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violingirl
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| Posted: Nov 07 2011 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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I think my main question is: how do you decide what to cover each year for history? but I think it is also how do you decide what type of model to follow?
I know what I want from our program, but I have this overwhelming feeling that it can only work this way for awhile before giant gaps will start to show or that I might be doing my children a disservice if I don't follow a fairly strict 4 year history cycle.
This is what I know about my needs/desires for our history program:
1. I want it to be interesting and full of living books and hands-on experiences.
2. I want it to be a full experience- I don't want to miss big/important things, but I also know that there will be gaps since we can't hit absolutely everything. I just want to be sure that the gaps are not silly errors on my part.
3. I want to have a set program of study for the year (whether it is curriculum we purchase or something I set up) but still have room for my kids to pursue topics or time periods they are interested in. The main reason I feel opposed to the 4 year cycle is that I don't like the idea of spending an entire year just on ancients (or any 1 time period really) and making sure that absolutely everything stays within that category. *I* would be bored, and I'm pretty sure my kids would be too.
4. Our routine for history and science has settled into "quarters". I like having 10-12 weeks working with a topic and then taking a week or two off and then starting something fresh. It just seems like the right amount of time for us.
For example, for first grade this year I've divided our year into 4 parts and each quarter we are reading a short age-appropriate biography about 1 or 2 figures from history (right now we're reading Who Was Ben Franklin? by Dennis Fradin), talking about important landmarks and symbols for America (the flag, the white house, statue of liberty, etc.). This month and next we're reading books about holiday celebrations around the world, and in our last quarter we're going to do a little studying about our city and home state and 1 or 2 famous folks from here. My son picks up books on topics he likes too (sometimes completely unrelated, but still history) or asks for more about little things that come up in our reading together and we have plenty of room to explore those rabbit trails.
I suppose my concern is if this is really a way that can work continuously, and if so- from there how to keep deciding what to cover each year. Or maybe to do this type of thing up to a certain grade and then maybe cover a more traditional 4 year cycle from grades 5-8...
I also like that we are learning world history alongside American history rather than having a whole separate year for America.
I've been thinking toward next year as I'm having a baby in late April. I want to have at least a mental plan in place before baby is here (but knowing me I'll probably try to get it mostly written out before that too since we typically start our year in July). I've been imagining a year of "Men who did great things/Explored the world" and getting into ships, airplanes, navigation,and all that. But then started really worrying about the longevity of planning like this/worrying about gaps/etc.
Thank you so much for letting me think out loud about this and seek advice from those who are further ahead than I.
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Erin
DS (2005) DS (2007) DD (2012)
Mama In Progress
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jawgee
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Location: New Hampshire
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| Posted: Nov 07 2011 at 11:53am | IP Logged
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This is my first year along, too. I decided to loosely follow the modules in the "Free Curriculum Guide" on www.simplycharlottemason.com. Basically, history is broken up into six time periods.
1. Ancient Egypt
2. Ancient Greece
3. Ancient Rome
4. Middle Ages/Rennaissance/Reformation
5. 1550-1850
6. Modern Times (1850-present)
We started this year with Module 5. Next year (or whenever we get to 1850) we'll do Modern Times. After that we'll start back with Module 1.
I used a world history book as a "spine" - that is, a book that covers all of the important events for the time period. We use that book as a family read-aloud. The 10YO will be reading a book individually that is relevant to what we are studying. My 6YO will also be reading (with me)a relevant book on the same topic.
I don't write lesson plans or # pages to read each day, we just work through the books we choose at a pace that works for us, and move on when the time comes. If that means rabbit trails happen, that's fine. There's no goal to reach 1850 by the end of the year. I don't need each module to be a nice package that fits in the course of the school year. We are learning so many things together. I feel like the quality of the experience we are having is so much more important than the number of historical years we cover.
Anyway, that's just an opinion from someone who is only 12 weeks into homeschooling. Take it for what it's worth. 
Hope you find something that works well for you!! Your kids are young, so you have some time to play around and find something that works well for your kids.
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
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Angel
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| Posted: Nov 07 2011 at 3:24pm | IP Logged
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A quick little reply about gaps, etc... I think what it's important to remember when your kids are little is that your homeschooling will change over time to adapt to your needs. For instance, if you leave gaps in 1st or 2nd grade, they aren't necessarily there forever. There's always the possibility (and it's a good possibility) that when your child is 15 or 16 he may cover history in a much more systematic way. If he does that, it won't really matter that you didn't study this or that when he was younger.
Honestly I think that kids get an enormous amount out of delight-directed history at any age, but especially before the age of 9 or 10. I usually pick a few books that I think will provide the skeleton of a structure, and then let interest direct everything else. For example, this year I decided I would like to focus on American history with my 8 yo and 6 yo twins, so we're reading This Country of Ours. They like to read books straight through, so we haven't been stopping to pick up other picture books, etc., like I thought we would, but I don't think that means that we won't read them, ever. We'll probably just loop back around. In addition to this reading, they like to listen to the Story of the World CDs (v. 1-4) on their own. My twins' favorite is v.1, The Ancient World. This is just something I make available to them that they choose to do when they're building with Legos. And my 8 yo ds has an abiding interest in World War II, which I am currently feeding via audio books on my Kindle.
I really think that doing history this way when they're young -- more as stories that fuel their interest than "learning history" -- helps produce older kids who love history. So I wouldn't worry about gaps, etc. You have time! 
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 07 2011 at 6:23pm | IP Logged
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Angel wrote:
| I really think that doing history this way when they're young -- more as stories that fuel their interest than "learning history" -- helps produce older kids who love history. So I wouldn't worry about gaps, etc. You have time! |
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This is SO true. My 9YOs favorite subject this year is history. We've been reading lots of historical fiction and biographies of famous people written for children. Every day he begs for just a few more pages.
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
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ekbell
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| Posted: Nov 07 2011 at 8:17pm | IP Logged
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We are loosely following the four year cycle for our formal history (loose in that I'm not stressing over covering everything in exactly four years).
Informally the children can find materials covering a variety of time periods and we'll have more or less enlightening discussions (being asked to explain 40 year old editorial cartoons .... from another country  )
However our science is much less organized and I figured out a way to reduce my worries about accidentally leaving a gap without changing our style.
The master checklist!
I found a list of science topics to be covered in elementary school and when a topic is covered I simply note the date and child on the checklist. That way my children can follow rabbittrails and I can see if there are any gaps (there really haven't been so far).
With history you might want to add a timeline(we use a book format due to lack of wall space) at some point so that it's easier to see connections and chronology.
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: History planning long term
