Having a faith-based curriculum is a high priority in our house. We have never used a History curriculum that wasn't faith-based. This past year we did two courses from Notgrass History - Exploring Government and Exploring Economics. Both are designed to be half year studies so this gave us a full year of history credit. Exploring Economics takes us on a journey through money on a personal and larger level.
In our house my two oldest sons worked on this curriculum at the same time. They were in 10th and 12th grade. I found it convenient to tackle the subject for both at the same time so that we could have discussions together. (They would probably tell you they wished we had done separate levels since they both read at different speeds.)
For this semester we chose to skip the assigned literature due to time restraints (we had already done a full year of literature between Exploring Government and our science curriculum. We actually started this early March and finished Early June.) I wanted to mention this because the curriculum is flexible and still quite meaty without that component.
I had the boys work at an accelerated pace because our oldest was graduating and needed this last class for credit. Thankfully they both love history so it wasn't an issue to dive in a really work fast. We have loved every course we've studied from Notgrass. When I ask my kids they can spout off facts and information from their daily readings. They retain a lot because they enjoy they style of the writing and the information. I love how faith is woven in. My oldest is embarking on the real world with working a real job and having to be physically responsible for his finances. I really like how Exploring Economics covered how money works. Austin had naturally had a lot of questions initially in this area and now he feels like he has a good understanding.
One thing I really enjoyed was all the writing assignments and projects. Having it written in the book and assigned weekly took the stress of coming up with my own ideas. It was all in the schedule, so there were no complaints on the topics or expectations. I personally gave them a guideline of how many papers I would like to see this semester and told them to choose wisely between papers and projects. I enjoyed seeing their take on each subject.
More about the course:
If you do Exploring Economics as written you can assign 1/2 credit in English and 1/2 credit in Economics.
Included in the course:
The Exploring Economics Curriculum Package includes two books:
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Exploring Economics, with 75 lessons divided into fifteen units of five lessons each plus all assignments for weekly and daily activities
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Making Choices, a collection of historic and modern documents, essays, and speeches that supplement the lessons
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Student Review, with review questions for each lesson and literary analysis and questions for each recommended book
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Quiz and Exam Book, with a quiz for each unit and an exam every five units
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Answer Key, with all the answers needed for the course.
- Silas Marner by George Eliot
- The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
- The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli
- Mover of Men and Mountains by R. G. LeTourneau
Overall, this is one my all time favorite curriculum - I cannot recommend it enough. Notgrass has history curriculum for grade school all the way through high school. I'm so excited to see that they are releasing a new set for grades 1-4 called Our Star-Spangled Story!! We will for sure be doing this in the near future (I'm thinking for 3rd grade!!) If your intrested in this one for the fall there is a pre-order deal from now until July 31st!
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