Western Civilization for History?

[Reefgazer]

DS decided he might enjoy a course in western civilization for history next year.  Can anyone recommend a good curriculum for that?  I actually don't know where to start with that.  We've done ancient history to death this year, so we would likely pick it up somewhere after the fall of Rome.  He is not interested in Great Courses or an online course.  Also, would this be a 1 or 2 year course?  Our local college offers it as a 2-semester course.

A second question is what to do for a 4th year history if we treat western civ as a 1-year course?  Throughout high school, DS will be taking/has taken ancient world history (1 credit) , U.S. Government (0.5 credit), American history (1 credit), and western civ (1 credit).  So we're deciding what to do for a final 0.5 credit.  Would geography work for that?  

Edited May 9, 2020 by Reefgazer

[klmama]

Have you looked at Spielvogel's Western Civilization?  There are a variety of editions divided in different ways. 

TomRichey.net (free online video lectures and some written resources) uses texts by Kagan or Wood for his AP European History, plus students read a book on Middle Ages as summer supplemental reading prior to starting the year. 

FWIW, The Great Courses Plus can be accessed from a smart phone.  My dc has been delving into a much broader range of lectures than I originally intended, just because they are interesting to listen to.

As for a final .5 credit course, any social science should be fine.  Geography, economics, psychology, or even current events would all likely be fine. 

[MamaSprout]

Spielvogel would be a straight-forward choice. It is a college book, but it's not too intense.

Another option would be to do the "Western" chapters in the SWB history of the Medieval and Renaissance worlds books. You could do it for 1 or 2 years- or even 1.5 depending on how you decide to spread out the material and how much writing you want to have him do.

 

[cintinative]

We are using A History of Western Society but I am breaking up the two volumes over three years and adding in primary sources.  

You can get free 30 day access to the e-textbook, quizzes, etc. if you want to check it out.  Unfortunately they don't have a good set up for homeschoolers but I was able to get what I needed from the free trial and then some older stuff online.  

https://college.cengage.com/history/west/mckay/western_society/8e/site_index.html

access to the ebook is through Launchpad eta: Launchpad link: https://join.macmillanhighered.com/#/findatitle/

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by cintinative

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Spielvogel was our choice for Western Civilization too. We followed an AP European History syllabus (there are plenty of examples out there to use if you don't want to write your own). I supplemented with Great Courses lectures and we did British/European literature and art history alongside this course.  One kid did a history of the Medieval World using the SWB book and WTMA, the other did an Early European history course of our devising before this course. Not that I think either of those were essential as a full year predecessor, just what we did.

[madteaparty]

We used the Spielvogel mentioned above but I also like Prof. Merriman’s book which goes with his class available at Yale Open Courses. We also listened to all the Great Courses lectures in Western Civ 2

Edited May 11, 2020 by madteaparty

[Reefgazer]

17 hours ago, klmama said:

Have you looked at Spielvogel's Western Civilization?  There are a variety of editions divided in different ways. 

TomRichey.net (free online video lectures and some written resources) uses texts by Kagan or Wood for his AP European History, plus students read a book on Middle Ages as summer supplemental reading prior to starting the year. 

FWIW, The Great Courses Plus can be accessed from a smart phone.  My dc has been delving into a much broader range of lectures than I originally intended, just because they are interesting to listen to.

As for a final .5 credit course, any social science should be fine.  Geography, economics, psychology, or even current events would all likely be fine. 

I did look at that book, and was wondering if there were other options to consider.  DS does not want to do the GC; he doesn't want any video or online classes.

[cintinative]

I updated my post with the link for launchpad.

I think @happypamama has used A History of Western Society but not recently--although I thought perhaps she was looking at it again.

I bought an older edition because it was cheaper. One reason I liked it was the Sources for Western Society that goes with it which also has discussion questions.

A couple more ideas (from what I looked at):

This one The Shaping of Western Civilization also has a sources volume (but no questions).  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1442607564/?coliid=I1PIYM0IYCTVVC&colid=2EUNLZBRAGHU2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

This is yet another one: Civilization in the West. It also has sources volumes "Sources for the West" that I really liked when I looked at them. I don't remember why I passed on this one. It might be that I couldn't find a copy at the library to review.  https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-West-Combined-Mark-Kishlansky/dp/0205556841/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+West+Mark+Kishlansky&qid=1589238083&s=books&sr=1-1

[cintinative]

This was highly recommended by someone on these boards but I *think* it is true world history and not western civ. I am not sure. I had already ordered all my stuff when I saw the recommendation.

Ways of the World with Sources for AP https://www.amazon.com/dp/1319022723/?coliid=I25BN6LS00W5HY&colid=2EUNLZBRAGHU2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[cintinative]

On 5/8/2020 at 11:21 PM, Reefgazer said:

A second question is what to do for a 4th year history if we treat western civ as a 1-year course?  Throughout high school, DS will be taking/has taken ancient world history (1 credit) , U.S. Government (0.5 credit), American history (1 credit), and western civ (1 credit).  So we're deciding what to do for a final 0.5 credit.  Would geography work for that?  

 

I have seen @Lori D. speak highly of her cultural geography/comparative world religions year (I think that description is accurate).

Have you already done American history? My plan for my youngest is 

9th Ancient history (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources)

10th Medieval/Renaissance/Reformation History (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources)

11th Early Modern/Modern History (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources) -- I will transcript as U.S. History in a World Context

12th Govt/Econ

Well, this is my conceptual plan. You know what they say about the best laid plans . . . 😃

[klmama]

5 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

I did look at that book, and was wondering if there were other options to consider.  DS does not want to do the GC; he doesn't want any video or online classes.

Does he like listening to stories or podcasts?  My dc have never wanted to watch The Great Courses videos, but this is our tenth year of listening to the audio versions while getting ready, eating lunch, riding in the car, etc.  We have always checked CDs out of the library, but we switched to The Great Courses Plus when the library closed and dc hadn't finished Foundations of Western Civilization II. The Great Courses Plus had that entire set of lectures available, as well as a bunch of other really interesting options that dc has enjoyed.  Even though there is a video, dc mostly just listens.  FWIW, there's a two-week free trial, if you'd like your ds to give it a listen before ruling it out.  

[Reefgazer]

7 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

I have seen @Lori D. speak highly of her cultural geography/comparative world religions year (I think that description is accurate).

Have you already done American history? My plan for my youngest is 

9th Ancient history (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources)

10th Medieval/Renaissance/Reformation History (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources)

11th Early Modern/Modern History (History of Western Civ + Primary Sources) -- I will transcript as U.S. History in a World Context

12th Govt/Econ

Well, this is my conceptual plan. You know what they say about the best laid plans . . . 😃

This is the tentative plan:

9th - Ancient World History

10th - American History or Western Civ (I see you did that as part of your ancients course, so maybe I am mistaken on that and am calling what I am looking for by the wrong name)

11th - American

12th - Government/Economics

So, I really want to do some sort of world-type history that is more modern than Ancient history, but DS does not really enjoy studying India or China or Japan.  So I thought maybe European HIstory or Western Civ.  Is that right, or am I mistaken about what exactly Western Civ is?

Edited May 12, 2020 by Reefgazer

[Reefgazer]

1 hour ago, klmama said:

Does he like listening to stories or podcasts?  My dc have never wanted to watch The Great Courses videos, but this is our tenth year of listening to the audio versions while getting ready, eating lunch, riding in the car, etc.  We have always checked CDs out of the library, but we switched to The Great Courses Plus when the library closed and dc hadn't finished Foundations of Western Civilization II. The Great Courses Plus had that entire set of lectures available, as well as a bunch of other really interesting options that dc has enjoyed.  Even though there is a video, dc mostly just listens.  FWIW, there's a two-week free trial, if you'd like your ds to give it a listen before ruling it out.  

This is something I'll need to bounce off DS.

[cintinative]

8 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

This is the tentative plan:

9th - Ancient World History

10th - American History or Western Civ (I see you did that as part of your ancients course, so maybe I am mistaken on that and am calling what I am looking for by the wrong name)

11th - American

12th - Government/Economics

So, I really want to do some sort of world-type history that is more modern than Ancient history, but DS does not really enjoy studying India or China or Japan.  So I thought maybe European HIstory or Western Civ.  Is that right, or am I mistaken about what exactly Western Civ is?

 

I don't think you are mistaken. Most Western Civ courses start with ancient history of Rome, Greece, etc.  so your ancient history fits in the overall bent of the program. The difference between Western Civ ancients and World History ancients is that World history would also cover the history of Africa and Asia. SWB's History of  . . . books are world history--they cover events across larger geographic regions. 

So, it is possible to study ancients in light of Western Civ. What that means is that you would be focusing on the Romans, the Greeks, etc. and not studying the early peoples of India, China, Japan, parts of Africa, etc. 

For example, here is the TOC for A History of Western Society :  https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/ca/product/History-of-Western-Society-Volume-1/p/131910956X?selected_tab=Contents

Does that makes sense? 

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

So here was my take on using Great Courses for high school. I realize that they are dull to many kids, just a professor at a podium and a few graphics, they are not as engaging as a documentary.  However, I thought they were not only a way to gain knowledge and a perspective beyond the textbook but also a chance for my kids to gain some note taking skills and adjust to the lecture format they would have in college. 

(As a sidenote-DE was not an option for either of these kids and both elected a college prep track when starting high school.)

[happypamama]

21 hours ago, cintinative said:

I updated my post with the link for launchpad.

I think @happypamama has used A History of Western Society but not recently--although I thought perhaps she was looking at it again.

I bought an older edition because it was cheaper. One reason I liked it was the Sources for Western Society that goes with it which also has discussion questions.

A couple more ideas (from what I looked at):

This one The Shaping of Western Civilization also has a sources volume (but no questions).  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1442607564/?coliid=I1PIYM0IYCTVVC&colid=2EUNLZBRAGHU2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

This is yet another one: Civilization in the West. It also has sources volumes "Sources for the West" that I really liked when I looked at them. I don't remember why I passed on this one. It might be that I couldn't find a copy at the library to review.  https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-West-Combined-Mark-Kishlansky/dp/0205556841/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+West+Mark+Kishlansky&qid=1589238083&s=books&sr=1-1

I did use part of the one McKay book a few years ago, and we liked it pretty well.  I'm planning to use the medieval chapters for my rising 10th grader, plus some Great Courses and some other supplements.