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History-Module 1 vs. American History
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There seem to be a lot of history questions on here recently, so I’m just going to add to them!
I purchased Gen. thru Deut. a couple of months ago, and planned on using it beginning this summer and into next year. But now I have sort of changed my mind and I want to do some American History first. I want my kids (ds6 and dd almost 5) to understand a few things about their own country before we begin another country.
Would you all recommend that I stick with my original plan and begin Module 1?
Did any of you do American History first, and if so, what did you start with?
It’s not that I want to buy more (because we get most of our resources from the library and PBS anyway); I just want them to know about America before Egypt. I also wanted to incorporate U.S. geography (learning states, especially locations in TX where we’re from, etc.).
Any advice is appreciated,
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey,
I think either choice is fine. There are lots of great books and materials on America for the little ones, so finding them at the library will most likely be an easy task.
I forget how many kids you have, but my one thought is that if you want to keep them together, one or the other of them won’t start with American history. If keeping everyone on the same cycle isn’t important, then I don’t think it matters.
One thing we’ve done is to start w/ Ancient Egypt and lightly cover American along side. Though now, we’re mainly doing the SCM modules and listening to Mara Pratt’s American history stories on cd. Perhaps that is an option to consider.
Best wishes,
Christie
We’re starting with American history for the reason Christie said…the wonderful living books for young children set in this era. I have hundreds on my shelves and I don’t want us to miss them. I see value in either side but I know we’d burn out if we tried to do both.
I agree, Robin. It was too much to do both with any depth. That is why we decided to continue with ancients and just listen to the audio of American. We do read some great living books for American history, but not as an official part of school. The chronology has really helped me to have a better grasp of history, though.
We did Mod 1 this year. Most of my homeschool friends started with American History. To me, it makes the most sense to start at the beginning of the world and future children will just jump in where with the Mod we are on. We also did 106 Days for science and there was a lot of nice overlapping. From time to time the kids (7 and just 5) ask questions or things come up. They know who our president is, we have read the Little House series, read about the pilgrims around Thanksgiving and in one of our phonics readers, so they have gotten IMO a taste for American history. I love the module divisions on a six year cycle so we go much slower through history than my friend’s families and I feel we get to go more in depth. The Modules are easy to teach and they make it very clear how the Bible fits into the world and vice versa. I feel like schools put so much importance on American history when we have only been a country for a few hundred years and world history is a far larger percentage of the time that has elapsed since creation. One reason I wanted to homeschool is to give my children a more accurate world view than I feel I was given in a very good private school. Now, I do love America and American history is vital for our kids, but I feel the SCM modules put each time period of history in perspective. I do not want to emphasize American history as more valuable or important than other cultures and time periods, not that you are doing that by starting with American over world. This is just my reason for prefering the Modules over what my friends choose.
Wow, thanks everyone! Some great things to think on…
For those of you who have done American history with little ones, which books do you start with? Unfortunately, other than the Little House series, I don’t have a very good knowledge of good American history books. You can thank the public school system for that. Ha!
Oh, there are so many great choices for American history. Have fun researching and deciding!
The SCM guide lists some really good books. This free curriculum (Guest Hollow) also uses some good ones. Some of my favorites are those by D’Aulaire. The Beautiful Feet Books Early American History primary book choices are really good too. (IMHO)
There’s a start………..(so many books, not so much time! LOL)
-Kim
The Picture Book biographies by David Adler are good, too.
If they were a little older (gr. 2 or so), I would suggest books by Catherine Chambers (Adventures in Frontier America) and James Knight (Adventures in Colonial America). Bobbie Kalman’s series are good, too. Your children may be ready for them now.
HTH,
Karen
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