does not answer the lesson questions that are in the test booklet. Instead, she takes notes WTM style or IEW style. Sometimes she will fool around with the student workbook which has crosswords and other busy work.

We The People book is awesome! I will use that with my younger two dc even if I don't use ATB. You could definitely just buy the part 1 and part 2 textbooks and We The People. I don't think the workbooks are necessary.

 

What I like about ATB is that it is laid out so nicely for her to pick up and go! That is a major plus in my household!

 

Edit to add: since you are only using part 2 , this will give you more time to flesh each unit out with other material. Wish we had done it that way!

[kbutton]

We love it, but I'm using it with a fourth grader. He completes the map work, timeline, and most of the literature, and I never have to bug him about it. He loves it. We don't do the writing prompts or projects (we did history projects last year). We plan to use Uncle Sam and You next year and keep on with the middle school materials as they become available.

 

I am not concerned about my son seeing a lot of connections in history at this point--it's not his favorite subject, but I want him to like it so that we can think about going deeper later. We also have some other needs that take priority over history here, so the fact that he can do this alone is wonderful. The presentation in ATB must be doing something good for him because he's asking to listen to Stuff You Missed in History podcasts with me. YMMV.

[Momto6inIN]

I've used it this year with my 4th grader (my K'er listens along too and gets a little bit out of it) and while it's been OK and it served it's purpose to give her a good overview, it's probably not something I'll use again.  They both like doing the maps.  I agree with a previous poster who says the quizzes & worksheets are a bit of a joke.  I had originally intended to do it with my 6th grader too, but it was way too easy for him so he's reading History of US with my 8th grader instead and that's much more on his level.

[....]

Hi, I'm using AtB with a 12 yro who does not like history.  We're about halfway through the 1st textbook.  We are not using the workbooks - they looked like busywork to me.  We are doing map work and she's doing some of the projects at the end of the textbook (actually, I think that's her favorite part).  She is reading the literature selections, but I also added some - like The Witch of Blackbird Pond (which she really enjoyed).  I am not doing the original source/documents book right now, but I will probably add it later and she can read through it.  Instead of ongoing writing assignments, I'm going to have her write an essay on a topic covered in the book after she finishes each textbook.

 

Here's her schedule:

 

1.  Every day, read one chapter from the textbook

2.  Read a chapter from the literature selection (also every day)

3.  Discuss questions at the end of the chapter or go over the vocab words (which are really easy, BTW)

4.  About once a week - map work, etc

5.  Periodically complete one of the projects in the back (she likes projects, so she spent hours sewing a pouch and making a marble game out of polymer clay yesterday - for example)

6.  After each textbook - write an essay on topic of choice

 

The Notgrass website has a very long sample of the textbook.  Also, if you have a homeschool store...I was able to go up there and flip through AtB and also the high school US history course.  Actually, the high school course looked more like where my daughter was academically, but I decided to go with AtB instead.  My daughter already hates any history/geography/social studies and I didn't want to make US history more painful than it needed to be.

 

Despite the easy factor, I like it and plan to use it again with the other kids.  It looks like I will be going through it again next year with my son (I'll be an AtB expert at that point!).  I also plan to buy their US Government course.

 

Have you seen their samples?  That would be the best thing - see if it's what you're looking for.

 

 

[Murrayshire]

Here is the link to tell you all about ATB! http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/Learn-About-America-the-Beautiful/

 

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see the links to view the books.

[Jaz]

My dd really enjoys it. We're using the textbooks, We the People, and the map workbook. She doesn't do all the assignments or read the recommended literature. She uses a timeline and really likes the creative writing.

[SkateLeft]

It's perfect for my 12yo 7th grader. He does it completely independently, and uses the primary source text, maps, timeline, and supplemental workbook. He also does the required literature readings. It's the first history program that he's ever really enjoyed, and he's learned a lot.

 

We're a science and math family, so history is not something that any of us want to spend all day on, and this gets the job done very well. It's the kind of program that I could easily expand on if we wanted more.