Pronghorn Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I am wondering if most colleges require U.S. Government? And how about Economics? I have a history buff for a student, and she would like to do lots of history and skip such things. Is that possible for a college-bound student? I know some will say check with the college. However, my student is only in ninth grade and does not have any idea of what college she is going to go to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I am wondering if most colleges require U.S. Government? And how about Economics? I have a history buff for a student, and she would like to do lots of history and skip such things. Is that possible for a college-bound student? I know some will say check with the college. However, my student is only in ninth grade and does not have any idea of what college she is going to go to. I would require it for my dc whether colleges require it or not. I consider it preparation for voting adulthood, if nothing else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I am wondering if most colleges require U.S. Government? And how about Economics? I have a history buff for a student, and she would like to do lots of history and skip such things. Is that possible for a college-bound student? I know some will say check with the college. However, my student is only in ninth grade and does not have any idea of what college she is going to go to. In which case, you stick with a fairly normal set of requirements so that she meets standard high school requirements. She can still do more history. These are two one semester classes. Very easy to stick in. Or, let her do them quickly over the summer (I am not a believer in hours per subject, but content covered.) and get them out of the way so that she can focus on extra history during the main year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Sticking these classes in is not as easy as you think. I have a daughter that plays three instruments, sings in a demanding choir, composes music, studies two languages..... I am always looking for ways to streamline things. I guess I will have to squeeze these in somehow. I don't really agree that these are important. I never took them, and I have managed to understand how to vote just fine. To me, government would make a better middle school course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 I would also be open to advice on good programs and books that could be used to accomplish these courses efficiently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I would also be open to advice on good programs and books that could be used to accomplish these courses efficiently. The most efficient way I can think of accomplishing the Government is involvement in a model legislative or judicial program and count hours towards both the credit and the extracurricular; also efficient in that students learn by doing, and are self-teaching. :) We got through Economics pretty efficiently using the Teaching Company series of lectures on the topic (36 30-minute lectures) -- also for part of that 0.5 credit for Economics: a few books and esp. important to me: some material on Personal Finance, which is what they will use all throughout adult real life. Below are more ideas; the Thinkwell videos on CD for Economics would likely be fairly painless; I've also heard the Economics in a Box is fairly painless. The "Complete Idiot" and "Dummy" books are pretty fast overviews and cover most of what you need to know. Gov't -- Mock Legislative/Judicial Programs Gov't = YMCA Youth In Government (model legislation program) (west of Mississippi =Youth AND Government) Gov't = Teen Court, Youth Court, Mock Trial (model judicial branch of government) Gov't = TEEN Pact (government and the political process; Christian) Politics/Gov't = Junior State of America (teen events on civics/politics; speakers & discussion sessions) Politics = National Model United Nations or Model United Nations (mock U.N. session) Complete Programs -- Self-Directed - Gov't & Econ = Time 4 Learning -- secular - Gov't & Econ = AO Life Pacs (workbook set) -- or -- Switched on Schoolhouse CDs -- Christian - Econ = Economics in a Box (books and DVDs program) Books Gov't = Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government Gov't = The Everything American Government Book Econ = Lessons for the Young Economist (free pdf book) Econ = Economics for the Impatient (book) Econ = The Complete Idiot's Guide to Economics (Gorman) Econ = Economics for Dummies (Masaki) Econ = Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt) -- free online pdf book; written in 1946 DVD / CD video lectures - Gov't = Standard Deviants: American Gov't Super Pack (secular; 10 DVD set; 3.5 hours) - Econ = Stossel in the Classroom (DVD or streaming videos) - Econ = Teaching Company: Economics (secular; 36 30-minute lectures on micro and macro economics) - Econ = Thinkwell: Economics (secular; 180 video lessons on micro and macro economics) - Econ = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: intro to econ; microecon; macroecon; current econ) - Gov't = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: American civics) Past Threads with More Ideas: Economics and Government suggestions Government and Economics -- not rigorous Help! American Gov and Econ for 12th grade Please list what you use for Amer. History, Government, and Economics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Ds15 used Abeka for both of these courses. He did the readings (and I let him take the tests open book. :leaving: ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenNotOfTroy Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I would use the fact that next year is a presidential election year to organize government studies. My economics class in high school started and ran a business. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 A couple of my kids used this. It is very basic and concise. Apart from this, I had them research our own state government, and they of course had to know who are own legislative officials were. They watched a couple of documentaries which also explained our government system, and generally, we discussed politics fairly often as a family since we are interested in it. They volunteered to help in a couple local campaigns. Oh, we also toured our State Capitol. http://www.christianbook.com/government-101-packet-laura-petrisin/pd/468002 So, we didn't do a lot of time-consuming busy work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest2 Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 You could combine history and either/ both of these courses. One year could be government combined with history, another with econ/ history. They are arguably best studied this way as history definitely influenced or directly impacted both. When I was in school, many of the poly si majors double majored in history or econ. You can sort them out on the transcript and legend as half credit each, or whatever was done. There is so much overlap between these subjects. I would probably use one of LoriD's resources like the Everything guide to.. To make sure all the pertinent topics are covered. I haven't seen a curriculm that does this, so it will probably take some time to customize one. But it would be fun! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 A question: what is it that you're using now for History for your history-buff student? That might make it easier to think of what specific Gov't resources would blend in well and efficiently with the History. :) For example, spending 90 minutes a week (that's just 30 minutes a day 3x/week) -- by watching a video and reading/discussing -- of succinct resources that match up efficiently with the different points of your American History, so doing two topics at once, since they so nicely "dovetail" together. Ideas for streamlining: videos can be watched while eating lunch. Discussion can happen in the car while driving to music lessons/events. Books can be read in the evening or on the weekend or over the summer. Or books can be audiobooks and listened to in the car while commuting to various venues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Crash Course offers a series on government and an excellent one on economics. Not to replace an actual in depth study, of course, but they might help make a good jumping off point or a fun supplement to something more serious. There is so much overlap between both of those and history. They just tie in together so nicely and help make sense of other policies, etc on a much deeper level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Someone asked what we are doing for history. We are doing Dave Raymond's American History as a spine. We are supplementing that with The Great Courses' Turning Points in American History, which includes forty-eight, half-hour lectures. And we are supplementing also with weekly (Saturday) lessons from Professor Carol's Circle of Scholars course America's Artistic Legacy. (We are not attempting to do that entire course with all the assignments, just the videos and selected assignments.) We also may add some readings from Zinn's books to give a full view of the range of ways people think about characters such as Columbus, who is much praised by Dave Raymond. And we may add something for Twentieth Century History, since it is not covered in Dave Raymond. Perhaps Turning Points will cover that sufficiently, though. This is an overly meaty course already. We wanted to get American History out of the way freshman year and not study it again. My daughter was born in another country and really is more interested in a global view of the world than extensive studies of one country. She would be more interested in a Comparative Government course that looked at the whole picture, if we could find time to do it, rather than a course just about the U.S. government. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 The Great Courses Economics course looks good. We already have made use of other Great Courses, so I think fitting that in sometime will probably work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 I am wondering if most colleges require U.S. Government? And how about Economics? I have a history buff for a student, and she would like to do lots of history and skip such things. Is that possible for a college-bound student? My daughter's interests in high school led her to emphasize foreign languages at the expense of history. Her high school record looked like this: 9th: World History from 1700 to 2000 (at home, the third year of a chronological sweep through history as we began homeschooling in 7th grade) 10th: AP US History (out of the home class) 11th: AP Comparative Politics and Government (out of the home class) You might not classify it as history, but she also did 12th: Art History (quarter long class at the community college) We had access to excellent AP teachers at a free homeschooling resource center, and that was part of what decided our history choices during the high school years. My daughter ultimately applied to ten colleges of varying selectivity. She was accepted by eight and wait-listed by the ninth. None of those ten colleges specifically required either US Government or Economics. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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