Civics and History

The latest foray into the next level of "civics" seems to be going okay, not great but okay. We're still in elementary level (National Government - Kids' Guide) but at least I can read this book without cringing! D never even complained about the first "baby" book, some of the information was presented so obviously to little kids, somewhere in the 2nd to 4th grade range I'd assume, that I was waiting for him to complain or at least mention it! He didn't care at all, apparently all he cared about was that it was simple enough to get through quickly.

It took him two days to get through the first one, taking notes. I wasn't sure he could take notes on such a low level book but there was enough information that it worked very well. It will take him three days to finish this next book, adding to his notes as he discovers more information. These, the video documentary, and a project (poster, speech, some such thing) may be all I have him do about the government other than keeping track of the elections. We'll go back to his regularly scheduled history.

His regular history (McGraw Hill's American History - The Modern Era Since 1865) is written on a high school level, above his reading level but doing it together is working, he gets none or only one wrong on the quizzes. As long as I actually teach the lesson, he can understand. Reading it on his own doesn't work, the vocabulary in this book is too much for him - difficult vocabulary to describe difficult concepts. I considered not having him do this anymore, this text came out one readability check as 11th grade, but he said he had no problem until he had to study economy and business. He likes the fact that it's an actual textbook. He's happy with it and doing well so we'll keep on with it!