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Coming from Sonlight to scm with high schooler
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I am brand new to scm, having found it recently, and have home schooled for 9 years with Sonlight. (Oh, how I wish I had known years ago about scm!) I loved the SL emphasis on literature but wasn’t impressed with the textbooks we used for history. I also never really liked their LA programs. I am very attracted by the idea of doing history chronologically so as to see how it all fits in with Scripture. My oldest is almost 15 so I want to maximize these years I have left with her. Has anyone come over to scm from Sonlight and could give me advice on how it’s different/similar and how it works w/ a high schooler? Any suggestions on where to begin with scm materials? It’s somewhat scary going to something new and unknown but from what I’ve seen the scm history looks great. What are the daily time requirements? Anything else I should know? (Sorry for all the questions). Thanks for any advice!
I don’t think I can help much because we never used Sonlight–we got it and returned it–and I’m just about to start using SCM guides in a couple months.
But I do have a graduate that we used CM ideas with for the last few years of his high school. He’s been in college for a year now and he really knows how to think and work hard. I didn’t “teach” him much his last few years, and it shows that he really learned how to learn for himself. I think SCM understands the need to be able to learn for yourself.
Anyway, I thought I’d bump this post to the top for you.
Could you tell me what you had your high schooler do? My son will be in 10th grade next year and we have gradually been drifting toward CM methods. Right now he is just writing summaries of his history reading. I feel like I should be coming up with questions for him to answer, or specific topics for him to address.
Thanks.
Well, as I recall we had him read a literature book every 2-3 weeks and write a book report or a character analysis or address some other topic that was a theme in the book or something.
We also had him using Apologia Science books with the tests and labs.
For math, we used different things for each year. We had a hard time finding something we loved. We used Jacob’s Algebra, BYU distance course for Geometry, Math-U-See for Pre Calc I think. Then his senior year, he did Elementary Algebra online with our community college.
For History, he read books and did the same thing as for literature. He also would talk to use quite a bit about what he had learned. It was just interesting enough to him sometimes to just talk.
We had him come up with stories and a layout for a newspaper one year. That was a fun project. He had to do a Power Point presentation one time; I think he chose Cousteau. We tried to do things like that a few times a year. Also, I’m sure he did science projects
He has also studied piano extensively for years.
Also, he has become fluent in Spanish and tested out of 24 credits at the community college–that’s all they offer. They said he would test out of more at a 4 yr college. I wasn’t any help to him with Spanish; it has been too long for me. We used LifePac Spanish 1 and 2 and then he had some tutoring from a native speaker, but not too much.
I don’t know if that was what you were looking for when you asked what we did. You can let me know if you wanted more detail.
Thanks so much for answering. It is the history/literature I have trouble with. We use Math U See/Life of Fred for math and Apologia for science. I guess I need to relax and just let him enjoy good books!
Art, do you remember what books you had him read for American History? I’m putting together an American History course for my daughter who is going into 9th grade. I have a really good History textbook I’m using as a spine (it is much more engaging than a typical textbook); but, I’m trying to find additional living books to supplement.
Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate reading the good ideas and knowing what materials others have used.
Mrs. K,
Sorry it has taken me so long to post again. I’ve been crazy tired and I needed to look up what we used. I’m the worst at keeping records, especially since my state doesn’t require much along those lines.
Anyway, I found several things we used for Am Hist in High School.
My son was probably about 14 or 15 when he read most of these, but I’m not sure.
The Five Thousand Year Leap by Cleon Skousen
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard Maybury
Whatever Happened to Justice by Richard Maybury (these are “Uncle Eric” books)
The Bulletproof George Washington by David Barton
George Washington, Spymaster by Thomas B. Allen (I can’t remember when he read this and I never read it so I don’t know what age it would be for)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (story of a real person)
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski (story of a real person)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (fiction, but a very good look at life in America in the late 1600’s–really good book)
We also love The Real George Washington, The Real Benjamin Franklin and The Real Thomas Jefferson and The Making of America, but these are a bit much for a 9th grader. We used them more like for 12 grade.
The National Center for Constitutional Studies has an amazing movie about the writing of the Constitution called “A More Perfect Union” that the whole family loves.
I’m sure there were several more books, but I can’t get my hands on them right now because we’ve got a lot of stuff packed up from a backfired move. Anyway, those are some really good suggestions for a 9th grader I think.
Best of Luck!!
Oops on more!
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates based on a real person. Don’t miss this one; it’s very good.
Thanks art!
We went from SL to LBC to SCM and for hs Am. History we did most of Art’s list as well as The Real George Washington, The Real Thomas Jefferson, and the Real Benjamin Franklin.These are very good books that allow the founders to speak to the reader through their own writing *in context*. My girls found out how important that was when I had them read The Godless Constitution and Never Before In History simutaneously this year for extra reading even though we did SCM’s Genesis – Duet. this year. They were able to go back to the “Real” books to make sure of their quotes as well as comparing the two books side by side.
We’re also working through You Decide! which has you look over court cases and, based on the Constitution, decide if the court’s decision was a good one or not – some you decide and then find out what the actual decision was. It’s very good for the students to think through. However, this last one is one that we’re working through a bit at a time since I want to do it with my oldest two.
Thanks blue j. I checked to see if our local libraries carried any of the titles in the American Classic Series you suggested and art also listed. Unfortunately, they don’t. 🙁
Some of our local libraries do carry a couple of the other titles that art listed.
Since you asked specifically about history… If you really like the SCM history guides and don’t have 6 years to cover them in, I would just look at the options for condensing them down to fit in the 3 or 4 years you have left. Over on the Truthquest website they have different schedules for covering history in 2 to 7 years, depending on how much time you have. http://www.truthquesthistory.com/howtochoose.php Scroll down toward the bottom to see the lists. It might help to give you an idea of how much or what periods to cover per year. Also, Veritas Press does their history schedule twice in 6 years so they do two 3 year cycles of history. I think you could easily use the other timelines to help you figure out how to squeeze SCM guides into the years you have left.
For a high school student if you don’t have to slow the pace for a younger student you can easily go through the 6 modules in 4 years. Christy is 16 and we started module 3 in September and we’re already in module 4. I don’t do Bible one day, History a different day and Geography a third day. For a high school student you can easily do a Bible lesson each day, a History lesson each day and a Geography each day. The pace is way slower than SL but we are loving it at our pace. I was going to give Christy two weeks holiday but she complained about missing school this week so we will continue on with our studies and only take one week off.
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