History Question….again :)

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  • October 3, 2009 at 8:41 pm
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    I can’t decide what to do and could use some opinions to think on…….I have been thinking for a few days now and do not know what would be best. Here are my thoughts……

    We have done part of Module 1 (last year we did term 1 & 2) and then skipped to American history this year for 2 reasons. 1.) My daughter wanted to do American History 2.) I am not thrilled about all the idolotry in ancient history. SCM’s guide was the best thing out there for teaching Ancient Egypt (by far), but I am still uneasy digging into all that while my children are so young. I could go ahead and do modules 1-4 “lightly” and then come back and do them more indepth when my kids are older. Or I could just use American history this year and next year (modules 5 & 6) and then begin Module 1 when my children are in 4th and 5th grades. UGH…???

    Another problem is finding a good spine for modules 5 & 6 for this age. Is there anything out there to help me structure this a little better? The fact that I have no guide for American history modules 5 & 6, is one reason I am tempted to just do modules 1-4 first.

    Any advice????

    Amanda

    October 3, 2009 at 9:07 pm
    mommyagain
    Member

    Have you looked into the Truthquest American History for Young Students?

    October 3, 2009 at 10:23 pm
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Okay, I just looked at Truthquest and it appears to be just lists of books with a bit of commentary to begin each topic….that is just like using the list on Module 5, right? Maybe I am thinking about this all too much. If we read all the books in Module 5 & 6, and put major people and events on a timeline will that be enough? Or…..should we just go ahead and finish up module 1 this year and go on to module 2 next year? Then where is that going to leave us in the upper grades? My older child will repeat modules 1-4 but not 5 & 6………..Hmmmmm.Either way we will not be able to repeat all the modules.

    Is the repetition important? Does it matter how many times they study a certain time period?

    Also, I noticed that there is no module that includes countries like China, India, etc. Are those included in some of the books or just not discussed?

    October 3, 2009 at 11:08 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    HI,

    I agree completely with your reasons for not doing Ancient History in depth at the young ages. That reason plus, desiring them to dig into their own Country first is very important to me, was why we also have done American History first.

    As for spines for Module 5 and 6, American History Stories Vol 1-4 (free online here:

    http://www.mainlesson.com/displaybooksbytitle.php

    or from Nothing New Press the Miller/Guerber histories (which seem very thorough), “The Story of the Thirteen Colonies” and “The Story of the Great Republic” which will take you through around 1901 according to the Table of contents chapter titles. I am actually going to use both the Pratt books and the Nothing New Press recources.

    I don’t know of anything past 1900. You may just have to use your individual books (what sonya recommends, I guess?) and your timeline for that period to the present. Beware though. If you’re conservative, the 1900’s began very strongly progressive and ever since then, much of our educational material reflects a Progressive bent. If you’re not a Conservative, then it won’t bother you.

    I have the Truthquest and like it very much. I like the list of books and commentary provided to create a cohesiveness and continuity for me in teaching; I plan to use all the Truthquest Guides. But if you like Sonya’s style she has arranged then just stick with that; pick a spine, get your other books, maybe get a coloring book to do and make a timeline. For hands-on, I use Homeschool In the Woods Time Travelors series, since I’m no good at thinking them up myself and don’t want to waste my precious time looking for them online.

    I think it’s good to go through each one twice, as our children are at different levels and pull different insights and knowledge from the first and scecond opportunities. Not to mention, the different books available to read at the different age levels. If due to your children’s ages you find in the upper years they aren’t covering as much, then increase the workload and move a little quicker through.

    HTH

    Rachel

     

    October 4, 2009 at 6:12 pm
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Thanks for the information….:)  I am gonna stick with Sonya’s book lists for Module 5 this year, and we are making a wall timeline. I had to look at my big picture again and realize that we are studying more history than I was giving us credit for. My kids participate in Bible bowl with our congregation and are learning so much from the Old Testament with that program. So we are going to put timeline figures for our Bible bowl studies and our American History studies on our wall time line. 🙂  I also have More than Moccasins and Colonial Kids craft books to choose some activities to do on Fridays. My children also enjoy drawing, so I will let them draw more narrations for history to add more “hands on” type things.

    This will be plenty for us at this point in time:)

    One other thing I was wondering about is A Child’s History of the World. I have seen this listed many times as a spine book, but was wondering why it is not listed on SCM. Would it be a good choice for this age or not?

    Thanks,

    Amanda

    Amanda

    October 4, 2009 at 7:17 pm
    Cindie2dds
    Member

    CHOW is similar to SOTW, but it does start with evolution. It came with a history program my friend has and she bought SOTW to replace CHOW. Just my 2 cents.

    October 4, 2009 at 8:13 pm
    amandajhilburn
    Participant

    Ok, thanks Cindie.

    I also just realized that for the next 3 months my kids will be covering “A Survey of The Old Testament” in their Bible classes in our congregation. They have memory cards to do at home and I can use this to study the entire OT with them and fill in our timeline! 🙂  (Naps do wonders for the brain! LOL!)

    So, this makes me feel better. I think I will plan on covering Module 5 and our survey of the OT this year, and Module 6 with a survey of the NT next year. Then I can start a more formal ancient history when they are older and feel more comfortable doing it. Also, if we study the OT and NT the next two years along with our American studies, we are actually studying ancient history, but just not the parts that I feel are not appropriate at this time. So we will repeat Bible History (if you will) several times and I believe that is the most important part of history anyway 🙂

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