SCM history guides — thoughts?

I should add that the Lacey Book here is kind of bite sized nuggets of stories but we still found it valuable as an extra rounding out of our other history reads. I have the 3 volume set where these stories were taken from – but I wanted to say it is not all one long narrative….it does cover a lot though.

Jenn that is a deal, lol. I should clarify, I chose my books from HEO ie., the Churchill books and the recommended original sources, but I did not follow their plan. I worked out how to read the Churchill books over 2 years, and then for US History I used A Patriot’s History of the United States, though Bill Bennett’s books would work equally well. In this final year I am using Sir Martin Gilbert’s A History of the Twentieth Century and Bill Bennett’s Vol III to bring us bang up to date. We are studying the holocaust and communism as well in some depth, because these things are important and of concern even today. One other book we are reading this year for history is Sir Martin Gilber’s book Israel a History which is another important book. Apart from that we are doing some biographies, and a few other books covering specific times in the modern era. Throughout the high school years, the girls worked independently – they had their schedule, knew what to do, and they did written narrations, and we had discussions. I think you could start having your high schooler start some independent work now if they are not doing that already, it would be good for him/her and would be a good example for your other children. I can imagine that 6 other children keep you super busy, so even more reason for the high school student to have more independent study. I made sure that I touched base with them regularly, we sat down together at least 3 times a week to go over issues and for me to see they were really doing what they were supposed to do – and then every week I would make sure that everything was checked and that we were on track. It worked well and is still working well, do you think that might work for you. There are books out there of varying difficulty, and not every book has to be super meaty. we had our main meaty books and then read some others as well. My daughter who enjoys astronomy and space this year will read some books on the space race, nothing complicated but interesting to her…I like to make time for those things as well – so I don’t go overboard with difficulty – but we do have things that are brain stretching. Does that make sense at all….if not we will have a sabbatical in England and do it all together, I wish….Linda

Binky – I don’t know if I have a handle on what is required for college. But I do feel that I hold a decent standard of the level of work that is required for a high school course. We also have done the read – discuss – write cycle before and my girls learned so much that year. The exam questions at the end of the terms in the SCM Guide give great material for essays.

Thanks, those were very helpful comments. I guess being my first year with CM we will just have to give it a try and see how it works. (I am working on oral narration with our bible story readings this summer) I am just worried about making sure my kids get enough writing in to be able to write well. ( plan on using IEW along with written narration) and considering I am not any good at history I will have to follow someone’s plan at least for a while. I am actually trying to put together my own program to teach the history of the Constitution for elementary years( something for each year with increasing difficulty) so that when my kids get to high school they already have a really good understanding of the formation of the US. This is not my forte but a desire I have. If anyone would like to suggest good living books that they have used and liked please feel free to comment.

Thanks again for all the help and encouragement!