American History for a Young Historian
Jan 26th, 2007 by lvbirders
Over the Christmas holidays, Josh and I discussed what direction he wanted to go as concerned his studies for American History. After some thought, I suggested listening to a lecture course his older sister had used when she was homeschooling from the Teaching Company. This company offers lectures by college professors in DVD or CD/Audio Tape form. They are amazing! The courses can be expensive but the company is constantly offering sales which then make them very affordable.
The course we are using is from 1998, The History of the United States. (This link is to their newer second edition of this course.) In ours there are 7 parts to it with 10 lectures in each. Each lecture lasts about 45 minutes. Each part comes with a booklet, outlining each lecture and at the end of each lecture are two questions for discussions. We use one of the questions for oral discussion and the other Joshua uses in his writing practices. Originally, we had planned on listening to the whole lecture but then as Josh realized he wanted to learn some more background on the Civil War we decided to listen to just the tapes that dealt with this time period. The courses are set up so that this possibility is very doable.
Periodically we receive catalogs on the courses that they are offering for sale. In the most recent one, their Annual Sale on Modern History Courses, Josh found a course on the Second World War that especially interests him. This may be our next study.
We have watched the World War II one by Professor Childers, I believe. He’s a bit dry as a lecturer and has an even drier sense of humor but wow is he a wealth of knowledge. I found the whole lecture series fascinating as did my 13 yo son. However, my daughter regularly fell asleep during it! She has absolutely no interest whatsoever in anything military!
Faith,
Thanks for the heads up on the lecture. I am a history fanatic and it seems to have rubbed off on all my kids lol. Hope that you are feeling better. Good for you to make your doctor appts. I just went through all that and it is so important for us moms to take care of ourselves.
I have often wondered if those lectures would be a good choice for us. Good to hear your review. Right now we are going the cheap route by doing American History through DVD. We’ve seen some pretty great stuff. Man, I love Netflix!
I am so glad you posted your experiences with the Teaching Company materials. I have been considering trying this as I realize that, as homeschoolers, my kids have no practice taking lecture notes. This is such an essential need for college, and I don’t want them unprepared.
With these, we could all take notes, then compare afterward. I could help them see how to select main points,etc. I will have to send for the new catalog. Thanks!