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Joelle
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| Posted: June 22 2011 at 10:20pm | IP Logged
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Hi there!
I have 2 girls (4th & 6th grades) that I'd like to do history together. We have followed MODG in the past, but that did not work out so well last year. I am wanting to cover colonial times through at least the Civil War, if not WWII in a year, using a spine & living books and hands on projects (or a series of unit studies that tie historically). I cannot find anything already out there that I can use. Any suggestions for a curriculum or other ideas?
Thank you!
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God Bless, Joelle
Mom to 7: Boy (96), Girls (00, 02, 04), Boy (05), Girl (07), Boy (09)
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anitamarie
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| Posted: June 25 2011 at 5:50pm | IP Logged
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Have you looked at some of the series out there? 2 that jumped to mind are the American Kids in History series and the If You Lived series. They could be your spine. The Jean Fritz books are great for the Revolution and Constitution. Another series is the "for Kids" series. Both the For kids series and the American kids in history have lots of activities. Other than that, I don't know of a good single spine for American history. The Story of the World 3 and 4 have chapters that could be a spine, but you would need a lot of supplementation. Good luck.
God Bless,
Anita
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: June 25 2011 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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I thin the Brown Paper School books would be perfect for what you're describing... Here is a link to one. They have a book on the Colonial period, the Revolution, American Indians and the Civil War.
I've been very impressed with ours that we got from the library... they'd make a great jumping off point.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Martha
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 4:58pm | IP Logged
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Normally not a textbook fan, but I really like these. The teacher guide has discussion questions, movie suggestions, projects, and so forth. If you just want to read and rabbit trail - you can do without the TG. I like having them and use them tho.
http://cstp.myshopify.com/
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Martha
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Yes, they're all ours!
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Ramie
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| Posted: June 28 2011 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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Have you already used the Fr. Furlong books? I thought MODG used one of them for one of their grades. Anyway, I like both "How America Began" (also known in the other edition as "How Our Nation Began") and How America Grew as spines (except that it's age shows in its treatment of modern times and in the terminology used re: slavery and civil rights). I believe they are intended for the 4th/5th grade level. This year I read them to my 2nd grader. Even though it was hard, it is well written and makes for a pretty interesting read. I wanted to add more interest to our study, so I got a bunch of picture books. In addition to the Jean Fritz books, I also like the series, "A picture book of..." (Adler seems to always be one of the 2 authors - it is a biography series), and "If you..." series ("If you traveled on the underground railroad" is one). To be honest, I haven't actually gone through all of these books with dd, so I can't recommend them beyond the cursory glances I've given them, but so far so good. I will say that this course that I've piled together over the year is definitely better suited to an older student than a 2nd grader. I would actually bet it would be perfect for a 4th grader as well, and would probably be suitable for a 6th grader too, by adding harder reading or some writing assignments.
That said, since From Sea to Shining Sea is intended for 5th graders (even though it says 5th - 8th, if you look at age ranges of the entire series, you can tell it was written with 5th as the expectation), perhaps that would make a perfect spine for a 4th and 6th grader. You could still add the picture books for the 4th grader, or maybe some harder reading for the older child. I own the book, and while I haven't read it, it looks wonderful, and I've heard nothing but good things about the entire series.
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: American History Curriculum Suggestions?
