They are appropriate depth for up to grade 8. It is not at high school level or college level, but nothing light about it either.pjssully wrote:I am just wondering how much these topics are covered in MFW-how in depth are they--is there enough "american history " in exploration to 1850's and 1850's to modern times.
thanks
pam
I thought we learned plenty on Civil War, WW I, and WW II. It certainly was more than I learned before high school. I'm sure that people who love Civil War (especially re-enactments) won't be happy, but they are going to add more and more all the time anyway. I remember in my 11th grade year of high school, we had a ONE Day Civil War Symposium for our "advanced" American History class. Our Trig/Physics teacher was the one who led the seminars and it was held off campus at the very small college in town. He was a Civil War geek who also loves trig and physics. So, there is a lot to learn about those 5 years of American history, but you can learn bits and pieces over your whole life. In fact, last week or two weeks ago on Focus on the Family they were talking about some Civil War stuff.
anyway. In 1850MOD, you get two full weeks of Civil War (again, remember this is for your children up to 8th grade), but one of the read alouds takes longer than that so you are still there in Civil War even though you move a little forward into reconstruction era. I was glad to move on after all of that teaching time.
Each of WW I and II also get a full 2 weeks. Again, we were ready to pack it up and learn more things.
Pam, there is a LOT of American history in 1850MOD (and EX1850 too). We even got into history that happened in my lifetime (the last 40 years). You can't spend a lot of time on any specific war and still expect to cover everything else. Other things happened. But there are about 150 timeline pieces in 1850MOD.
We learn all of the states/capitals. All of the Presidents. Yes, 1850MOD is US history in the context of World History. It is a lot (!) to cover for grades 4-8. It is certainly plenty for that grade level. They'll get a lot more in high school. and remember, even in high school you don't have to get bogged down in Civil War.
-crystal