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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 11:01am | IP Logged
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As a spin off of my other thread, I was curious if those of you who are mostly or all CM (or those of you who aren't CM at all, honestly) would mind laying out for me how and when you introduce a formal study of history, in general?
I am just having trouble putting this together in my mind. I like things in outline form. 
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Krista
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ShannonJ
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 11:45am | IP Logged
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Krista, we JUST started integrated some CM into our homeschool over the past year, so I am certainly no expert on compiling history a la CM. However, here is our history rotation including each of our three kiddos.
History Rotation.docx
I just wrote out our basic 4 year rotation and plugged in the grades of the kids at each year. This helped me to "see" how many times each child would hit the rotation and allowed me to better wrap my mind around things :)
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jawgee
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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We do the six-year rotation on Simply Charlotte Mason. We do History as a family subject, so as soon as they can sit and listen they become part of the learning.
This year we've used Story of the World as a spine and dug into detail on some of the events and people with supplemental living books.
History is my 10YOs favorite subject, and I would say it is one of my 6YOs favorites, too!
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 12:06pm | IP Logged
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Shannon, that is a very helpful chart. I might end up making something like that for myself. I have other kids coming up behind, too. I like to have a general guideline of how things will play out, even if we end up changing it on a yearly basis.
I'm going to go back and look at your chart again now. :)
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Krista
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ShannonJ
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 1:05pm | IP Logged
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kristacecilia wrote:
| I might end up making something like that for myself. I have other kids coming up behind, too. I like to have a general guideline of how things will play out, even if we end up changing it on a yearly basis. |
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Yes I really need this too! It helps me to feel like I'm not missing something if I have a visual to tell me that I'm on track. Charts are so relaxing!
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JodieLyn
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Well I had planned to do a rotation but hit modern times and it's just not easy to cram everything in and then the kids want to study a particular era.. and you know what.. I go with it. I know that they'll remember way more about history if it's something they're interested in exploring than if it's just "now we're scheduled to study..." Heck, my kids often don't even realize they're studying history
But we've done ancients, American revolution, 19th century (up to Lewis and Clark/Civil War, not really the Wagons West part yet) and now I'm setting up for WWI/WWII with some turn of the century and depression era tossed in just beccause it fits the time 
I figure that I'd rather they learn the parts they're interested in and not worry too much about cramming everything in (though I'll try and hit most time periods) because it's what they're interested in that they'll remember anyway. 
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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Monica, that is something I was really looking into. What do you find are the benefits of using a 6 year rotation vs. a 4 or 5 year rotation? I can see that you would be able to spend more time delving into each period in history, but I can also see how three rotations instead of just two would allow for a chance to visit more of the biographies and primary sources for each period....
I have been rolling that one around in my mind all day.
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Krista
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ekbell
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Basically, my children start history when they are old enough and interested enough to pay attention to what I'm reading aloud.
Before age ten or so history mostly consists of family read-alouds plus some independent readings as enrichment for fluent readers. Discussions are informal tell-me-about-it style. They occasionally color pictures for the Book of Centuries that I maintain.
Around age ten or so, their independant reading becomes the meat of their studies (instead of the read-alouds) and I start adding Book of Century, mapping and notebook assignments. The changeover is gradual as what they read for themselves grows and they start keeping track of people, places and events for themselves.
Our history studies cycle though the centuries simply because
it's a fairly straightforward approach with lots of support (spines, reading lists, etc) which works well with gradually deepening studies. I'm not particularly worried about how many years it takes to cycle though as long as we don't take longer then one child's years of study  . Four years, four and a half years, five years .... it all works.
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kristacecilia
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Yes, I think flexibility with time and interest is a probably a big, important key!
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Krista
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Claire F
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I'm planning to start a more formal history study next year, when my DS is in 2nd grade. I'm looking at RC History's Connecting With History. It uses the 4 year rotation, so we'll start with that and see how we like it. The crazy planner in me wants to have everything laid out nicely at the start (even if I know we will change and adapt over time) but the realist in me knows that having a rough outline for the next few years is probably good enough. So my DS won't get the 4 year rotation exactly three times, since we're starting in 2nd. And that's fine. We'll probably work through the 4 sections once and then decide what to do, and then hit them again in high school in more depth. In between, well, I'm not sure yet, but I'm trying to tone down my "I want to plan everything" side and not worrying about it right this second. We may try to cycle through again, just adapted to 3 years instead of four, or we might focus on other parts of the world and study American history in depth... not sure yet, but I have time to mull that one over.
I'm also introducing American History, slooooowly. We're reading through This Country Of Ours a little at a time and discussing what we read a little. I'm not considering it formal history study, but we do read a bit each week. I got the book on Kindle for like a dollar, and I figured I'd try it out and see if he likes it. He loves it so far and asks me to read "just a little more!" every time. So we go with it. I'll keep going into the next year or so until we read all of it. I plan to put up a wall timeline or some other sort of visual aid to help us place things in time. So as we read about American history, narrative style, we can place things on the timeline. And then when we get to Ancients next year, we can place things and see the difference and refer to it to remember where we are in time as we go.
For American history, I'm aiming for a general familiarity with the stories of our history at this age. So just reading through the book and short narrations leading to discussions is fine. We'll hit American history again and then do more supplementary reading and activities. So I'll sort of be teaching world history alongside American history, but the emphasis in reading volume and activities (starting next year) will definitely be world history.
I'd like to have my littles, who are coming up behind, just jump in where we are when they are ready, so we're all studying the same time period. We'll see how that works out. Again, one of those things my chart and spreadsheet loving self would love to have planned out perfectly, but something I think in reality will work better if I tackle it when the time comes :).
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CatholicMommy
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I love studying history now that I have Charlotte Mason and Montessori on hand :)
I have found as long as you give the big impression of all history FIRST; then keep that out to come back to for fitting in the pieces, the order of studying the details doesn't really matter - it's all based on interest.
So in Montessori it's the Great Lessons (following all of them); in Charlotte Mason it's the Book of Centuries.
We do both :) We did get Mystery of History for the fun of it and THAT has spurred SO much historical interest (he already loved all things archaeology).
So I don't have to worry about finding the perfect text or perfect program - we just use what works for the historical era of the moment. We're going on 2 years of Ancient Egypt, with lots and lots of branches off and back!
:)
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Mackfam
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I thought I'd put CM's approach in here and then tell you what we do.
Charlotte Mason:
For reference - CM Forms and the corresponding grade levels:
IB - 1st grade (6yo)
IA - 2nd - 3rd (7 - 9...important to remember children stayed in this Form for a couple of years.)
II - 4th - 5th (9 - 12)
III - 6th - 7th (13)
CM began introducing history through one read aloud (Our Island Story) around age 6, Form IB.
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason - (p. 274) wrote:
| English (national) history is always with us, but only in the earliest years is it studied alone. |
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Parents' Review Article - The Teaching of Chronology by Dorothea Beale wrote:
There is much to be said for the view recently enunciated by the Emperor William, that children should begin with their own times and read history backwards. We want to give reality to history by showing that it is not something remote, to be found in books only; we want to show that the life of each child forms part of history;
SNIP
the greatest prominence should be given to English History, events in contemporaneous history being very gradually introduced. |
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So, CM began with the child's point in history.
Charlotte Mason discusses a little more detail in Vol 6 of her series (p. 174). She has her students begin studying history by studying their own national history, which for her students was English history. Her 1B students (age 6) listened as their teacher read half of the book Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall. When students moved ahead at age 7, into Form 1A, Miss Mason says they go on to finish Mrs. Marshall's book and they also add some rich biographies to the mix:
A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason wrote:
| In 1A the history is amplified and illustrated by short biographies of persons connected with the period studied....to help the children immensely in individualising their heroes. |
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So, Charlotte Mason began introducing history by focusing on English/national history, with an emphasis on well written biographies from the period from which the children were reading.
From there, each successive year they begin adding in something new - French History (because of the close proximity to England), then Ancient history.
Mrs. Bernau says that CM/PNEU students began a Book of Centuries of their own when they are around 10 years of age. This is so that their sense of time has developed more fully (since a sense of time is so abstract) - they must be able to understand time (past and present) in order to appreciate a Book of Centuries. This would be around 4th or 5th grade.
************************************************************ **
It makes sense that if you are English you might be able to study both your national history and simultaneously study history chronologically - because of England's rich and very long history. We Americans face a different decision and context when choosing how to study history.
In our home, we begin reading aloud from history stories around 2nd grade. Both 2nd and 3rd grade history are comprised mostly of read alouds of notable historical figures, primarily national historic figures. We enjoy a lot of historical fiction and historical biographies from picture books during these two years. I do not try to place figures in time because my children really haven't developed a sense of time at this young age. We simply read the stories and biographies and enjoy them as story. I do not point out the significance of the figure, the significance of the period of history, the dates, or other figures or events around the time we're reading about. We just enjoy the story as story. You certainly could do a family Book of Centuries or timeline, I just never have.
It has been my experience that those early stories, enjoyed and narrated, become a part of the collective memory and once the children are older, they draw from those stories/memories and begin making connections from those early stories. Connections become rich and varied the older a child is, but my patience has been rewarded when I don't try to rush connections. If I rush a connection, invariably I am the one making it, not the child.
We do not begin a Book of Centuries until 4th grade. We wait until 4th grade so that their penmanship is neat and in place and so that their understanding of time has had a chance to mature and develop.
We also begin to follow a bit of a history rotation starting in 4th grade, moving chronologically from Ancient History forward. I can tell you how that's worked out for us in terms of about how much we cover in a year....but honestly, it's just worked out that way. Our home is very much like Jodie's - if the children are really immersed in a period, or have taken an interest in another, we linger.
We always manage to find time and interest in studying unique and pertinent national history. These are more motivated by anniversaries of various historical events rather than a chosen theme. They simply work out and work their way in. (I know - that's not very helpful is it?) There are some children that have taken a particular interest in certain historical figures, settings, events, and those children almost become self-propelled in their studies for that period of history. In other words, it almost takes on a life of its own once you introduce great books from which to read about history. I think this approach to studying history through living books, and sometimes jumping around through history, can successfully weave together through the use of a simple BOC, which is why I find it so useful and integral.
That's our approach. (And CM's....hope that was helpful as a reference anyway. )
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Feb 18 2012 at 6:29am | IP Logged
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This thread has been VERY helpful!
Thanks for throwing in the CM stuff, Jen. I didn't realize that was their full approach to history.
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Krista
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Barbara C.
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I use the four year cycle suggested in The Well-Trained Mind starting in the 1st grade. In grades 1-4 the goal is just to "plant seeds", not mastery, so that the material is familiar when it is repeated again later.
I put together my own outline for each time period, though, of key points that I want to hit about each topic (since many books overlook certain religious and social elements that I think are important). I've been using the Usborne Encyclopedia of History as a spine, and then supplementing with Story of the World and books from the library. My oldest is only in 3rd, so we do history two times per week.
Next year, I'll have a fourth grader and a first grader. My plan is just to integrate each child at what ever time period we are at when she gets to first grade.
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Topic: When/How to introduce formal history?
