Yeah, I really can't imagine ever getting through all 10 books in a year, it seems way too heavy reading to just plow through.. I think they are definitely books that need time to digest at the very least.
I like the 'History of US' series, but personally I'm wary about putting undue focus on US history at the expense of world history. For example, how many of us know Chinese history (one of the world's oldest and richest cultures)? or Arab history (again, very rich with many contributions to science and the arts)? or African history? Honestly, do we even know the names of the most important characters in their histories? It's not that we shouldn't teach American history; yes, we should. Nonetheless, it's easy to become blinkered. We laugh at the propaganda force-fed to North Koreans, for example, so they have no clue about the rest of the world. Yet, to some extent, we know very little about the rest of the world either - and particular the history of some of the world's greatest cultures. Having said all that, I have no recommendations at all regarding proven materials related to Chinese, Arab, and African history.
I would not recommend going through all the books in one year. I'd suggest two per semester spread across several high school years - and teach other histories from around the world in parallel.
My son is learning African History in his Exploring World History (Notgrass) this year. He reads and discusses what he is learning about. He spoke today about how he thought it was interesting that Africa was 'the continent' to conquer in the time frame he is reading right now. The discussion lead to the fact that all that was done or the countries there, he has not hit the slave trades within as well as out of Africa yet but so many countries tried to take its lands and set up places and yet so many problems still arise there and today we send people there to minister to the people and help them with water towers, etc. Kind of interesting how the rest of the world has grown cities and self supporting. Imagine if he had not read about it this week so much he would not have sparked the conversations. World history is a must and I mean the History of the World. We have done three years of that already, a bit of US gloss over in JR high really. so next year IS US HISTORY class. it is important to know where our own contries started what the people who have come here to bring it to where it is today started and what happened to the people who have made it how it is today.
Yeah Steve, I see eye to eye with you on this. Americans should know quite a bit about their countries history. Germans should know a lot about German history (and they probably do, and a lot of other history as well). However, the system is heavy on U.S. history and very light on other history. I also think that our culture is too closed off to ideas from other cultures. I love the Mexican culture for the most part. They celebrate for just about anything and they are very family and community oriented. My neighbors, who moved here from Mexico, extend an open invitation to me to join in any celebration they are having if I want to join. Other cultures value the elderly much more than we do here. Other cultures have a more relaxed and friendly way of living. In some of those cultures meal times are spread out and spent with loved ones way more often than here. We get so used to what we live with that we miss some great stuff. I have gotten so used to working hard and getting stuff done that I have a hard time relaxing and just being (unless I have some form of entertainment in front of me). There is beauty is sitting still in quietness that I have experienced, but I don't put enough effort in doing so often enough. ***I have never heard "blinkered" before; what does it mean? ***I was hoping that you would have some great suggestions for Chinese, Arab and African history. The only thing I can think of is library books and old and new National Geographics. Of course, a lot of library books may be informative but boring. I am not above checking out the young readers. It is just a shame that they have some many interesting books about the U.S. and not the other countries.
I will be using the books for part of my DD's 8th and 9th year. Our schedule is a little off due to the move we had. My DD will be using the books with the Sonlight schedule.
Hmm. Even after 27 years in the US, I still come up with occasional Anglicisms - sorry! Thinking about it, I suspect the term comes from horse-racing. You know they sometimes put blinkers on a race horse to force the creature to look only straight ahead. When we're blinkered, we see only what's put directly in front of us and we don't see anything else.
There are textbooks on Chinese history, Arab history, and African history. You will have to look at college textbooks though. They can be pricey, but if you get an older edition they are very inexpensive.
I definitely think it's important to learn other histories as well... I really like the scope and sequence of the k12 books, obviously they (nor any textbook) can cover it all but it's a nice broad range of cultures covered.
That is true, however, I don't like most history textbooks. Right now I am reading about the Civil War and some Russian history. The book I bought about the Civil War (at Half Price Books, yeah!) is REALLY interesting. The books about Russia I just got from the library the other day. So far the first one is pretty interesting. I am trying to learn a lot about history in my middle age. I didn't really learn that much in high school or college. Sure, I memorized a lot and passed the tests, but beyond that it went out of my mind shortly after.
I fall into the same category and am very cognizant of the advice that "those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it."
I still don't know that much about history, so I have a lot to read. Now that I want to it is not a dreary job. A few years ago I would be hard pressed to tell you when the Civil War took place. Now I know that a quite a bit more-still no expert. In general, I think most school history is focused on facts and getting a lot of information covered in a certain span of time. This leaves little time for good discussion or research. There are also some less important things that are focused on too much and more important things that are covered in a page or two in a middle school text. For example, in my son's public school in 6th grade WWII was given two pages I think. What?!
One thing I've found can bring history to life is linking it to family history. For example, during WWII, my mother was evacuated to the country and was later orphaned as a result of German bombing. During WWI, my grandfather was encouraged to sign up under-age and then fought in the Battle of the Somme. With the family history work I've been doing of late, I now have stories to tell about the ancient kings of the Celtic nations and how they fought or supported the English kings. Dafydd Gam, for example, saved Henry V at Agincourt, at the cost of his own life, and is mentioned by Shakespeare. Lady Godiva (Godgifu) rode through town in her undergarments to protest her husband's imposition of taxes on the poor. Even walking through Whole Foods Market the other day, I saw a can of pilchards from Cornwall - with a picture of a Cornish fishing village from my grandfather's day on the front. He once explained to me how the whole village would drop tools and rush out to sea when a shoal of pilchards was spotted. With these examples, history is no longer something separate; it's personal.
We did this too! And we were blessed to follow the Oregon Trail, pass trail markers etc that crossed our family History. I give my kids great depth to the story as we are related to the woman responsible for stopping the Whitman Massacre. We knew about this when i was a kid and my grandmother even donated the diary before she died, back in the 80s. We had a detailed account of the inside story and the trail ride over and everything! Was so exciting! She wrote me a kids book for my tenth birthday that was so enjoyed my siblings have since decided it was for all of us! I told them MY Name is in the book dedicated to me for my birthday written in cursive. Lol they don't believe me and I can't tell which one has it now!
