Notgrass Exploring American History Question

[Grace is Sufficient]

Yikes! Between the books (16), short stories (2) and poems (over 90) for the literature portion of the program, and the massive number of speeches/historical documents (I counted about 115) in the history portion, this course is intimidating.

 

Have people actually had their kids do ALL the reading? How much time does it take per day? Is there enough time to read together and talk through some of the historical documentation and speeches?

 

Just wondering how this has been handled by the wise women of WTM...

[Kim in TN]

You might want to join the Notgrass Yahoo group.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ExploringAmerica_users/

 

We will be using Exploring America this year, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. I didn't buy the literature books.

[Alyce]

That's one of the reasons Mr. Notgrass suggest doing World History together. Both my children have been required to do all the reading, the writing and the History. It took them about 2 1/2 hours to complete all it. Sometimes it took longer to add in the writing depending on the assignment. My children have all done it independently. The literature is just read and answer 5-10 questions about it. There is no literature analysis. Some people have their children do a couple of Progeny Press guides to cover that. We never did, we just discussed what they were reading usually about 1/2 through the book and at the end. I second the joining the Yahoo group. There is a lot of good advice on their from people who have used it. There is also a schedule for the reading of the American History books that one mom published. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of which book needs to be read and how how long. She breaks it up into a certain number of chapters per day depending on which book is being required. It doesn't include the source documents. It's just the book list but it's very helpful.

[ChildofGrace]

Yikes! Between the books (16), short stories (2) and poems (over 90) for the literature portion of the program, and the massive number of speeches/historical documents (I counted about 115) in the history portion, this course is intimidating.

 

Have people actually had their kids do ALL the reading? How much time does it take per day? Is there enough time to read together and talk through some of the historical documentation and speeches?

 

Just wondering how this has been handled by the wise women of WTM...

 

Hi.

 

We have just begun using EA, so my experience if very limited thus far. Currently, we are very pleased with Notgrass. We are not using it exactly as written, though. For example, since we are using different materials for Literature and Composition, my dc are only reading the books for their historical value. Dc will not be doing any of the writing assignments/questions over the EA books.

 

Another way we differ from Notgrass as it was intended is by discussing the history and Bible questions orally each day. Unless we take off on some tangent, (which we have already done a couple of times) our discussions do not take more than a few minutes.

 

So far, my dc have not taken more than 30 minutes per day for the text/primary source readings, and perhaps 30 minutes reading the book.

 

I said all that to suggest that time requirements will vary from family to family, dependent upon variables such as what assignments are used and how quickly one's children read.

 

Therefore, Exploring America is, IMO a very doable and adaptable program. I have been pleasantly surprised at how greatly my dc are enjoying it, and by how much they are gleaning from it!

[Kathleen in VA]

We are using Notgrass World History here and my understanding is that the course counts for 2 credits - one in history, the other in English. Is it the same for the American History course? I would expect it to take 2-3 hours daily for two courses if that were the case.

[Grace is Sufficient]

We did World History last year, but since we were already doing a full English credit, I cut most of the writing and a few of the books.

 

American History has a lot more of the extra historical reading, which I think is wonderful, but I doubt my 2 will get the full benefit of the course if we don't discuss some of it. It seems as if there's a real opportunity in this course to dig into the foundations and principles undergirding our country, but that might make 2-3 hours turn into 3-4 or more!

 

Thanks for the info on the Notgrass Yahoo group. I will definitely take advantage of that.

[ChildofGrace]

We are using Notgrass World History here and my understanding is that the course counts for 2 credits - one in history, the other in English. Is it the same for the American History course? I would expect it to take 2-3 hours daily for two courses if that were the case.

 

Actually, both Notgrass courses are designed for 3 credits: History, English and Bible.

 

As I mentioned previously, though, we are not using it as written.:) The course work would definitely take longer if completed as intended. IMO Notgrass offers a great program and can easily be adapted to suit each individual family.

 

In our case, I have chosen to use it solely as an American History course, so I may pick and choose a few of the English assignments if I feel they will be helpful in our study of American History--those will not be part of their English credit.

 

We have also found the Bible component to be quite light, with daily assignments limited to reading a few verses or to "think about" some questions. I am picking and choosing from those, also, for those which will enrich our historical studies. This will only provide a portion of their Bible credit.

 

I am even adjusting the History component itself! I personally see no reason for my dc to answer the daily questions in writing. One reason for this is that they have plenty of writing opportunities in other courses. A more important reason is that I can use those questions orally as springboards for further discussion.

 

So, that's why, with all of my customizing, my students spend about 1 hour individually on the assignments I've chosen, and then we spend time together in oral discussion.

 

YMMV.