need advice with history scheduling (x posted)

[blue daisy]

I need some help figuring this out...  We are entering our third year of homeschooling and my oldest, who will be an 8th grader, has not really had any American history (not covered much in PS, then we did a year of ancients and a year of middle ages.)  So my plan was to go through it in 8th grade, then again in greater depth in high school. But I'm having a hard time fitting everything I want in a reasonable amount of work/reading for one year.  (We're using Hakim's concise A History of US and I'm adding documentaries, novels, map work, etc.)  So, do I cut back a bit this year, knowing we'll hit it all again in a few years and expect him to have a deeper understanding the second time around? Or do I do half this year and half in 9th?  And possibly not do US history again?  Also, how would I mark the 9th grade course on a transcript since it would cover the second half of US history?

 

I'm probably over thinking this, but I appreciate any advice.

[almondbutterandjelly]

US History since Reconstruction is a perfectly typical high school class.  So you can go ahead and take your two years to cover everything you want.

[Momto6inIN]

We read and discussed History of US concise edition in 8th grade and the only supplemental work I assigned was a research paper on the topic of his choice and Trail Guide to US Geography (just the mapwork, not anything else). The texts are so good and engaging and led to so many great discussions that he still remembers stuff from those books 5 years later! He did read some novels that went along with the various time periods as part of his "literature", but not anything extra for "history".

[blue daisy]

34 minutes ago, Momto5inIN said:

We read and discussed History of US concise edition in 8th grade and the only supplemental work I assigned was a research paper on the topic of his choice and Trail Guide to US Geography (just the mapwork, not anything else). The texts are so good and engaging and led to so many great discussions that he still remembers stuff from those books 5 years later! He did read some novels that went along with the various time periods as part of his "literature", but not anything extra for "history".

 

Thanks for the input!  (I remember seeing other posts of yours about using these books for 8th grade and that helped me decide what to use in the first place!)

Did you do American History again in  high school?  Can I ask what your high school history course list looked like?  Thank you!

[Momto6inIN]

4 hours ago, blue daisy said:

 

Thanks for the input!  (I remember seeing other posts of yours about using these books for 8th grade and that helped me decide what to use in the first place!)

Did you do American History again in  high school?  Can I ask what your high school history course list looked like?  Thank you!

For high school we have used/are using American Odyssey (K12's text) paired with selected lessons from Critical Thinking in US History for output (the old 4 CD set not the new workbook). I have Great Courses videos that I would love to use for any of my kids who want to go deeper, but so far all of them have wanted to do a "get 'er done" USH *sigh* Maybe I'll just watch them myself ? We also did/do analysis of some American novels for English credit, such as Huck Finn, Uncle Tom's Cabin, To Kill a Mockingbird, My Antonia, etc.

We all thought the K12 text was engaging, not as fun as History of US and obviously it includes more detailed info, but not a typical dry textbook.

[blue daisy]

UPDATE

Well, one of the benefits of homeschooling is that kids can take an active role in making choices about their education. So I asked my son which path he'd prefer and he wants to take two years and go more in depth.  So I guess that's what we will do. ?  Our state requires one year of American History in high school, so his 9th grade year will be modern American history.  If he wants to learn about a specific time period more in depth later on, he can still do that.

 

Momto5inIN, I am going to check out the high school resources you listed for ideas to make sure our second year is fleshed out enough to count as a high school credit. Thanks!