Pandia Press American History, anyone tried it yet?

[foxbridgeacademy]

Longshot, I know but I was wanting to see if anyone's tried it and if so, what do you think about it? How complete is the literature sections, would you count it as a 1/2 credit (for Lit)? What about the Writing assignments?

 

We've been muddling along but I don't like my DIY US Hist/Amer. Lit very well.  At the pace we're going we won't get very far and I feel like we've lost the thread. I would love to switch to something else (secular only) that includes lit and is 100% laid out for me. 

[Spookygirl]

I am currently using it with my daughter and it's been great so far. According to the teachers guide it equals out to 1/2 -1/3 of a credit for Language Arts, but you could beef that up with more writing assignments. The part I like best is my daughter can work pretty independently with it. Have you checked out the Try Before You Buy samples on the website? http://www.pandiapress.com/try-before-you-buy/

[Kassia]

I am currently using it with my daughter and it's been great so far. According to the teachers guide it equals out to 1/2 -1/3 of a credit for Language Arts, but you could beef that up with more writing assignments. The part I like best is my daughter can work pretty independently with it. Have you checked out the Try Before You Buy samples on the website? http://www.pandiapress.com/try-before-you-buy/

 

 

Thank you!  I'm interested in using this next year and I also have a question.  Is it possible to use it for only American History?  My dd will already be taking an English course which counts as 1 1/2 credits, so she doesn't need more language arts and I don't want her to have additional work, but I am interested in the material for the American History.  Can it be separated easily?

[foxbridgeacademy]

Thank you!  I'm interested in using this next year and I also have a question.  Is it possible to use it for only American History?  My dd will already be taking an English course which counts as 1 1/2 credits, so she doesn't need more language arts and I don't want her to have additional work, but I am interested in the material for the American History.  Can it be separated easily?

I've got the sample printed (the first 50 or so lessons) and it appears to be easily separated when it comes to lessons.  I'm not sure if there are Lit questions on the tests though.  Also reading excerpts from the time period would be beneficial to understanding the History so you could just drop the novels but keep the excerpts (from speeches, documents) and short story assignments that are incorporated? Just got my hands on this a day or two ago so please excuse me if my assumptions are way off.  

 

I think I'm going to add in a couple extra novels that my "I hate to read" kid needs to read and call it good. I think we're going to skip doing any additional assignments for the other books, other than discussing themes and such. We're also reading/doing small assignments from The Lively Art of Writing, Writing with a Thesis, and The Elements of Eloquence. 

[GThomas]

Thank you!  I'm interested in using this next year and I also have a question.  Is it possible to use it for only American History?  My dd will already be taking an English course which counts as 1 1/2 credits, so she doesn't need more language arts and I don't want her to have additional work, but I am interested in the material for the American History.  Can it be separated easily?

We've been using their program for a few years now but have not done the American History one (yet). If it follows the same format, than yes you can reduce the language arts component.

 

What I did last year (for modern history grades 7-9) was to go through the study guide in advance and cross out any activities that required long writing assignments which were mostly essays and reports. There is still plenty of writing that I didn't cross out like 4-level outline notes, worksheets to fill out, writing a couple sentences on key people or a paragraph on a situation. I think (hope) that by doing so, it helped her to put that information into a longer-term memory. Additionally, I chose not to give her the tests. Their program is extensive and easy to tweak/omit items to suit your purposes (I also omitted a few of the lessons as we were not going to be able to get through it all -- there is a lot!) Instead of tests, I allowed her to do the lesson review worksheets with the notes and short writing assignments in front of her (also as an additional incentive to write good notes -- history is a great topic to practice/learn note taking). 

 

In my daughter's records I stated she received 1 credit for the history course. In the language arts section of her records, I  mentioned the history writing she did but didn't add on additional language arts credit. I wanted to show she had done some non-fiction writing as her language arts program that year was focused on creative writing. Not sure if that was necessary or not. Technically I could have added on additional credit. 

 

I hope that is helpful! I am looking forward to doing the American History program in the upcoming years.