Kassia Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I'm torn about what we'll use for U.S. History next year. I'm considering the Funda Funda course and it uses Critical Thinking in United States History, but someone in another thread recommended not bothering with it. Since it's $100 for the set I'm wondering what others think about the lessons/assignments. History is not a strong point for me or my daughter so I'm torn between Funda Funda and just using Oak Meadow for history like we have been doing just to get it done. She does like the format of Oak Meadow and has learned a lot. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 We used it, the first 2 books recommended in fundafunda, at least. It was ok. Not my kids thing though. You can skip it & still do the rest of the fundafunda syllabus, its a very full course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 We used it, the first 2 books recommended in fundafunda, at least. It was ok. Not my kids thing though. You can skip it & still do the rest of the fundafunda syllabus, its a very full course. Thank you! I'm interested in the fundafunda course, but it seems to me that it's very heavy on reading and watching/listening, but there's not a lot of writing - especially if you don't use the Critical Thinking books. Did you find that to be the case? Do you think the writing is necessary? I don't know if I'm just thinking too hard on this - my dd won't be taking the AP test or SAT Subject test for history. I just want her to enjoy it and learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I had ds write out the answers to the discussion questions in the great courses books (that was part of the fundafunda sullabus i think) & I added a research paper too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 I had ds write out the answers to the discussion questions in the great courses books (that was part of the fundafunda sullabus i think) & I added a research paper too. Thank you! That's pretty much what I was thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 We used them, but I bought them used for less than $10 apiece. We found them interesting for the most part. We didn't take them super seriously and discussed much. We *only* did the sections scheduled in the FF syllabus; she didn't schedule it heavily and picked and chose the more worthwhile parts. That said, you could completely skip them and not interrupt the flow of the lessons in the slightest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 We used them, but I bought them used for less than $10 apiece. We found them interesting for the most part. We didn't take them super seriously and discussed much. We *only* did the sections scheduled in the FF syllabus; she didn't schedule it heavily and picked and chose the more worthwhile parts. That said, you could completely skip them and not interrupt the flow of the lessons in the slightest Thank you so much! I appreciate your replies to my questions! What a great deal you got on the used copies - I do not want to spend a lot of money on them if they aren't that important. I have two more questions - hope you don't mind. If you don't use the Critical Thinking books, are there primary documents elsewhere in the FundaFunda course? Also, do the Critical Thinking instruction/answer guides provide thorough answers to the questions asked? I am so weak on history and would need some serious help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I do not remember covering primary documents elsewhere in that syllabus, but that Johnson book is pretty thorough on it's own accord. I didn't get the TMs to the CTC books and don't know what's in them. If you want to pick and choose your own to just read and discuss you could get the Mammoth Book of How it Happened: America. If I recall correctly the Mammoth Eyewitness books were suggested in older WTM editions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Thank you so much! I appreciate your replies to my questions! What a great deal you got on the used copies - I do not want to spend a lot of money on them if they aren't that important. I have two more questions - hope you don't mind. If you don't use the Critical Thinking books, are there primary documents elsewhere in the FundaFunda course? Also, do the Critical Thinking instruction/answer guides provide thorough answers to the questions asked? I am so weak on history and would need some serious help! I have my own plan for US history for next year, but I like to read these threads anyway. You asked above about primary documents in the FundaFunda course. I don't know if they're there or not, but if not, here's a website with free lessons using primary sources. Bascially the lessons are all teaching the same thing: you can't know exactly what happens in history unless you corraborate documents against other documents. We've been working through the world history lessons and that's the main point of them all, yet I still keep doing them so that we're exposed to the primary documents. Anyway...it's free. You print out the lesson plan and the documents and then the student reads the documents and answers questions. They student sees how the documents either support each other or oppose each other and then the student decides what probably actually happened. The lessons use only excerpts, but immediately under the link to download the lesson plans are links to the full documents. https://sheg.stanford.edu/us It takes my student about an hour to do each lesson, but I don't know why. I could breeze through them in about 20 minutes. Or less. However, I've always been a fast student. If your student is fast, the work is pretty straightforward. If your student isn't fast, then it's an hours' worth of work. Just tossing it out there as a decent free resource for primary documents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 We haven't used the CT in USH extensively, but what we have used has been extremely worthwhile! I had bought the CDs because they were recommended by TWTM for USH ... and then we ended up not doing USH that year after all. We ended up doing US Government instead that year and since I already had the CDs I pulled out the ones about the Constitution and I picked the lessons I thought looked most interesting. Those ended up being some of the best lessons we had all semester! The questions really made my 2 DSs think about what they'd learned about the Constitution and put that knowledge into a different context and think about the implications of what they'd learned. It really did make them "think critically" and led to some great discussions. But I don't think all of the lessons are like that, or that you have to do all of them to receive the benefit ... I will definitely have to pick and choose when we finally get around to USH next year. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 We haven't used the CT in USH extensively, but what we have used has been extremely worthwhile! I had bought the CDs because they were recommended by TWTM for USH ... and then we ended up not doing USH that year after all. We ended up doing US Government instead that year and since I already had the CDs I pulled out the ones about the Constitution and I picked the lessons I thought looked most interesting. Those ended up being some of the best lessons we had all semester! The questions really made my 2 DSs think about what they'd learned about the Constitution and put that knowledge into a different context and think about the implications of what they'd learned. It really did make them "think critically" and led to some great discussions. But I don't think all of the lessons are like that, or that you have to do all of them to receive the benefit ... I will definitely have to pick and choose when we finally get around to USH next year. :) Did you use the instructor/answer guides? I am curious about how helpful they are since history is my weakest subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Anyway...it's free. You print out the lesson plan and the documents and then the student reads the documents and answers questions. They student sees how the documents either support each other or oppose each other and then the student decides what probably actually happened. The lessons use only excerpts, but immediately under the link to download the lesson plans are links to the full documents. https://sheg.stanford.edu/us It takes my student about an hour to do each lesson, but I don't know why. I could breeze through them in about 20 minutes. Or less. However, I've always been a fast student. If your student is fast, the work is pretty straightforward. If your student isn't fast, then it's an hours' worth of work. Just tossing it out there as a decent free resource for primary documents. Thank you! This is an excellent resource. Are there answer guides for the student questions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 (edited) Thank you! This is an excellent resource. Are there answer guides for the student questions? Yes! Though some things aren't straight answers as they're subjective. They'll give you tips on what to point out and bring to your student's attention to be sure they're understanding what they're reading. Click on any lesson and look at "quick view" under the picture and you'll see exactly how it's set up. ETA: The answers are included as you go through the lesson plan. They're not in a separate spot. If you read a lesson plan, you'll see what I mean. The lesson plan walks you through step by step for each worksheet, giving answers when you get to that part of the lesson. Answers aren't all on one page at the end. They're interspersed in the lesson plan. Edited January 21, 2017 by Garga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Did you use the instructor/answer guides? I am curious about how helpful they are since history is my weakest subject.No not really. Don't tell my DSs but I didn't grade them, just used them for discussion and to check how deep their comprehension level of the issues was. 😉 Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I'm torn about what we'll use for U.S. History next year. I'm considering the Funda Funda course and it uses Critical Thinking in United States History, but someone in another thread recommended not bothering with it. That was probably me. I have the student books & instructor guides. I stand by my opinion that for us, they aren't worth it. You either use them a lot (including all the work the front of the book expects you to do), you try to use them the way the book expects & your kid doesn't necessarily get a lot of them, or you don't use them exactly as intended - and so what's the point of spending all the money when there are other resources that are easier to use & much cheaper (free, even!). Of course, what my family doesn't like can be the next family's cat's meow. So, your mileage may vary. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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