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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 05 2015 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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Hi everyone,
I am hoping to get some feedback regarding Grades 5-8 middle school social studies. I have narrowed it down to Notgrass and The Catholic Textbook Project texts and workbooks.
My son is a teen on the autism spectrum and he is presently reading and comprehending at about an early 5th grade level. He did How Our Nation Began last year and then Christian Light Edcuation's (CLE) Into All the World this year.
I am trying to plan out social studies for the next 4 years.
Option A:
Grade 5: America the Beautiful 1
Grade 6: America the Beautiful 2
Grade 7: Uncle Sam and You
Grade 8: From Adam to Us
Option B:
Grade 5: From Sea to Shining Sea
Grade 6: All Ye Lands
Grade 7: Light to the Nations I
Grade 8: Light to the Nations II
A slight revision to the above is to start instead with CHC's "Our United States of America" and then continue the above sequence through grade 9.
My son is a visual learner and struggles with abstract concepts, making connections, and understanding nuances and perspectives so history beyond the straight facts is going to be a challenge, but I want to give it a try.
We can also try some literature to go along with these texts and workbooks and have the literature suffice as his reading, particularly if it is paired with some kind of study guide. He does better with worksheets vs having discussions as he has a true receptive and expressive language processing disorder.
I see the Notgrass texts have accompanying literature, what about the Catholic Textbook Project curriculum?
Looking at all the samples of the texts my son would probably enjoy Uncle Sam and You the best as it is very fact based, picture rich, here and now, ties into his love for seeing new places and architecture. When not traveling he loves to look places up on Google Earth.
However he is also very Catholic and we are too, and having the Catholic influenced history would be nice, though not completely necessary.
Thanks for any input.
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Martha
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| Posted: Aug 05 2015 at 9:06pm | IP Logged
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I'm a fan of option B. There really are very well done texts.
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Martha
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 5:49am | IP Logged
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I like them both  and have used both.
We just started using From Adam to Us. It is only available right now in digital form, which had me balking at first, but I took advantage of their digital deal: $39 for the digital version (includes all the ebooks- 8 total- and a $20 gift certificate towards a future Notgrass purchase).
I was on the fence all summer about Adam To Us vs. All Ye Lands.
What finally sold me on Notgrass was the amazingly beautiful pictures all through the text- especially beautiful on my lap top.
But since we have started From Adam to Us, I am loving having all the supplemental books as digital files. I have printed out the time line pages (so well done), the maps and the workbook pages that are of interest to us. The only thing I have to buy is the accompanying living books, and my library has most of those. I am feeling very spoiled.
In comparison, All Ye Lands has many suggested activities in the lesson plans, but it is left to the teacher to sift through them all and plan them. I am finding, after using America the Beautiful Vol 2 last year, that I do better with all the extras from Notgrass being readily available.
I have All Ye Lands and will use it as a Catholic supplement this year, but Notgrass will be our main text. We will use Uncle Sam and You next year during the election year.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 6:16am | IP Logged
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Coming back to add that Notgrass has a separate Facebook page for America the Beautiful and Uncle Sam and You, and one for Adam to Us.
These are great resources as well.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 6:16pm | IP Logged
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Thank you both for your replies. Can you tell me how does CTP and Notgrass integrate literature into their programs? Is it just "read this chapter" at this point in the text or is there more to it than that?
Thank you!
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 6:37pm | IP Logged
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Notgrass has a literature list for each of their books.
You work with one book at a time, and the chapter/s to be read each day are listed at the end of each lesson. For Adam to Us, there are about 8-9 books read throughout the course of the year: The Bronze Bow, Madeline Takes Command, and The Switherby Pilgrims are a few of the titles.
For All Ye Lands, there are Resources For Further Reading listed at the end of each chapter in the Teacher's Manual. For each chapter, anywhere from 3-8 books are listed for you to choose from, and the suggestions appear (to me) to be heavy on Time-Life books.
So, Notgrass just lists which chapter to read each day (independently or as a family read-loud) and CTP just lists a bunch of books to pick from.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 19 2015 at 12:15pm | IP Logged
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Melinda,
Thank you so much for this info. Does From Sea to Shining Sea also have a list of books at the end of each chapter?
Which do you like better? Notgrass or the Catholic Textbook
Project books?
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SeaStar
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Sea to Shining Sea does not have a book list in the text- it might in the teacher's manual, but I did not have the manual when we used it two years ago.
I have to say that right now I am liking Notgrass better... the text is written as a series of lessons, one per day, and at the end of each lesson there is a list of activities that you can do, including vocabulary words, further suggested reading, map work, literary assignment, etc.
We are using From Adam to Us this year, and I have the text plus all the supplemental books as e-books, so I can just print the time line, the maps, and whatever activities we want to do. We usually review the vocab words orally.
I find that Notgrass is very open and go, easy for me as the teacher, and interesting. I have to stress the "easy for me" part, which helps ensure the work gets done. I don't feel like I have to add a lot or supplement with anything, though I usually throw in related picture books from the library (titles from Mary M's suggested list). If it were a Catholic program that would be the icing on the cake (though I have not yet found anything anti-Catholic in it).
Also, Notgrass has many more pictures, especially color pictures, which provide many examples of things mentioned in the text- that is very handy, plus the pictures are beautiful on the computer.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 19 2015 at 3:07pm | IP Logged
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Melinda,
Thank you so much for your opinion on these. Did you happen to look at or use America the Beautiful or Uncle Sam and You? I am trying to decide which of these two is easier. Uncle Sam and You actually looks a bit easier than America the Beautiful, even though it supposedly comes after America the Beautiful. I will probably go with Notgrass once we are done with CLE 4th grade social studies.
BEth
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SeaStar
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One of the things I dislike about The CTB is that From Sea to Shining Sea goes through the Civil War and then stops. The next book in the series, All Ye Lands, starts back at ancient times. Modern history is not really covered until high school.
Well, my kids were not happy with that- they wanted to keep going with US history, especially the two world wars. That is how I found Notgrass- I needed a book that would pick up after the Civil War, and America the Beautiful Vol II was just the ticket for us. We have a local homeschool store, and Mr. Billy there recommended it- I had never heard of Notgrass before.
I thought ATB was very easy to use- it is recommended that the parent read the text aloud for kids through grade 6, so that is how we did it. I have seen the books for Uncle Sam and You, which also looks very good. I am planning to use that next year for the election. The lessons are set up so that if you start the book in August or Sept, you will have covered the whole election process just in time for the real election in November 
There are two Notgrass Facebook groups: one for people using ATB and Uncle Sam and You, and another for people using From Adam to Us.
I am finding both to be helpful- the author is frequently on both pages and jumps in to help answer questions all the time.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 21 2015 at 11:14am | IP Logged
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Melinda,
Thank you for this. I am still unsure which way we will go. Part f me really wants to use a Catholic based history for middle and high school. I need to take a closer look at From Sea to Shining Sea. Especially if I can combine it for a 5th and 8th grade level student.
Beth
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 21 2015 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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You are welcome. I felt the same way- torn. I wish the Catholic Textbook Project were more user friendly (for me). I don't understand why US history only goes to the Civil War and then tools around with geography and world culture for two years.
I did find questions for all the Notgrass literature selections in one of the supplemental books, so it doesn't just list the chapters to be read each day- there is a little more to it than that.
If it makes you feel better, I have Story of the World, All Ye Lands and Notgrass in the house this year because I couldn't make up my mind! 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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nightgalaxy
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| Posted: Aug 21 2015 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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Melinda,
LOL - you sound like me!
I don't mind that "From Sea to Shining Sea" only goes to the Civil War era, but can understand if you have history buff kids really getting into it, you would want the American History to continue to the present. For what is it worth, I don't think our public school's 8th grade American history goes beyond the civil war either. Neither of mine are big history buffs so I doubt it will bother them.
I like that with FTTSS, there is a student workbook which would help with output and lesson planning.
I see that Mater Amabilis has a reading list for FSTSS http://materamabilis.org/ma/from-sea-to-shining-sea-2/
albeit at a younger level.
The teacher's manual also lists additional literature for the text at the end of each chapter. http://www.emmanuelbooks.com/userfiles/files/PDF/Sea_to_Sea_ TE5_1-3.pdf
I think I can make this work.
Hopefully when done with FSTSS, my 8th grader, who will then going into 9th grade, will be ready for Light to the Nations, which he will likely take as an online course through Kolbe or Homeschool Connections.
As for my son with special needs, I will probably then have him do Uncle Sam and You, as it is right up his alley of interests and is more real world learning which he needs.
Thanks for all your thoughts. It was very helpful.
Beth
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Catholic Textbook Project or Notgrass
