Author | |
kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 677
|
Posted: Feb 15 2012 at 11:04am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm looking ahead to what DS1 is going to do history-wise next. Currently we are reading Fifty Famous Stories Retold and Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin and narrating them for me, one story a day (roughly).
I don't think (?) CM recommended starting in with a Book of Centuries and chronological history work until 4th grade (am I right?) I would be okay with starting that up next if he is ready. I have already made most of the purchases, if not all, that I would need to start with the Ancients.
I have:
- The Homeschool in the Woods Record of Time on CD-ROM
- Gombrich's A Little History of the World
- Story of the World Vol. 1 text, activity guide, and audio CDs (he already read this whole text for fun).
- Connecting with History VOLUME TWO (I like this program for the assistance it provides *me* not necessarily for adhering strictly to... should I purchase Vol. 1?)
A modest selection of living books and other resources from the Connecting with History book lists and the Story of the World book lists and others I have just purchased here and there.
Or is there something else I should do for one more year before jumping into a full history cycle?
What about national history? I had thought I would do it simultaneously with the world history cycle but I am not sure where to start. This Country of Ours? What living books should I pair with that for a 3rd grader who reads above grade level (we would still do many of these as read alouds anyway.)
Yes? No? Maybe?
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
Back to Top |
|
|
kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 677
|
Posted: Feb 16 2012 at 11:45am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Anyone? Any suggestions at all? What do other people typically do for history? I love hearing what other people are doing and what texts they are using.
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
Back to Top |
|
|
JennGM Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline Posts: 17702
|
Posted: Feb 16 2012 at 11:55am | IP Logged
|
|
|
kristacecilia wrote:
I'm looking ahead to what DS1 is going to do history-wise next. Currently we are reading Fifty Famous Stories Retold and Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin and narrating them for me, one story a day (roughly).
I don't think (?) CM recommended starting in with a Book of Centuries and chronological history work until 4th grade (am I right?) I would be okay with starting that up next if he is ready. I have already made most of the purchases, if not all, that I would need to start with the Ancients. |
|
|
That is what I understand. Next year for our 4th grade level we'll be introducing the BOC. I am looking forward to it, but dreading it also because I haven't decided on what format to do!
kristacecilia wrote:
I have:
- The Homeschool in the Woods Record of Time on CD-ROM
- Gombrich's A Little History of the World
- Story of the World Vol. 1 text, activity guide, and audio CDs (he already read this whole text for fun).
- Connecting with History VOLUME TWO (I like this program for the assistance it provides *me* not necessarily for adhering strictly to... should I purchase Vol. 1?)
A modest selection of living books and other resources from the Connecting with History book lists and the Story of the World book lists and others I have just purchased here and there.
Or is there something else I should do for one more year before jumping into a full history cycle?
What about national history? I had thought I would do it simultaneously with the world history cycle but I am not sure where to start. This Country of Ours? What living books should I pair with that for a 3rd grader who reads above grade level (we would still do many of these as read alouds anyway.)
Yes? No? Maybe? |
|
|
I always feel that my recommendations fall short because I'm not super organized. But I'll chime in.
We are doing 3rd grade and do both National and World History. I follow suggestions from Mater Amabilis and Ambleside Online, and a variety of other sources, including here. Not only do I use chapter books, but we do a heavy dose of themed picture books.
We using This Country of Ours for National with extra readings, and studying Ancient Egypt, with Pharoahs being our main text, but we're going through many other books, too.
There are so many read-alouds, my problem is limiting my choices!
__________________ Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
Back to Top |
|
|
kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 677
|
Posted: Feb 16 2012 at 12:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
JennGM wrote:
That is what I understand. Next year for our 4th grade level we'll be introducing the BOC. I am looking forward to it, but dreading it also because I haven't decided on what format to do!
-----
I always feel that my recommendations fall short because I'm not super organized. But I'll chime in.
We are doing 3rd grade and do both National and World History. I follow suggestions from Mater Amabilis and Ambleside Online, and a variety of other sources, including here. Not only do I use chapter books, but we do a heavy dose of themed picture books.
We using This Country of Ours for National with extra readings, and studying Ancient Egypt, with Pharoahs being our main text, but we're going through many other books, too.
There are so many read-alouds, my problem is limiting my choices! |
|
|
Okay so you started the chronological cycle study of history but did NOT start the BOC? In my head I keep thinking you have to do both at the same time. Maybe that is my problem?
I was looking at the MA national history study the other day, and I liked the look of it (plus I have many of the books already on my shelf, yay!) My only problem with the Ancients study they have is that it seems to just concentrate on major civilizations (unless I am missing something?) I like the idea of starting with the earliest known nomadic people and working through from there. I think SOTW 1 did a very good job with that and following the basic migration of humanity and how and when other major cultures (like the Chinese, for instance) played in. So I like the idea of having a book for a spine.
So if I used the Gombrich book for my spine for World history and then This Country of Ours as the spine for national history.... and then fleshed it out with other living history books and picture books...?? Should the BOC be left to start another year or two from now? He is very into the idea and has started writing on his own some. His narrations are progressing well (finally). History is one of his favorites subjects, so I want to make it exciting for him.
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
Back to Top |
|
|
jawgee Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011 Location: New Hampshire
Online Status: Offline Posts: 1415
|
Posted: Feb 16 2012 at 12:55pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
CM recommended starting a BOC when the child's handwriting was strong. I think it would be great to start a family BOC, though!
We used the template from Simply Charlotte Mason for our BOC. I printed double-sided on thick paper and put it in a three-ring binder. My 10YO updates in it every week - adding a person or event from history.
We started homeschooling this year and we are working on time frame 1550-1850 (book 3 in SOTW) so that we could cover American History at the same time. Next year we'll move into more current events, and then we'll go back and start with the Ancients.
That's just the way I preferred to do it, but your plan sounds very doable!
__________________ Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
|
Back to Top |
|
|
kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 677
|
Posted: Feb 16 2012 at 2:27pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Right now I am thinking about moving into Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans after we finish 30 More Famous Stories Retold. We'd still do roughly one story a day and have him narrate for me, if the stories aren't long.
That might get us until fall, especially considering we'll take time off for the new baby in May/June.
He has fairly good handwriting, although it can use some improvement. I am not sure how small he can write right now. We'll continue to work on copywork and narration.
In the fall he'll be 8 1/2. I am sure it would be beneficial to have him wait a little longer to start his BOC. We'll see what we decide. Right now I am probably going to purchase Connecting with History Vol. 1 for a rough guide for me. When we start doing prehistory and ancient cultures we use the Gombrich book as a spine along with a few other resources we have. We will hit Egypt with The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, Tales of Ancient Egypt, and The Golden Goblet. We'll use another book from our shelves- Bible for Young Catholics- to fill in the biblical parts of history. Not sure what else yet. I have lots of books on Greece, Rome, and the early Church.
Are there any other great living books on the "can't be missed!" list for the ancient times, roughly prehistory through 500 BC?
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
Back to Top |
|
|
JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline Posts: 12234
|
Posted: Feb 17 2012 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Tirzah by Lucille Travis (~1440bc goes with the book of Exodus)
It's a good time to add in Aesop's Fables (~550bc) I have a book with them so didn't buy anything but I bet there's some good book out there.
I have a few more but not sure how "can't be missed" they are.. the picture books (3) about Gilgamesh are lovely. And there's some picture/children's books on Homer's Illiad and Odyssey.
My books for that time period are put away so I'm looking at my list and trying to recall the books.
I've been immersed in figuring out books for WWI and WWII and the surrounding times (depression era etc) for my older kids so I'm a bit
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
Back to Top |
|
|
mamaslearning Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 12 2007 Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline Posts: 927
|
Posted: Feb 20 2012 at 4:44pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hi Krista,
I'm thinking ahead to the fall and also have a 3rd grader! I am going to do world and national threads, and I have been browsing AO, MA, and Charlotte Mason Help(used to be Higher Up and Further In). I like her ideas on doing notebooks and also her sequence.
There is so many good books, it's so hard to decide. {edited - is so many, haha, should be are so many}
__________________ Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
|
Back to Top |
|
|
kristacecilia Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 677
|
Posted: Feb 20 2012 at 7:54pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Lara,
I think I decided to loosely follow AO Year 1 for the beginning of our national history thread (since my kids are both American and Canadian I thought starting with English history makes perfect sense, right? LOL). For our World History I am going to use Gombrich's book for a spine and jump right into the Greeks (we covered pre-history and the Egyptions awhile back for fun and since this is just an introduction I don't think we need to start over after all). We're going to do a wall timeline instead of a BOC for now, since I think my oldest isn't old enough just yet to maintain his own BOC. I am also using some suggestions from Simply Charlotte Mason's history Module 2 and from Connecting with History. All that together got me this:
World History:
FAMILY READ ALOUDS:
- A Little History of the World
- Famous Men of Greece (I have it as an ebook from Yesterday's Classics)
1st Grader (if interested)
- The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War
- The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
- Aesop's Fables
- Spend the Day in Ancient Greece
3rd Grader:
- A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (Another one I already have in e-book format from Yesterday's Classics.)
- Archimedes and the Door of Science
- The Children's Homer
Other Resources:
- Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
- The Usborne Time Traveler
- National Geographic Concise History of the World (more for Mom at this point)
- Connecting With History Vol. 2 (resource for Mom)
Basically I picked all these books because I already have them on my shelf. Except one, which is going to cost me a whopping $3.99.
I got a lot of my ideas from the Simply Charlotte Mason History Module 2. Matter of fact, I liked it so much that I am going to also link the Bible and Geography study we do to our history one the way she recommends. The rest I got from Connecting with History and my own feeble mind.
__________________ God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
Back to Top |
|
|
Mackfam Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006 Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline Posts: 14656
|
Posted: Feb 20 2012 at 8:20pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
kristacecilia wrote:
Basically I picked all these books because I already have them on my shelf. Except one, which is going to cost me a whopping $3.99. |
|
|
This is fantastic!!! Doesn't it feel great when you can make good use of the resources that already live on your shelves? Great job!!!!
Your plans for 3rd grade look wonderful! Oh, I just love thinking of the delicious possibilities in a fresh, new year!! How exciting that you have a good plan for history since that forms such an integral part of the year!
__________________ Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
Back to Top |
|
|
Anastasia Forum Rookie
Joined: Aug 21 2009 Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline Posts: 59
|
Posted: Feb 20 2012 at 10:51pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I used Hillyer's A Child's History of the World for third grade ancient history this year, along with many of the picture books already suggested. My son enjoys it because the stories are not dumbed down, but still written in a way that appeals to him. And there really is quite a lot of detail on the major figures and events in the ancient world.
|
Back to Top |
|
|
mamaslearning Forum All-Star
Joined: Nov 12 2007 Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline Posts: 927
|
Posted: Feb 21 2012 at 7:07am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Is Connecting with History Vol. 2 laid out the same as Vol. 1?
Krista, I like your list. It gives me more ideas to ponder as I prepare our curriculum for the next grade level. I'll have to look at the Simply Charlotte Mason site again. I glanced over it, but did not go in depth on the history portion.
Thanks for sharing all the plans and books!
So, what is the difference between Hillyer and Gombrich?
__________________ Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
|
Back to Top |
|
|
jawgee Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011 Location: New Hampshire
Online Status: Offline Posts: 1415
|
Posted: Feb 21 2012 at 9:30am | IP Logged
|
|
|
mamaslearning wrote:
I'll have to look at the Simply Charlotte Mason site again. I glanced over it, but did not go in depth on the history portion. |
|
|
I love the SCM Free Curriculum Guide for history! It made plannning our year so easy. That's definitely something we are going to stick with for next year. It is so nice having my 10YO and my 6YO learning about the same people events throughout the year.
My older DS just reads more in-depth books, keeps a Book of Centuries, and does some written narrations in addition to the oral ones they both do.
History has been our most fun subject this year.
__________________ Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
|
Back to Top |
|
|
Ramie Forum Newbie
Joined: March 11 2010
Online Status: Offline Posts: 21
|
Posted: March 06 2012 at 10:58pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
This may be late, but I can't resist adding my 2 cents. We start on Greek & Roman History in 4th grade here, so I wanted to get a little more ancient than that in 3rd grade. So we are doing Bible/Egyptian history and are trying to include a little about the surrounding peoples as well. While this is my 2nd child, it is my first time trying this course-plan for 3rd grade, and so far, I really like it.
We spent the first 18 weeks On Israel, mixing "The Catholic Bible Story Workbook" (I get it from Kolbe), "Old Testament Days: An activity guide," and a brief glance at "Ancient Israelites and their Neighbors." For the last few weeks of the semester, I covered the Phoenicians and the Philistines briefly, using "Ancient Israelites and their Neighbors." It is important to me that "Bible History" is more historical than simply a collection of Bible stories. This is where the "Old Testament Days" book has been most useful. I should say that I don't use the entirety of any of those 3 books, but spend the most time on the first two.
We are just starting the 3rd quarter now. We are starting out with a brief overview of Mesopotamia, the Hittites, and the Nubians, using the book, "Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors." Then we are moving on to Egypt for the rest of the semester, using "Gift of the River" as the spine and a variety of short picture books about such topics as the Rosetta Stone, King Tut & Pyramids.
I've never used "Gift of the River" before, and it isn't easy to find, but from the little that I've read of it, it looks good. When my oldest was in 3rd grade, I used Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt instead. It was pretty advanced reading for a typical 3rd grader, and without having the extra picture books, the course was rather dry. It was quite informative though, and my ds liked it anyway, because he is an avid reader and enjoys history, but there was no way my dd would like it.
|
Back to Top |
|
|
SallyT Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2489
|
Posted: March 07 2012 at 7:11am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I've also been doing a double-track history thing with my 2nd and 3rd graders this year, mostly in the form of morning read-alouds. On odd weeks we do ancient history, which this year means Greece; we were using Eva March Tappans The Story of the Greek People, but have switched to F. J. Gould's The Children's Plutarch. We've read myths, Aesop, and one of those Lucy Fitch Perkins "twins" stories, The Spartan Twins. We'll shortly be starting Archimedes and the Door of Science as well.
On even weeks we do U.S. history using Eggleston's A First Book in American History. I haven't done historical fiction quite as schematically for this track, so am planning next year to loop back a bit with some read-alouds in that vein.
I have leaned really heavily on The Baldwin Project this year; my list for next year, when we're doing 3rd-4th, comes almost exclusively from my big history shelf.
We've had one of those Homeschool in the Woods History Through the Ages timeline books ever since my oldest kids were . . . roughly the age of my youngers. We've never worked at it very schematically (a theme in our life, alas), and one of my plans is to include it in our Morning Basket (thank you, thank you, Jen, for that concept), so that it's in our faces, and we can pick it up and add to it as a joint project as we read. I can have my 4th grader write some short narrations to add to it -- our contributions have often taken the form of drawings and copywork on separate sheets of paper, which we've glued in as fold-out pages (as in a lapbook, I guess). Or he could start his own private Book of Centuries.
I'll link to both our reading schedule for this year (here) -- we haven't quite done all this, and I have made substitutions which I haven't noted on the blog, but you can get an idea -- and my working list for next year (here).
I'm not a CM purist, as you can see from my plans, but this kind of reading (with narration) is what begins and is the non-negotiable of our day . . . and it's by far the richest thing we do.
Sally
__________________ Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
Back to Top |
|
|
|
|