US Government and Economics--Help Please

[Heathermomster]

Hi there,

 

I need recs for US Government and Economics at 1/2 credit each.  IDK why I am struggling with this.  I'm open to both secular and non-secular options.  Please help me and thank-you. :D

 

~Heather

[Momto6inIN]

We loved Great Courses Economics by Timothy Taylor!!! I cannot recommend it highly enough... it was hands down our favorite course ever so far.

 

Seriously, I think every person who wants to vote intelligently or post political things on facebook should be required to watch these. Lol!

 

Ironically enough, they are *not* political at all, just lots of economic realities and meaty issues to discuss and write about.

 

I hope you get some good ideas for government. We did that this year too, but I can't recommend what we used and I will be looking for something else next time around.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[Bootsie]

We loved Great Courses Economics by Timothy Taylor!!! I cannot recommend it highly enough... it was hands down our favorite course ever so far.

 

I agree that this provides a great introduction to mainstream economics that is thorough, but appropriate for high school credit.   

[Heathermomster]

We loved Great Courses Economics by Timothy Taylor!!! I cannot recommend it highly enough... it was hands down our favorite course ever so far.

 

Seriously, I think every person who wants to vote intelligently or post political things on facebook should be required to watch these. Lol!

 

Ironically enough, they are *not* political at all, just lots of economic realities and meaty issues to discuss and write about.

 

I hope you get some good ideas for government. We did that this year too, but I can't recommend what we used and I will be looking for something else next time around.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

I'd like to know specifically what you used for governent and why don't you recommend it?

 

I think I'm going to use the TC vids for economics and use the book American Government Continuity and Change. Digging through my books, I have the Naked Communist, the Communist Manifesto, and Rules for Radicals. I have plenty of resources for Conservatism. Idk, we'll see. Reading Alinski could become a major snooze fest. Thanks all.

[8filltheheart]

We use Thinkwell for both (or 3 bc the Econ course covers both micro and macro.) FWIW Dd has taken the first 2 of the 3 CLEPs and scored very high.

[jaredluvsjoanie]

Notgrass.

[GoodGrief]

We used Thinkwell

[Lori D.]

It would help us to know what would be a good fit for your student's learning style, student's interest in the topics, your teaching style and/or your circumstances.   ? Are you looking for AP? Or "just get 'er done"? Are you wanting book-based or DVD-based? Or is hands-on for part of the credit wanted? Just listing what we all used is probably not going to tell you much  -- but we can do that if you just want a list of ideas. ?

Below are some ideas to get you started. BEST of luck in finding what's the best fit for your family!  Warmest regards, Lori D.

Gov't -- Mock Legislative/Judicial Programs
Gov't = YMCA Youth In Government (model legislation program) (west of Mississippi =Youth AND Government) Gov't = Teen Court, Youth Court, Mock Trial (model judicial branch of government)
Gov't = TEEN Pact (government and the political process; Christian)
Politics/Gov't =  Junior State of America (teen events on civics/politics; speakers & discussion sessions)
Politics = National Model United Nations or Model United Nations (mock U.N. session)

Gov't and Econ -- Complete Programs, Self-Directed
- ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) PACES -- Gov't = 1133-1138 and Econ = 1139-1144 -- CD Roms + workbooks 
- Notgrass = Exploring Economics and Exploring Gov't -- Christian
- Economics in a Box (books and DVDs program)
- Gov't & Econ = AO Life Pacs (workbook set) -- or -- Switched on Schoolhouse CDs --  Christian
- Gov't & Econ = Time 4 Learning -- secular

Gov't -- Textbooks (secular)
- Macgruder's American Government -- set of textbook and workbook
- Great Source: American Government -- textbook and activity book

Gov't and Econ -- Books (secular)
Gov't = Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government -
Gov't = The Everything American Government Book

Econ = Lessons for the Young Economist (free pdf book)
Econ = Economics for the Impatient (book)
Econ = The Complete Idiot's Guide to Economics (Gorman)
Econ = Economics for Dummies (Masaki)
Econ = Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt) -- free online pdf book; written in 1946

DVD / CD video lectures
- Gov't = Standard Deviants: American Gov't Super Pack (secular; 10 DVD set; 3.5 hours)
- Gov't = Hillsdale: Constitution 101 (Christian -- the Constitutional part of a Gov't 0.5 credit course)
- Gov't = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: American civics)

- Econ = Hillsdale: Economics 101 (Christian -- the macro economics part of an Econ 0.5 credit course)
- Econ = Stossel in the Classroom (DVD or streaming videos)
- Econ = Teaching Company: Economics (secular; 36 30-minute lectures on micro and macro economics) 
- Econ = Thinkwell: Economics (secular; 180 video lessons on micro and macro economics)
- Econ = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: intro to econ; microecon; macroecon; current econ)

Open Source/MOOC options
- edX: American Government; Micro Economics; Global Markets Personal Impacts (macro economics)

AP online classes
- PA Homeschoolers: Macro Economics; Micro Economics; US Gov't & Politics
- FLVS (Florida Virtual School)
- John Hopkins CTY (Center for Talented Youth)

Past Threads with More Ideas:
Economics and Government suggestions
Government and Economics -- not rigorous
Help! American Gov and Econ for 12th grade
Please list what you use for Amer. History, Government, and Economics

ETA -- PS
Ah, you elaborated a little bit while I was assembling a post. ?
 

On 4/23/2017 at 7:28 PM, Heathermomster said:

I'd like to know specifically what you used for governent and why don't you recommend it?

For Gov't, DSs did 3 years of Youth & Gov't, so I used some of the hours towards the legislative part of the Gov't credit, and the rest of their work towards a solid extracurricular. For the remaining topics of Gov't, we used the Great Source Gov't textbook. Youth & Gov't was SUPER -- and I DO highly recommend it. The Great Source textbook -- eh, it was a textbook and got the job done, but was not very exciting. Though, I did like the thorough number of topics covered in the text.

For the Econ credit, we used the Great Course Economics, plus the Dave Ramsey Foundations of Personal Finance as a unit on personal finance (fits in with the micro economics part), plus the Whatever Happened to Penny Candy and another short book I can't recall at the moment. I was pretty happy with all of those resources at the time -- although since we used them, Dave Ramsey has kind of gone nuts, and I feel very uncomfortable recommending his materials now -- not that the principles aren't useful, but I just don't feel good about supporting his business now due to his treatment of employees. Also, I think you have to read any of the Bluestocking books (Penny Candy) with a balance of other materials, as the author has an EXTREME Libertarian viewpoint. JMO! ?

Edited September 29, 2018 by Lori D.

[Momto6inIN]

I'd like to know specifically what you used for governent and why don't you recommend it?

 

I think I'm going to use the TC vids for economics and use the book American Government Continuity and Change. Digging through my books, I have the Naked Communist, the Communist Manifesto, and Rules for Radicals. I have plenty of resources for Conservatism. Idk, we'll see. Reading Alinski could become a major snooze fest. Thanks all.

The Noble Experiment was what we used. I chose it because it was video based and it had in depth coverage of the Constitution. I did like the Constitution coverage, but that was about all. I am a conservative Christian but it was way, way, way over the top and I felt uncomfortable with it and so did my sons. It did help us have some good discussions refuting it, I guess, so it wasn't a total loss. But I will be looking for something else next time. I wish Great Courses would come out with a simple US Government course because we really like their format for history/social studies!

We supplemented with Crash Course government videos on YouTube tube and those were a big hit with all of us... but they only take 10 min each and there are about 50 of them.

 

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[Heathermomster]

Thank-you all.

 

I wish I had seen the Thinkwell site last year.

 

I expect that son's 12th grade year will be rigorous, so I want a thorough get 'r done study. DS is fine with lecture and books. Thanks again.

[Alicia64]

We loved Great Courses Economics by Timothy Taylor!!! I cannot recommend it highly enough... it was hands down our favorite course ever so far.

 

Seriously, I think every person who wants to vote intelligently or post political things on facebook should be required to watch these. Lol!

 

Ironically enough, they are *not* political at all, just lots of economic realities and meaty issues to discuss and write about.

 

I hope you get some good ideas for government. We did that this year too, but I can't recommend what we used and I will be looking for something else next time around.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

Don't mean to topic steal!

We're new to Great Courses and I'm loving what I see. Did you pair this economics course w/ other books or projects? I'm still very green at figuring out how to do enough w/ Great Courses to make it a full high school credit.

 

And thank you for the recommendation!!

 

Alley

[Momto6inIN]

Don't mean to topic steal!

We're new to Great Courses and I'm loving what I see. Did you pair this economics course w/ other books or projects? I'm still very green at figuring out how to do enough w/ Great Courses to make it a full high school credit.

 

And thank you for the recommendation!!

 

Alley

We just watch and discuss, then do some writing assignments. My oldest DS is writing a research paper on protectionism vs. free trade and 2nd DS is using IEW's economics based theme book for his writing assignments. ☺

 

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[Lori D.]

On 4/24/2017 at 11:38 AM, Alicia64 said:

We're new to Great Courses and I'm loving what I see. Did you pair this economics course w/ other books or projects? I'm still very green at figuring out how to do enough w/ Great Courses to make it a full high school credit.

Economics is typically only required to be a 0.5 credit, not a full 1.0 credit course. 🙂 Same with Gov't. 

I know you directed this to Momto5inIN, but we also used the Great Courses Economics. I paired it with a unit on personal finance, with 2 short books, and I created a short quiz to go with each lecture, so DSs could practice note-taking from a lecture, and then studying from their notes for the quiz.

For counting credits, usually a standard program will let you know if it is 0.5 or 1.0 credit or whatever. If you're using non-traditional materials, you can look at the table of contents of a traditional program to match up and see if you're roughly covering the same amount of topics and in similar depth. Another option, esp. if accruing a credit in a non-traditional way, is to count amount of hours for credit. Here's a chart for helping to keep credits roughly equivalent:

. . . . . . . . .minimum . .average . maximum
1.00 credit = 120 . . . 150 . . . 180  hours
0.75 credit =   90 . . . 110 . . . 135  hours
0.66 credit =   80 . . . 100 . . . 120  hours
0.50 credit =   60 . . . . 75 . . . . 90  hours
0.33 credit =   40 . . . . 50 . . . . 60  hours
0.25 credit =   30 . . . . 35 . . . . 45  hours

Edited January 14, 2019 by Lori D.

[fourisenough]

When people say they have used Thinkwell for Government /Econ, do they mean Thinkwell's AP courses or their college-level courses? Or do they offer a standard high school-level course in Government/Econ?

[Momto6inIN]

Economics is typically only required to be a 0.5 credit, not a full 1.0 credit course. :) Same with Gov't.

 

I know you directed this to Momto5inIN, but we also used the Great Courses Economics. I paired it with a unit on personal finance, with 2 short books, and I created a short quiz to go with each lecture, so DSs could practice note-taking from a lecture, and then studying from their notes for the quiz.

 

For counting credits, usually a standard program will let you know if it is 0.5 or 1.0 credit or whatever. If you're using non-traditional materials, you can look at the table of contents of a traditional program to match up and see if you're roughly covering the same amount of topics and in similar depth. Another option, esp. if accruing a credit in a non-traditional way, is to count amount of hours for credit. Here's a chart for helping to keep credits roughly equivalent:

. . . . . . . . . . . .lite . . . average . . rigorous

1.00 credit = 120 . . . 150 . . . 180 hours

0.75 credit = 90 . . . 110 . . . 135 hours

0.66 credit = 80 . . . 100 . . . 120 hours

0.50 credit = 60 . . . . 75 . . . . 90 hours

0.33 credit = 40 . . . . 50 . . . . 60 hours

0.25 credit = 30 . . . . 35 . . . . 45 hours

Yes, as Lori says, we just did. 5 credit. It was great practice taking notes from a live lecture, although of course since they are just beginning note takers and these lectures are very information dense we often have to pause for them to catch up. Each of the 30 min lectures usually took around 45 min to watch and 15 min to discuss. That left us with approx 36 hours of writing to fill out a nice half credit. Hope that helps!

 

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[Alicia64]

Economics is typically only required to be a 0.5 credit, not a full 1.0 credit course. :) Same with Gov't. 

 

I know you directed this to Momto5inIN, but we also used the Great Courses Economics. I paired it with a unit on personal finance, with 2 short books, and I created a short quiz to go with each lecture, so DSs could practice note-taking from a lecture, and then studying from their notes for the quiz.

 

For counting credits, usually a standard program will let you know if it is 0.5 or 1.0 credit or whatever. If you're using non-traditional materials, you can look at the table of contents of a traditional program to match up and see if you're roughly covering the same amount of topics and in similar depth. Another option, esp. if accruing a credit in a non-traditional way, is to count amount of hours for credit. Here's a chart for helping to keep credits roughly equivalent:

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .lite . . . average . . rigorous

1.00 credit = 120 . . . 150 . . . 180  hours

0.75 credit =   90 . . . 110 . . . 135  hours

0.66 credit =   80 . . . 100 . . . 120  hours

0.50 credit =   60 . . . . 75 . . . . 90  hours

0.33 credit =   40 . . . . 50 . . . . 60  hours

0.25 credit =   30 . . . . 35 . . . . 45  hours

 

Lori! Thank you so much! My boys are still 8th graders and I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out this "homeschooling in high school" thing.

 

When you say 180 hours -- that's for two semesters, right?

 

Which age is econ and gov't usually given to teens? Am I jumping the gun doing it in 9th grade?

 

Thread-stealing again: if you happen to know of ASL curriculum, I'm all ears.

 

Thank you so much for your help. I'm printing all of this out!!

 

Alley

 

 

[8filltheheart]

When people say they have used Thinkwell for Government /Econ, do they mean Thinkwell's AP courses or their college-level courses? Or do they offer a standard high school-level course in Government/Econ?

 

I don't think there really is any difference.  I think the college econ course is both micro and macro combined???  I would have to go an look to remember.

[RootAnn]

Government:

We used the Ethel Wood Steck-Vaughn American Government text combined with Crash Course Government & some other misc. resources. The Teacher's Guide had quizzes, activities, and writing assignment ideas if you feel inadequate in that area. (I taught 4-6 kids a one semester course. Another mom taught a six week election section, but both of us decided not to do that again. This text would have been better than what she used (icivics.org - which is free & some have said it is great, but it wasn't for us).

 

Econ:

Doing this right now. Read Penny Candy. Watching Crash Course Economics & Econ Movies (on Youtube). Using Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell and Simply Put: A Study in Economics. The Simply Put text was put together by a homeschooler. It is really basic and doesn't apologize for being very biased toward free-market concepts, but Crash Course Econ gives other perspectives. It gives us a lot to talk about.

 

ETA: We aren't test-focused, so I don't care about AP or CLEP for either of these. We discuss both macro & micro econ, but aren't doing test-prep. We're focused on learning without making either class a huge time suck. Both were 0.5 credits (so 75 hours-ish).

Edited April 24, 2017 by RootAnn

[Lori D.]

On 4/24/2017 at 2:37 PM, Alicia64 said:

Lori! Thank you so much! My boys are still 8th graders and I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out this "homeschooling in high school" thing.

You're at the perfect time to start reading some of the great books out there on homeschooling high school. And check out the pinned threads at the top of the this High School board, esp. the one entitled "Starting High School...links to past threads here!" LOTS of links to SUPER past threads with loads of helpful tips and advice for moving into homeschooling the high school years. 🙂
 

On 4/24/2017 at 2:37 PM, Alicia64 said:

When you say 180 hours -- that's for two semesters, right?

Yes, that 180 hours comes from 1 hour/day x 5 days/week x 36 weeks/school year = 180 hours. That is usually considered an upper limit on a credit.

And 120 hours is considered the minimum for 1.0 credit, which comes from the Carnegie Credit Hour; that 120 hours = 40 min/day x 5 days/week x 36 weeks/school year.

Mostly, you want to shoot for general consistency so that you don't have some credits taking 180 hours, and then a bunch only taking 120 hours. We tended to shoot for a range around the average of 150 hours = 1 credit -- so, 135 to 165 hours for a credit. You can see what happens when you're not being consistent to what you decide is the level of rigor for your high school credits by looking at that chart in my post above -- if you have a more rigorous homeschooling, 120 hours is only 2/3 of a credit when 180 hours is your typical amount of time for a credit.

However, don't get TOO hung up about hours. You may have a student who has to take 200 hours to get through the Algebra 1 textbook -- or may fly through that same 1.0 credit textbook in only 100 hours. Usually for something like Math or Science, you're going through a pretty standard text and standard amount of material to create a pretty standard 1.0 credit course. (Now, if your hours are that out of whack, you might need to adjust the materials to either go more gentle for a math struggler, or switch to something more challenging for a student flying through the textbook.)
 

On 4/24/2017 at 2:37 PM, Alicia64 said:

Which age is econ and gov't usually given to teens? Am I jumping the gun doing it in 9th grade?

Yes, some people do Gov't. and/or Econ in 9th. Most commonly, Econ and Gov't are done in 12th grade as the Social Studies credit, probably because they are more abstract in nature than History, and because voting (a civics aspect of Gov't) and personal finance (a micro Economics subject) are much more relevant to a 17-18yo about to graduate and be responsible for those things. 😉  A very common rotation is:

9th = World Geography
10th = World History
11th = American History
12th = Econ + Gov't

We did American History and Gov't in the same year, when DSs were 10th and 11th grades, because there's so much great overlap with the Constitution part of Gov't fitting with early US History, and then a lot of the landmark Supreme Court decisions from the judicial branch of Gov't occuring throughout US History. 🙂

However, you absolutely do not have to do it in that order, or, indeed do those specific credits. A lot of strict classical homeschoolers go with the following rotation, and just add in 0.5 credit of extra US History material in each11th and 12th grades to come out with a total of 5 History credits in the 4 years of high school:

9th = Ancients (3000BC - 500AD)
10th = Medieval (500AD - 1500AD)
11th = Explorers/Renaissance/Reformation/Enlightenment (1500 - 1850)
12th = Modern (1850 - present)

You DO probably want to include 1.0 credit (1 year) of American History and 0.5 credit each of Econ and Gov't because those 2 credits are VERY often required by colleges for high school students to have taken those specific Social Studies credits (along with specific amounts and types of credits in English, Math, Science, and Fine Arts) to be eligible for admission.

 

On 4/24/2017 at 2:37 PM, Alicia64 said:

... if you happen to know of ASL curriculum, I'm all ears.

 

Life Print is probably the best online option. I believe it is still free. It is not a curriculum, though. You will have to schedule it and figure out to do tests, to practice, etc.

Our DS#2 took ASL as dual enrollment at the local community college, so earned simultaneous credit for the high school transcript for the Foreign Language credit at the rate of 1 semester = 1 YEAR of high school foreign language -- AND he earned college credit for the foreign language that is frequently required as one of the general educational credits for a college degree. So, knocking out in advance a few credits required for college. 🙂

Welcome to planning for high school! Come on in -- lots of help in these waters! 😉 Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Lori D.

[mirabillis]

Which age is econ and gov't usually given to teens? Am I jumping the gun doing it in 9th grade?

 

 

My 14 yo 9th grader is taking Thinkwell's AP Govt right now. Good age for it - time will tell (next week!) how he fares on the AP exam. But I don't think it's too young at all for Govt.

 

We're planning Econ (via PAH - Macro) next year in 10th grade.

 

You're doing better than I with this whole planning homeschooling high school - I literally started the week AFTER Labor Day freshman year. Talk about going blind!

[8filltheheart]

My 14 yo 9th grader is taking Thinkwell's AP Govt right now. Good age for it - time will tell (next week!) how he fares on the AP exam

You probably already know this, but for others reading this that might not be aware, most Thinkwell compatible AP courses are really not good prep for the AP without major supplementing. I don't know if the AP govt test has been revamped since Thinkwell created the course or not. It might still align with the AP. It is just a caution for anyone using Thinkwell courses in general. Verify the content with the current AP exam.

Edited April 25, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart

[fourisenough]

On 4/24/2017 at 4:05 PM, fourisenough said:

When people say they have used Thinkwell for Government /Econ, do they mean Thinkwell's AP courses or their college-level courses? Or do they offer a standard high school-level course in Government/Econ?

I’m quoting myself here because I still have basically the same question. I like the idea of using something like Thinkwell to knock-out standard high school courses in Government and Economics. My DD will not take AP test, but may take CLEP if the course is good prep for it. Which Thinkwell courses do I want? And are these courses 1 credit/full-year or .5 credit/1 semester classes?

[fourisenough]

On 1/12/2019 at 1:21 PM, fourisenough said:

I’m quoting myself here because I still have basically the same question. I like the idea of using something like Thinkwell to knock-out standard high school courses in Government and Economics. My DD will not take AP test, but may take CLEP if the course is good prep for it. Which Thinkwell courses do I want? And are these courses 1 credit/full-year or .5 credit/1 semester classes?

Quoting myself here to share the answer I received from Thinkwell to my questions above:

“Thank you for contacting Thinkwell. Both our Economics and American Government courses are college level but are often used for high school. For her Government option, her best bet is American Government. For Economics she could take the one-semester Microeconomics course, but she would miss some of the Macroeconomics concepts typically covered. If missing those topics is not an option, Economics would be the best choice.”

I indicated that I wasn’t interested in having my student take the AP exams, but just wanted rigorous, high-school level courses to satisfy graduation requirements and ensure a thorough, well-rounded secondary education.

[8filltheheart]

My dd used AP Gov't and the Econ courses and then took the CLEP govt, micro, and macro exams and passed with very high scores.