We are closing in on the ending of our second year of homeschooling. We started history module 1 last years and still doing it and still not finished. I don’t know why it’s been so hard to get through it. I feel like its a lot to it and we only get history done a few days a week. I did add in early American history by beautiful feet and my son loves that as well. Is this too much? Has it taken anybody else this long to complete a history module? History gets pushed aside a lot inour house although I love it myself.
How old is your son? I found it challenging to do the Bible commentaries plus Bible readings. So, I often skipped or summarized parts of commentary. I think the SCM guide is a solid amount of work followed as written, but of course needs to be done daily to keep up:) I personally would think it too much to add another program, unless just an occasional extra book. Just my .02:)
SCM is deceptively rich and deep. I think that adding BF to a module would be too much for a child, unless maybe we’re talking high school, possibly. I’ve learned over the years that less is more and digging into one or another program lends itself to our best years.
I think you answered your own question: “History gets pushed aside a lot in our house”.
If you’re putting it off, there’s a reason. Is the module not working for you? Do you find the books difficult to read aloud or hard for your child to understand and narrate? Maybe this just isn’t your favorite time period?
The Bible commentaries can be a lot; and I simply scanned ahead as I read them aloud and edited out the repetitive parts. In my opinion, the Exodus commentary was really repetitive. I don’t remember how old your son is, but the history lesson should really take no more than 15-20 minutes MAX. I think you can leave out the commentaries altogether and simply read and narrate the Bible stories. If you’re using Oxford First Ancient History, you can read it in advance and just summarize it for your son, while letting him look at the pictures. I have the older version of Module 1, so I haven’t used the updated booklist or Visits To… resources yet.
I agree w/ momto2blessings that you’re going to shoot yourself in the foot by adding more to something you’re already not completing.
And, it’s ok to give yourself permission to set this resource aside and move on. If this is your first time through and you plan to repeat the modules, you’re going to cover it again, perhaps at a time when your son’s interest is piqued. If it feels as though you have to force it, it’s probably not the best for either of you. Move on to the next module OR study the BF American History instead, if that’s what you need to do. The Charlotte Mason police aren’t going to arrest you for not completing the module!
It takes us 3 semesters to complete one module. Sometimes it is due to the length of the lessons, so we may break up a lesson over two days. We also have field trips, co-op, etc. when we are not completing our regular subjects at home. I also like to throw in more hands-on activities than what is included in the modules. For example, we took some time to cover the Olympics in more detail while studying Greece this year in preparation for the winter Olympics. We read extra books, completed a lapbook, and had a party with Olympic themed snacks for the Opening Ceremony. I’m sure as the kids get older that we will be able to cover the material in a module more quickly, but for now this is what is working for our family.
My daughter has been wanting to study American History, and while I did purchase a used copy of Beautiful Feet’s manual for AH, I have not done it in addition to the modules. I think it is just a lot. Someone suggested having books out for leisure reading if the child is interested, and I have thought about doing that for my DD. It would not be required, nor would I ask for a narration.
It does seem like my son is more accepting of the beautiful feet early American history right now although he is loving the bible study part of the module. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to finish it up over the summer and maybe stop there for a while so we can finish our beautiful feet books!
My son is eight years old and yes scm is beautifully rich! That’s what I love about scm. So rich that sometimes we like to take our time to digests it all and enjoy it.
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