Love2Smile Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I LOVE Sonlight and lit based learning....maybe *I* should be homeschooled! Both my 6th and 9th grade daughters are begging to do textbook/workbook style learning this Fall. NO MORE reading history books they say. (They just wanna read what THEY wanna read) I have math covered. TT So as far as textbook style learning, I know there is alot to choose from, which do you like and for what reasons, or which do you DO NOT like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veronica in VA Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I used Notgrass for American History and I thought it was very good. My daughter didn't like it but she is a Sonlight girl and wants all the books.:001_smile: Notgrass is sort of a combo textbook/unit study. It does come with quizzes and tests, which I really liked. I didn't find the bible comprehensive enough to consider one credit, but I have heard they revamped the course this year so it may be enough now. I also found I wanted a little more analysis of literature than was in the program, so I added in Lightning Lit and it was a great combo. I know some have liked Streams of Civilization, but I found that very boring (like falling asleep while reading it boring). But another choice for might be a textbook called The Human Odyssey by Spielvogel. Veronica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2Smile Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 Ok..I'll look into Notgrass more, I have heard it was boring at the SL boards LOL What about BJU or Abeka? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I had tried soooo many different things trying to get my ds to like history. Not gonna happen. I finally got the BJU Grade 8 American History textbook and activity manual. While he still doesn't love history, he tolerates it much better. And, I think (hope!) he is retaining more. We used the textbook for abou the last ten weeks of this year. We will just finish it up next year. Since we have already done part of it this is allowing him to only need to history four days per week next year. He is most happy about this! I think the BJU textbook is pretty thorough. It's a little dry, but he likes it okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyce Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 It written to the student so it makes it an easy read but the books are pretty thorough. You could have your youngest do one of the elemetary books and have your 9th grader start with Physical Science or Biology. We used Notgrass but if you do it for an English credit there are books that she is going to have to read. The History part is in textbook form. Both my kids love their programs but they are for highschool use so you'd have to find something else for your youngest. You might look at the traditional publishers such as Abeka or BJU. Abeka isn't necessarily geared towards public schooling but we've enjoyed the books we did use. We used BJU for geography and my kids hated it. It was so full of little details and so dry to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I can't comment on the 9th grade, but on the 6th grade level, I compared BJU and Abeka side by side. I read both texts. I found the Abeka to be drier (although with lots of pretty pictures). The prose style of the BJU was more readable to me. We enjoy BJU science, but we like whole books for history. Sorry, my kids are the ones you wish you had :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2Smile Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 At this point, I'm ready to "force" them to do Sonlight for History ONLY. They can do textbook for math, science, english/grammar. I have seen the Abeka History books and they are SOOO boring! Maybe not having them read every.single.book from SL might work too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harrison_B Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I have both Spielvogel's Human Odyssey and Western Civilization textbooks. I let my older son pick his textbook for next year and he liked the Human Odyssey. We won't start till September but I learned about both books from this board. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My dd will be doing SWB's Ancient History book (can't think of the title offhand) for her history text for her gr. 9/freshman year. I'm not sure how much extra reading we'll do since she hates history. For our science textbook, we're going to use Conceptual Chemistry, along with Chemistry Alive! If you buy the third edition, Chemistry Alive! is included in CD-Rom form at the back of the book (wish I'd known ahead of time!) For logic, we're going to use Traditional Logic as our text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2Smile Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 what is SWB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 what is SWB? SWB is Susan Wise Bauer, co-author of The Well Trained Mind. She has a high school/adult history series she is writing. Her The History of the Ancient World is the first. She has a blog about this and other things at http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog/ My dd liked her SOTW (the elementary school history series) and since history is not her bag, I thought it wise to stick with a writer she likes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 You could look at Oak Meadow. Their 6th grade history covers the same time period as Core 6. Their 7th grade history covers the same time period as Core 7. My oldest did Core 100 last year for 9th grade, but for the first time since Core 5, she didn't like the Core. She was fine with Hakim, but she hated the lit choices. I was going to spread Core 100 over 8th and 9th grades for my middle dd. She will have finished the first half of Core 100 by the end of this month. I'm strongly considering switching her to Oak Meadow for their 9th grade American history next year. It looks like it goes a lot deeper than Core 100. I'll probably switch her literature over to Intro to Lit from Excellence in Literature. I don't care for the lit selections SL made for Core 100. My youngest is doing Core 3 this year and will do Core 4 next year for 6th grade. I am strongly considering switching her to Oak Meadow 6 for 7th grade and OM7 for 8th grade. Then she can do all their high school level history courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My dd enjoyed NOEO Science. She did the Chem. 2 in 6th grade this year. All American History is sort of textbooky, but written by a homeschool mom. There are parts 1 and 2, each a year long, and both are adaptable to middle school and high school levels. Explanations by the author are in the teacher book, so it's not hard to ramp it up a little for the highschooler. For Logic, if your 6th grader hasn't had it yet, The Dandy Lion Series of Logic books are an easy intro. to logic. My dd has done the first 2 of the 3 books because we didn't keep a strict schedule with it. Rod and Staff is good for grammar and math. TT is good too. Did you do the online placement test? Just fyi, my dd is not a math genius, though she does well, and she did the TT pre-algebra in 5th grade and had no problems with it. Usually, if you're doing 5th grade level math, you'd probably want the 6th grade level TT. Just the way it works out. It's a good program if you take that into consideration! For art and music appreciation, Harmony Fine Arts has some neat plans! Apologia is good for science. Your younger could do general probably, or a couple of the elementary ones (but still check out NOEO!). Apologia does Biology for 9th grade. My ds is just finishing that up, and he has liked it pretty well (which is good for a teenage boy! :) ). I may think of more and add on later. Best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My dd enjoyed NOEO Science. She did the Chem. 2 in 6th grade this year. All American History is sort of textbooky, but written by a homeschool mom. There are parts 1 and 2, each a year long, and both are adaptable to middle school and high school levels. Explanations by the author are in the teacher book, so it's not hard to ramp it up a little for the highschooler. ! Yes, we have this. The Teacher's Manual has reading lists for 3 different grade categories, and the third is for high schoolers, which would help you ramp it up. We're using it in middle school, but you could use it for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2Smile Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 ok..I've been looking at OM all day! It looks like something we may be interested in! Has anyone used the HS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 ok..I've been looking at OM all day! It looks like something we may be interested in! Has anyone used the HS? I bought their high school Biology course the other day, have not received it yet but can lyk how it looks when it arrives. We are secular science people and it's hard to find at the high school level for homeschoolers. The text for the 9th grade American Lit looks interesting for a textbook, it looks very visually appealing. I looked at it extensively and found samples online, but didn't end up buying it. Let me see if I still have the link where you can view a sample of the textbook... Here it is, Glencoe The American Vision. 2005 edition, like Oak Meadow uses. http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/ose/tav05/sample/swopen.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 History Odyssey from Pandia Press may be a happy medium for you. It uses a history spine textbook for level 3 (high school) and great books too. Kind of like a combo of Sonlight and textbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I bought their high school Biology course the other day, have not received it yet but can lyk how it looks when it arrives. We are secular science people and it's hard to find at the high school level for homeschoolers. The text for the 9th grade American Lit looks interesting for a textbook, it looks very visually appealing. I looked at it extensively and found samples online, but didn't end up buying it. Let me see if I still have the link where you can view a sample of the textbook... Here it is, Glencoe The American Vision. 2005 edition, like Oak Meadow uses. http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/ose/tav05/sample/swopen.pdf There are a number of people who like the Campbell's Biology text, if you're looking to check different options. It's one of our possibilities since we cannot find a neutral high school biology text (neutral meaning no evolution/creationismi/ID). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 There are a number of people who like the Campbell's Biology text, if you're looking to check different options. It's one of our possibilities since we cannot find a neutral high school biology text (neutral meaning no evolution/creationismi/ID). Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheWhoWaits Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Here's a 3rd recommendation for Spielvogel's A Human Odyssey. My 9th grader is enjoying it. Of course, both my kids love history and living books. I think that's because I love history. Teachers are usually more effective at teaching what they love themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 What about K12's Human Odyssey? I read really good reviews about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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