Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: history spine, History without a spine

This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by pjssully.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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December 4, 2013 at 1:34 am
pjssully
Participant
I know i have been here before and have asked so many questions. You would think after homeschooling for 10 years I would have this all figured out. But History has ALWAYS been hard for me! I have decided to have my 14 year old start on a Beautiful Feet guide after we finish studying the American Revolution. And my oldest is 16 almost 17 and is all set with her stuffl. But I am flaying around with my twins, so to be 12. I don’t know what to do for history. We have tried the modules, and I love everything else but the spine (I am so sorry sonya!!) My boys just do not like them. Yet all the other curriculums out there are so complicated!! I have been using TOG just for the history reading but even that is confusing! I just don’t know what to do! If i could find a different spine and use the SCM modules, that would be great. Or I could just let my boys read great books and literature for history. I tried Truthquest but they are in between the olders version and the youngers version. The older version is a bit above their heads.
Could someone please give me some help/suggestions. I feel very embarrassed to ask for help!! But I need it. We are at the beginning of the American Revolution –they are reading Early Thunder. They are about 1/4 of theway through.
thank you
pj
December 4, 2013 at 1:50 am
sheraz
Participant
PJ – Don’t be embarrassed! I didn’t actually answer your other post because I haven’t used Stories of… and wasn’t sure what to recommend as a replacement.
Cut the spine if it really isn’t working for you. Find a timeline of the Revolutionary Period and then just read what books you can in order of the events of the timeline. This doesn’t have to be that complicated. 😉 Have them narrate and there you have it. If you need paper trails, then add in a simple Book of Centuries and the narrations in written form.
Heritage History has an Early America Library ebook collection on disc that will have all the living stories you need to follow a timeline (it goes from the colonies to the first WW). If you buy the disc, you can print out the books on regular paper if you don’t have an ereader. If you don’t want to print, all their books are free to read on-line.
This link will take you to the curriculum/library page. You need to scroll down to the Library Section and look at the Early America collection. The entire list of books is there to see and read.
http://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=products&s=libraries
I just realized that Mara Pratt’s books are listed in the HH collection. Perhaps those would work as a replacement spine for the Stories of … book??!
December 4, 2013 at 1:51 am
my3boys
Participant
My dc do not seem to do well with spines either, or maybe it’s me. I love the modules as well, but always feel “behind” and we get behind easily with spines, in particular…and geography. I do try to keep reading when we can and when it seems to work out for the day, but that has been hard, don’t know exactly why, but it has. Could be that we only really have 4 days, not 5, and my dc seem to not be in the same place mentally for the spines…or it could be the spine themselves. The Story of…books have just been difficult to work with, unlike Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors, which worked great. I think my problem has to do with scheduling, lifestyle (meaning, we’re very busy), and one child being ahead, needing to move forward when the others are not.
*sigh*
We did great a few years back when we followed the module, without a spine, and just read the books listed, narrated and discussed. We seemed to get through the books at a faster pace (not that I’m just trying to get through them, because truthfully I’m not) without having to match up our reading to a spine, etc. I do realize that even when we read from the spine that it’s just icing on the cake, but it still makes me feel behind.
Okay, I’m done whining.
December 4, 2013 at 1:53 am
sheraz
Participant
I was going to mention that occasionally you can find the HH as audiobooks free on librivox as well.
December 4, 2013 at 2:12 am
cherylramirez
Participant
Ladies perhaps this is where “All Through the Ages” might help. Simply put it is a very thorough listing of living books that can be used for history and geography and more. Choose an era to study, choose a subject and choose books according to the age of your children. These readings along with a book of centuries at the end of the week is enough. That is what i am going to do with my ds12 when we start our new year in January. We will probably do notebook pages too. Here is a link:
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/books/all-through-the-ages-2/

December 4, 2013 at 2:43 am
bethanna
Participant
Would the other books by Christine Miller work as spines?
December 4, 2013 at 2:54 am
bethanna
Participant
Sorry. It’s the ones by H.A. Guerber, edited by Christine Miller. I have The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Story of the Great Republic, but we haven’t used them yet. There are others for the ancients and Europe also.
December 4, 2013 at 2:59 am
greenebalts
Participant
This is our first year using TQ and we absolutely LOVE it! I also use BF and it’s great too! When you say you’re between guides for TQ, do you mean that regarding the commentary? If you have the guide, I would just simply use it for the book lists. You don’t always need a spine. If you feel more confident with a spine, have you tried the Guerber books? I believe The Story of the Thirteen Colonies or The Story of the Great Republic would cover the Revolutionary period. I read excerpts of these to our kids 4th, 3rd, and 2nd grade, but I feel the books would be more suited for that 5th to 8th grade level. I am personally not a huge fan of Story of the World, but this is another spine option that some people like. This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall may be another option.

There are so many great living books out there, I wouldn’t sweat the spine 🙂 …..and this totally is not a dumb question. I think many struggle with this including myself. I always think I need a spine, but have not found a great one that I draw from 100%. I usually find we enjoy the living books instead.

Blessings,
Melissa
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/
December 4, 2013 at 3:25 am
pjssully
Participant
Thank you everyone! After reading through the posts, I realize that what I really am struggling with is the “spine”. In some ways, it feels like it is getting in the way. I don’t know how else to articulate what i feel. So maybe what I need is to relax my standards and just let the kids read and gleam from the living books what they can. I always worry about the details that they might miss. And it really is foolish since they will have this subject/topic again is high school!! So I am going to just go with great literature and a few “spine” commentary here and there when they need it. There are SO MANY good books out there-that I don’t want to miss them. And perhaps we need to start a book of centuries soon as well.
Thank you again for all your wisdom and all your replies. I have looked at the Heritage History site and I like that as well. I may get that too! You have all been gracious and helpful!
Thanks
pj