Dialectic Alternate Resource - Heritage of Freedom? or BJU books?

[Beth Ann from WI]

I'm concerned about giving "The Complete Idiot's Guide to 20th Century History" to my newly Dialectic (6th grade) son. Besides the title, the numerous warnings in The Glance make me hesitate ... so I'm looking at the alternate book "Heritage of Freedom." However, I see that A Beka lists that as an 11th grade History textbook. Does anyone have experience with that book - could a strong 6th grade reader work with it?

The Bob Jones Heritage Studies 4 and Heritage Studies 5 seem to cover TOG Year 4 time periods. Does anyone have experience with those? I'm wondering if they would make a good substitute for the Dialectic "Core" - we'd still use the usual "In-Depth" recommendations.

Beth Ann

[DanaCinTN]

Hi Beth Ann,
Yes, I personally think a strong 6th grader could read the ABeka book.

Blessings,

[Beth Ann from WI]

Dear Dana,

Thank you for the reply.

A related question: If I use that Heritage of Freedom book as scheduled in the Alternate Resources pages, (and don't use the Complete Idiot's book at all), but do use all the other Primary - Core and In-Depth books, will the alternate completely cover the topics addressed by the similar Core book in the regular Reading Assignment Charts? If I just substitute the Heritage of Freedom readings for the Complete Idiots readings, and keep everything else the same, would a student still be able to answer most of the Student Activity Pages questions?

(In the past, I've only used the Alternate as supplements or enrichment, I've never used it as a complete substitute for a book on the RAC.)

I appreciate your helpfulness,

Beth Ann

[DanaCinTN]

Hi,
No, it will not completely take the place of the Idiot's Guide. See, the Idiot's Guide covers *world* history, whereas the Heritage of Freedom is just U.S. history.

Blessings,

[Beth Ann from WI]

Dear Dana,

Thank you for your reply. That is very helpful information in making a purchasing decision.

Beth Ann

[st8homom]

I know this post is old, but what did you decide? Did you try the year using Heritage of Freedom?

I'm in your position this year... wondering if I should use Heritage of Freedom.

[Beth Ann from WI]

Hello,

Yes, we did purchase and use the Abeka 11th grade history - Heritage of Freedom instead of the Complete Idiot's Guide. I showed the Complete Idiot's Guide to my husband and he strongly preferred that we use the Christian school textbook instead for our young son. (Please note Dana's comment that the ABeka text covers US History, but not all the world history that would be addressed in the Complete Idiot's guide.) My son did not have trouble with the reading level of the textbook.

I don't remember all the details of how we handled that b/c it was awhile ago, but here is what I think I remember.

I instructed my son to read through the Thinking and Accountability questions carefully before he did any of the history readings. I looked at the Abeka textbook each week to find the material that was most similar to the material being covered in the Reading Assignment in the Complete Idiot's guide. Then I put Post-It notes in the Abeka text marking which paragraphs to read. I also noted the page numbers of the Abeka text on my son's homemade "assignments chart" for the week under "History." There was probably some filling in of world history information that he needed via lecturing from the Teacher's Notes and/or the Discussion Guide. I'm sorry that I can't remember those details.

I also watched for books on the "Alternate Readings" page, b/c we own many of those and sometimes they might fill in the blanks on the world history topics. I tried to keep in mind that he would re-visit this part of world history again at an older age, too.

He's gone to camp right now, but I can ask him later if he has any helpful hints or remembers any accommodations we made, if you would like.

Perhaps other people on this list also used the Abeka book and could give you some feedback.

Beth Ann

[st8homom]

Dear Beth Ann,
Thank you so much for responding. I was pretty sure it was a gamble that you would even see this post since you are no longer in Y4.
I have real misgivings about handing over the IG to my 7th grader. You mention finding the pages in HoF that most correspond to the IG. Do you own the IG so that you can compare? Did you not follow the "recommended" page numbers from TOG?
Do you have any regrets? I really appreciate your first-hand insight!

Amy

[Beth Ann from WI]

Hi Amy,

I hope this is helpful: I did not give the Instructor's Guide to my son. Is that what you mean by IG? Or, did you mean the Idiot's Guide? No, I would not have given the Idiot's Guide to him b/c he is very tender-hearted and it would have been disturbing to read some of that himself at that age. (To read it along with a parent and with discussion might have been fine for him.) For example, the concept of abortion just is unbelievable to him. It is very troubling. And, I didn't know where he might read ahead or wander to other pages.

When I gave him the Heritage of Freedom book, I inserted Post-It Notes that said "Start here." above the first paragraph and "Stop here." right below the last paragraph for each week's readings. I don't know why it was hard for him to find where to start reading if I just gave him a chapter title with page numbers or a section headline with pages numbers. He seemed to need the Post-It Notes right on the page.

I'm sorry I don't recall more details of how we handled that.

No, I don't regret replacing the Idiot's Guide. Each child is different, and at that time, I would not have used that book with him.

If you use the TOG Evaluations, you can see which topics might not have been addressed in the HoF book and use those for further instruction.

Also, every history book is going to have influence from the author's priorities and viewpoints. No history book has everything. The authors always pick and choose what they present and what they overlook or under-emphasize. That's why we prayed about it and sought direction for how to substitute. (And keep in mind that they will probably study that time period again at a more in-depth level.)

Also, with the Joy Hakim books, we found we often needed to discuss various topics to clarify a Biblical understanding to certain issues. Sometimes it may have gone right over his head, but it did remind me of some great discussion material later for whole family dinnertime conversation.

Hopefully some other folks who substituted for the Idiot's Guide can add more comments.

Beth Ann