History

[6wishes]

I will have an 11th grader and a 4th and 6th grader next year, and I’m looking for opinions on history or history/literature combo.  All 3 did HOD this last year, but I ended up not liking how much was included, and had to take it way down.  All 3 have dyslexia, the 4/6th graders also have adhd (we medicate), so e other disabilities, and had been in public school up until this past year. The current 10th grader also has high functioning ASD.  So, I already know we’ll have to accommodate with me doing a lot of reading or using audio, but I’m trying to find curriculums that get the job done, but are high interest/easy comprehension  I guess.  The oldest had been hs’ed, then was in public for 5 years, and is back home again. I plan on doing the younger 2 together whatever I choose. I need something with daily plans that I don’t have to put together myself, but can open and go it if that makes sense.  
 

Thank you!

[PeterPan]

Whew, that made me tired just reading that! Two thoughts on the high schooler, since that sounds like your biggest question. One, what classes still remain as a need? And two, do they have an specialized interests you could bring in or chain from?

So just me, but I might not consider it *essential* to merge the older and the youngers. Of all the fights you're going to have, history is probably the least important, kwim? So if group work gives the dc structure and helps get it done, great. If it makes it harder by asking him to study something he isn't into, maybe it's not worth the fight. In that case, I'd be chaining from his interests, going a bit more unique, and make a syllabus where he logs work and completes a list of prescribed tasks/projects. Sometimes with my dd I made things pretty openended like "keep a response journal". And response journals are a useful skill, so it's not like that's all bad! Don't feel compelled to fight every fight that could be fought. 

So literature is an interesting question, because you're then tying it to comprehension. How is his comprehension of nonfiction vs fiction? You might see if by chance issues with narrative language are glomming up his comprehension. Might be something more important to work on than the history or lit if that makes sense. So then your larger goal would be improving his narrative language and the history/lit/whatever would be where the target goals/skills get applied. https://mindwingconcepts.com/pages/methodology 

LOVE the idea of more audio. If he's good with audio, sure do audio. Have you thought about Great Courses? Audible will have them on the cheap, and they could make a great spine. You can also use a lexile search engine to find books on any topic at his level of comprehension. https://fab.lexile.com/

You also might consider tailoring his history to fit with what he needs transitioning into the adult world. So issues on voting, ethics, politics, whatever. 

Do you have access to BARD/NLS? 

Edited March 29, 2020 by PeterPan

[6wishes]

The oldest I am needing to do Am Hist for 11th, then Gov/Civics/Econ in 12th so I’m trying to follow the ps plan for credits/classes, but figure I can have flexibility within the subject, she’d be good for that...but, I’m ADHD myself, and trying to plan out the curriculum day to day overwhelms me😆.  She isn’t a self directed learner, and her interests change week to week to be honest.  I wish she had high interest in an area as that would seem easier to me to meet.  I feel like I’m at a place of box checking we did it, but she’s not hugely into the subject either way. She has ASD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and she hasn’t done much reading over time, so doesn’t have a big vocabulary, and with the ASD stuff, it would go better if I read or have where I can ask her questions about what she listened to/read. I was curious as to what others have used for their kids with disabilities in high school for the social studies/history track..I do expect to cover the politics/voting/ethics during the Gov/Civics part in 12th.

What is BARD/NLS?  We currently have no interaction with public school, is this a program offered there? I’m not familiar with “Great Courses”.  Thank you, I will google and check more into that!  Thank you for the other links as well, I’ll look at those too!

[PeterPan]

NLS=National Library Service. If you have kids who are diagnosed dyslexic, you can print the application forms and get them signed to get audiobooks for free through the NLS. 

My dd enjoyed some of the K12 history texts I found for her. They have a US History, World History, etc. She didn't enjoy so much the Walch Powerbasics Gov't, but it was adequate. If you want the reading level more controlled or just the volume of material toned down, something like the Walch Powerbasics might be a good choice. Or you could use the 3 volume condensed version of Hakim's History of US. The full 10 volumes is a lot. 

https://www.wiesereducational.com/products/power-basics-american-government-wl3241.htm  This site has samples of the PowerBasics series, but they have lots of other great options as well, all targeted at SN. 

[EKS]

I'd just read an engaging history spine aloud and discuss.  Every so often have the high schooler do some sort of output about something they find interesting.  When I say "some sort of output," it could mean writing a short paper, but it could also mean making a presentation or video, doing some sort of art, building something, whatever.

I really like the K12 history materials.  That would be their online course for K-4, the Human Odyssey series for middle schoolers, and Our Human Story for high schoolers.

[kbutton]

My ASD kiddo opted to do Government and Economics before American history. I thought it was kind of odd, then I realized that it will help him understand some of the basis of government decisions as he studies history next. He uses Notgrass, but we do only the short answer questions; I don't know if it's a great resource for people with multiple disabilities though. My son has language issues, but they tend to be expressive, not receptive, and he gets language therapy.

He uses products from Mindwing Concepts to understand text, and it has helped a great deal even when he's not going through the motions of it every time he reads something. He has a good mental blueprint to follow at this point for most things.

I would use some kind of graphic organizers to discuss things when you can--it can really help if you do them together. 

[6wishes]

“My ASD kiddo opted to do Government and Economics before American history. I thought it was kind of odd, then I realized that it will help him understand some of the basis of government decisions as he studies history next. He uses Notgrass, but we do only the short answer questions”
 

That’s an interesting thought, and something to think about that wouldn’t have crossed my mind.  Off to more research.  That Mindwing Concepts was new to me from a Peter Pan above, so have looked at that. What products do you use from there that have helped with understanding the text?

[kbutton]

We started with Thememaker and the story braid (the one for older students). Thememaker is the overall program, but for the older kids (Story Grammar is for the younger kids). We also bought the Critical Thinking Triangle book. It's a side product that zooms in on some concepts taught in Thememaker. From there, we realized that he still was missing something, and it was in the realm of that triangle, so we got the middle autism book from the specific autism trilogy (all three zoom in on various aspects of the overall program, and the middle one works on the critical thinking piece). When that clicked, he really took off, and now his tutor is working through the comprehension/expressive levels that correspond to Bloom's taxonomy (and another thinking model that I don't remember the name of. For that part, the tutor likes the Deepening Discourse and Thought Manual. She uses that to give her a big picture idea of where she is going, and then she gives the big picture to my son.

He had to go way, way back to a lot of early narrative structures like folk tales (pretty shocking since he was in 9th grade), but once all the holes had been turned up and patched, they've really moved along. My son is profoundly gifted, and by 3rd grade had an 8th/9th grade reading level, but then he came to a screeching halt linguistically, and it was because of problems with narrative language. Even though academic language is not inherently narrative, it builds on those early structures, and he missed the pieces that tied things together. 

One area that has been difficult (and is a main area of focus) is working on scaling things--understanding a novel vs. a short story, for example, because the novel has a lot of different episodes. 

Not only has this tool helped with school, it's made a HUGE difference in his personal communication, especially in being able to ask questions. 

We've been able to incorporate grade level literature now, though we don't necessarily do a lot of academic writing with it yet.

He can also now answer short answer essay type questions. Before these products, he could not make a generalization in order to write topic or concluded sentences and paragraphs. It was profound to stumble across these materials.