diana waring

I have ancients here and I don’t think it looks text booky at all.  I love that she offers so many options for narration-type activities and projects that appeal to a wide range of interests and learning styles.  There are also many suggestions for further reading (living books).  

How old are your children?  Are you looking for a shorter history rotation (like me) or is there another reason you are looking for something else?  

I love Diana Waring’s materials.  I don’t use them exactly as shown (I do a 4 year history rotation and I do it in a CM style), but I love how she gives ideas for kids to “narrate” what they know in history through ideas other than traditional written work.  Written work is great and we do a lot of it, but my 12 year old loved building the Parthanon and telling me about it, and my 15 year old who is studying upper level piano loved the opportunity to look into the music of the middle ages and make her own compositions.  Her CDs are very interesting for older kids to listen to (My kids 10+ listen to them) and the articles are required reading for my 14+ students.

I have found it works well.  In the All Day Charlotte Mason seminar there is a list of ways to narrate that aren’t limited to oral/written narration and I find that many of Diana Waring’s ideas are along that vein.  It has been invaluable for me in tailoring our education to our specific children’s gifts. 

I use her suggested readings and often have them narrate back “traditionally” but I also enjoy the week of creative work related to the history topic.  Often my kids can do this combining history and handicrafts, art, music…

I use it just as history–mostly…some of the suggested reading books become part of our literature course for the year, and like I said, sometimes art projects become part of our art and handicrafts.  I do other Bible, though Diana Waring’s materials are very scripture focused.  She does a wonderful job at tying history to the Bible, but I do like to add more.

I would probably not do  both the SCM module and History Alive as it might be too much; I owned History Alive first, so while I’ve looked at the modules for good book suggestions, I stuck with what I owned for the framework of our history studies. 

I hope this helps!

I used History Revealed with my olders and it was wonderful. HUGE fan here! There is something in there for every learner. I love that the foundation is set with the articles and the audios (she is very perky and loves history and moreso the Lord!) . I love that each yearly unit focusus on God’s movement in history! The first unit is Bible history, the second is church history and the third is missions. All in their setting in secular history. I love that after she provides the foundation she gives the parents/students the oportunity to choose which books to use for digging, choose which topics most interest us for digging, choose which writing projects, etc.  I love that she points us in the general direction and lets us make it our own.

I am using SCM Gen-Deut right now. After reading the above you may be asking why did I choose SCM if I have such a fasination with Diana’s materials. Well, I feel Sonya does just as good of a job addressing Scripture and how it fits into secular history. But Diana’s materials are –in my opinion– better suited for older kiddos, and my little only 8. There is an elementary guide to go with Diana’s sets, and we use it, but I want my dd to get he most out of HR when we use the whole program. So we are using SCM for now and will move to HR when my little girl is older.

A note of interest is that SCM takes longer to go through the Bible than HR. This can be good or bad, depending our your situation. I like that we are taking our time and really getting the Bible in right now. But when my dd gets older I know I won’t have time to take 3 years to get to Acts, before moving on to more modern history. So I am glad I am doing it now. Of course either program can be sped up slowed down if one wants to tweek. 🙂

As a side: HR never felt textbooky to us. It was alive and bubbling! Hehe! Among other books we add Cook’s Journey Through the Bible with Ancient Civs. , and From Jerusalem to Iran Jaya with RRR.  These two books are excellent complements to the program.

This is wonderful information, thanks everyone! I have a question about it, though. You all mention that it is best suited for the olders. Our homeschooling children are in 4th, 7th, and 9th grades (ds, dd, dd). Would I just be able to use HA with them, or would I need to stick with SCM with my younger and HA for the older 2? I am trying to simplify, and would really like to keep them all together, if possible. It looks like we would begin in RRR, since we did Ancient History with Mystery of History last school year. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Wow, this is just bizarre that this topic pops up today. I was just looking at this history last night as I was exploring whether I had any options for history materials that included audio and/or video. And I’ve never heard of these materials before. But, I am also seeking materials that can help lead ds into more self-directed learning. Can this be done in that manner? Not that I won’t be there and still do some readings with him. We’re just working on his work ethic and responsibilty and taking ownership of his own education. How “teacher intensive” is this material? Could it be used in a more independant fashion? I’m looking at it for years 6, 7, & 8. I hope my question makes sense.  🙂

Thanks!

Melissa