Aug. 2, 2006 School Planning for the Year
Most of my school planning each summer goes towards our history studies which I try to create into an integrated humanities course. So we do writing, history, philosophy, and literature. Sometimes the literature is quite different--it is hard to integrate because there's little literature for the large part of early history and much literature for the relatively small part of later history. We try to read extra books--particularly biographies. I was gratified to hear James Taylor at the Circe conference recommend biographies as a good way to bring poetic knowledge to bear in history. I've always intuitively known that, not knowing that it's called poetic knowledge. It's good to hear someone like Dr. Taylor say it, and of course, expand upon it.
Normally I'm not a huge fan of text books for history particularly in the younger grades. However, I do use them to tie the larger events together to understand the flow of history better. Now that I understand history better, some of the times which seemed bereft of events were really times rich in ideas slowly moving to the next climax in the American story. (I'm not as well versed in world history). So with my high schoolers, I've been able to add some books dealing with ideas more.
We take two years to cover US history. Last year my son Jed and I went through the first half of US history. Even though there are political events in the fifty or so years before the Civil War, they are rather sparse. We think of the Oregon Trail migration, the California Gold Rush, the Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott decision. One book I've actually read three times now, once with Jed last year, is Arguing About Slavery by William Miller. This book chronicles lesser known, ongoing events in the 1820's through 1840's, much of it spearheaded by the great efforts of John Quincy Adams. It is a wonderful book for understanding the political events (including the Missouri Compromise, idea of popular sovereignty, Dred Scott) that were steamrolling towards the Civil War. The Amistad trial took place during this time period. Other books we read were Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, Cherokee Trail of Tears by Ehle, The Peculiar Institution by Kenneth Stampp, and Crisis in American History by Allen Guelzo. We also used the two books I will talk about later.
I've actually never done the second half of history very well with my kids, and so my time this summer has been spent in reading and learning about that era. Just as there were many philosophical things happening in the forty years before the Civil War, there were a lot of philosphical things taking place in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I'm looking forward to learning more. The reason I bring all this up though is that I have found a text book I really like. It is The American Promise published by Bedford/St. Martin's Press. It has many elements of more-vibrant "real" books--the ideas are developed well dealing with opposing sides fairly. It presents a very human view of history so that interest is captured through the stories of the people involved. Opposing Viewpoints in American History by Greenhaven Press forms the basis of our primary source materials. Along with these, we will be using The American Mind a course on DVD produced by The Teaching Company and taught by Allen Guelzo. Of all The Teaching Company "faculty" Allen Guelzo is my favorite. That he's knowledgeable is a given, but his manner conveys his great interest in the subject manner. He speaks as if he is speaking extemporaneously without reference to notes, often slipping into the role of the person about which he is speaking. His vocabulary is wide-ranging and rich, and his manner of speech is elegant and almost poetic. I plan on using other things, but these form the basis of our history studies this year. Now to work on what I'll be doing with my 9th grader.
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Aug. 2, 2006 Circe Conference
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I returned Saturday night from one of the best events I've ever attended. It was the annual conference held by the Circe Institute headed up by Andrew Kern. Not only did I learn more and was inspired by this conference more than any other I've attended, but attending with seven other ladies from the ClassED email list made it the most fun conference I've ever attended. I may try to post more about the conference, but for now, I'll just give the link for one of my friends who has written about it on her blog: Dominion Family
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