High school history spine that can be used "out of order"? Or stick with Notgrass?

[Christy B]

It looks like my daughter (rising 9th) will have the opportunity to take a co-op literature class. I don't want to pass it up; she is very excited about the prospect, even if it means putting off her much-anticipated LLfLOTR.

 

The one "problem" is that the class will cover American Literature (it sounds like explorations to Revolutionary). I don't mind doing American History in 9th (I had planned the traditional sequence of Geography, World, American, Gov/Econ).

 

I was going to use Notgrass for American and World, but I don't want to go into literature "overkill" by doing both Notgrass AND a literature class (this student is math- and science- oriented, so we need a fairly streamlined humanities program). Would Notgrass be "wasted" if we didn't use much of the literature component?

 

Should I look for an American History text --

 

OR --

 

I'm wondering; what about something like Streams of Civilizations; that could be used for more than one year, but not necessarily in order? By that, I mean go ahead and get a good world history text, and use the portions of it that co-ordinate with *this year's* literature? And then do the other portions of the book in following years?

 

I have no idea if or what lit classes would be offered in subsequent years, so I don't need to make long term plans. Just trying to figure out the best plan for this year, without painting myself into a corner and coming up short later.

 

We could always do geography as planned; I like for history and literature to line up, but I guess it isn't a "must".

[Alphabetika]

Mu suggestion would be to do Notgrass American history and skip the literature portion. This is basically what my dd did this year. I had her read only a few of the books, but she skipped most of them (my choice). You could easily do the same. I did have my dd read all of the supplementary documents, which include everything from government documents, poems, hymns, other source documents, so she got more literature than just the books she read. But if your dd has a chance to take a class where she'll read/analyze/write about American literature, go for it and just skip that portion of Notgrass.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions if you'd like more info about Notgrass.

[Christy B]

Thanks; we really are attracted to the Notgrass history. I kind of hate to pay for an aspect of the program that I won't use. Still, we could use the Bible study portion, so we'd be using at least two thirds of the program. Do you think the American would be too challenging for a 9th grader? (I guess with leaving out some or most of the literature, that would bring it down to a more manageable level.)

 

I just reread my original post after reading the "punctuation" post. Oh dear!!! Way too many exclamation points!!! And I am obviously "guilty" of overusing "quotes" for "emphasis", aren't I?!? :lol:

[LisaNY]

Thanks; we really are attracted to the Notgrass history. I kind of hate to pay for an aspect of the program that I won't use. Still, we could use the Bible study portion, so we'd be using at least two thirds of the program. Do you think the American would be too challenging for a 9th grader? (I guess with leaving out some or most of the literature, that would bring it down to a more manageable level.)

 

I just reread my original post after reading the "punctuation" post. Oh dear!!! Way too many exclamation points!!! And I am obviously "guilty" of overusing "quotes" for "emphasis", aren't I?!? :lol:

 

No, it wouldn't. It can even be used successfully with an 8th gr. student.

[Christy B]

No, it wouldn't. It can even be used successfully with an 8th gr. student.

 

Oh, that's reassuring! I'll keep it at the top of the short list.

[Kathie in VA]

I think using one text as a reference is a good idea. I've considered Streams of Civ and Western Civ. However if you are really looking to read American history, you might not find it all in the world history texts. At least I've had probablems when referencing some information in my books. You might be better off with one that focuses on American history.

 

You might be able to do Sonlight's core 100 American History. It's for grades 7 - 11 so the level should be right. It has daily readings in A History of US plus one history novel and one literature novel at a time. There are also some books for bible but the older version I have doesn't have them scheduled. The SL guide seems to do a pretty good job of raising issues with the author which helps to add to our discussions. (I am using it this year with my 7th and 8th graders).

 

hth

[Christy B]

I think using one text as a reference is a good idea. I've considered Streams of Civ and Western Civ. However if you are really looking to read American history, you might not find it all in the world history texts. At least I've had probablems when referencing some information in my books. You might be better off with one that focuses on American history.

 

You might be able to do Sonlight's core 100 American History. It's for grades 7 - 11 so the level should be right. It has daily readings in A History of US plus one history novel and one literature novel at a time. There are also some books for bible but the older version I have doesn't have them scheduled. The SL guide seems to do a pretty good job of raising issues with the author which helps to add to our discussions. (I am using it this year with my 7th and 8th graders).

 

hth

 

I love the idea of Sonlight, but all of the different books would totally overwhelm dd. Add a literature class? She would melt.

 

Now, that said -- she did read through two of the History of Us books in 7th grade, and LOVED those. So, maybe History of Us as a "textbook" would be an option. I know Hewitt carries a syllabus, but it's for junior high. In NC, though, we do have a LOT of discretion as to what we, as parent-teachers, deem "worthy" (dang, there I go with the quotes again) of a high school course.

 

I appreciate the suggestion, Sonlight would be one of MY first choices, but I'm afraid it would not be a good fit for dd. I'll certainly take a second look at it, though, as she does like those History of US books.

[Alphabetika]

Yes, I think Notgrass is completely do-able for a 9th grader, since I have one who's almost done with it now. :) The text itself is a very easy read. The most challenging part of it, in my observation, is the extra document portion that I spoke of. Some of the documents are hard reading because they're from a time in history when writers were not only very literate, but they weren't afraid to use 50 words where 1 would do, if you know what I mean. :tongue_smilie: But we have found this portion of the curriculum invaluable, because it gives such a clear view into the minds of the people of the different times the history covers. My dd has been challenged and inspired, and sometimes disgusted, to read the thoughts of people from the different time periods. And she has loved the few literature books I've required her to read: Scarlet Letter, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Little Women and To Kill A Mockingbird.

[Kathie in VA]

hmm, if you do like the SL option then maybe you could get just the SL guide and the Hist of US bks. That would give you the schedule and the Q/A (although they are mainly comprehension type, not very discussion oriented). They additional bks may not be needed at all given the separate lit class.

 

Oh and there are also tests you can buy for the Hist of US bks if you are interested. I have them and "try" to remember to use them. They are just mult choice, but even that is good practice for my kids.

 

I've also considered Notgrass, but haven't seen it yet. I think that is in one or two books for the whole thing while the Hist of US is a set of books. I'm not sure how else they compare.

 

hth

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I would stick with your plans and add the lit co-op. I gave up trying to coordinate learning activities 'across the curriculum' years ago. Opportunities arise 'out of order' all the time. You don't want to pass up a good opportuntiy, but you don't want to reorder your whole IEP either. Next semester the opportunity might be Ancient Greece or 20th Century History or Current Events. You can't rearrange your plan to fit every opportunity.

 

I would take the lit co-op class and scale back on the Notgrass assignments. If the lit class has some writing element, then maybe eliminate some writing from Notgrass. If Notgrass has a list of lit books, then have them on hand for fun reading.

 

Tweak it all to make it manageable. Don't try to do it all, but don't miss a good opportunity either.

 

IMHO,

[Christy B]

I would stick with your plans and add the lit co-op. I gave up trying to coordinate learning activities 'across the curriculum' years ago. Opportunities arise 'out of order' all the time. You don't want to pass up a good opportuntiy, but you don't want to reorder your whole IEP either. Next semester the opportunity might be Ancient Greece or 20th Century History or Current Events. You can't rearrange your plan to fit every opportunity.

 

I would take the lit co-op class and scale back on the Notgrass assignments. If the lit class has some writing element, then maybe eliminate some writing from Notgrass. If Notgrass has a list of lit books, then have them on hand for fun reading.

 

Tweak it all to make it manageable. Don't try to do it all, but don't miss a good opportunity either.

 

IMHO,

 

Pam, I hear what you're saying. I have been planning to do the very traditional Geography, World, American, Civ/Econ sequence, just in case dd ended up going out to school instead of homeschooling. So, for 9th we were going to do BJU Geography and Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, since they are stand alone courses I wanted to use; while the Notgrass integrates history and literature and Bible. I suppose I could stick with my original plan, and just consider the lit class a fun elective, except I think that would be too much lit in one year for my dd.

 

On the other hand, if I take out the "what if" of dd going back to school -- it's really just as easy to do Notgrass American this year, and save the Geography/LLfLOTR for a year where we don't have a lit opportunity.

 

Decisions, decisions. :) It helps that the lit class is a given -- there's no way I'd pass up an opportunity for dd to have a discussion class with a teacher that she absolutely loves.