WWYD: High Sch U.S. Hist after 4yr world cycle-what I want in a curric; incl youngrs

[74Heaven]

Hi, I am hsing a 9th/10th and 11th dtr next year in High School U.S. History. Overall we are strong in world history and expect to really enjoy this year of U.S. History. We are a bit weak in U.S. History (I would guess based on the overemphasis in public schools on U.S. History. (We just finished the SOTW/WTM 4 yr history cycle the last 4 years.)

I want something that fills the following guidelines:

-Christian values & worldview
-Not a unit study
-Not-so-rigorous as to be "scary" for Mom (I am hsing 5 and busy as can be)
-Easy-to-use for Mom (Little or *no* prep: as open-up-and-go as possible)
-Good teacher's manuals / guides for discussion, Q&A, reading comprehension
-Thorough coverage of U.S. History (more then regurgitating facts)
-A medium to high level of writing (preferrably a lot of essay practice)
-The above writing needs to be reasonably easy for Mom to correct possibly by only skimming the curriculum (iow, it would be nice if an essay question in the TM said "the essay should include 3 of the fllg 5 points) rather then the answer key saying "student answers will vary" :-)
-Able to complete in a "reasonable" amt of time (say daily: 30min reading;30-45min of written and other work)
-Okay to be combined with Literature, Bible or L.A.
As an aside, I hope to use History of U.S. and/or another curric for my youngers so we will all be studying U.S. History this year.

I am open but considering A Beka & BJU (because I have heard good things and been given free copies) and Notgrass (because it looks good to me online)

Please, please, please any and all info with as much info as possible.
Lisaj, hsing gr K,3,6,9,11

[BeckyFL]

nt

[74Heaven]

Hi, I am hsing a 9th/10th and 11th dtr next year in High School U.S. History. Overall we are strong in world history and expect to really enjoy this year of U.S. History. We are a bit weak in U.S. History (I would guess based on the overemphasis in public schools on U.S. History. (We just finished the SOTW/WTM 4 yr history cycle the last 4 years.)

I want something that fills the following guidelines:

-Christian values & worldview
-Not a unit study
-Not-so-rigorous as to be "scary" for Mom (I am hsing 5 and busy as can be)
-Easy-to-use for Mom (Little or *no* prep: as open-up-and-go as possible)
-Good teacher's manuals / guides for discussion, Q&A, reading comprehension
-Thorough coverage of U.S. History (more then regurgitating facts)
-A medium to high level of writing (preferrably a lot of essay practice)
-The above writing needs to be reasonably easy for Mom to correct possibly by only skimming the curriculum (iow, it would be nice if an essay question in the TM said "the essay should include 3 of the fllg 5 points) rather then the answer key saying "student answers will vary" :-)
-Able to complete in a "reasonable" amt of time (say daily: 30min reading;30-45min of written and other work)
-Okay to be combined with Literature, Bible or L.A.
Lisaj, hsing gr K,3,6,9,11

Hi Becky - any chance you could tell me how Notgrass fits this "wish list" above? Where I might be pleased or disappointed?

Thank you so much!
Lisaj

[74Heaven]

nt

[Chris in VA]

I've heard from several people that Sonlight 100 is a thorough, lit-based American History course. I also liked the look of Notgrass. What are you doing for lit?
If I were going to do SL 100, I'd skip some of the easy books and add in a few solid American Lit books, esp if I were not going to be doing a specific, Am Lit course.
Also, I think 100 is where they learn the most writing, but I could be wrong.

If you wanted more of a GB approach, you could use Omnibus 3. It will give you a solid grounding. I'd combine it with Spielvogel, or Glencoe, or even Barron's Easy Way book--solid.