My Preview of Notgrass Exploring America

Well, I've had some chance to look through the Notgrass over the weekend. Overall, I'm pretty pleased. A little nervous about my end of it (I do NOT like grading assignments that don't have specific details), but overall impressed.

At first glance it looks light. I actually sat with both it and BJU's American Republic (8th grade book) in my lap at the same time. BJU definitely looks heavier. But in a way, Exploring America kind of reminds me of Mystery of History (disclaimer: I have only ever looked at/used MOH 1 --1st edition). It LOOKS light, but there's so much you can do with it. IF you only use the main package, it's going to be a little on the light side. It's not conversational as in Apologia, but definitely moreso than a textbook, and the assignments don't have a super-meaty feel, but again, they can be what you make of them. The more you add/choose to do, the meatier it's going to be. For example: Unit 13 is "The Terrible Conflict". Each unit, btw, is 5 lessons so basically one week. The lessons in this unit are 1862, 1863, 1864-65, Costs of the Conflict, and Bible Study: Faith on the Front Lines. (I haven't really investigated the Bible Studies yet. They do appear every 5th lesson.)

For the UNIT, they have:

Memory Verse -- Memorize Luke 7:9 by the end of this unit.

Books Used -- The Bible, American Voices (one of the books in the package), and Company Aytch (the lit selection currently being used)

Writing -- Choose one of the following writing assignments:

* Write a one- to two-page essay on the importance of leadership. Choose a particular leader you admire and use him or her as an example of the qualities you want to emphasize.

*Write a letter home as though you were a soldier in the Civil War. Tell about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Then specifically for lesson 62 (the second lesson in the unit entitled simply '1863'), they read the lesson in the book (3 pages - nice size font, not dinky like BJU's ;-) ) and the spcific assignments for the esson are:

History --

* Read the Emancipation Proclamation (American Voices, pages 214-215)

* Read Abraham Lincoln's Getysburg Address (American Voices, page 232)

English --

* Read "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale (nephew of Edward Everett, who gave a speech at Gettysburg) (American Voices, pages 216-231)

* Continue reading Company Aytch

Bible --

* Read Luke 23:47. How did this centurion show that he was convicted by the crucifixion of Jesus?

THEN

If you are using the optional Quiz and Exam Book, answer the questions for Lesson 62.

I am not going to type out all the questions. ;-) Not all lessons have as many questions, but this lesson has 8 questions on the main lesson, 9 on the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, and 7 on "The Man Without a Country".

Whew I'm tired.

Weekly quizzes are made up of your usual True/False, Short Answer, Matching, and Multiple Choice type questions. Tests over several units are often ONLY short answer/essay questions.

The History Test on Units 11-15 (which include the lesson I described above) is 50 (yes, 50) questions. Some are shorter answers "Who assassinated Lincoln?" Some are longer "What was the Compromise of 1877?"

The English Test for the same units is 15 questions on Uncle Tom's Cabin, "The Man Without a Country", Co. Aytch, and Little Women. (There are 13 literature books for the year that are not included, and just FTR, there are suggested alternatives someplace (I don't remember where right now) for all 13 if you can't get or have a problem with any of the suggested titles, but this of course, would change the English tests).

The Bible Test for these units is another 20 questions. Again, short answer to essay type.

So, you can really make this as much or as little as you want. An easy CM course with a fair amount of notebooking type assignments if you only use the main package on up to what could almost be considered a 'killer' course if you use every.single.page of the Quiz and Exam Book.

Like MOH, *I* miss color pictures.