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History learning seqence
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OK……I’m a total newbie with the CM method and a complete HS’ing newbie to boot. So, I’m REALLY overwhelmed at the moment! I’m trying to stay calm though and do one step at a time.
I bought SCM materials for my 6 yr old (7 in three days) who will be in 2nd grade next year. I bought curriculum for individual lessons(grade 2), family lessons, nature study, and math. I did not buy history as my family and I have different religious beliefs and the history curriculum tied into the bible. So I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions for alternative history curriculum that do not have a religious thread running through them?
I thought about creating our own history curriculum but was wondering why everyone usually starts with ancient history? I thought about doing American history first since it made sense(to me anyway) for my daughter to understand where she lives before she understands other countries. However, there has to be a reason why everyone else does American history in later years, right? Just trying to figure out the logic behind the sequencing of when to teach what in history.
Suggestions would be SO welcomed!!!!!
Welcome to the group! You can do history in any order, a lot of homeschool curricula assume you will go in chronological order, hence ancient to modern. I know that Beautiful Feet books begins with American history though. I’m not sure of the religious content amount on BF, but I do know that they have you reading from literature like Leif the Lucky and Benjamin Franklin by the D’Aulaires, so not a heavy Christian emphasis in the books themselves.
Book Shark is a secular curriculum company owned by the people who created Sonlight (Christian, but there was enough of a market for a secular literature based curriculum that they put it together under a separate label).
You could also simply browse book lists and pull together your own pick of books. 🙂
And I say if you want to start with American history then go ahead and do so. It all works out in the end.
It’s perfectly fine to start with American history, if that’s what your interest is. There are some great resources for early elementary ages.
If you decide on a chronological history, SOTW is a good choice for younger ages. It’s pretty neutral with regards to religion. You can also use many of the SCM history books, as quite a few of them are secular.
I’ve read that Charlotte Mason herself started with her nation’s history as well. I’m all for starting with American History.
If you really want to use Charlotte Mason methods, you might check out Ambleside Online or get a good reference book with book lists in historical order for you to choose from. Ambleside Online does have Christian books and was created by Christian women but people of various religions, and people of no religion, have used it successfully. I think most, if not all, of the history readings are secular.
There is a reference book called All Through the Ages by Christine Miller. While she is a Christian, her book is simply a large reference resource that lists books in historical order so CM educators can pick and choose selections for each time period as they move through their history studies.
Thank you everyone! I looked into Beautiful feet and that looks really promising. I wonder if you can find some of those titles at the library vs having to buy them? Right now we are low budget even though I would LOVE to own them ALL!
HollyS- what does SOTW stand for? Total newbie here, so I’m still trying to figure out all the abbreviations people use on the forums.
I have looked into Ambleside Online and will look more closely at their history book list!
Thanks everyone! I appreciate your time to give me advice!
Yes, libraries often have the Beautiful Feet books, at least from what I’ve found locally. Libraries vary!
SOTW is Story of the World.
You can find a list of many abbreviations used on this forum here, and that is also linked in the Welcome and Guidelines thread highlighted at the top of the page of forum topics.
I’ve found many of the BF books a bit harder to find, but if you have a good Inter-Library-Loan system, yours should have it available. They have some wonderful, classic books scheduled, although I’ve never used actual curriculum myself. We have read many of the D’aulaire’s & Holling C. Holling books (and have several scheduled for the coming year).
I live in a small town and my library definitely does not have most of the Beautiful Feet books. Most of Ambleside Online’s books are in the public domain so you can read them for free or very low cost on an ereader if you have one.
I’ll also share what we did in case it might help. I didn’t have much money for curriculum when my kids were little either so for history, I started with American history and simply went to the library and used the books that were available. We found many wonderful treasures this way. I started by picking books on the discovery of American, then the settling of America, then the founding of America and so on. I did use Truthquest as a guide one year and that was a nice resource to have but not necessary if one can’t afford it.
For science, I did something similar. I had my children pick a topic they wanted to study and then we found well written, living books on that subject at the library. This took us through a couple of years when funds were really tight and some of our best homeschooling memories are from those years! We would do math and language arts, hit the library, load up on books, and then head to the nearby park for a picnic and lots of reading.
One really doesn’t need lots of curriculum to homeschool young children.
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