tammyw Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I saw an ad for book shark and made me realize i would like to do literature focused for history this year but can't cobble it together myself. What are the favorites? Preferably little writing since my son isn't a big writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 We used Learning Adventures. It is NOT secular, but it was easy to skip the bible lesson each day. It's set up as a series of unit studies, each set of weeks doing 1 book. I got the worksheets to go along with it just to make life easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Check out Bookshark http://www.bookshark.com/level-4/reading-with-history They are the secular branch of Sonlight. We did the Sonlight American History and it was awesome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 We've used Pandia Press for several years and have been very pleased with the majority of their lit selections. My son did modern (the last bit of it) and ancients last year in fifth and really loved most of the lit selections. I'm actually trying to recall if he didn't like any; I think there were none he actually disliked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 (edited) It seems like my two main options are Pandia Press or Bookshark. I wonder if anyone has compared the two and can give their advice? ETA: I just read elsewhere that History Odyssey has a large writing component. That just won't work for him at this point :( Edited August 17, 2016 by tammyw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 It seems like my two main options are Pandia Press or Bookshark. I wonder if anyone has compared the two and can give their advice? ETA: I just read elsewhere that History Odyssey has a large writing component. That just won't work for him at this point :( I'm on my phone, so I can't see if you have his age in your sig. The level 1 HO do not have a lot of writing, and even the ancient and medieval level 2s don't either. We started with early modern level 1, which has them write two facts for each chunk. It progresses a bit each year, so by sixth grade for level 2 medieval, my son does small outlines and writes summaries of important people (I tell them a sentence or two per person). The level 2 early modern and modern have some essays, both on the literature and the history, as do the level 3s. However, it's completely customizable. You can easily skip ALL the writing and have it be plenty, except maybe from about eighth grade up. You can simply discuss the book questions orally and do the people summaries orally too. You can skip the timeline if you want. I tweak and adjust, depending on the child and what else is going on that week. But I keep using it because it saves me a lot of time over collecting maps and finding pages and all, and I do like the digging into the "why" of history that it provides as they get older. (They usually have a September sale for 25% off or so, and they've also had a 40% off sale at Black Friday, so for the e-version, it's been really economical for me.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 I'm on my phone, so I can't see if you have his age in your sig. The level 1 HO do not have a lot of writing, and even the ancient and medieval level 2s don't either. We started with early modern level 1, which has them write two facts for each chunk. It progresses a bit each year, so by sixth grade for level 2 medieval, my son does small outlines and writes summaries of important people (I tell them a sentence or two per person). The level 2 early modern and modern have some essays, both on the literature and the history, as do the level 3s. However, it's completely customizable. You can easily skip ALL the writing and have it be plenty, except maybe from about eighth grade up. You can simply discuss the book questions orally and do the people summaries orally too. You can skip the timeline if you want. I tweak and adjust, depending on the child and what else is going on that week. But I keep using it because it saves me a lot of time over collecting maps and finding pages and all, and I do like the digging into the "why" of history that it provides as they get older. (They usually have a September sale for 25% off or so, and they've also had a 40% off sale at Black Friday, so for the e-version, it's been really economical for me.) Thank you! We would be looking at the Level Two Ancients (he will be grade 5, age 10). I guess I should consider it still! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freelylearned Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Even though Beautiful Feet Books is a Christian company, it is worth looking at because some of their guides are secular friendly. I used the California History guide through my charter school, no problem. No biblical references at all. But other guides will have Bible verses sprinkled in and a focus on character education. The verses would be easy to skip as they aren't even included in the content of the discussions or assignments. But if you are looking for Charter School reimbursement, you would have to call and ask about individual guides and if they are charter school friendly or not. I like the guides because each lesson includes a reading and then it is followed by a few good discussion questions based on the Socratic method. After that there is a short activity which is either a map activity, looking up a few definitions, looking up a website or YouTube video, or working on a short report (1-2 pages each, depending on the topic.) It isn't writing intensive at all. I have HO level 2 right now. It would be difficult to adapt to a reluctant writer. It has a lot of outlining and summaries. Build Your Library is another option that is secular (I think) but I don't have any experience with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Thank you! We would be looking at the Level Two Ancients (he will be grade 5, age 10). I guess I should consider it still! Their try before you buy is ten lessons, I believe, and it's the full lessons, not a light version. For my kids, that's likely more than ten days of work, although that depends on how much customizing you do, but it should give you a good feel for whether it'll work for you or not. Fwiw, we use the k12 Human Odyssey books (cheap on Amazon) with History Odyssey instead of Story of Mankind, plus Kingfisher. My kids think Kingfisher can be repetitive, but they like Human Odyssey. It's pretty easy to figure out which Human Odyssey chapters you need, but feel free to PM me, and I'll send you what I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmpmelmack Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 another option is Build Your Library. we are using level 6 and I am very pleased so far! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted September 22, 2016 Author Share Posted September 22, 2016 I thought I'd report back on Build Your Library grade 5. I LOVE it. Seriously love it. The book selections and flow are perfection, and we even read poetry with it! We don't do the science with it, and there are a few of the hands-on things we don't do, but otherwise it's great!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Their try before you buy is ten lessons, I believe, and it's the full lessons, not a light version. For my kids, that's likely more than ten days of work, although that depends on how much customizing you do, but it should give you a good feel for whether it'll work for you or not. Fwiw, we use the k12 Human Odyssey books (cheap on Amazon) with History Odyssey instead of Story of Mankind, plus Kingfisher. My kids think Kingfisher can be repetitive, but they like Human Odyssey. It's pretty easy to figure out which Human Odyssey chapters you need, but feel free to PM me, and I'll send you what I did. Could I get this match up from you, too? We're using Human Odyssey and have Kingfisher this upcoming year and I'm considering trying History Odyssey - but admittedly didn't want to match them up myself right now :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Cook Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Their try before you buy is ten lessons, I believe, and it's the full lessons, not a light version. For my kids, that's likely more than ten days of work, although that depends on how much customizing you do, but it should give you a good feel for whether it'll work for you or not. Fwiw, we use the k12 Human Odyssey books (cheap on Amazon) with History Odyssey instead of Story of Mankind, plus Kingfisher. My kids think Kingfisher can be repetitive, but they like Human Odyssey. It's pretty easy to figure out which Human Odyssey chapters you need, but feel free to PM me, and I'll send you what I did. Could I get this from you too please! This is exactly what I was planning to do! Edited September 23, 2016 by bzymama23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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