High school history sequence question/1 year American history suggestions needed

[Nakia]

My rising 9th grader just finished Medieval, so obviously we are not on schedule to do Ancients in 9th, which is fine. She wants to study American/Modern anyway. I've read WTM over and over, and I think I can do 4 years of high school history, but I'm not sure I want to. I might like to leave her senior year open to something like DE or something she's interested in. She is college bound, fyi.

 

So I was thinking of:

 

9th American

10th government/economics

11th World History

 

Or if we kept up with the WTM sequence it would look like:

 

9th Early Modern

10th Modern

11th Ancients

12th Middle Ages

 

And we would get that government credit in there.

 

 

Opinions? It's my first high schooler, and I need handholding. I'm nervous. I need to decide though because school starts back in two months!!!

 

All that said, can you all recommend a one year American history program?  If it has lit included, that'd be a huge bonus. Again, I want/need handholding.

 

Thanks!!!

 

 

[orelbeilinson]

We do AP Human Geography or PAP World History (9), AP World History (10), AP US + AP European History OR APUSH/APEH + AP Psychology (two, full-year, different classes; 11), AP (Macro/micro) Economics + (US/Comparative) Government (each one a semester [most students take AP Government which is a full-year course that encompasses both exams]; 12).

 

We usually do not require following that years sequence, but we figured out it gives them a good basis in Social Studies.

[Mom22ns]

One option would be MFW that has American spread over two years, but includes government, so you'd still get that done. There is Notgrass. 

 

We used college textbooks for American History and paired it with Hippocampus, but the Hippocampus course we used is no longer available. 

[Corraleno]

I don't have any suggestions for a US History curriculum, but I was so excited when I saw your name on this thread and realized it was a new one!   :seeya:  I've missed seeing you around here, and have been wondering how you were doing.

 

Jackie

[Ellie]

the most common sequence (i.e., what is schools do, which would be what most colleges see on transcripts) is world history in 10th, U.S. history in 11th, and U.S. Government/economics in 12th. Ninth is sometimes a world geography.

 

Have you seen Notgrass?

[Nakia]

Thanks for the responses!!

 

Corraleno, thank you!!! I appreciate that so much.

 

Ellie, yes I've looked at Notgrass. Since we just finished up two years of world history (ancients and medieval), I know Anna will not want to do world again next year. She's so ready for some American history.

[SilverMoon]

We broke out of the chronological history for high school. My rising 9th is doing American too. She chose the fundafunda US History plan, but it doesn't include lit. We're doing lit ourselves with Invitation to the Classics, WEM, and such. She just came from ancients in 8th.

 

As of right now this is her plan.

9th: American history and lit

10th: world history and geography, British lit

11th: government/civics, "maybe history of steampunk for lit"

12th: left blank on purpose so she can decide when she's closer

 

My oldest did ancients history/lit for 9th and will do middle ages history/lit for 10th because those are his absolute favorite history periods. He plans to do American in 11th, and gov/civ in12th.

[Liza Q]

When my oldest was this age, we had just completed Ancient in 7th and Medieval in 8th. So we did your second  plan =

9th Early Modern

10th Modern

11th Ancients

12th Middle Ages

 

and it went very well.I treated Govt and Economics like 1 semester electives. I made up a plan that combined World and American History. using Paul Johnson's History of the American People and Spielvogel's Western Civ. I used Lightning Literature Early to Mid-19th C. American and British sets, so the Lit was organized. The following year I used some Progeny Press guides - The Great Gatsby, Things Fall Apart, etc. ,and then added some more books that we just read and discussed.

 

For a one year American history,.I can mostly recommend Notgrass. My second daughter used it, along with the Teaching Co. US History dvds, as I didn't think Notgrass was enough on its own. I also used 2 Lighhtning Lits plus a few other  books, as I didn't htink that Notgrass Lit was enough at all. But It worked well as a spine, kwim?

 

Hth.

 

[EKS]

Did you use HO 1 for ancient and medieval?  (I looked at some of your old posts.)

 

If so, I'd use HO 2 and 3 for 9th and call it Modern World History.  Then for 10th I'd do American with K12's American Odyssey.  If you wanted, you could add in government and do it over two years or do American in 10th and government in 11th.  Then I'd give her a choice about what to do for 12th.

[chiguirre]

Sonlight's American History might work for you. There's also the new WTM Academy courses (they do a year of Ancients, Medieval and American) so that might work well for you. The Potter's School starts their high school sequence with American history.

 

It comes down to what your AP plans are. If you think your dd will want to do APUSH, I'd do a more general social studies year and gear up for the reading and writing level. AP Human Geography might be a good choice for that. You will probably also want to check what credits your possible university choices will accept and if they'll take dual enrollment credits (is there an articulation agreement?) or AP or CLEP. For example, Texas universities all require Texas government along with the US government for their credits, so that's a course most kids take DE at a community college. APUSH gets you 6 credits and fulfillment of the US history requirement, so the AP is attractive if your DE courses are limited. All of these details depend on your possible university choices and you need to investigate them before you plan out your high school course path if you want to earn usable college credit. It also depends on how competitive a high school profile you're aiming at. If you want to try for very selective colleges, you'll need to have several AP and DE courses to show your student's academic level. If you're shooting for a less competitive school, you have more leeway in choosing courses.

[Nakia]

I honestly don't know what we'll do about AP classes. We have a lot of DE options for 11th and 12th grade, but I haven't made any solid decisions about that.

 

Thanks all. I have a lot to think about.

[Courtney_Ostaff]

Not sure on your plans, but the WTM Academy is offering an American History course.

[Nakia]

The WTM Academy class says it's for 11th-12th graders, I believe.

 

EKS, we used Human Odyssey for ancients two years ago, and we used History Odyssey this past year for Medieval.

[~Anna~]

We are going to be using K12 American Odyssey for American History, but probably not until 10th. My rising 9th grader will be starting Medieval with a combo of K12 books (Human Odyssey and Our Human Story) for 9th.

 

If you want to do Early Modern or Modern for 9th, I would use K12 Human Odyssey volumes 2 & 3 or parts of Our Human Story. Or just go straight into American History for 9th if you want (again, I like K12 American Odyssey).