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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Feb 25 2010 at 4:55pm | IP Logged
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Since it is February, I am starting to plan for next year. My oldest will be in first grade, so, I'm trying to convince myself that now's the time to get serious 
So, I am looking at Mater Amabilis as a spine, and was looking ahead through the years to help me get my head around my long-term goals.
My second child is 3.5, my oldest is 5.5 (their birthdays are two days apart, so exactly two years difference).
When looking at history especially, I couldn't help but think that in a couple of years, it would be ideal for them to both be doing the same history together in the future.
So, would you just start the American history tract, plan to do that for a couple of years, and then include the youngest in the third year and let him wait through the 3 years of British history before learning about the first 2/3 of American? Especially since he'd probably be there for the initial 2/3 of American even if not officially or required to participate?
I don't have concerns about other subjects (like nature or science) because it feels more natural in the sense of it all coming around again. But I can't get my head around history--perhaps I am mentally stuck on chronology?
Can you share some strategies some of you have used in combining a subject like history for all the grades? Maybe then I can see it more clearly in my mind!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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I think it'll be fine.. if you're going to do h istory together as a family.. some will just have to cycle around to parts. I can't have Ellie and Matthew (2 yrs apart) both take the same section of history in the same years.. to do that.. you have to teach it individually to each student.
And if you really think about it.. history in school wasn't THAT chronological.. I mean.. you learned about dinosaurs (that turned out not to really exist.. anyone else like a brontosaur?) and then you might learn about the native americans in your state.. and then you might learn about the greek myths..
In high school I was in one school my sophmore year for US History.. that went forward at the normal rate.. got to a new school that went backwards because the teacher found they never really got through the more recent history so she started there.. I got two halves of the first part of US History good thing I liked that part of history 
So what's the big deal if one child learns US History in Elementary school out of chronology? You'll have lots of time when they'll be older and you go through that again.. consider the first time around to create familiarity so that when they're older it will be easier to get into the details.
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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kristacecilia
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What I have decided to do (at least, what I have decided this week  ) is to use Story of the World I and Reading Your Way Through Historyhttp://www.readingyourwaythroughhistory.com/ as a spine for a four or five year history program.
I will be starting it with my 6 and 4 y/os in the fall. MOstly the 4 y/o will just listen and participate in the craft portion if he wants. The 6 y/o and I are going to do some additional reading, geography, etc.
I figure we'll just keep following that, covering US and Canadian history extensively when we get to it chronologically, and then just start the cycle over. All the kids can jump in where they are when they start becoming involved with school, and everybody should cover each year twice (once at an elementary level, once at a more in-depth level) before they are 'done'.
I guess that is similar to what you are considering, but I plan to cover world history each year (with the exception of the time we spend specifically on US/Canadian history). I don't see it being a problem, particularly. As they age they will be able to further appreciate the sequence of history, and when we restart the cycle, it will put everything in order in their minds.
At least, I hope?
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ekbell
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I have all my children studying the same area of history.
Basically I read material to the children in grade three and under that corresponds with my oldest's studies. [I have found that my four and five year olds will listen to a reasonable amount of the read-alouds even if they are not required to.]
I provide my grade three student with additional reading and expect more feedback in the way of narration and discussion then my grade one student (I don't require anything from my younger students).
Since we cycle through history I'm not worrying much about the chronology (besides it would be difficult not to study more history then the local schools are required to teach- there's no chronological overview of world history at all)
I also own a couple of simple overviews for both my country's history (Canada) and for world history (Mary Daly's First Timeline-the simple stories are quite good) so that I can do a very quick overview of the history up to that year studies at the beginning of the year if it seems necessary.
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AndieF
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I have all four children (grades 2, 3, 4 and 5) study the same history. For me, it would be too complicated and spread me too thin to try and teach 4 different times of history.
Of course, we do several subjects together. We do more together than we do separately. We do history, grammar, science, music, art and poetry as a group. The older children are doing continents study for geography while the younger two are studying United States. They each do their own level of math and spelling.
I'm not sure what will happen when my preschooler is doing Kindy work next year because he will be 3 years behind them all, and I'll just be focusing on reading, writing and math. But I think in your case, it would work out just fine to combine.
Andie
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CrunchyMom
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Do you have a "plan" for the subjects you do together? Simply Charlotte Mason has their history recommendations divided into sections of history they all do together and cycle through over and over chronologically.
Ambleside has nature study/science categories they cycle through.
I'm kind of expecting that eventually we'll keep a book of centuries so we know where we might need to fill in for gaps, but I wonder if families have found a particular groove or plan that has proved efficient for implementing this or if its mostly a fly by the seat of your pants sort of thing?
A lot of the first grade CM use the old testament as their history, but I really see us doing a separate history from the Bible, with the Bible stories as a constant no matter what the year. Perhaps recapping Biblical history yearly with our Lenten Ark readins (from LTP) or a Jesse tree.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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hylabrook1
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We've done history sort of all together. We started with Ancient (Bible times; Egypt; Greece; Rome), moved along through the Middle Ages; on to Renaissance, etc. This was actually much easier than having different children at different places. Read alouds after lunch were biographies, historical fiction, Landmark books, that fit with the period. Younger children can handle "older" books if they are read alouds (but wouldn't be able to read them themselves). If the readings felt a little *light* for the olders, they would work on a puzzle or knit or color while I read. Field trips, videos, and things like that were relevant to everyone, although they each took things in at an age appropriate level. Each age group read different things to some extent, at grade level, and their papers or projects were based on what was appropriate to their own grade level. They each learned each period of history twice, once as a younger child and then again in 8th through 12th grades.
Peace,
Nancy
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ekbell
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| Posted: Feb 26 2010 at 7:31pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
I'm kind of expecting that eventually we'll keep a book of centuries so we know where we might need to fill in for gaps, but I wonder if families have found a particular groove or plan that has proved efficient for implementing this or if its mostly a fly by the seat of your pants sort of thing?
A lot of the first grade CM use the old testament as their history, but I really see us doing a separate history from the Bible, with the Bible stories as a constant no matter what the year. Perhaps recapping Biblical history yearly with our Lenten Ark readins (from LTP) or a Jesse tree.
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To tell the truth I'm not particularly worried about gaps. There is no way in the world I can teach my children more then a teeny-tiny itty-bitty fraction of known history. People spend their whole lives studying just one small area of history! My main concern is to help my children have some understanding of the roots of our civilization and of just how much history there is.
I started very fly by the seat of my pants but with more children I've started actually things out a bit more (mainly so that I could fit in the Saint stories and independent enrichment reading with my history spine).
I keep a very simple book of centuries for my younger children (it has illustrations they've colored of historical stories that I've read to them). My oldest is now keeping her own book of centuries.
As for Bible study.
We have bible history as part of our historical studies. We have a yearly overview of salvation history (Jesse tree readings during advent). The children and I also study the Sunday readings together.
The main difference between the various ways we study the Bible is which of the four 'senses' of scripture we are concentrating on (see CCC 115–118).
The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87
In history we look at what happened to the Israelites. We spend time learning about what it was like then and study the references to other peoples and places. We concentrate on the literal sense.
When discussing salvation history we see how everything leads towards Jesus and our Salvation. It is a time for pointing out the prefigurations of Jesus in the old testament as well as those who are ancestors of Jesus. We concentrate on the anagogical (or "heavenly") sense with some discussion of the allegorical.
When discussing the Sunday readings we are looking at what the readings teach us this day as well as the theme uniting the first reading and psalm with the gospel. We concentrate on the moral and sometimes the allegorical.
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Mackfam
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I combine my first two with several subjects even though they are 4 years apart. I generally move through subjects in *themes* or *chunks* and plan accordingly. My 4th grader doesn't study to the depth of my 8th grader, but the learning is fairly natural.
While I enjoy taking interests into account, I'm also very much a planner - I just don't plan too far in advance.
In general, I have a big picture plan, and from there a plan for the year - topics/subjects we'll study - so Botany for science, Early Church history through Middle Ages for history. Then, I plan in themes from there. My booklists for my children will differ because of reading ability, but they're still focusing on the same theme together so projects are often completed together. From theme planning, I further plan in weekly increments.
Using a Book of Centuries/Timeline to serve as a framework for history allows you to study and move around in history with ease. The BOC allows a child to *see* the relationship between events in history.
CrunchyMom wrote:
| I wonder if families have found a particular groove or plan that has proved efficient for implementing this or if its mostly a fly by the seat of your pants sort of thing? |
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What are you asking about planning/flying by the seat of your pants with, Lindsay? I do a lot of both. Do you mean, how do you keep up with all the different *themes* to make sure you're kind of providing a generally good coverage of basics?
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angel
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We tend to study history as a family, and I usually try to tie in religion and literature to our history studies as well. Anything I really want to do as a family I include during our read-aloud time -- about an hourish in the morning. As the kids get older and our gaps in ages stretch, we've had to make a few changes (which I'm still trying to sort out), so I think if you're trying to plan a history rotation from the very beginning, I would keep in mind that kids grow and circumstances change and it's important to be flexible. Just because you start out with one plan now, at the very beginning, doesn't mean you have to be following the same plan when your oldest is 13, kwim?
My kids are 13, 10 (almost 11), 6 (almost 7), 4 and 4, and 2, with one on the way. So you can see that most of our age differences are in the 2 - 2.5 year range, with a big 4 year gap in the middle. 2-2.5 years is relatively easy to deal with. My older two have always been combined for history, read alouds, and religion, and they are also doing the same Latin and writing curricula. In terms of history/literature, we started out pretty much unschooling, but what we ended up with a fairly chronological study of history... which was sort of interesting to me, because I sure didn't plan it that way!
As our family has grown and the kids have gotten older, we've settled into a more planned mode that still allows for a fair amount of flexibility. For the past few years, we've been doing a specifically chronological study. So last year was ancient history. At the beginning of the year, I generally write out a list of topics I think it is either possible or desirable to cover. Usually this translates to geographical areas. For instance, for ancient history, I had:
Sumerians
Old Testament
Ancient Egypt
Ancient India
Ancient Africa
Ancient China
Greeks
Romans
Then I go looking for booklists. I use Ambleside Online's recommendations, the recommendations in the supplemental Story of the World books, selections from The Latin-Centered Curriculum, the Well-Trained Mind, and Connections with History (what used to be RC History) as well as other sources and the Sonlight catalog.  I want my kids to be familiar with the most important literary texts from these time periods as well as the history. For ancient history, it's pretty easy to concentrate on, say, mythology. I always try to have on hand some books that the kids will be interested in reading or looking at on their own, and some that can serve as read alouds for everybody. I look through the books I already own and I buy a selection of what I think will be core texts or read alouds.
But I don't plan any more than that in advance. The next step is to ask the kids what they're interested in studying. Since my kids are older now, this is pretty explicit. I say something like, "Ok, we've finished modern history and now we're back to the ancients. Here are the areas I think we ought to cover. Let's start with the Sumerians because that's the beginning and we haven't done too much about them yet." I start in on a core text (we used The Little History of the World, Story of the World V. 1, and a retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh) and then I gauge the level of interest. If they're pretty interested, then I provide more books for independent reading and we do as many read alouds as the kids want to do. If the interest isn't there, we go pretty fast.
After this point, since chronologies in different geographical areas overlap, I let the kids pick what they want to do next. So we went from Sumeria to Ancient India. When my older two were younger, we read a fair amount of picture books about Greek myths, Egyptians, etc., so they were keen to hit some of the areas they hadn't yet studied. I added in fairy tales and legends and picture books from the time period/geographical areas for the younger kids. We did not hit every area over the course of the year -- the Egyptians got sort of left out except for a book that my oldest read himself -- but that was because we had already studied them somewhat and the kids wanted to fill in gaps that we had left earlier. So just because you leave gaps in one area doesn't have to mean that those gaps exist for all time. Doing history this way is also nice for me because I am not covering the same topics in the same fashion with the very same books for the younger kids as they come up behind the older ones. There's always something new.
This year things are a little different because my 10 yo dd is covering a different period of history on her own as well as listening to our medieval read alouds, and my 6 yo is far more interested in WWI and WWII, which he is getting in nightly bedtime read alouds from his father. But the kids seems to be able to handle the different streams of history pretty well. Keeping a book of centuries has never worked for us, but I do have several timeline books available and we use them frequently.
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Angela
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CrunchyMom
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Thanks, ladies!
Angel, that is the sort of answer I was looking for.
Jennifer, would your mom's history book you "plugged" in the books about books thread be a good spine for planning history across the grades?
Also, does anyone know of a ready-made timeline that would look classy in my hallway?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| Jennifer, would your mom's history book you "plugged" in the books about books thread be a good spine for planning history across the grades? |
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No. Her book doesn't really include any book recommendations for anything younger than age 8. This is part of the revision we're working on - to include a good bit for a younger age.
I plan a lot as Angela does. In building booklists, I generally look at the books recommended in Emmanuel Books and Ambleside. I always review almost all the online resources Erin mentions here. One of the most helpful resources for me for building booklists for the younger ages are the recommendations that RC History makes. You can find their book recommendations at St. George's books and they're very nicely divided up into chronological reading lists organized by age.
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| Also, does anyone know of a ready-made timeline that would look classy in my hallway? |
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I don't have a lot of wall space except down my long hallway. I've always been tempted by the timelines offered at Learning Through History Magazine.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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SuzanneG
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I'm imagining combining as much as I can.
re: History
Note: I do not have a lot of experience doing this....less than one year, actually. But I DO remember feeling overwhelmed at the thought of figuring out a 'history-plan" a year ago. It's overwhelming, but once you start doing it, things just sort of fall into place....at least that's what happened to me. My head doesn't spin so much thinking about it.
It helps me to think in categories when planning. If I take each category one-at-a-time, then pretty soon, I've got a history plan for the month-term-year, etc.
In Mackfam's article in Mater-Magistra, she broke it down like this (I may have added or changed things around, so it's not EXACT):
:: Books
:: Timeline, BOC
:: Movies
:: Online Resources
:: Magazines
:: Projects, Crafts, Notebooks, Lapbooks, etc.
Then, I think of the BOOKLIST broken down like this:
** Picture Books
** Informational Books like DK, Time Traveler, Magazines, etc.
** Beginning Books for new readers, Easy Chapter books for new readers
** Books to Read Aloud together as a Family.
--Meaty, harder
--Fun
** Independent Reading.
And, Willa had a post about her thoughts about history plan.
And, there is a History Talk on this Childlight site, that was good: Integrating Curriculum with History as the Pivot and Living Books as the Medium.. At one point, some of the "educators" mention how their schools study the same period of history at the same time....the whole school!
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Angel
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SuzanneG wrote:
re: History
Note: I do not have a lot of experience doing this....less than one year, actually. But I DO remember feeling overwhelmed at the thought of figuring out a 'history-plan" a year ago. It's overwhelming, but once you start doing it, things just sort of fall into place....at least that's what happened to me. My head doesn't spin so much thinking about it.
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The history plan/rotation can indeed be mind-boggling when you're combining, but the most important thing to remember is that it's not set in stone; you really can change your mind. Last year I remember many nights when I fell asleep trying to work out a decent rotation for the next several years because now I have a teenager and suddenly everything seemed more -- I don't know -- immediate? I finally managed to write one out which would result in a perfect 4 year rotation for my younger kids while my oldest would go more slowly through history for his high school years. I thought I had everything worked out.
Then I realized that the child would be doing ancient history again in 12th grade, which would mean he would probably be reading the Iliad and Odyssey that year, too. But in looking at colleges, I realized that many of them require the Iliad and Odyssey in freshman year, and I didn't think my ds would want to read the same books two years in a row. Also, since we're doing the early medieval period this year (technically 7th grade for him) and stretching things out, he wouldn't read works like Beowulf in high school.
So, after banging my head on the table a few times, it was (sort of) back to the drawing board. 
Anyway, the point is... I think it's important to be flexible. If you're not trying to rush the kids along to match a curriculum, then you'll probably have to make adjustments at some point further down the road. I start regrouping every year about this time... getting us back on track a little if we've gotten off, and thinking about where we're going to be come May or the beginning of June (which is usually when we stop.) As I mentioned, we're doing the early medieval period this year. I had thought we'd get to the Crusades -- possibly even the Reformation -- but we are probably going to make it to 1066. I could NOT have predicted the fascination that would develop in my house for early British history. That is a happy thing , but it does require me to make a few tweaks to the master plan.
And on the other hand, I already have quite a few books for next year!
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Combining ages and subjects
