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BlessedWith3SNP
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I've gone from "The Story of the World" to "A Child's History of the World, the the original series "Story of the World" and I just don't know what to do about dealing with the reformation! None of these books have worked for us. We're studying the middle ages this year and I just don't know what to do. I would love to just use books that correlate to the time in history, but I have no idea what order they go in! I was awful in history myself. I attended public school like most others and was so bored, that I don't remember much about the order of history. Who came first, second, third, and so forth.
If there is a list or something that could help me teach history from the stance of living books, each dedicated to the particular event, that would be fantastic! I need a list that breaks the books down in order of what happened in order of events in history. My other question is do I teach anything about the reformation at all? Do they just learn about that on their own? To be honest, I didn't hear anything about the reformation until last year. I had never, ever heard of it. I don't want them to think badly of the church, even though some bad things have happened in the past. I don't think I *need* to teach them that the reformation happened do I?
Please help! I'm okay with everything else, I'm just stuck on history. 
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JodieLyn
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oh definately teach them about the reformation.. BUT probably not right away  you have a lot of time to cover that.. but one of the things that can be used to trip up Catholics in apologetics (get them to leave their faith) is bringing up parts of the Bible or history when the Catholic never learned about it from a Catholic perspective. It's easy to confuse someone that way and get them to come to an erroneous conclusion.
My suggestion is to get a timeline. Something that will keep all the people and events in order for you.. then it's relatively easily to find book lists and know the order etc.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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JodieLyn
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There's also some books that tell you which books go with which period in history. One written by the mother of a lady here on our board.. I think I even have it but I know I can't lay hands on it right now.. and the name of it is totally escaping me 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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Aagot
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I usually look at resources likeThis to guide me. Also Mother of Divine Grace has great lists of books for history. What mayhelp you the most is to read a book like Christ the King Lord of History. This would give you a good over view and as an adult will be less boring then when you were in school. Another good book to understand the Reformation is Characters of the Reformation by Belloc. Your kids are too young for these books now but they will give you a deeper understanding and help you to see where you want to head with their history studies.
Also I just heard a radio interview with Tom Woods. He wrote a book, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. It sounds really interesting.
Hth
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AmandaV
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Have you looked at Connecting with history by RC History? It uses living books to to teach Catholic world history in a 4 year cycle. I don't use it but I've looked at the book lists. There's also the Catholic Textbook Project.
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Amanda
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JennGM
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JodieLyn wrote:
| There's also some books that tell you which books go with which period in history. One written by the mother of a lady here on our board.. I think I even have it but I know I can't lay hands on it right now.. and the name of it is totally escaping me |
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Let the Authors Speak: A Guide to Worthy Books Based on Historical Setting by Carolyn Hatcher -- JenMack's mom.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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AmandaV
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How neat! I had no idea! I think its so neat that there are now second generation homeschoolers. I'll have to check out that book. I've heard of it in passing, only.
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Amanda
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BlessedWith3SNP
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Thanks everyone for the replies and tips! We're off to Mass in just about 5 minutes, so I'll check back in once we get back!
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~Mary, wife to Kenneth and mom to Sean Michael (10/03), Noah Gabriel (11/05), Piper Arwen (10/08), Adam Raphael (4/14)
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Maryan
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Valerie (vmalott on here) compiled a document about supplementing Story of the World with Catholic material.
We did the Middle Ages last year. We did discuss the Great Schism (1000 between East and West), but I decided to stop at 1450 and not do the Reformation and Counter Reformation until they were older. (So agreeing with Jodie).
I used Reading Your Way through History for books, but I also like Emmanuel Books as a resource for history books (they give you chronological order, a snippet about the book, and age level). Moreover, call them anytime -- they are a big help. RC History is also a help.
I missed that Jen Mack's mom wrote that book! I'll have to check it out!
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Maryan
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BlessedWith3SNP
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Thanks so much everyone for all of the help and tips! 
Somehow in searching through everyone's suggestions I was led to this site, http://www.abookintime.com/worldhistoryreadinglist.html
which I think is exactly what I was searching for. I'm also picking up a used copy of Jen Mack's mom's book on Amazon. My children thrive on living books, and that is the complete way in which we want to go.
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~Mary, wife to Kenneth and mom to Sean Michael (10/03), Noah Gabriel (11/05), Piper Arwen (10/08), Adam Raphael (4/14)
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AmandaV
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Looks like you found what you are looking for, but I just thought of one more. I don't have this, though. Can anyone tell us whether it groups history by time period? For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittman
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Amanda
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jawgee
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Yes, it does. I picked up this book at the homeschool conference I went to in May.
It also lists age-ranges for books (Grammar, Middle, High School, or Adult).
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JennGM
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The book I love for adding Catholic reading material is Reading the Saints: Lists of Catholic Books for Children plus Book Collecting Tips for the Home and School Library by Janet MacKenzie. Lists both in and out of print books, by century and by country, and groups them by series.
RC History is a tremendous resource to use for your need.
Love2Learn History index is a wealth of info.
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BlessedWith3SNP
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Funny thing, I just clicked the link and discovered that I've already bought that book! 
Do you ever buy so many books looking for resources, that when you want to learn about them you forget you have them!
Thanks for reminding me.
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~Mary, wife to Kenneth and mom to Sean Michael (10/03), Noah Gabriel (11/05), Piper Arwen (10/08), Adam Raphael (4/14)
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BlessedWith3SNP
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Okay, so I found the book linked to me,"For the Love of Literature" and I've been reading through it. This is *exactly* what I was looking for! I'm so excited!
Now, my next question is, do I have them read one book at a time? Or can I have them read more than one at a time.
Like, if I want them to read The Sword in the Tree, The Red Keep and Son of Charlemagne, would I make sure they finish one before starting another? Or can I have them read all of them at the same time, like 4 pages a day from each book, alternating days.
Or maybe since they are different times according to the timeline they should stay separate?
Yikes! History is the toughest thing here. 
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~Mary, wife to Kenneth and mom to Sean Michael (10/03), Noah Gabriel (11/05), Piper Arwen (10/08), Adam Raphael (4/14)
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JennGM
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BlessedWith3SNP wrote:
Okay, so I found the book linked to me,"For the Love of Literature" and I've been reading through it. This is *exactly* what I was looking for! I'm so excited!
Now, my next question is, do I have them read one book at a time? Or can I have them read more than one at a time.
Like, if I want them to read The Sword in the Tree, The Red Keep and Son of Charlemagne, would I make sure they finish one before starting another? Or can I have them read all of them at the same time, like 4 pages a day from each book, alternating days.
Or maybe since they are different times according to the timeline they should stay separate?
Yikes! History is the toughest thing here. |
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Of course, this is your decision on how you want to approach history.
I have heard there are lots of errors in Story of the World, which happens when you have one author covering so much. Plus you are only getting one person's viewpoint, which is almost always biased, even when they try not to be.
The way Mater Amabilis is set up is my favorite approach. I like a main book for history, an overview. And then for that period we are covering one extra "free reading" book is assigned. But my son is an avid reader, so I usually have to pad with multiple books to satiate his curiosity.
Now, if you decide you want to ditch the main spine or text and schedule multiple books for an author, assigning several books at a time is not a problem with most children. Scheduling alternate days, or two per day, 4 pp a day or so, or whatever they can narrate.
Follow their lead on narration. If they are struggling with the switches or it's too much reading, slow it down, make it less pages or just one book per day.
For some children they prefer a long period or uninterrupted work time (like the Montessori 3 hour work time) -- but expanded so maybe you could concentrate on one book at a time, but bigger chunks. I think Erin mentioned her children at times prefer doing large amounts of math for days on end, and then concentrate on another subject instead of switching back and forth every day. This is the beauty of homeschooling, where you can be flexible and try and see what works for you and your children.
But on further thought, I'm not immediately recognizing the titles, so I'm not sure if they are covering the same time period. If so, you might not want them to overlap. With MA it's easier to switch gears from American History to Ancient History because they are so different, but the closer the events are it might become confusing.
So, sorry for the long answer. Short answer, there's not a wrong or right way.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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leanne maree
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I am pleased you found the book you were looking for.
when we studied from middle ages up until modern times, we used Setons yr 7 abd 8 Our Catholic Legacy. I then added Famous men of middle ages and modern times.
We used living books to embellish as well.
It worked well.
Every now and again we would stop of and have an indepth look at various times in history.
its just another way, that seemed to suit us.
leanne
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JodieLyn
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for using mainly living books.. I used a timeline and made an excel file with books on the timeline.. then I could look at all the books for a particular era and for different ages.. like I can look at WWI and decided which parts I want and how to cover it for each level. And I can easily see if I've got a bit ol' blank spot somewhere.. like I have King Arthur for every age except one.. lets me ask and look for a book to fill the gap and I don't have to remember which books I want from which list.. everything is together.
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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.
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Maryan
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My preference is to have read history books one at a time. We do read more than one book at a time, but not usually in the same "subject" even if they are different time periods. Or... I have a read-a-loud in history and they have a book (like Sword in the Tree). But I haven't had them do two at a time.
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Maryan
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Mackfam
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Just to have every possible viewpoint here ( ) we do usually read more than one book at a time. How many books depends on the number of pages they're reading from each book, and how many other books are being read in other subjects for that day.
My 7th grader (12yo) has 5 different books going on at once (some are VERY light). All are narrated.
I don't put as many books on a younger child's schedule. My 3rd grader (7yo) has 2 different living books for history reading for the week.
You asked specifically about these books:
BlessedWith3SNP wrote:
if I want them to read The Sword in the Tree, The Red Keep and Son of Charlemagne, would I make sure they finish one before starting another? Or can I have them read all of them at the same time, like 4 pages a day from each book, alternating days.
Or maybe since they are different times according to the timeline they should stay separate? |
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Looking...and I see that you have a 9yo, 7yo, and 4yo.
And the books you listed are:
Sword in the Tree - 6th century (King Arthur)
Son of Charlemagne - 8th century (Holy Roman Empire)
The Red Keep - 12th century (Middle Ages)
First, what period of history are you hoping to cover this year? Are you reading everything aloud or do you have the 9yo read independently? Are the two oldest boys independent readers? Strong readers? Is your 7yo reading?
These are things I'd consider when choosing history books.
(1) First, I look to the time period we're studying and decide how many centuries I'd like to cover in the year.
(2) Then, I break my year/century choices into three terms. So, you might tackle one of each of the books you listed at a time...and add in 1-2 more "lighter" books (depending on the age/reading ability of the child).
(3) Third, I look to the child - his age, reading ability, general enjoyment of reading genre (like books of adventure).
(4) Fourth, it's time to look at the books - if you have a tentative list see if you can borrow the books to preview: look inside with the feature on Amazon, check with your local homeschool group, check your library, search the archives here. If you're not familiar with the books, get them in your hands because a really good, attentive skim will tell you if the book fits the period and the child for whom you have intended it.
(5) Fifth, schedule/list your reading. Since we do read books concurrently, I usually try to have one meaty book going, and let the other books for the week/term be easier reading level/still excellent content, or just lighter overall. In other words, unless I'm scheduling for high school, I try to only put one meaty book per subject in the reading schedule each term.
Even when we read books concurrently, they're usually from the same period and there's a pretty big disparity in the book choices you list. What you could do is work through Sword in the Tree and Son of Charlegmagne this term, and save Red Keep for your next term. (Assuming Red Keep is just for your 9yo, I wouldn't read ANYTHING additional alongside Red Keep because it will be meaty for his age...and possibly a really good stretch for him.)
Throw in Castle and Cathedral by David Macauley and you have another living book that will work really well. The other books are meatier, and Macauley's books, while very well done, are lighter, making them a great fit alongside another meatier work for the week. And...Macauley's books have always inspired a lot of projects and creative play here!
Also, while Red Keep is an EXTRAORDINARY book, it would probably only fit your 9yo son, and then only if he's a good, strong reader. If he IS a strong reader, this book is an excellent choice for the Middle Ages - quite captivating!
I'm going to add a suggestion to consider for your 7yo. At this age, I really just stick to shorter living stories from history. An excellent book of stories which covers the period you're studying of the 6th - 16th centuries and containing a variety of stories is Page, Esquire, and Knight: A Book of Chivalry by Marion Florence Lansing. The stories are rich and engaging, retold from many classics such as King Arthur, Prince Roland, St. George, the Crusaders, etc. It is beautifully written and has extraordinary b/w illustrations.
Good luck building your history reading list!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Topic: Please help me with history!!
