Genesis-Deut & Ancient Egypt for a 6 yr old

We did Module 1 last year and my son was 6 then.  He really enjoyed Boy of the Pyramids and he would listen along with my older girls for Golden Goblet etc.  We also used the Stuff We Left Behind that he liked, and various DK, Usborne and library books. I do agree that the younger age category is a little thin for Module 1 but still doable as a basic framework for his first year.  My son is now in 2nd grade and we’re doing Module 2.  He is able to listen in much more than last year from just a small foundation built last year.

We are following the Gen-Deut. and Ancient Egypt guide. My second son is 6 and he has a hard time with Ancient Egypt and her neighbors and some of the chapters in the Exodus Commentary for Children. But he likes “The Things They Left Behind” and “Boy of the Pyramids.”

I used it last year with a 5yo boy and a 6yo girl.

My daughter loved Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors. We read the bible passages from a children’s bible and discussed it as we went, we did not use the commentary. We used the Visits to Africa materials as well, and watched a couple documentaries, youtube vids, etc. My kids LOVED it. My daughter definitely got more out of it at 6yo than my son at 5yo, but both liked it a lot and learned plenty.

I wouldn’t skip it just because you think your child is too young. He might surprise you! Just be ready to modify if needed.

I posted how I tweaked the guide here: https://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/history-with-6-year-old-over-their-head/#post-260316

You could go one of two routes.

1. You stay on track with the lesson plans.  But when you come to a Bible day, for example, you find the Child’s Story Bible chapter (or portion of the chapter) that correlates with the passage listed in the lesson plans.  Read and narrate from the story Bible.  When you come to a History day, for example, discuss any pictures listed in the lesson plans from The Stuff They Left Behind.  Skip the Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors readings and substitute picture books and story CDs (remembering that some picture books are short enough to be read in one week, and others are best spread over many weeks).  Some weeks you may not have any History readings, and that’s fine.  When you come to a Geography day, follow the lesson plans for Visits to Africa. However, I would highly recommend coloring instead of writing names for the countries at the younger ages – it is fun, easy, and fast.  Have your child point to a country and say the name, and then they get to color it in, or something along those lines.

2. You use the lesson plans as a jumping off point, but don’t follow them exactly. Instead, for Bible, figure out how many divisions you will be reading in the Child’s Story Bible to include all the stories from Genesis through Deuteronomy. On my count, there are 86 divisions (chapters or sub-chapters). If you school 3 terms per year at 12 weeks per term, you have 36 weeks; 36/86=2.4, so you will need to do Bible lessons 2-3 times per week to finish the material. If you plan 3 days per week, then you have some wiggle room when life doesn’t work out as planned and you don’t get all your lessons done.  For Geography, figure out how many divisions you will be doing in Visits to Africa. There are 36 divisions (lessons). 36/36=1, so you will need to do Geography lessons 1 time per week to finish the material. For History, figure out how many divisions you will be doing in all your materials combined. You could pick one term to read only Boy of the Pyramids. It has 9 chapters, so read/narrate 1 chapter per week, and you will have a few weeks of nothing. You could spread your chosen picture books and CD stories over the remaining 2 terms.  Figure out how to divide each book (will you read it all at once or spread it over 2 readings or over 4 readings, etc.) and how many divisions you have total for books and CD tracks. Maybe you have enough to do 1 lesson per week for 1 term, and nothing more.  Then you could just do History for 2 terms of the year and take a term off.  Or maybe you have enough to do 1 lesson per week for 1 1/2 terms.  Then you could split your resources evenly between the remaining 2 terms and have lessons for most weeks of each term, and a few weeks off in each term.  Etc. etc. etc.  For The Stuff They Left Behind, you decide how often you want to discuss pictures.  Every week until you run out? Every other week until you run out? Split into 3 even piles so each term you have pictures to discuss until you run out?  Does that make sense? This is the route I take for things – I use the lesson plans as springboards for what resources to use and arrange them as I see fit.