History Rotation- how do I make it work?

I agree with Melanie.  I started with a six-year rotation, and then naturally found that a four-year rotation worked better for us.  Also, as my son is entering high school, he studies independently more and is able to add electives for interests he has.  History and US Government is one of those things.

Seasons will change.  Start where you want to start, and let things progress naturally.  And, honestly, I entered college with very little knowledge of history.  I’ve learned more about history from studying with my kids over the past five year than I did in 16 years of school.

Here in Florida the usual is 1 credit of world history, 1 of U.S. history and 1/2 credit Government and 1/2 in Economics.

Simply Charlotte Mason covers world history each year and that includes American history for the modern studies. Once you complete 3 or 4 years of SCM studies at the high school level, your student will have accomplished enough of each to have at least 1 credit for World and another for U.S. You have to add in additional studies for government and economics and SCM has recommendations for this purpose.

All that said, I don’t use SCM history modules. They look great and I have spent a lot of time looking through them. I just didn’t discover SCM until my son had graduated high school and I was down to homeschooling one older child. I didn’t find SCM to be the best fit for homeschooling one older child. It looks awesome for family studies or if you already own many of the books. Otherwise there were just too many components for one, older student and it would have not been cost productive for my family.

Had I discovered SCM when I was still homeschooling two, I would have chosen it hands down! I love the way it keeps the whole family studying the same time period together and sharing some of the same books as well.

As it is, I plan my own history studies and have for most of my homeschooling years.

I’m in South Florida as well! Hendry County. It’s a small county and I live in a small town called Clewiston on the south side of Lake Okeechobee. You’re not too far from me-probably 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Do you know that Sonya Shafer is coming to Miami to do a conference in October? I am hoping to make it and am really looking forward to it. There’s a thread around here somewhere concerning it.

Yes, there is no need to stress over high school. You have time and it’s really not as complicated as it sounds. 🙂

We just finished The first History module (Gen. – Deut. & Ancient Egypt)!  We thouroughly enjoyed it and we learned so much!  We are planning to do the 2nd and 3rd module next year (1) 3rd grader and (2) 1st graders!  If it takes more than a year, that’s fine with me!  To me there is too much good stuff in there that gives events meaning and we didn’t want to skip it!  I don’t  think there is a right or wrong!  I’m not attached to a 6 year plan or a 4 year plan!  We work our way through history and  fit everything in we feel is important!  So, I won’t condense anything into a year just to do so, but if it happens to work that way, that’s fine!  I also wanted to start at the beginning of history and work our way through!  That was important to me!  I also wanted them to work their way through the Old Testament in order since it gives so much meaning & foretells of so much that happens in the New Testament!  That doesn’t make a better approach,  but it just depends on what you want and your reasons for starting in a specific period!  So, in other words, think about it and find the best fit for your family but feel free that there are several good options either way :).

And as to how to condense it?  Well, your guess is as good as mine, ha ha ha!  We have 5 more days of school for this year and then we will take a small 6 week Summer break!  During that time I will be going through the curriculum and coming up with a plan!  I don’t plan on focusing a lot of time on the myths!  Just doing a few for examples and that’s it!  I guess I will discover if it will be more challenging than I think :).  Because history is a story, any parts that are needed to make the next part make sense is important to me, but there are some things that we may not cover or we may cover but just lightly!  One way to cover more ground would be to combine Visits to lessons!  That might not be a good idea for every Visits to, but for Visits to the Middle East, sometimes there is just one country added and so I could easily combine some of those!  We also tend not to do any of the Make Your Own Map days!  Some kids may love that kind of stuff but mine do NOT!  I would probably just look up some pics of the Holy Land or get a good book on the Middle East!  I will be happy to share what I learn!  When I get in the middle of it all, it may be a year and half worth of school and that’s okay too 🙂

Hi Crystal and welcome to you as well! 🙂

Again, if your daughter is 12, I wouldn’t worry. Try SCM and see how you like it. If you love it, you can give your daughter a separate history program when she hits high school or you can continue including her in the family history reads and assign her additional reading in a narrative American history book so that she can cover both. I would just focus on enjoying where your family is at right now.

I also want to comment on the remark about people thinking Charlotte Mason is not rigorous. I disagree. If you truly follow Charlotte Mason’s suggestions, your children will receive a quite rigorous education. This is a myth that is common among homeschoolers because they hear Charlotte Mason and they think “Oh, how sweet! Reading and nature walks!”

However, the more you study CM methods, the more you see that she expected a lot of her students and she assigned really difficult books as well. She had young children reading Shakespeare and Plutarch and studying Latin and French for instance.

CM methods start gently with young children and remain very organic even through the high school years but they are rigorous and effective!