How to teach AP history to a homeschooler

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10 replies
  2. shelli
    shelli says:

    I love your posts and have been reading all of them lately. I appreciate your honesty and straightforwardness. My husband is a history professor, so this one made me chuckle. I created a huge timeline that hangs in our hallway. I don’t know if it’s helping my boys as much as it’s helping me, but seeing the big picture has helped me wrap my head around history unlike how I learned it in school. My boys and I also benefit from my husband’s tiny lectures that he adds to our documentary watching, etc. Otherwise, he’s pretty hands-off with teaching history, but maybe when the boys get older, he’ll become their tutor more than me.

  3. Mark W.
    Mark W. says:

    Teach to engage. Teach to motivate more learning. Teach to ask more questions. But don’t teach to overwhelm or frustrate the student. All easier said than done and even harder to do in a classroom with many students who are comprehending at various levels what’s being taught. This post made me think of the various teachers I had over the years many years ago. I think the best teachers were those who could communicate complex ideas very simply and make them understandable without too much effort. I still think about what makes a teacher a good teacher to this day.

  4. Francis
    Francis says:

    I enjoyed this post. Spot on about hacking the essay. They are looking for the checkmarks on their scoring rubric, so just go by the rubric and as long as it’s generally cohesive (get comfortable with a variety of transition phrases and a succint conclusion,) it should be fine.
    Go get’em!

  5. Terri Torrez
    Terri Torrez says:

    We’re knee deep in AP U.S. right now. How did you find a tutor for the essays? We have the rubric but like you, I want to be sure we’re maximizing the essays.

  6. Penelope Trunk
    Penelope Trunk says:

    I emailed a guy who does a lot of AP Euro videos online, and asked for a referral. And on Wyzant I found a tutor for AP World history who is a grader for those essays. I bet you could do a simliar thing for AP US. I like the AP US videos at JoczProductions. Maybe that’s a good place to ask.

    And if you find someone. Let me know!

    Penelope

  8. Peyrot
    Peyrot says:

    This is similar to my style. I start with the Guide books and then toss them a used college textbook to go with it. I have not been so bold as to do the AP History tests just because I had such a wonderful AP History teacher in high school that I didn’t think I could measure up to. We did dual enrollment at a local private college for US History, which was a confidence boosting experience for my girl. I did tell her on other tests about the rubric-they’re just checking off a list for facts and such and not to stress on it.

    She did end up with a 3 on the AP Biology, but that’s on account of I signed her up on a whim around Christmas and didn’t realize how hard it was. She just drew the Krebs cycle and such every day and had had Biology the year before, but not Turbo-charged. After realizing how in-depth the AP was, I said, I apologize because as my oldest, I make the initial mistakes with you.

    She totally bombed the AP Chem, because she didn’t even try. Also, I recommend AB Calculus before you attempt the BC. We tried to “shoot the moon” and wound up crashing with a 2. Other AP victories included the Human Geography, Psychology, and English. We got an additional 23 hours dual enrolling, which in our state, is subsidized. She is now doing her second year in a computer science program.

    My next kid is opposite from her in every way, of course. I’m thinking CLEP for her: straight up multiple choice on almost all the tests and gets the job done.

    I enjoy your blog a lot.

  9. Kate
    Kate says:

    I love your more frequent posting and I binge on them every so often- tho this means I’m after way behind so commenting seems a bit… no point.
    I wanted to say… and this is probably massively outside the remit of what you like/ want to do… as a fairly disorganised INFJ home educating my eldest towards GCSE’s (in the UK) as that’s the direction she is interested in going, I’d love to see how you break down and tackle the subjects you teach/ cover. I just think BLEURGHHH when I begin to think about trying to do a couple of subjects in a year because despite having read that this is very possible with an apt and engaged child I find it hard to believe. I’m game to try but cannot think where to start to simply learn what we (she) need(s) to. I think maybe my executive function capacity is damaged or is it just a part of being INFJ? I have INFJ friends who are very together with planning / organising and carrying out practical stuff. Maybe it’s just me. I’m keen to blame all my faults on my personality type since I learned about it here a couple of years ago now.
    Gah. How to do charts for what to learn?? I might google it. I’m not sure what AP tests are for- are they a GCSE equivalent or not? (Here we do them in Two academic years from ages 14-16)
    Ok. Sorry- a bit of a waffle.

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