Carrie12345 Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 The threads I was able to find were pretty outdated, and many leaned toward a younger crowd. I just finished the teacher training and, despite whatever my fall plans may be/have been (lol), I feel like this is my chance to bring my high schoolers back to our classical ed roots! We've drifted away over the years for various reasons, but I feel like this set up removes so many of the things that have been standing in my way. I'd love to hear some more recent feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 My son used the Big History course in 9th grade, and it shows on his transcript as "Big History Project World History." I based my course on one of the syllabi in the BHP Dropbox that was designed to make a year long CA a-g approved world history course. I added in quite a bit of additional reading (Maps of Time, This Fleeting World and Guns, Germs and Steel were particular favorites for my son), along with the Big History lectures from the Great Courses. As Catholics, we also used some of the resources from the Magis Center. He thoroughly enjoyed the course. We'll do another semester long course in modern world history at some point, because we didn't get to spend quite enough time in units 8 and 9. If I could do it over, I'd probably plan out the year to spend a couple more weeks there, and a little less time in units 1 - 4. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 I used David Christian's Teaching Company lectures with my older son many years ago. We watched them over the summer before starting high school level world history. I used the condensed version of the course on the Big History website over a week or two with my younger son last year at the beginning of our high school world history studies. He loved it. If you're interested in a textbook that goes well with a big history approach, take a look at Ways of the World by Robert Strayer. It's well written and interesting and it goes into more detail than the big history course does. There is also a textbook by David Christian called Big History: Between Nothing and Everything that I haven't used but might be good as well. Keep in mind that about half of big history is actually science. I always thought it would be fun to expand the course into two credits--one science and one history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 We ended up dropping it before we even got started because dd declared it to be too much like science, and she already had that in spades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 We used it last year for both my 6th and 10th graders... using the materials on the website in the semester format... and the David Christian text for the older one, and differing types/# of assignments based on interest/ability... and misc additional materials. It was a big hit at the beginning but the Older one complained a lot later. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 We used it last year for both my 6th and 10th graders... using the materials on the website in the semester format... and the David Christian text for the older one, and differing types/# of assignments based on interest/ability... and misc additional materials. It was a big hit at the beginning but the Older one complained a lot later. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk ​Curious what the older did not like as the course progressed? We are planning to use it for the upcoming year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 He's mostly just whiny lol but he felt like it was shallow coverage of specific topics... and repeated a lot of material he already covered elsewhere (astronomy, geology, etc) He enjoyed the interconnected nature of it and still talks about "In Big History..." in conversation. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 He's mostly just whiny lol but he felt like it was shallow coverage of specific topics... and repeated a lot of material he already covered elsewhere (astronomy, geology, etc) He enjoyed the interconnected nature of it and still talks about "In Big History..." in conversation. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Thank you. That is helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnMyOwn Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 (edited) He's mostly just whiny lol but he felt like it was shallow coverage of specific topics... and repeated a lot of material he already covered elsewhere (astronomy, geology, etc) He enjoyed the interconnected nature of it and still talks about "In Big History..." in conversation. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk This is what we found as well. The videos especially are very attention-grabbing and interesting at first and then the quality either fell off, or we just started to become more aware that there was very little information actually being shared. They started almost feeling like movie previews. However, what I do like was the very different perspective this program gives from most history programs. It really does make you think about how long the earth has been in existence and how small of a part of that humans have even been here. It does some other interesting things to try to really wrap your mind around some big ideas. It is definitely focuses on trying to give students the 'big' picture versus immersing them in lots of details. Edited June 30, 2017 by OnMyOwn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 This is what we found as well. The videos especially are very attention-grabbing and interesting at first and then the quality either fell off, or we just started to become more aware that there was very little information actually being shared. I think that big history is most interesting at the beginning. Once you get into more recent history--say the past 2000 years--it doesn't work as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 1, 2017 Author Share Posted July 1, 2017 I think that big history is most interesting at the beginning. Once you get into more recent history--say the past 2000 years--it doesn't work as well. This is good to know, since I've been exploring the site chronologically. I'll be taking a closer look at the later units now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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