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elynnmom Forum Rookie
Joined: June 04 2011
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Posted: Aug 22 2015 at 1:05pm | IP Logged
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I'm hoping someone might have some thoughts that will help me figure out what to do about the study of history in our house. Here is our situation:
I have a 1st, 3rd, and 7th grader schooling at home this year and with such an age range, there aren't many subjects we can do together. I'm hoping we can do history together, though. What do you think? I would love to have it be part of "Morning Basket" for everyone, but don't want the reading to be too simple for the 7th grader or too advanced for the younger two. I was thinking of doing a world history and national history over the course of the next two years (because the 7th grader will be going to high school beginning in 9th grade). Actually, part of the problem is that I may be wanting/trying to fit in too much in these two years. So, here are some of the options I am pondering:
World HIstory Option A: SWBauer Story of the World Ancients as spine and just have 7th grader read some historical fiction that would be on his level. ( He will be doing Famous Men of Greece (MP) through a cottage school, so that sort of fits, right?) This would just be for this year - next year a question mark. I like this option, but we wouldn't make it through all of history for the 7th grader. Maybe that is okay...
World History Option B: O'Neil Story of the World over two years.
World History Option C: All Ye Lands (we happen to have this) over two years. Don't know if the 1st and 3rd grader would get in to this, though?
National HIstory Option A: This Country of Ours (Marshall) Too basic for 7th grader? Over two years.
National History Option B: America the Beautiful (Notgrass). Too old for the littles? Over two years. I like to idea of doing the Civics course from Notgrass nxt year for election, too.
Thanks so much for any thoughts on this!!! I am not totally tied to any of these, so if you have another suggestion, that would be great, too.
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SeaStar Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 16 2006
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Posted: Aug 22 2015 at 3:03pm | IP Logged
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I am a Notgrass fan... just finished up America the Beautiful Volume 2 last year. Now we are doing From Adam to Us; next year we will use Uncle Sam and You during the election year.
ATB has many pictures in the text that will engage your younger ones; You could hit the highlights of each lesson during morning basket time and then have your 7th grader read the full lesson later- also the supplemental reading. For the younger, you could supplement with history picture books.
I don't know if All Ye Lands would keep the younger ones attention.
I have not used TCO, but I have used Story of the World... that is very engaging (though no pictures). You could supplement with other reading for your oldest.
Simply Charlotte Mason has history lesson plans that work for a family setting. The main text is read aloud and then each grade level reads other books on his/her own level. The core text is Story of the Nations or Story of America- both are very interesting, but I found them to be little lacking in detail. I didn't see that detail picked up in the supplemental reading, which was all excellent but just not detailed enough (I thought).
Ex. The older kids read about the Revolution in the core text and then read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch on their own. Now, Mr. Bowditch is possibly one of my favorite stories ever, but it gives very little additional info about the Revolution.
HTH!
__________________ Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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jawgee Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011 Location: New Hampshire
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Posted: Aug 22 2015 at 6:59pm | IP Logged
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Last year I read SCM's Stories of the Nations and Stories of America with my kids (who were 7th, 3rd, 1st, and K) for history. The oldest read some additional things on his own (biographies, historical fiction).
In the past we've also listened to Story of the World on audio while we were in the van. That's good for a range of ages, too.
The purpose of the spine, at least here in my house, is to get a general idea of the happenings and main characters during a specific time-period. I like my kids to get a "feel" for the time and place, and come to "know" some of the people. Whatever they are assigned to read beyond that would fill in some details and give a more comprehensive history.
__________________ 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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jawgee Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011 Location: New Hampshire
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Posted: Aug 22 2015 at 7:02pm | IP Logged
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As for science, we also do that together. I've always done a science program suited for my oldest. It works well in that my oldest doesn't like science, and my second child loves science, so even though there is four years between them, my younger son gets more out of the science than his older brother even does.
The younger two sit in for science, but they don't really participate. We do nature study throughout the week, though, which is something they enjoy.
__________________ 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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Erica Sanchez Forum All-Star
Joined: March 05 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Aug 24 2015 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
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Connecting With History
__________________ Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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ekbell Forum All-Star
Joined: May 22 2009
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Posted: Aug 24 2015 at 8:57pm | IP Logged
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A favorite history read-aloud for us is Gombrich's _A Little History of the World_. I've been reading it along with CWH material for the last several years and unlike some other books I've tried to read, my children have not asked me to stop.
It would be quite easy to read in a year, adding extra material for your oldest, for a quick overview of world history with a European focus.
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Kelly Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 21 2005
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Posted: Sept 30 2015 at 9:02pm | IP Logged
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I didnt see anyone mention "History Links" which is geared to large families of disparate ages. Its great-and Catholic. They give activities for all ages. It includes Ancient Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, Egypt and more. My favorite volume is the General volume on how tonstudy history. Its a course in and of itself!
Good luck!
Kelly in Florida
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Sept 30 2015 at 9:26pm | IP Logged
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Well I can tell you what I am doing.. using lots of resources I have a 4 reading level book list combined with a Time Line and then I'm using Lectures from Liberty Classroom for the older kids.. so that we do read alouds that are younger than my older kids need, and then I have book options for them either as historical fiction/biography/etc or as reference materials which helps fill in the story of the lectures, and I have picture books and stories on cd from Jim Weiss for the younger kids to use on their own or with me just depending on the day.. so it's a multitude of resources and we're just all staying on the same time line.
__________________ 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
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3ringcircus Forum Pro
Joined: Dec 15 2011
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Posted: Oct 01 2015 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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I am doing SOTW with my 3--ages 5, 7, & 9. The youngest two do only the coloring pages. The eldest does the quiz for each chapter. If I had a 7th grader, I'd perhaps have him/her do the quiz plus a timeline and supplement w/ historical fiction (and probably some Catholic sources) as you mentioned. We are using and audio version so I can more easily facilitate the lesson time (instead of stopping/starting each time somebody needs a new color marker, etc.) and I am very happy with how it's been working out.
__________________ Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12
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