online US history not too rigorous?

[kristin0713]

I'm looking for a class that has an interactive lecture with an instructor and other students.  I also want her to do readings and work during the week, but I'm not planning to count this as honors or AP.  Of course I do want tests and mastery of content.  She is not a struggling learner, but this is just to check the box.  She is a strong reader and writer but I'm sure would rather focus her efforts elsewhere.  Suggestions? 

[stripe]

Maybe WTM Academy’s non-honors US History?

Edited June 10, 2021 by stripe
correction

[kristin0713]

8 hours ago, stripe said:

Maybe WTM Academy’s non-honors US History?

Thanks!  That class time conflicts with the math that I was going to have her do.  If it is the best choice, I suppose I can look for a different math class.  I was planning to use Jann in TX's myhomeschoolmathclass.com for geometry.  

[Farrar]

I'm pretty sure the WTMA course is full. Aim Academy and Online G3 both have it. The class at Aim will probably be pretty school-like. The one at G3 is definitely high input with a college level textbook and some other materials, but without a ton of output assignments or tests.

https://debrabell.com/onlineclasses/u-s-history-online/

https://www.onlineg3.com/product/advanced-u-s-history-a/

[stripe]

The non AP US History at AIM doesn’t sound like it has a ton of writing, given that she says, “The course is designed to improve critical thinking and historical reasoning skills particularly during our live class sessions. Regular homework assignments promote mastery of content. If parents want to opt their children into more writing-intensive or project-based assignments, they can contact me and we can work those aspects into the course for their children.”

[Farrar]

1 minute ago, stripe said:

The non AP US History at AIM doesn’t sound like it has a ton of writing, given that she says, “The course is designed to improve critical thinking and historical reasoning skills particularly during our live class sessions. Regular homework assignments promote mastery of content. If parents want to opt their children into more writing-intensive or project-based assignments, they can contact me and we can work those aspects into the course for their children.”

Yeah, I think it's a true check the box class. I thought the OP didn't want writing? The post said tests and mastery but interaction. I sort of thought this one was perfect. I really only mentioned G3 because it's my go to for "not too rigorous" but still engaging history suggestion. But since it doesn't have tests as requested, I figured the Aim class was a better fit. There's likely a Christian provider course that could be right as well, it's just that would require me to look things up, which was definitely a step too far. 😉

[stripe]

I read her request as adequate but not exhausting, rather than a request for something with no writing. FundaFunda’s honors US History class (asynchronous) has no essay writing at all, which I don’t understand.

[kristin0713]

Thank you both! Writing or no writing is fine.  I guess no tests would be fine, too.  She's a good writer, but has no interest in history.  She's not really a deep thinker, either, so I'm not sure about the G3 class. But...maybe that would help her interest level.  Hmm.  I just want her to learn the material and be appropriately challenged for high school but not with an over-the-top workload.  

[kristin0713]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

I'm pretty sure the WTMA course is full.

Uuuuugh - I didn't even see where it listed seats.  I guess WTMA is out for my DS.  I was looking at Physics for him. Wow, I had no idea how quickly these classes fill up.  This is the first year that I'm looking at live online classes for either of my kids. 

[stripe]

You could try the waitlist, if they have it. Last year and this year, I think they filled up extra quickly due to COVID chaos. Some people may be hedging their bets by enrolling and then withdraw later.

[Farrar]

6 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

Uuuuugh - I didn't even see where it listed seats.  I guess WTMA is out for my DS.  I was looking at Physics for him. Wow, I had no idea how quickly these classes fill up.  This is the first year that I'm looking at live online classes for either of my kids. 

WTMA, Next Level, Worldly Pupil, and Brave Writer are the ones that always fill super fast (and that's not, IMHO, a mark of quality all the time) - along with providers who just do one thing really well, like CVC Chemistry or Clover Creek Physics. Blue Tent, G3, Pennsylvania Homeschool, and Athena's all have spaces, but not in some of their most popular classes. Aim has lots of space. Most of the Christian providers have lots of space, though I can't comment specifically on most. I saw the other day that it looks like nearly everything at CLRC is still open, for example.

[UmmIbrahim]

31 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

Uuuuugh - I didn't even see where it listed seats.  I guess WTMA is out for my DS.  I was looking at Physics for him. Wow, I had no idea how quickly these classes fill up.  This is the first year that I'm looking at live online classes for either of my kids. 

Just this morning I noticed that they added some new sections of a few science classes. Physics has a new section listing with 14 spaces open, and they added a new biology teacher. Thought I'd throw it out there in case you are really interested in the physics class.

[kristin0713]

2 hours ago, UmmIbrahim said:

Just this morning I noticed that they added some new sections of a few science classes. Physics has a new section listing with 14 spaces open, and they added a new biology teacher. Thought I'd throw it out there in case you are really interested in the physics class.

Thank you - that's the regular physics and I need Physics For The Logic Stage for him which already has four (full) sections. 

[UmmIbrahim]

3 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

Thank you - that's the regular physics and I need Physics For The Logic Stage for him which already has four (full) sections. 

Ahh... gotcha. Yep, they just seem to be adding sections to some of the high school-level sciences, but no luck with the middle school physics. Good luck in finding something that will work for you!

[stripe]

I think if CLRC has a big flood of students, they open a new section. They did that this school year (20-21) with one English class, but I don’t think they normally fill. But I did see they got some accreditation so I don’t know what impact that will have. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by stripe

[kristin0713]

32 minutes ago, stripe said:

I think if CLRC has a big flood of students, they open a new section.

They actually have American History and Physical Science both at times that work for my kids! I emailed them to ask about available seats.  How would you rate the rigor of this particular program?  I asked about German on here the other day and it seems to be an average workload, which is fine.  I expect my kids to need some time to adjust to this level of accountability.  

[Steven]

I will throw something out that is not quite what you are looking for, but might actually be a good fit. We did the free online U.S. history classes from Hillsdale. There are two U.S. history classes:

The Great American Story: A Land of Hope. This class has 25 lectures by the Wilfred M. McClay, who wrote the accompanying textbook, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story. There are multiple choices quizes for each lecture, and also discussion questions that you could use as essay prompts, if you wanted your student to write some papers or answer "essay" questions for a test. 

American Hertiage: From Cololonial Settlement to the Current Day. This is only 10 lectures (with multiple choice quizes), but it has an excellent reading list of original texts. 

You, of course, asked for an interactive lecture, which these are not. But I watched the lectures with my daughter and discussed them with her. And since the courese are free, you only need to buy the book, Land of Hope. There are links to online downloads of the original documents, although Hillsdale sells a reader that contains all of them (and more). 

[Roadrunner]

So if I wanted something that isn’t rigorous and somebody put it together for me, I would look at this:

https://svhs.co/course-catalog-us-history-part-1/
its $100 per semester.

it doesn’t have the online interactive component though. 

Actually I despise these sort of courses, but it’s a way to check a box of that’s the sort of thing you are looking for. And for reasons I can’t comprehend, they are super popular in California. 🤷‍♀️

Edited June 23, 2021 by Roadrunner

[kristin0713]

Thank you both! They are great check-the-box options. I actually looked into the Hillsdale courses before I decided to look into live class options. 

I decided to go with CLRC. Next year I’m putting both kids in mostly online classes. They each need it for different reasons.  This will be a new thing for us and it might lead to them going to school the next year.  

[Eos]

Not intending to hijack this thread, but has anyone been able to contact Kathryn Wall about her US History class?  @Farrar? I have tried emailing her a couple of times and had no response.

[Roadrunner]

16 hours ago, kristin0713 said:

Thank you both! They are great check-the-box options. I actually looked into the Hillsdale courses before I decided to look into live class options. 

I decided to go with CLRC. Next year I’m putting both kids in mostly online classes. They each need it for different reasons.  This will be a new thing for us and it might lead to them going to school the next year.  

I will be curious to know how it works out. We are a CLRC family here having taken and loved so many of their courses. They have grown so much lately though, I didn’t even realize they offer US history. I don’t know the teacher, but in my experience CLRC puts its heart into teaching. I hope it’s an amazing course.