pjssully Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Hi, I am feeling overwhelmed by the amount of "stuff" out their for government credit. My daughter does not want to do the Notgrass book, which would be the easiest for me....she did their American History and that was enough of textbooks for her. So trying to pull resources together has just about put me over the edge. AND I still have 9th grade plans to finish up before we sell, move, vacation, and hubby surgery. So, would anybody be willing to share their government plans for the fall? I can do either a semester or a full year, we have a little wiggle room. Thanks in advance.... pj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Here is a recent thread on this topic. HTH. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad S Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 I just posted on the thread referred to in the previous post, but as I looked through the posts again in that thread, I see that many or most of the comments refer to Notgrass whereas you said not Notgrass. While I discussed the book American Government: The Essentials, I've thought about unschooling this course and just keeping the book around for reference. In our case, I think my DS probably knows some of the material, and I think we'd have more problem controlling the time spent rather than doing too little given his interest in the topic and the elections coming up -- that will undoubtedly bring up spontaneous discussions and the opportunity to fill knowledge gaps. Just a thought on unschooling or semi-unschooling the course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 icivics.org has free lesson plans and also lots of great games. I am going to be using a lot of it in the online class I am teaching. No text books! I am with your daughter in not being a fan of those! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coloradomomof5 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I am also weighing my options. I purchased Notgrass but am reconsidering. I want it to be meaningful. New plan needed. Follow election and journal daily. Thoughts. Reactions. Facts. Whatever. Just please think and write. Thought it would be fun to look back in years down the road. Add complete guide to gov't and congress to read through. Add a few books like r u democratic republican or confused and the one about justice. And read through a few original documents and discuss/interpret. Maybe line by line rewrite in today's language. While reading the paper and looking for election news also find examples of the amendments in action and collect the articles. Every 3 weeks sit and discuss the articles and amendments with lawyer friend. We have studies all this before and I want him to be able to discuss gov't and be inspired to participate. I am yet to see a textbook that inspires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coloradomomof5 Posted July 21, 2016 Share Posted July 21, 2016 I am also weighing my options. I purchased Notgrass but am reconsidering. I want it to be meaningful. New plan needed. Follow election and journal daily. Thoughts. Reactions. Facts. Whatever. Just please think and write. Thought it would be fun to look back in years down the road. Add complete guide to gov't and congress to read through. Add a few books like r u democratic republican or confused and the one about justice. And read through a few original documents and discuss/interpret. Maybe line by line rewrite in today's language. While reading the paper and looking for election news also find examples of the amendments in action and collect the articles. Every 3 weeks sit and discuss the articles and amendments with lawyer friend. We have studies all this before and I want him to be able to discuss gov't and be inspired to participate. I am yet to see a textbook that inspires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosaicmind Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 FWIW, Notgrass reworked their government course and it's on sale thru Saturday for $54.95 free shipping and student materials pack. I was going to purchase next spring but the savings of over $20 makes me consider it now. I know you said not Notgrass but just wanted to let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 I think I'm going to end up putting together my own high school government course for my older son. He's very interested in politics, current events and economics, so he's looking forward to doing government and economics in the fall. I don't share his passion, but I want to feed it rather than stifle it. I've looked at a lot of government textbooks, including Notgrass, and they're either super dry or from a particular viewpoint that I don't like. So, I guess I'm stuck doing my own thing. I think I'm going to use the Documents of Freedom website, along with some stuff from iCivics, the Center for Civic Education and C-Span's 2016 campaign website. I want to include primary sources too. Now I just need to sit down and make a syllabus to gel it all together into a semester. Then I get to start working on economics! :glare: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 My DSs are doing an 18 week course using A Noble Experiment. It's dvd based and already planned out, so easy on me (I hope). They're also doing a few lessons from Critical Thinking in US History about the Constitution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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