Good morning Jenn, yes I am familiar with Lindafay and I am a great advocate of reading the books when I can….this does not mean I have read everything the girls read, but I do try and keep up where I can. The history books are easier for me, because I enjoy them and a lot of them I have read before the girls even had them on their schedule. There were certain books I knew that I wanted the girls to read, a bio on Churchill, a Ronald Reagan book, a Thatcher book and then all of the Real books from American Classics, for example The Real George Washington, The Real Thomas Jefferson etc and some others – I felt those books were important among quite a few others. None are easy reads, but doable and worth the effort. Paul Johnson did a very nice small bio on Churchill, though which I enjoyed along with the Gilbert book.
Here are a few links to the books that are my favorites and some of those I asked the girls to read during high school. They are great for adults to read as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Paul-Johnson/dp/0143117998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320415426&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Life-Martin-Gilbert/dp/0805023968/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320415461&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Reagan-Diaries-Ronald/dp/0061558338/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320415502&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Thatcher-Her-Own-Words/dp/1849540551/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320415552&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/Real-George-Washington-American-Classic/dp/0880800143/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320415596&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Thousand-Year-Leap-Anniversary/dp/0981559662/ref=pd_sim_b_5
During the high school years, I found the girls have a lot of questions, ideas and thoughts on the things they read, they do narrations written or oral, but naturally they want to discuss things. It is hard to have food discussions when we are unsure ourselves, so I try very hard to read the things they read, especially in the history field and also try and bring some of my own experiences to the discussion – I was born in the late 50s and I was in Germany when the wall came down, and in fact got engaged to my husband at the Berlin Wall just prior to it coming down – so I have lived close to some of the history – I had a German mum and an English dad, so have two sides of the second world war and through their parents two views of the first world war – so it helps me bring some of those things to life. It is impossible to know all history, I am still learning so much about your history here in the US and I hope to continue to learn until my last breath. Do what you can in regards to reading along with him or just a bit ahead of him. People don’t believe it but history can be really enjoyable, it is not just dates and memorization, it is a chance to dig into a time period and learn about people, cultures, mistakes that were made and the events that lead to those mistakes, the victories and failures, human failings and successes – wonderful stuff, and in history there are some wonderful role models for our children to learn from. It does not need to be boring…but I do believe in challenging them in high school and asking them to think a little harder than they would need to if they had a textbook or a fiction book, though both of those can have their uses as well. The above mentioned books do challenge them but they did not rush – it makes them think and question and that is always good. Through their history studies they are clearly now seeing the errors that are being made in our current world, and why we are in serious financial difficulty worldwide…they now find themselves better equipped to understand our times and they are very aware. We supplement these books with documentaries and movies that pertain to the time period as well, that adds to the enjoyment and a lot can be rented or ordered through the library and some important ones we have purchased to watch again.
Regards the Patriot book, that is a good price and I too would snap it up – it is a great addition to a home library whether you read it now or in the future, be careful not to confuse him by reading them at the same time. Anyway, hope this all helps a bit, my hope for all teens is that they can come out of high school enjoying history, so they can continue to learn throughout life – that goes for all subjects really but especially history for me. Anyway, good luck – Linda