LAmom Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 (edited) What would you pick for 8th grade history (thinking about 4 younger children, too) that would help high school flow best? A year of American History, Government, or stick with cycle (then would you do ancients or middle ages??)? We did year 4 of the cycle this year(sort of..). Or would you do a world/culture/geography study, using what (again, thinking about youngers, too)? I have been looking at Notgrass which would work for at least 3 of my kids, Biblioplan Ancients or Middle Ages, or ? I am headed to a convention tonight so I get to peek at some things. I have no idea what I will use next school year. Wish I did so I could make a purchase tonight! Edited June 16, 2016 by LAmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 (edited) Some suggestions: One year overview of world geography with Trail Guide to World Geography One year overview of world history One year overview of American history with Notgrass or Homeschool in the Woods or just for the 8th grader with CLE's AM History + Light Units Or, you can just keep things simple and continue with the cycle. :001_smile: Edited June 16, 2016 by Random 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 For 7th grade we just did a world culture/geography year. It was great and all three kids enjoyed it. Next year I am going to do American History with the younger two, probably up to the twentieth century. I've realized that there is a lot they don't really know that they should. The 8th grader is going to do some American History with them but then have an extra Civics/Government focus for the year. I discovered that it's what they happen to do here in 8th grade in the public schools. So we will be "on track" with the public schools which wasn't really my intention but it's not necessarily a bad thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAmom Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 For 7th grade we just did a world culture/geography year. It was great and all three kids enjoyed it. Next year I am going to do American History with the younger two, probably up to the twentieth century. I've realized that there is a lot they don't really know that they should. The 8th grader is going to do some American History with them but then have an extra Civics/Government focus for the year. I discovered that it's what they happen to do here in 8th grade in the public schools. So we will be "on track" with the public schools which wasn't really my intention but it's not necessarily a bad thing. What did you use for world culture/geography and what will you us for your 8th grader? So 8th graders study civics/government and then again in high school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 What did you use for world culture/geography and what will you us for your 8th grader? So 8th graders study civics/government and then again in high school? For the world culture/geography I mostly made it up. For each area of the world, they did a map. I used the Trail Guide to World Geography and Internet resources to decide what I wanted them to map. I made up lists of questions about history or geography in the area that I wanted them to answer. I got a lot of books out of the library. We watched videos. For most areas they researched and cooked a meal. The 7th grader also wrote some kind of paper for each area. We live in the DC area so there were also lots of field trips and things that went along with our studies (Asian grocery store, African art Museum, etc) I'm not sure what the kids here do in public school as far as if they do government again in high school. I don't usually worry about aligning with the schools. I had already planned on doing Civics and then was talking to a kid in 8th grade in public school who told me his favorite subject was Civics. So out of curiosity I asked around and discovered that's what they do here. I haven't planned out what I'm going to do yet. I tend to be more of a make up your own thing rather than use a curriculum kind of person. Usually it's some combination of documentaries, books, and other resources. We'll definitely do a bunch with the election, which is one reason I figured this was a good reason to cover government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 The Big History Project would be a great thing for an 8th grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 Personally nothing my teens used for 8th grade history really impacted their high school courses at all. :001_smile: It is the last year to enjoy the freedom of chasing wild interests before having to figure out how to package it into a tidy transcript. What is the kid interested in? My rising 8th grader is going to use Build Your Library's grade 8 history of science course. He's very excited about the books trickling in for it. My rising 7th is going for British/Irish history. World geography would be fun if they haven't covered it yet. A nice break from a history cycle. Or homing in on their all time favorite history period or area. I wouldn't worry too much about American unless they're really interested, since it's generally a high school requirement and will just get repeated in a couple/few years anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 This is such a good question. I have been pondering it for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Here's my sort-of-plan for 8th and beyond: 8th - History Odyssey, Ancients 2 (Pandia Press) 9th - History Odyssey, Middle Ages 2 (Pandia Press) 10th - US History - again, Pandia Press is supposed to be publishing a high school US history course (possibly for 2016) . I don't know if it will cover government or not. 11th - sort of up in the air, but I'm thinking maybe an AP World History 12th - one semester World Geography and one semester a history based on student interest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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