AHL - Book descriptions - History

[DS4home]

Looks like I am not going to be able to make it to convention this year, so I am hoping someone here can answer my (probably stupid ) question.

If AHL uses Notgrass as the spine (which in and of itself is a full year of history/lit/Bible, if I understand it right) then what is the advantage/need to add to the Notgrass set (with all the other books included in the AHL package?)

Not that I don't want ds to do all the other books! I totally trust Marie's judgment on what is necessary. Just curious what the thinking is behind the additional books.

MFW is only scheduling half of the Notgrass text to be read in AHL, then finishing it the next year. So, in spreading it out over two years, that leaves you with a lot of time to "fill in", so to speak. It gives us a chance to take in some other great books along side of Notgrass to give you a rich year of just Ancients. I really like how Marie put together the Bible portion of AHL too. It is so much more than what you would get just doing Notgrass alone.

Hope that helps answer your, not so silly question
There is probably more to it than my simple answer, but this at least explains some of it, at a surface level.

Dawn

[cbollin]

Here are some guesses.....(I can be very wrong on this b/c I'm just reading the samples of the program and saying these observations. I haven't used Ancients)

*the other books help to make the English credit and Bible integrate with history so that you have 3 full credits?
*it's a similar concept to adding living books to the spines in the younger years?
*In addition to what Dawn mentioned (half of the book is used in Ancients), MFW seems to use the Notgrass essays as part of "history" credit, while using other things for English credit (literature supplement). And the Bible credit is from other things including reading the entire Old Testament.

Exploring World History by John Notgrass provides a strong Christian
perspective for world history. MFW combines these books with other resources
over a two year period for a number of reasons. First, taking two years to
cover the material allows students to read the entire Old Testament during
Ancient History and Literature and the entire New Testament during World
History and Literature. It also allows the student to study church history
in depth. MFW's program has additional literature and literary analysis beyond
Exploring World History to enrich the literature portion of the program.
The Literature and Composition Supplement includes extensive teaching on
writing the argumentative essay during Ancient History and Literature. In
World History and Literature, Writers INC provides additional instruction
for a variety of writing assignments including a research paper. Other
books such as Experiencing God and missionary biographies are added to
enhance a full credit of Bible each year.

-crystal

[Julie in MN]

Just agreeing with the others. And I just had to say...

Every other program I've seen studies the ancients from creation (or from Egypt for secular programs) through Rome. One of the things I love about MFW is that they separate Rome from the ancients. That means that you aren't trying to squish the Old Testament history in with the New Testament/time of Jesus.

[bunnytracks]

The Notgrass website actually says that each book is equivalent to 3 credits. Lit, bible, and history. My guess is that they believed these other books were something very worthy of being read and that they would enrich the rest of the program as well as build the character of the student.

[Jenn in NC]

Yeah, I am thinking Dawn is right. The Notgrass website does indicate 3 credits (which is what caused my initial confusion), but doing it over the course of two years would significantly change that!

Julie I agree with you about not trying to put too much history into one year. It is a funny thing, when dh and I were first looking into using MFW, my one major hesitation was CTG. I just wasn't sure about spending so much time on OT history. Was I ever wrong! I think it was my favorite year (so far anyway). Not to say we aren't loving RTR. We are. And we're really looking forward to year 4 next year too. But the time in the OT was really wonderful.

Anyway. I digress. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, high school credits. Ok, I think I understand now. Thanks everybody.

[DS4home]

Our family is coming back to MFW after a year away. We're pretty excited about getting started. My older dd will be doing AH&L this year. I have been looking over the lesson plans and I'm seeing the two books, World History Map Activities and Ran McNally Historical Atlas of the World, rarely listed. How often are these two books really used?

It's going to be an interesting year. This will be the first year my dd's will be in two totally separate curriculums. Thanks for your help!
Angel

The map activities book and atlas are used for two years. They do a handful of the maps in AHL, then do more of them in WHL. The atlas would be used again as the next in line goes through high school, only the activities book is consumable.

I felt the map activities were a real asset to my dd's year. They are reading about that area of the world all year, and doing a few maps of the area was good. It helped them remember where those things took place and stayed with them longer because they spent time working on the map, not just looking at one for a moment and moving on. FWIW, I think it is worth the investment.

Dawn

[SkyeAngel]

Thank you for your advice. We did SL Core 7 last year and map work was the first to go when we ran out of time. Since the books are used both years, that does make a difference. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the help.