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Help with History
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I know I’ve asked about American History already. I have a spine textbook that is actually a better-than-average textbook…it’s writing style is more engaging. I have been thinking about using that for American History for the high school level. But how do you just coordinate a living books high school level history course without having way too much to read and still cover all that would need to be covered for a credit at the high school level? You see, I want to make sure we cover what would need to be covered for the credit. BUT…I want history to be lively and engaging, using living books to help continue to instill a love of learning. My daughter LOVES history and biographies. The thing is, as I sat down with the American History textbook I have and started reading it and seeing what books I could add in, I realized that we would take FOREVER to cover the span of American History because there is so much that can be read between biographies, nonfiction stories of events, and historical fiction.
Do you read through the textbook along with all the extra books? Or do you use the textbook as a resource for you to know what to cover but instead of reading the actual textbook, choose living books to cover what’s covered in the textbook? Did that make sense?
I so much want to implement a CM way of doing history but I guess I’m just nervous that either I won’t cover enough for the credit or the books chosen won’t be acceptable as a “curriculum.” Make sense? I don’t mind to spread it out over a couple of years if that would work best in order to really be able to take our time and learn and enjoy what we’re reading.
Please let me know how I can approach this history thing the best way on a high school level in the CM approach! 🙂 Thank you so much!
Any thoughts?
My oldest is only in middle school at the moment, but I did notice while going through the Early Modern Years (Module 5 of SCM’s curriculum guide) that there might be a few gaps if you used only the living books that were recommended. I simply chalked it up to the fact that it may be difficult to find good living books that are readily available and at the proper level for studying, say, Millard Fillmore’s presidency or on the subject of the California gold rush of ’49. That’s where a spine is valuable. It will generally fill in the areas where there are not sufficient living books among your resources.
My opinion is that a spine would not necessarily take up so much reading time that you can only fit in a very few living books….unless you are so sold on the completeness of the spine that it can stand alone for that subject. This holds true for some of us who use Apologia textbooks for science–usually in place of living science books. If you are comfortable with the spine you’ve chosen, you could use it by itself or just choose a few living books of particular interest to your teen. This past year, we sort of did the reverse of that–we used almost entirely living books and just used Susan Wise Bauer’s ‘The Story of the World’ to fill in for certain time periods or important people.
Just out of curiosity, what are you planning to use as a spine?
HTH,
Sue
That does help a lot Sue! Thank you so much. The spine I was thinking about using is “United States History” from Bob Jones University. It is a textbook; but I think the writing style is more engaging than the typical textbook, at least some of it anyway. Having said that, it still is a textbook and not a living book. We already had this book so it saves money by using it. 🙂
We also have “The Thirteen Colonies” by Guerber. I’ve not used any of Guerber’s books before but bought this one because it came recommended. But…it’s not really on the level of high school. Although, I’m sure it could be used along with additional supplements. From looking at it though, I just thought it didn’t seem to be as thorough in the material covered for American History to be used alone or even maybe as a spine. The American History textbook I have covers a lot – starting with Marco Polo and going all the way up to the early 90’s. I would need to supplement additional material to cover from the early 90s until the present.
I like the idea of using living books and just using a spine to fill in the gaps. But I tell you what, it seems harder to find living book resources at the high school level. There are a lot of great choices for the younger ages.
Any thoughts?
I would recommend checking out the AO list for upper grades – like year 9 to begin with. That may give you some ideas on books you could use. 🙂 I would also say that if you find really great living books you might not need the spine except as maybe a reference for you. I’m also curious if you are only planning on covering American History for one year – that will really limit what you can cover with any depth.
I am familiar with AO. I actually started out thinking I would go with AO for this next school year but then decided not to. 🙂
Actually, I don’t mind taking a couple of years to cover American History.
I would recommend Albert Marrin’s books. My son, who hates reading, will actually sit and read these outside of “school.” My husband even reads them and enjoys them. They only go through the Vietnam War, so I have to find something from the 1960’s and onward.
Thanks Blessedmom. I’ll have to check out those books.
I’ve found some ways to make some compromises. We used a textbooky-ish American history/government book last year (for 17yo) and supplemented with two or three living books (I think two biographies and Miracle at Philadelphia.) I don’t have ANY problem finding living books for the time period, my problem is my son is carrying a number of credits and nobody could read 10 or more 300 or more page books on top of everything else he does. So we had him choose a few from a possibilities list I had. We’ll be doing the same thing this year for him. We actually did find him one “spine” type book he asked for (he wanted a history book from a libertarian perspective) and we’ll again give him a short list of a few living books he can choose from to supplement with. He’s become interested in wars and whether we should or should not have become involved in them, so I’ll probably be letting him follow his own interests there. IN fact, this could really solve some of your dilemma. Ask HER. Show her the text. Search around for a list of books of good repute that could cover several of the topics. Let her choose to read the text AND the books, or read part of the text and use living books for other parts, or just use the text as a resource like you mentioned. She’s old enough for some input now.
Another good thing we tried with ds last year–he already knew so much about history. He’d already had this period before and read many books and had a lot of the basics down. I added in some critical-thinking and original-document based resources for some writing topics and he enjoyed that more than he thought he would. We aren’t continuing that this year because he has found a passion at the moment as I mentioned above and so we are running with that–it’s always a good thing when you can capitalize on genuine interest. 🙂
I would keep the BJUP book, I have a couple of those that I use as guides to make sure I cover what is necessary – I then used living books to read and study from in the high school years. Textbooks are useful to keep us on track, I would not necessarily go out to deliberately buy one, but if you have it then use it in that way and also read some of it yourself as a history reminder. They are written in a sound bite kind of way, not especially good, but – it has its purpose. I even use my school and college history textbooks for guides – they have been useful in planning. Linda
We actually did find him one “spine” type book he asked for (he wanted a history book from a libertarian perspective)
How did you go about finding this very specific type of book? I always seem to be spending so much time searching for things and coming up wanting….perhaps I am just not patient enough or searching deep enough.
Sue
Well, I worked really hard on this one. LOL I do spend a lot of time searching, usually. This time, I thought “Oh, libertarian, OK!” so I emailed the people at the Cato Foundation bookstore. They didn’t have anything, but recommended me to the Mises Institute bookstore. I emailed THEM, and they said they had just what I needed and sent it right over (they also found me a text for my second son’s economics course.)
I’m reading it myself now and it is a wonderful passionate living book. Sometimes it’s just knowing where the smart people are. LOLBookworm,
Would you mind sharing the name of this book? I love wonderful passionate libertarian living books.
Oh, certainly! It’s The American Story by Garet Garrett. It is available at both the Mises Institute bookstore and at Amazon, although I bought it from Mises since they were so helpful.
Bookworm, you said:
I don’t have ANY problem finding living books for the time period, my problem is my son is carrying a number of credits and nobody could read 10 or more 300 or more page books on top of everything else he does. So we had him choose a few from a possibilities list I had.
Thinking through all of this, that was exactly what I was thinking about with my daughter. I couldn’t even imagine being able to read living books that each could easily hit 200-300 pages and do this for everything that needed to be covered in American History for a credit plus all the other reading in literature, etc. Not only would it be too much, but just not realistic. I really do appreciate you sharing what you did with your child AND reminding me that this would be a good area to let her choose a few good books to supplement the material with. Having said that, did you just go through the text-ish book you had and search out good living books for all the different things covered and then let your son choose from that? Would you be willing to email me the list you created of living book options for American History?
What I think I’ll do is have her sit down and look through the textbook and ask her if there are any particular topics that stand out to her/interest her…ask if there are any particular people she’d like to read biographies on. She LOVES to read biographies and books about real life events.
I really appreciate everyone’s input on this. It has been extremely helpful!
I’m reading it myself now and it is a wonderful passionate living book. Sometimes it’s just knowing where the smart people are. LOL
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