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You are here: Home / Homeschool / Homeschool Curriculum / How We Used Uncle Eric Books and Bluestocking Guides to Homeschool High School

How We Used Uncle Eric Books and Bluestocking Guides to Homeschool High School

August 7, 2013 By Kris Bales · Disclosure: This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. {I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.}

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Using Uncle Eric books and Bluestocking guides to homeschool high school

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The following is a post from contributing writer Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeshoolers.

This post contains affiliate links.

My oldest child is just about ready to graduate. She just lacks a math and a science credit that she’ll be finishing up this fall. For all intents and purposes, we’re finished with high school for her and are preparing for life after high school. There are a few things that I wish I’d done differently with her, but there is one thing that I did amazingly right.

I used the Uncle Eric books and Bluestocking guides to create her senior year history and literature courses.

Brianna has long been interested in World War I and World War II, so I decided to let her really delve into the topics her senior year (something I should have done long before). Modeling her schedule after my younger kids’ Trail Guide to Learning schedule, we chose a biography, a historical fiction, and one or two non-fiction books to round out history and literature for each six weeks of school.

The Uncle Eric World War I and World War II books, along with the study guides, made up the spine of Brianna’s history. She really enjoyed them and wants to read some of the others. We both like the way the books encourage kids to think rather than just stating facts, which are sometimes one-sided in traditional history books.

We had some really interesting discussions about the how’s and why’s of both World Wars and the parties involved.

One of the things that we both enjoyed about the series is that author Richard Maybury points out the domino effect of history – how the events and ideas prior to World War I let to the war and how the two wars have affected history since.

Each of the books in the entire Uncle Eric series are written as a series of letters to his niece or nephew, so they’re very conversational in style, engaging, and easy to understand.

Uncle Eric World War II

The Bluestocking guides that were written to go along with the Uncle Eric series (and many other titles) include:

  • Comprehension questions for each chapter
  • Application questions
  • Research activities
  • Essay assignments
  • Thought-provoking questions
  • An answer key

Some days there were just a few questions. Other days there were many, along with long-term research projects. Basically, I just assigned what I thought was useful for Brianna, which meant that some days were very light, while others took a bit more time. I would usually give her a due date for the longer-term research projects.

It says something about this series that my somewhat reluctant-learner teen never got behind on her history assignments. She really looked forward to reading the series and the study guides. I’ve got some of the other books in the series, along with their study guides, sitting on my Amazon wish list.

We’ll definitely use the Uncle Eric books and the Bluestocking study guides as my younger kids get into world history – and I’d like to use Whatever Happened to Penny Candy and the accompanying guide to study economics with them.

What have you found that’s been a really good fit for your kids?

Kris, who blogs at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, is a homeschooling mom to three amazing kids and wife to her unbelievably supportive husband. She enjoys photography, running, and drinking sweet tea. You can connect with Kris on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

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This post contains affiliate links.

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497 shares
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Filed Under: Homeschool Curriculum

About Kris Bales

Kris Bales is the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest voice that founded Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She and her husband are parents of three amazing homeschool grads. Kris has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. She also seems intent on becoming the crazy cat lady long before she's old and alone.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carol Anne says

    August 7, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    Kris, I am so glad you posted this article. I have a friend whose dtr is wrapping up high school and just recommended Uncle Eric to her. Even tho’ I have a shelf full of the series, I was scratching my head on how to wrap up my 11th grader’s history. Silly me!
    Thanks for the nudge just when I needed it. Oh – and I sent this link along to my friend as well as pinning it!

    Reply
    • Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers says

      August 17, 2013 at 12:36 am

      I’m glad I could help! Thanks for passing along the link to your friend.

      Reply
  2. SoCalLynn says

    August 7, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    I have been looking at these for a few weeks, going back and forth in my mind whether I should by them or not. I think I will now. We have used Whatever Happened to Penny Candy and the guide, and my daughter loved it. I think if Uncle Eric can make basic economics that interesting, then the other books will be great, too.

    Reply
    • SoCalLynn says

      August 7, 2013 at 3:06 pm

      I just bought them. Happy now to have that settled. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers says

        August 17, 2013 at 12:36 am

        Yay! Enjoy.

        Reply
  3. Sara A in SC says

    August 16, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    Hi – Did you count this as History and English credits? Thanks… Sara

    Reply
    • Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers says

      August 17, 2013 at 12:37 am

      Yes, the combo of literature, spine books, and Uncle Eric books made up her history and English courses for last year.

      Reply
  4. Samantha says

    October 28, 2013 at 10:51 am

    I’ve never heard of Uncle Eric before! It looks great!! Your daughter and I would probably get along great – I have been really interested in WWII for about 4 years now. Next year I will probably make a full WWII course and I’ve been looking for a “backbone” textbook. This may work next year!
    This year, I was fortunate enough to find Stobaugh Literature and History – I love the unbiased history. It’s obviously from a Christian perspective, but he really doesn’t skim around or try to make one side look good. He presents the facts and opinions of both sides and then lets the reader decide. I’m an analytical thinker so I really enjoyed that.
    Pinning this for future reference. Thanks!

    Reply

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Angie, mom to three very fun kids, is the founder of Real Life at Home.  With degrees in elementary education (B.A.) and special education (M.S.Ed.), as well as being a former homeschooler, she is passionate about supporting both parents and teachers by providing printables, crafts, and activities to help children learn and grow. Read More…

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