Jump to content

Menu

Outside the box, rediscover the love of learning History for Senior Year


Recommended Posts

My dd, a senior this coming year, is feeling fed up and burnt out with many things academic. She feels like the rest of her life stretches before here in at least 5 more years of drudgery of academics, and then possibly further drudgery at work. I would love to have a class or two this next year that she will really enjoy and rediscover learning for enjoyment. She has really studied hard this year, taking the PSAT test, an AP test and is currently in the throes of preparing for the ACT. She scored really well on the PSAT and is definitely in the running for National Merit so I do need to keep in mind the hoops you need to jump through to be a finalist. But, above all else, I want some things she is going to love to do.

I have been thinking about doing something quite different for History, and maybe science, and I wondered if anyone had any good suggestions to help us. The classes she has done so far are Human Geography in 9th, Ancient History using SWB's book in 10th, and APUSH in 11th.  She is very interested in the 1800s and loves Jane Austen. I have been thinking about a more project based course this next year. I wondered about picking some different time periods, or events she is interested in and having her produce some work to show her learning.

For example - 19th century England - learn about social and living conditions and write it up, learn about art in that time and make a power point presentation or something about that, research fashion in that time and produce drawings and explanations about that. I would like to get some kind of lovely notebook or something for her to put all the things she learns and draws etc in, sort of like an academic scrapbook type thing.

Am I completely crazy? Has anyone done this sort of thing? Do you have any other suggestions that would meet our goals?

Thanks for any ideas you can give us!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like a great credit! 😄 

Feel free to dump History and/or Science entirely if you have enough of the credits needed for those subjects, in order to make senior year as much as possible about what SHE would enjoy studying. 😄 

Also, if "output" is not her thing -- then skip it. There is nothing wrong with having a Social Studies credit that is all about reading and discussion, with no writing. Or, instead of writing, if she's interested in some unique "output" -- actually sew a garment using the methods of the time studied. Or make a quilt in a pattern that was typical of the time. Or make a few meals from recipes of the time. Or...

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Sounds like a great credit! 😄 

Feel free to dump History and/or Science entirely if you have enough of the credits needed for those subjects, in order to make senior year as much as possible about what SHE would enjoy studying. 😄 

Also, if "output" is not her thing -- then skip it. There is nothing wrong with having a Social Studies credit that is all about reading and discussion, with no writing. Or, instead of writing, if she's interested in some unique "output" -- actually sew a garment using the methods of the time studied. Or make a quilt in a pattern that was typical of the time. Or make a few meals from recipes of the time. Or...

Thanks! And thank you for the links. Dd told me she wants to make a Regency period dress and that is what got me thinking about doing something like this, but I hadn’t thought about that being part of the course. She actually likes writing and drawing so I think she will be ok with some output that isn’t endless essays like she was writing in US history this past year.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not a homeschooling expert, however we had to reevaluate my daughter’s plans for her senior year this past school year. She only needed one credit to graduate, but she had planned on a dual enrollment heavy year anyway. The local community college was all online. She was absolutely miserable doing calculus and science in her room with only a textbook and no lectures and no feedback even from the science teacher. She didn’t even get her midterm back in that class until a week after her final. So we reevaluated. We made sure she got that last credit done. She ended up using Guest Hollow’s geography we had purchased her little sister. It was a big hit with both girls.  She continued studying calculus on her own as she loves math. She was also really interested in Astronomy, so we found a class in that that was a lot more interactive than just sitting alone in her room with a textbook.  She did other things of interest including drawing classes. After fall quarter she was convinced she either wanted to take a gap year or not go to college at all, but after pivoting and a more “out of the box” rest of the year, she is excited to start at a university in the fall! Sounds like you have a good plan to me!

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Kristini2 said:

I am not a homeschooling expert, however we had to reevaluate my daughter’s plans for her senior year this past school year. She only needed one credit to graduate, but she had planned on a dual enrollment heavy year anyway. The local community college was all online. She was absolutely miserable doing calculus and science in her room with only a textbook and no lectures and no feedback even from the science teacher. She didn’t even get her midterm back in that class until a week after her final. So we reevaluated. We made sure she got that last credit done. She ended up using Guest Hollow’s geography we had purchased her little sister. It was a big hit with both girls.  She continued studying calculus on her own as she loves math. She was also really interested in Astronomy, so we found a class in that that was a lot more interactive than just sitting alone in her room with a textbook.  She did other things of interest including drawing classes. After fall quarter she was convinced she either wanted to take a gap year or not go to college at all, but after pivoting and a more “out of the box” rest of the year, she is excited to start at a university in the fall! Sounds like you have a good plan to me!

That is really encouraging to hear! Exactly what I’m hoping for for dd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, TCB said:

Any more ideas or suggestions for me? Any ideas about covering wildly different time periods in this course, or better to stick to same time period but different locations?

Just a random thought here, but have you seen the film Bride and Prejudice? It is set in modern-day northern India, and is a "Bollywood"-style musical version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I was struck by the Indian caste system and how important match-making is to the contemporary Indian version of the "Bennett" family in the original Austen book.

So, what about the possibility of a compare/contrast overview of India of the 1800s and parallels with British History of the 19th century? Or India's history over the centuries of British colonialism? This Thought Co. article sketches an extremely brief history of the British in India, just to see if there would be enough there to make it a worthwhile additional study. (Side note: there are several soldier characters in some of Austen's novels, and British military was in India from the 1700s until mid-20th century). Teaching Company: The Great Courses: A History of British India

Of course, another option would be to stick with Britain, and cover the social, cultural, and historical/political events before/during/after Jane Austen's time. There are books on the Regency Era (the time of Austen's writings). For after Austen's time period, the Teaching Company has a Great Courses lecture series on Victorian England (1837-1901) that might be interesting.

Just some random thoughts... 😉 Have a great time planning! Warmest regards, Lori D.
 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are SO many adaptations of Pride and Prejudice! I would like to include my suggestion of the documentary “Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball,” which is all about the dance aspect of the book, which was understood by readers at the time but isn’t today. I watched it on AcornTV. I also truly enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was also made into a film.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Just a random thought here, but have you seen the film Bride and Prejudice? It is set in modern-day northern India, and is a "Bollywood"-style musical version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I was struck by the Indian caste system and how important match-making is to the contemporary Indian version of the "Bennett" family in the original Austen book.

So, what about the possibility of a compare/contrast overview of India of the 1800s and parallels with British History of the 19th century? Or India's history over the centuries of British colonialism? This Thought Co. article sketches an extremely brief history of the British in India, just to see if there would be enough there to make it a worthwhile additional study. (Side note: there are several soldier characters in some of Austen's novels, and British military was in India from the 1700s until mid-20th century). Teaching Company: The Great Courses: A History of British India

Of course, another option would be to stick with Britain, and cover the social, cultural, and historical/political events before/during/after Jane Austen's time. There are books on the Regency Era (the time of Austen's writings). For after Austen's time period, the Teaching Company has a Great Courses lecture series on Victorian England (1837-1901) that might be interesting.

Just some random thoughts... 😉 Have a great time planning! Warmest regards, Lori D.
 

India is a really good idea, and not somewhere we’ve studied a lot about! We enjoy watching some Bollywood stuff too, so that sounds great! Thanks for those ideas.

Do you have any thoughts on what I could name something like this on a transcript? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, stripe said:

There are SO many adaptations of Pride and Prejudice! I would like to include my suggestion of the documentary “Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball,” which is all about the dance aspect of the book, which was understood by readers at the time but isn’t today. I watched it on AcornTV. I also truly enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was also made into a film.

Thanks for that suggestion! My daughter takes ballet classes and is interested in all kinds of dance so that would be spot on for her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

If it hasn’t been mentioned, there’s a useful book titled something like “What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew” or something like that. It does touch on some adult topics.

Thanks! I’ll look that up. Sounds like it would be great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What kind of out-of-the-box science are you thinking about?  Just a more unusual topical area than the typical high school science sequence,  or actually a different way of learning? 

My son has studied physics with a research paper focus.  So for example, he learned about the physics of waves by doing a research paper on the Indian Ocean Tsunami wave propagation across the ocean. For nuclear decay, he will be doing a research paper on Chernobyl.  He much prefers research papers with applied physics concepts to textbook learning.  

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/7/2021 at 3:47 PM, lewelma said:

What kind of out-of-the-box science are you thinking about?  Just a more unusual topical area than the typical high school science sequence,  or actually a different way of learning? 

My son has studied physics with a research paper focus.  So for example, he learned about the physics of waves by doing a research paper on the Indian Ocean Tsunami wave propagation across the ocean. For nuclear decay, he will be doing a research paper on Chernobyl.  He much prefers research papers with applied physics concepts to textbook learning.  

 

I'm not really sure to be honest. Dd has done Physics, Chemistry and Biology and doesn't have a really clear favorite to pursue at an AP level or something like that. She is probably most keen on physics, least keen on Chemistry, and a bit tired of biology as she studied that this year, although it was a good course, and she enjoyed it while she was doing it. Added to that, she has been pretty burnt out so I want something that will further her knowledge and skills for college, but also be something that she can find the joy of learning in again, if at all possible.

The research paper idea is interesting. She does well with writing and likes writing. I'm not sure how much help I'd be in facilitating anything other than some sort of biology subject. 

For a while I had been mulling over the possibility of working on restoring a small pond in our neighborhood, with her. I thought about researching the process, partly by utilizing the university extension office in town, drawing plans etc, and then doing it. Unfortunately the land that the pond was on has recently been bought by someone, whereas before it was kind of part of the communal part of the neighborhood, so the actual physical part of restoration may not be possible. I can ask the people if they would let us, but I'm not too hopeful they'll say yes. This lead me on to thinking about us doing an ecology course, but I was wondering about looking at the major topics covered and using real books to learn about them, rather than a text book, and doing various projects or reports on the subjects.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, TCB said:

This lead me on to thinking about us doing an ecology course, but I was wondering about looking at the major topics covered and using real books to learn about them, rather than a text book, and doing various projects or reports on the subjects.

Lots of hands-on projects and also research papers to do in Ecology. Here is a list of what my kids have done over the years to give you a feel for what might be interesting/ possible:

Hands-on

My older son did a project on the population ecology of the rocky intertidal. Counted organisms and did the research to figure out the competition/predation/environmental factors that created the distribution on the shore that he could see.

My older surveyed the entire forest behind our house and counted and identified all the mushrooms, and then tried to figure out why they were distributed as they were.

My younger boy studied what factors impact soil depth by measuring topsoil depth in multiple locations. He found that it was dependent on slope and also fractal in its dependence on obstacles of varying sizes. 

My younger boy researched all the different ways to capture different kinds of little creatures, and caught and classified as many as he could in our back yard.  We figured out what phylum, class, order, and sometimes family for each one.  He had quite a selection!

Research papers:

My younger has researched the impact of the hydroelectric damns on the braided river system in the South Island of NZ.

He has done a paper on the impact of the roaring 40s and the Southern Alps on the movement of sediment to the ocean.

He has done a paper on the horrific impact of rabbits in the Mackenzie Basin of NZ on the native plant life.

He has done a paper on the impact of sheep grazing on the native tussock of NZ and what the farmers have done to deal with the impact of both the sheep and wildling pines to the degradation of their farms. 

He has done a paper on the impact of fertilizer use worldwide, the loss of human manure to the sea, and the impact of the declining Phosporous reserves. 

Next up: he is studying the causes and consequences of erosion on a particular shoreline near us that he has visited. Dunes, plants, houses etc. 

----

There is just so much you can do without a textbook.  I would set aside a certain number of hours each week to create a full credit, and plan for 4 projects for the year, so 9 weeks each. Set up a schedule, 2 weeks research, 2 weeks data collect, 5 weeks write up, or whatever, but just something to keep the projects/research papers moving. 

At the end, you write up the course description depending on what was actually accomplished and where her interests led her.

Hope that helps. 

 

 

 

Edited by lewelma
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

Lots of hands-on projects and also research papers to do in Ecology. Here is a list of what my kids have done over the years to give you a feel for what might be interesting/ possible:

Hands-on

My older son did a project on the population ecology of the rocky intertidal. Counted organisms and did the research to figure out the competition/predation/environmental factors that created the distribution on the shore that he could see.

My older surveyed the entire forest behind our house and counted and identified all the mushrooms, and then tried to figure out why they were distributed as they were.

My younger boy studied what factors impact soil depth by measuring topsoil depth in multiple locations. He found that it was dependent on slope and also fractal in its dependence on obstacles of varying sizes. 

My younger boy researched all the different ways to capture different kinds of little creatures, and caught and classified as many as he could in our back yard.  We figured out what phylum, class, order, and sometimes family for each one.  He had quite a selection!

Research papers:

My younger has researched the impact of the hydroelectric damns on the braided river system in the South Island of NZ.

He has done a paper on the impact of the roaring 40s and the Southern Alps on the movement of sediment to the ocean.

He has done a paper on the horrific impact of rabbits in the Mackenzie Basin of NZ on the native plant life.

He has done a paper on the impact of sheep grazing on the native tussock of NZ and what the farmers have done to deal with the impact of both the sheep and wildling pines to the degradation of their farms. 

He has done a paper on the impact of fertilizer use worldwide, the loss of human manure to the sea, and the impact of the declining Phosporous reserves. 

Next up: he is studying the causes and consequences of erosion on a particular shoreline near us that he has visited. Dunes, plants, houses etc. 

----

There is just so much you can do without a textbook.  I would set aside a certain number of hours each week to create a full credit, and plan for 4 projects for the year, so 9 weeks each. Set up a schedule, 2 weeks research, 2 weeks data collect, 5 weeks write up, or whatever, but just something to keep the projects/research papers moving. 

At the end, you write up the course description depending on what was actually accomplished and where her interests led her.

Hope that helps. 

 

 

 

Thanks that is really helpful! Good to see examples and also an idea on how to break it down in terms of time. Thank you very much! I would definitely like to have her do at least one research project where she collects and works with data in a more in depth way than she has done in her previous labs.  It’s quite intimidating to me to think of facilitating that but I’m going to give it my best shot, as I think that will be an extremely useful exercise for her.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If she's interested in making a Regency dress, I'd introduce her to Abby Cox, who latest video was attempting a Regency dress in a day. 

I think the outside the box idea is great! There are number of videos that address Austen issues, one on the music/dances, she has one of the 1995 & 2005 movies. 

 

Edited by elegantlion
typo
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/4/2021 at 2:47 PM, TCB said:

My dd, a senior this coming year, is feeling fed up and burnt out with many things academic. She feels like the rest of her life stretches before here in at least 5 more years of drudgery of academics, and then possibly further drudgery at work. I would love to have a class or two this next year that she will really enjoy and rediscover learning for enjoyment. She has really studied hard this year, taking the PSAT test, an AP test and is currently in the throes of preparing for the ACT. She scored really well on the PSAT and is definitely in the running for National Merit so I do need to keep in mind the hoops you need to jump through to be a finalist. But, above all else, I want some things she is going to love to do.

I have been thinking about doing something quite different for History, and maybe science, and I wondered if anyone had any good suggestions to help us. The classes she has done so far are Human Geography in 9th, Ancient History using SWB's book in 10th, and APUSH in 11th.  She is very interested in the 1800s and loves Jane Austen. I have been thinking about a more project based course this next year. I wondered about picking some different time periods, or events she is interested in and having her produce some work to show her learning.

For example - 19th century England - learn about social and living conditions and write it up, learn about art in that time and make a power point presentation or something about that, research fashion in that time and produce drawings and explanations about that. I would like to get some kind of lovely notebook or something for her to put all the things she learns and draws etc in, sort of like an academic scrapbook type thing.

Am I completely crazy? Has anyone done this sort of thing? Do you have any other suggestions that would meet our goals?

Thanks for any ideas you can give us!

 

 

For what it’s worth, if you’re crazy, we’ll be right there with you. We ditched the original plan for DS to take 2 courses at the local U per semester to round out his rhetoric, history of science, and math classes, and instead, he is digging through my pile of Smithsonian Magazines for a short list of topics he wishes to investigate for his senior year. Once he has 2-3 issues picked out, we’ll plan some literature, field trips, and library research trips around the topics in those issues to fill up his year. I figure he’s earned a year of less box-ticky thinking!

I’m really excited about his senior year (and a little bit sniffling . . . He’s my last one, so . . . )

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/15/2021 at 9:20 AM, elegantlion said:

If she's interested in making a Regency dress, I'd introduce her to Abby Cox, who latest video was attempting a Regency dress in a day. 

I think the outside the box idea is great! There are number of videos that address Austen issues, one on the music/dances, she has one of the 1995 & 2005 movies. 

 

Thank you! Those are great!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, NittanyJen said:

For what it’s worth, if you’re crazy, we’ll be right there with you. We ditched the original plan for DS to take 2 courses at the local U per semester to round out his rhetoric, history of science, and math classes, and instead, he is digging through my pile of Smithsonian Magazines for a short list of topics he wishes to investigate for his senior year. Once he has 2-3 issues picked out, we’ll plan some literature, field trips, and library research trips around the topics in those issues to fill up his year. I figure he’s earned a year of less box-ticky thinking!

I’m really excited about his senior year (and a little bit sniffling . . . He’s my last one, so . . . )

 

That is exactly it! I think dd has earned a year of joyful learning, at least I hope that’s what it will be. My last one too.

I hope your year is a fantastic one!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Belphoebe said:

I have done courses on the history of fashion and on Regency and Victorian England, and here are a few of our favorite resources:

If you focus on fashion in particular, this sketchbook is really neat because the figures are already there, and you just have to draw the clothing. Christopher Hart's fashion drawing books are really good, too.

What People Wore When is definitely worth owning if your DD is at all interested in fashion.

Sally Mitchell's Daily Life in Victorian England is an excellent overview of the period.

The Visitor's Guide to Victorian England is interesting and easy to read.

When I took a Jane Austen seminar in graduate school, each student had to give a presentation on some aspect of Austen's world, and I think that was my favorite part of the class. We covered topics like walking, shopping, dancing, fashion, mealtime, fashion for men, types of carriages, bonnet decorating, needlepoint, and so on. I could imagine starting with similar topics, choosing one topic each month, and creating a scrapbook spread, small booklet, or something with lines from the text, details from everyday life, sketches, and so on.

Wow thank you for the links and the great ideas! I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with this!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a book titled Behind Jane Austen's Door.  It discusses the various rooms that you would find mentioned in the book and what they were used for.  I have it on Kindle but there might be a print version.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/19/2021 at 7:07 AM, smfmommy said:

There is a book titled Behind Jane Austen's Door.  It discusses the various rooms that you would find mentioned in the book and what they were used for.  I have it on Kindle but there might be a print version.

 

Thank you! That sounds really good. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...