Another Lynn Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) June 26 - new question: Thread re-boot, maybe. I noticed that William Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope comes in a new condensed 1-volume edition, but it looks like the old "Roadmap" website with teacher resources is gone. Does anyone know if something like that exists for the new edition? ************************************************************************************************************************** Original post: I've searched for older posts about completing US History at home and found (or already knew about) these texts/programs K-12 American Odyssey Brief American Pageant Memoria Press: A Concise History of the American Republic Notgrass A Patriot's History of the U.S. American Last Best Hope, William Bennett A History of the American People, Paul Johnson Any other suggestions to consider? I don't want anything from Great Courses because videos are inconvenient for us. Also, my dd really liked the Spielvogel text she used for Western Civ and she wonders if there's a similar text for US History. She will be 11th grade and enjoys history, so we'd like to do more than just "check a box" but we don't want it so heavy that we can't run it on our own, kwim? I'd like something that brings ideas and themes and people to the front, but I don't want to fly so high that we miss important details. No, I'm not picky or anything, lol. Edited June 26, 2020 by Another Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted May 9, 2020 Author Share Posted May 9, 2020 Adding.... Give me Liberty! (text used by WTMA in their non-AP course) Does anyone have experience with this text? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy M Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 I've been researching as well lately. I haven't used these but just wanted to add James Stobaugh's American History and Generations America in God's Providence. Also, MFW uses the BJU text with other texts over their 11th-12th grade years. Sonlight has a mix and match system where you could buy the upper level history or lit on its own or mix it with whichever accompanying lit/history you want. I also thought of Bennett, as we have his books at home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) On 5/9/2020 at 1:01 PM, Another Lynn said: Adding.... Give me Liberty! (text used by WTMA in their non-AP course) Does anyone have experience with this text? That is the textbook used in my daughter's college class. US History to 1865. It was fine. Not too bad. Edited May 21, 2020 by perkybunch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 22 hours ago, Another Lynn said: Adding.... Give me Liberty! (text used by WTMA in their non-AP course) Does anyone have experience with this text? When my oldest two took that class they used American Stories by Brands. Neither complained about the text and it seems to fulfill their AP needs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 We just finished History Osyssey's American History and loved it. I like HO history programs, but the assignments can be uneven from lesson to lesson; in other words, 1 lesson can be very short and the next is like, write an essay. This American History is not like that. It's very evenly spaced, thorough, and my daughter (not the academic type) really liked it because she said the readings were actually interesting. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 (edited) I've not used or seen the Spielvogel text, but my history lovers are doing well with what we're using (all home based), so I thought I'd share. We're doing Oak Meadow US History at home/not enrolled. The assignments are interesting and manageable and there is intentional room built in the schedule for digging into areas of interest. That's really great for my two who love the subject. Oak Meadow works with any textbook. I'm using American Odyssey as the base text. (I'm also doing some extra source work with selected parts of Stanford History Education Group's Think LIke a Historian that appeal.) Edited May 12, 2020 by sbgrace 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 I think the Paul Johnson book is excellent. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, TCB said: I think the Paul Johnson book is excellent. Yes! Edited May 12, 2020 by ScoutTN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 On 5/11/2020 at 8:22 PM, TCB said: I think the Paul Johnson book is excellent. Can you please elaborate? Have your used it as history curriculum? I saw the book on Amazon and don't know if there is a curriculum built on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 We used Joy Hakim's A History of US for a US History spine in high school. We supplemented it with lots of good books (biographies, etc.) and documentaries/movies and engaging writing assignments. My kids really enjoyed her books. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 10:57 PM, Reefgazer said: We just finished History Osyssey's American History and loved it. I like HO history programs, but the assignments can be uneven from lesson to lesson; in other words, 1 lesson can be very short and the next is like, write an essay. This American History is not like that. It's very evenly spaced, thorough, and my daughter (not the academic type) really liked it because she said the readings were actually interesting. When you said "This American History", did you refer to History Odyssey' American History or another one? Can you clarify? I am curious. I am looking for a not too challenging US history for my 10th grade son. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Ds15 used Notgrass America the Beautiful for his middle school years, in 6th and 7th grade while my oldest son used CLE 8th grade US history for the first half and Notgrass high school US history second half. I also have all Joy Hakim's A Historyvof US. I am looking for a high school US history for ds15. He will bring have four heavy Potter's school online classes three of them honors level. He will do government class at co-op. He did 1/3 if world history in 9th grade. He can finish the textbook at home for the 1 credit world history or do a 1 credit US history. I am torn btw the two. I am open to do US high school if there is a good but not hard to get done curriculum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 10 hours ago, JadeOrchidSong said: Can you please elaborate? Have your used it as history curriculum? I saw the book on Amazon and don't know if there is a curriculum built on it. We used it with the Funda Funda US History syllabus/schedule for dd1. She did the AP test at the end of the year. The FF schedule is really good. It includes the Great Courses lectures, critical thinking exercises, and some really great movies to watch. I felt like dd had a really good grounding in US history by the end of the year. I like the Johnson book because it is so detailed and does not appear overly slanted to me. I was amazed at the level of knowledge needed to write such a detailed history account! The only thing that was a little disconcerting to my dd was that the book wasn’t really divided into chapters, or if it was they were extremely long chapters, so it was a bit uncomfortable somehow - maybe she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere or something - not sure. I plan to use it, with the FF schedule, this upcoming year with dd2 and again do the AP exam. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 (edited) On 5/13/2020 at 11:38 AM, JadeOrchidSong said: When you said "This American History", did you refer to History Odyssey' American History or another one? Can you clarify? I am curious. I am looking for a not too challenging US history for my 10th grade son. Thanks! I am referring to History Odyssey's American History. It's not unchallenging, and is a bit of a lot of work, but it is evenly presented, if that makes sense. Edited May 18, 2020 by Reefgazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 On 5/13/2020 at 10:47 AM, TCB said: We used it with the Funda Funda US History syllabus/schedule for dd1. She did the AP test at the end of the year. The FF schedule is really good. It includes the Great Courses lectures, critical thinking exercises, and some really great movies to watch. I felt like dd had a really good grounding in US history by the end of the year. I like the Johnson book because it is so detailed and does not appear overly slanted to me. I was amazed at the level of knowledge needed to write such a detailed history account! The only thing that was a little disconcerting to my dd was that the book wasn’t really divided into chapters, or if it was they were extremely long chapters, so it was a bit uncomfortable somehow - maybe she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere or something - not sure. I plan to use it, with the FF schedule, this upcoming year with dd2 and again do the AP exam. Ever since I found FF schedule, I've been thinking and looking at Great Course American history. Did your dd watch the video or listen to the audio? I hear that the video does not have visuals like maos or picture, just the professor talking. With Paul Johnson's book, Lies my teacher told book, and the movies to watch, this seems like a lot. Can you estimate how many hours she spent a week? I am really drawn to this and I believe the movies add a lot to the course, but to find enough time is a challenge. I'm thinking of starting it this summer, like in July. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Just now, JadeOrchidSong said: Ever since I found FF schedule, I've been thinking and looking at Great Course American history. Did your dd watch the video or listen to the audio? I hear that the video does not have visuals like maos or picture, just the professor talking. With Paul Johnson's book, Lies my teacher told book, and the movies to watch, this seems like a lot. Can you estimate how many hours she spent a week? I am really drawn to this and I believe the movies add a lot to the course, but to find enough time is a challenge. I'm thinking of starting it this summer, like in July. We watched the videos. There were some maps and political cartoons and pictures that some of the profs used, but those may not be too important. I can't remember exactly how long it took but it was one of her heavier courses that year. I only ever had her do 1 essay a week, even when there were 2 listed. We got together with her friend, who was also doing the course, one afternoon a week and worked on the critical thinking exercises. We always watched the movies in the evening as a family thing. We all enjoyed them, even her little sister. You could easily choose to cut some of it out. If you are planning on doing the AP Exam then I would be more loathe to cut stuff. After we had finished the course work we spent the last 3-4 weeks studying for the test using a study guide and some videos on youtube. This next go round I'm going to try and do some of the test studying as we go along, so adding some DBQ practice as we finish each time section, and work on memorizing the facts/dates etc as we go along. It really is a great course to do. My dd learned so much, and I did too. I'm looking forward to doing it again with youngest dd. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 42 minutes ago, TCB said: We watched the videos. There were some maps and political cartoons and pictures that some of the profs used, but those may not be too important. I can't remember exactly how long it took but it was one of her heavier courses that year. I only ever had her do 1 essay a week, even when there were 2 listed. We got together with her friend, who was also doing the course, one afternoon a week and worked on the critical thinking exercises. We always watched the movies in the evening as a family thing. We all enjoyed them, even her little sister. You could easily choose to cut some of it out. If you are planning on doing the AP Exam then I would be more loathe to cut stuff. After we had finished the course work we spent the last 3-4 weeks studying for the test using a study guide and some videos on youtube. This next go round I'm going to try and do some of the test studying as we go along, so adding some DBQ practice as we finish each time section, and work on memorizing the facts/dates etc as we go along. It really is a great course to do. My dd learned so much, and I did too. I'm looking forward to doing it again with youngest dd. Ds will do Notgrass Government twice a month at our co-op, I wonder if this is too much to add; however I do feel Grat Courses will provide a solid US history education for ds. My eldest son did Notgrass American history. I am now looking at Notgrass books and just feel they are very dry and uninspiring. I am really afraid that ds will feel bored and not learn much. He told me when he reads textbooks without a teacher directly teaching him, he doesn't retain much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 2 minutes ago, JadeOrchidSong said: Ds will do Notgrass Government twice a month at our co-op, I wonder if this is too much to add; however I do feel Grat Courses will provide a solid US history education for ds. My eldest son did Notgrass American history. I am now looking at Notgrass books and just feel they are very dry and uninspiring. I am really afraid that ds will feel bored and not learn much. He told me when he reads textbooks without a teacher directly teaching him, he doesn't retain much. My dd did US Gov 1/2 credit that year also. We did a pretty light Gov course though, but I felt they both complemented each other. The FF course is definitely not dry and uninspiring! That's what I liked about it so much. I also liked the fact that we did not have to spend the whole year studying to the test but were still able to do the AP test. If you aren't planning on doing the AP test I think you could start off the FF syllabus and just see how it goes and drop the parts that are too much. I haven't seen the Notgrass books so I don't know what they are like. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 TCB, ds will have a heavy load for three honors class, PreCalc, advanced composition, and chemistry. He does things slowly, so I am afraid this US course is pretty heavy. I do think the movies add a lot, like reenactment of the time periods. I don't think will have time to fit in the Paul Johnson book. We will have to do a reduced load. Yes, to me, Notgrass seems very dry and just states the facts kind of textbook. I don't think I will enjoy history this way. Another great course American course is a shortened version called Turning Points in American History or something like that, with 48 lectures with very good reviews. But it definitely is not as comprehensive. I will show ds the options, the transitional textbook of Notgrass, or Great Course and let him have a say. Is the critical thinking book a separate book? Also the essays, are they included in the booklet with the Great Course American History? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 TCB, never mind, I found the critical thinking books on Amazon. I am excited. I hope ds will enjoy this course. We will try to schedule movies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 17 minutes ago, JadeOrchidSong said: TCB, ds will have a heavy load for three honors class, PreCalc, advanced composition, and chemistry. He does things slowly, so I am afraid this US course is pretty heavy. I do think the movies add a lot, like reenactment of the time periods. I don't think will have time to fit in the Paul Johnson book. We will have to do a reduced load. Yes, to me, Notgrass seems very dry and just states the facts kind of textbook. I don't think I will enjoy history this way. Another great course American course is a shortened version called Turning Points in American History or something like that, with 48 lectures with very good reviews. But it definitely is not as comprehensive. I will show ds the options, the transitional textbook of Notgrass, or Great Course and let him have a say. Is the critical thinking book a separate book? Also the essays, are they included in the booklet with the Great Course American History? The critical thinking section is 4 books that each cover part of the timeframe - early colonial etc. I don't know if they are currently in print but I was able to buy them used easily. They do add good exercises that I felt helped my dd with critical and analytical thinking. I think they helped with the DBQ part of the exam. The essays are in response to the questions at the end of the lecture chapters in the guide book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 On 5/10/2020 at 11:57 PM, Reefgazer said: We just finished History Osyssey's American History and loved it. I like HO history programs, but the assignments can be uneven from lesson to lesson; in other words, 1 lesson can be very short and the next is like, write an essay. This American History is not like that. It's very evenly spaced, thorough, and my daughter (not the academic type) really liked it because she said the readings were actually interesting. Because of this post, I looked at HO again, and they are phasing this out with no date on when they will replace it. https://www.pandiapress.com/history-odyssey/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, TCB said: The critical thinking section is 4 books that each cover part of the timeframe - early colonial etc. I don't know if they are currently in print but I was able to buy them used easily. They do add good exercises that I felt helped my dd with critical and analytical thinking. I think they helped with the DBQ part of the exam. The essays are in response to the questions at the end of the lecture chapters in the guide book. Critical Thinking sells these as e books. So no more in print. ☹️ Edited May 21, 2020 by JadeOrchidSong 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 1 hour ago, JadeOrchidSong said: Critical Thinking sells these as e books. So no more in print. ☹️ I got mine used on Amazon. You might try there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 1 hour ago, TCB said: I got mine used on Amazon. You might try there. Do you just use the student book or also teacher's guide? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 I got the Paul Johnson book and ordered the great courses dvds (used) to preview a bit this summer. My student won't do the AP exam, so I'm thinking these might be the only two resources we use for a streamlined version of FF. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 22 minutes ago, Another Lynn said: I got the Paul Johnson book and ordered the great courses dvds (used) to preview a bit this summer. My student won't do the AP exam, so I'm thinking these might be the only two resources we use for a streamlined version of FF. I have never seen the FF course plans, but my kids have all enjoyed PJ's book. I own the GC History of the US 2nd ed videos and I pick and choose which ones they watch bc they don't have time to watch all of them. Those 2 together have provided a very solid course. Several of my kids have taken the US CLEP exams and scored very high. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 3 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said: I have never seen the FF course plans, but my kids have all enjoyed PJ's book. I own the GC History of the US 2nd ed videos and I pick and choose which ones they watch bc they don't have time to watch all of them. Those 2 together have provided a very solid course. Several of my kids have taken the US CLEP exams and scored very high. Thank you! This is very helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 6 hours ago, JadeOrchidSong said: Do you just use the student book or also teacher's guide? Yes I used the teacher’s guide a bit. I kind of streamlined it a bit though. They have a whole method, which is a good one, but I could have learned and followed it a bit more thoroughly than I did. It worked well for us though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 1 hour ago, Another Lynn said: I got the Paul Johnson book and ordered the great courses dvds (used) to preview a bit this summer. My student won't do the AP exam, so I'm thinking these might be the only two resources we use for a streamlined version of FF. That sounds great! I would definitely add in any of the movies that you can. We just watched them in the evening or at the weekend. We got some from Netflix I think, and bought a few used and they weren’t very expensive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 7 hours ago, JadeOrchidSong said: Do you just use the student book or also teacher's guide? I bought the student guide & TM (used) for all 4 books. They did not work for us at all. I sold them to someone in here a few years ago. When DD#2 started US History last fall, I substituted in the US History Detective books. Not the same, but for our family, better. Much easier to use, IMO. I've had two kids use the Great Courses audio (from Audible as we got the big US History course very inexpensively -- like $5 in a sale). I pick & choose the audio they listen to -- they listen to about 75% of them. We use a combo of Zinn's A People's History book & Bennett's A Last Best Hope (3 books) plus some books by Marrin. I spread it over two years for my first kid, but my dd#2 got through about 3/4ths of the two year syllabus in one school year. If she was a faster reader, she probably would have finished both years in one. (Dd#1 was a fast reader but reluctant writer. She also did not do well with self-paced classes. Dd#2 is a slow reader, an excellent writer, and just plows through her assignments--sometimes not stopping to ask questions when she should.) The US History Great Courses Lectures are not enough on their own, but pair them with a readable textbook, some primary source material, and some essays (one solid one per quarter that has to be revised to your satisfaction should be adequate--I think ) & you should be good without overwhelming your kid with too much work on top of his other classes. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Another option for primary source material/critical thinking activity would be Stanford's Reading Like a Historian. Free to download once you create an account. We've used them for years for American history and world history; we find them easy to add into whatever course we're doing and not overwhelming to work through. Here is a link to the American History...https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons?f[0]=topic%3A8#main-content#main-content 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Zoo Keeper said: Another option for primary source material/critical thinking activity would be Stanford's Reading Like a Historian. Free to download once you create an account. We've used them for years for American history and world history; we find them easy to add into whatever course we're doing and not overwhelming to work through. Here is a link to the American History...https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons?f[0]=topic%3A8#main-content#main-content Wondering if someone who has used the Critical Thinking Through US History could compare them to Reading Like a Historian? We have used RLAH often and liked it a lot, and the critical thinking books pretty spendy if you have to buy them all. Are they worth it? @TCB or @JadeOrchidSong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 24 minutes ago, PeachyDoodle said: Wondering if someone who has used the Critical Thinking Through US History could compare them to Reading Like a Historian? We have used RLAH often and liked it a lot, and the critical thinking books pretty spendy if you have to buy them all. Are they worth it? @TCB or @JadeOrchidSong? I’m sorry but I haven’t used RLAH so can’t compare. I bought used copies for about $3-4 each. You could also just get a couple and work through those. Maybe one early one and one later. I would definitely get the teacher book too, unless you don’t really need any guidance with that sort of thing. I didn’t follow them exactly as directed but it did help me pick up on stuff I might have missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 (edited) I am using A History of the US with DS for 7th next year, b/c I have it on hand, along with a series of DBQs that I wrote for DD's 8th grade year. Edited May 22, 2020 by Sneezyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 15 hours ago, Another Lynn said: I got the Paul Johnson book and ordered the great courses dvds (used) to preview a bit this summer. My student won't do the AP exam, so I'm thinking these might be the only two resources we use for a streamlined version of FF. So glad to hear this. Thank you for the thread. I was able to ask TCB many questions. I wondered what you decided to do. Glad you chose the two resources. I might follow your suit. Please let me know what your impression of PJ book is. I am definitely more and more interested in the book. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 12 hours ago, Zoo Keeper said: Another option for primary source material/critical thinking activity would be Stanford's Reading Like a Historian. Free to download once you create an account. We've used them for years for American history and world history; we find them easy to add into whatever course we're doing and not overwhelming to work through. Here is a link to the American History...https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons?f[0]=topic%3A8#main-content#main-content I just created an account and looked at a few. Really nice and easy to use, not busy work like at all. Thanks a lot! I will add some to my plan. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 After reading reviews, I am definitely getting PJ's book, I tried the audible. The narrator is a British lady. I will ask my son if he likes her voice and style. I do like her. I will have him listen to the book starting in the summer. I will get both the book and the audio. I am leaning towards using Great Courses Turning Points in American History with shorter 48 lectures. I plan to use Reading Like a Historian simply because it's both free and easier online. We'll add a few movies from FundaFunda. So there will be no worksheets. He will do a few essays. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 On 5/21/2020 at 7:27 AM, Another Lynn said: I got the Paul Johnson book and ordered the great courses dvds (used) to preview a bit this summer. My student won't do the AP exam, so I'm thinking these might be the only two resources we use for a streamlined version of FF. We didn't do AP either, and FF seemed like a bit more than we wanted to tackle. My 2 DS's read K12's American Odyssey as a spine and did a few Critical Thinking in US History lessons as output. They didn't want to watch videos and take notes, they just wanted to get it done in as streamlined a way as possible. My DD used the Great Courses as a spine and the Critical thinking lessons as output and also had a successful year. She loves the videos! I would definitely recommend either one of those methods as being plenty for US History. All 3 kids learned a ton, it was just a matter of their personal preference about text or video input. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 I listened to both PJ and GC. They are very very long. I also checked out Crash Course 47 videos and think my is. Would love these videos. I am drawn towards using CLE 8th grade Changing Frontiers with the crash course videos and some movies and maybe Reading Like a Historian and call it high school American history. Here is an online US history for another idea. https://www.ushistory.org/us/2c.asp CLE Changing Frontiers (I used it for my eldest son a few years ago) https://www.clp.org/store/by_course/80 US History Crash Course 47 videos, 12-15 minutes each Reading Like a Historian https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons?f[0]=topic%3A8#main-content%23main-content 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 JadeOrchidSong, I think that sounds like a great plan! I may come back to look at those if we decide against Great Courses. Right now, I'm thinking Great Courses with no textbook, but adding some books (mostly biographies) on the side for more depth on a couple time periods, and then something for primary sources. I have vol2 of Opposing Viewpoints in American History, but it looks like more than I want. I'll take a look at Reading Like a Historian. Ambleside Online also has links to speeches, etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted May 24, 2020 Share Posted May 24, 2020 Here are two more collections of free lesson plans dealing with primary sources that I found: AP US History Lessons (many would be suitable for a non-AP course) A More Perfect Union Both are from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I really like the look of these, especially since we have used a lot of the RLAH lessons in middle school. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 24, 2020 Share Posted May 24, 2020 (edited) https://www.ushistory.org/us/ I spent more time looking at this just now. It is an online text with links to original documents, speeches, and pictures. Looks very easy for reading. 60 chapters, so 2 chapters a week will do. Each chapter has about 6 sections, so if you do 3 sections a day, then 4 days a week can cover 2 chapters. What I like about it is it is all in one place. What is lacking though, is there are no discussion/thinking questions or any exercises at the end. But then maybe you can use a simple supplement to fill that need. No matter what I use, I would like to add the Crash Course videos because they are fun and get the points across in an easy way. Edited May 24, 2020 by JadeOrchidSong 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 On 5/24/2020 at 9:10 AM, PeachyDoodle said: Here are two more collections of free lesson plans dealing with primary sources that I found: AP US History Lessons (many would be suitable for a non-AP course) A More Perfect Union Both are from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I really like the look of these, especially since we have used a lot of the RLAH lessons in middle school. Thanks, Peachy! Those look very, very nice. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted June 26, 2020 Author Share Posted June 26, 2020 Thread re-boot, maybe. I noticed that William Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope comes in a new condensed 1-volume edition, but it looks like the old "Roadmap" website with teacher resources is gone. Does anyone know if something like that exists for the new edition? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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