if you were to piece together a high school history program....

[ProudGrandma]

what would you make sure you included? Or what requirements would you make sure you had?  If you wanted a DVD or video component, what would you include? What kind of assignments would you make sure you have? 

 

Any tips you would add to help me? 

 

thanks.

 

 

[regentrude]

I have pieced together my highschool history program :)

We used copious amount of Great Courses lectures as the most important component of each course, a textbook as a spine, essays and research papers as assignments It was a lot of fun and allowed us to take each child's special interests into account.

My "requirement" was to cover history from Ancients in chronological order and have enough emphasis on US history in the later years to warrant listing the credit as "US history in world context" so it satisfies the US history expectation for the transcript.

[regentrude]

Specifically, we used the following GC courses:

Ancients:

The Iliad (12 lectures), The Odyssey (12 lectures), The Aeneid (12 lectures)

 Greek Tragedy (24 lectures), Classical Mythology (24 lectures), Herodotus (12 lectures)

all taught by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver

Famous Romans (24 Lectures) taught by Prof. Rufus Fears

Great Battles of the Ancient World (24 lectures) taught by Prof. John W. Lee

The Persian Empire (24 lectures) taught by Prof. Garrett Fagan

 

Medieval/Renaissance:

The Early Middle Ages (24 lectures, Prof. Philip Daileader )

The High Middle Ages (24 lectures, Prof. Philip Daileader)

The Vikings (36 lectures, Prof. Kenneth Harl)

Dante’s Divine Comedy (Lectures 1-15, Profs. William Cook and Ronald Herzman)

 

Modern:

Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon (48 lectures, Prof Suszanne Desan)

World War I: The Great War (36 lectures, Prof. Vejas Liulevicius)

World War II: A Military and Social History (30 lectures, Prof. Thomas Childers)

 

US 

Turning Points in American History (48 lectures, Prof. Edward O’Donnell)

The American Revolution (24 lectures, Prof. Alen Guelzo)

Edited March 11, 2017 by regentrude

[ProudGrandma]

oh, thank you for that.  I would love to know what text you used as a spine.  Did you assign a lecture daily or so many a week?  Did you have daily assignments...(written)...how did you use the text?

 

thanks so much for your help!!!

 

 

[RootAnn]

I've used the Great Courses as well. We've used mostly audio, not the DVD, because that's better for our family's schedules & how we learn best.

FundaFunda has a US History course that incorporates some DVDs if you want some ideas for US History.

 

I would include a spine, some primary sources, a few essays or other writing components for grading, and discussion.

Our homeschool always tries to include different points of view - so we have reading/discussion from a different slant than our core text. (If we have a conservative spine, we include a liberal book/text for comparison/contrast/discussion. If we have a liberal-leaning spine, we include a conservative book/text for comparison/contrast/discussion.)

 

From a fun point of view, Crash Course World/US History is something I sprinkle in on occasion. We don't build our program around it, though.

 

I don't have a bunch of busy work in my home-made history courses. You read, you discuss, you read some more, and you write. I've found it to be enough. (Less writing than everything else.)

Edited March 11, 2017 by RootAnn

[regentrude]

oh, thank you for that.  I would love to know what text you used as a spine.  Did you assign a lecture daily or so many a week?  Did you have daily assignments...(written)...how did you use the text?

 

We used Harrison/Sullivan Short History of Western Civ (great text; found it recommended in an older edition of TWTM) for DD.

DS used Spielvogel.

Bennett's America - last best hope for US history (not actually a text).

 

I do not assign daily lectures or daily writing assignments. My kids get to choose how much time they wish to spend on each subject each day. No busy work. DD prepared condensed summaries for each book chapter; DS took notes on his reading.

[ProudGrandma]

I've used the Great Courses as well. We've used mostly audio, not the DVD, because that's better for our family's schedules & how we learn best.

FundaFunda has a US History course that incorporates some DVDs if you want some ideas for US History.

 

I would include a spine, some primary sources, a few essays or other writing components for grading, and discussion.

Our homeschool always tries to include different points of view - so we have reading/discussion from a different slant than our core text. (If we have a conservative spine, we include a liberal book/text for comparison/contrast/discussion. If we have a liberal-leaning spine, we include a conservative book/text for comparison/contrast/discussion.)

 

From a fun point of view, Crash Course World/US History is something I sprinkle in on occasion. We don't build our program around it, though.

 

I don't have a bunch of busy work in my home-made history courses. You read, you discuss, you read some more, and you write. I've found it to be enough. (Less writing than everything else.)

 

I have seen the FundaFunda stuff....did you use it?  Is there something similar for world History someplace?

 

Where do you get a list of primary sources? 

 

About how many essays did you require? Did you provide the topics or let your kids pick them...or a bit of both?  Did you have a list of topics to pick from?  where did you get your list from?  

 

thanks very much for your help!!!

[regentrude]

On the essays: I always let my kids pick their topics. I think it is much easier to learn to write well when you write about a subject you are interested in.

[RootAnn]

I have seen the FundaFunda stuff....did you use it?  Is there something similar for world History someplace?

 

Where do you get a list of primary sources? 

 

About how many essays did you require? Did you provide the topics or let your kids pick them...or a bit of both?  Did you have a list of topics to pick from?  where did you get your list from?  

 

thanks very much for your help!!!

 

Re: FundaFunda

I used it as a reference for what our schedule should look like, but what dd#1 actually did looked very little like FF's schedule. I tweak everything - different spine, different videos, less of somethings, more of others. 

 

I didn't get a list of primary sources. The Critical Thinking guides on FF's schedule actually have primary sources in them, but I don't recommend using them. (I found them tough to use & expensive to get for what they gained us.) Find resources on the 'net when your kid finds a timeframe or topic that interests them. This can tie into the essay topics. The GC lectures have ideas for essays or your kid can pick one. You may have to help them narrow down their topic if they aren't very good essay writers yet.

 

My eldest isn't a writer, so one essay per semester is enough for me. Some people assign more, but if you are discussing as you go or including smaller writing assignments (like regentrude's short summaries of chapters read) periodically, you may not want or need more.

[Hunter]

My preference would be to do a two year cycle twice, instead of a 4 year cycle once. Or not do a cycle at all, and follow a more typical high school schedule, or do something radical. The logic stage is when I most like a 4 year cycle.

 

History is not my center. Is history YOUR center? Truly, YOUR center? If not, is there something else that makes you feel centered? Not what others say should center you, and not any masks you wear. But what is TRULY your center.

 

Oldschoolers were often weirdos with some serious opinions about stuff. High school was the final indoctrination period of their kids into full weirdom. Social studies was often at the core of the indoctrination.

 

I don't believe history is anything more than conflicting stories. I don't believe in even the concept of truth, never mind look for it in history resources. But despite that, I think being well-read keeps people healthier and more often alive. It is fine with me to let fiction be a stronger focus than nonfiction. And let social studies topics entirely eclipse the history. Politics, philosophy, religion, psychology, sociology, geography, and literature are often more attractive to me than history books.

 

One option I like is AP geography combined with AP environmental science for one of the last 2 years of high school. And anatomy and physiology and Charles Darwin books combined with psychology, human rights, feminism, and politics for another year. Following a more history focused 2 year cycle while tackling biology and chemistry. But I'm a weirdo, and only get weirder than I was preY2K, so....:lol:

Edited March 12, 2017 by Hunter

[Hunter]

I really like Student's Friend for a 2 year cycle.

http://www.studentsfriend.com/sf/downsf.html

 

It is more liberal than some people would like, but I really like it when combined with vintage resources, to provide balance.

[Hunter]

A book I really like is the Dover Communist Manifesto and other Revolutionary Writings. The book is dirt cheap and a treasure trove of bits and pieces of writing by a wide variety of authors.

 

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486424650.html

Edited March 12, 2017 by Hunter

[Hunter]

And to go along with more widely discussed books on women's rights, I like

 

Newspapers in Education

Breaking the Cycle

http://www.nieonline.com/tbtimes/downloads/supplements/2012_teen_dating_abuse.pdf

 

Bible studies on domestic abuse

http://abigails.org

 

I have been using Newspapers in Education stuff since the 1990s and always will as long as there are still newspapers.

 

Geography, civics, human rights, economics and more

http://nytimesinschool.com/ny-times-teacher-resources/ny-times-newspaper-in-education/

 

K-12 treasure trove of free PDFs from as far back as the 1990s

http://www.nieteacher.org/#socialguide

 

I've also been using Annenberg videos since the 1990s. Our library had the set of video tapes on Western Civilization. It is free to stream, now, with lots of other good videos.

https://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html?d=7&g=4

Edited March 12, 2017 by Hunter

[Hunter]

I really like the hesperian.org books for combined social studies and science for the last two years.

 

http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/

 

Where There is No Doctor

http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/

 

A Community Guide to Environmetal Health

http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/

 

And I like Our Bodies Ourselves alongside Where There is No Doctor

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004T4KRTW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

And if the student is a Christian, I like Opration World for the AP Geography/Environmental year

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QKKJ96K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

I be a oldschooler weirdo, though! And probably the only person that would list Operation World right after Our Bodies Ourselves. :lol:

Edited March 12, 2017 by Hunter

[2_girls_mommy]

I don't know if it is piecing things together, but we are doing WTM's history- The History of the Ancient World this year for 9th. DD takes notes each chapter and will write a longer paper by the end of the year on a topic of her choice.  We'll just continue the WTM recs as we go.  

 

I read aloud other books, fiction and non below her level but from the time period to both kiddos which enhance the time period being studied. We do watch biographies and documentaries at times, but I don't plan them to go along. We just naturally pick one when we have a weekend at home (rare.) 

 

And she is reading TWEM and doing the Great Books as in it beside the history.  So she is researching history from an encyclopedia and from the Timetables of History before she starts each book and writes a paper on the context of history that the book was written in. 

 

[Saddlemomma]

I have pieced together my highschool history program :)

We used copious amount of Great Courses lectures as the most important component of each course, a textbook as a spine, essays and research papers as assignments It was a lot of fun and allowed us to take each child's special interests into account.

My "requirement" was to cover history from Ancients in chronological order and have enough emphasis on US history in the later years to warrant listing the credit as "US history in world context" so it satisfies the US history expectation for the transcript.

 

I've been piecing together our own classes since about the 5th grade. Currently, I am working on piecing together our first high school history program as DD's entering 9th in the fall. The above exactly what we're doing.  I purchased a subscription to the Great Courses Plus last May and couldn't be happier about that.  DD is loving watching the various lectures for her classes this year.

 

The study guides that are available with the lectures provide me with book/texts suggestions to choose from to supplement the course. I also use YouTube to add additional documentaries.  The guides usually include a couple "Questions to Consider" that can be used for essay assignments.  Add in some research projects, the supplementary reading, and essays and you have a full course.

[Hunter]

If your library, or capital city library offers Hoopla, they have some Great Course videos.

 

If you know how to play at getting the best prices from audible.com games, you can get at least a couple credits a year for $7.95 and cash them in for audio Great Courses.