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kids are not excited about history
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We’re about 4 weeks into module 1, and I’m feeling so bummed out. My girls are enjoying the Bible studies, but seem pretty bored with ancient Egypt. This is very disappointing to me, because I have fond memories of studying Egypt. I was nuts about the history! Granted, I think I was in 7th grade when it was a focus, my girls are just 8 and 10 years old. Could that have something to do with their lack of enthusiasm? I was even searching online for good documentaries tonight, hoping I can spark an interest if I showed them live footage. I don’t know though, this is my first year doing CM, I’m probably not supposed to show movies, right? We’re getting ready to do the salt dough map, I hope they have fun with it. I really loved making sugar cube pyramids when I was young. LOL
Any advice is appreciated! Thanks.
Melinda
Melinda,
We added all kinds of videos, paper books, coloring sheets, audio books, and a few hands on projects. No need to feel like it is not acceptable to make it fun!
There are several threads with ideas:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/using-module-1-for-history-with-ds
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/mod-1-geography
And check this out for activities:
http://handsandhearts.com/handsandheartsancientegyptdiscoverykit.aspx
When I googled ancient egypt, I got tons of educational coloring sheets and even a hieroglyphic typing game for the computer. Looks fun. =)
Two of my dc are about your dc’s ages and they are enjoying it very much. But, we do add in all sorts of books, History Pockets from Evan-Moor, coloring pages, Book of Century entries and other notebooking pages (I got mine from notebookingpages.com but you can use any you like). We did substitute Letters from Egypt with Sojourn in Africa and they are liking that.
We just started map drills last week and they are enjoying that as well. We will use seterra, our large map, and 10 Days in Africa (we may not actually play the game but my 6 yo likes to play with it for fun).
Others may have some other ideas, but don’t be afraid to make it fun, add in crafts, videos…or whatever.
Here is a great video we watched during the first trimester of Module 1:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/unlocking-the-great-pyramid/
We ditched Letters From Egypt. My DD is 7 and she had no attention span for that book. We also added several of the optional books suggested on the book updates, links, and tips by checking them out from the library. Last week we started a Nile model in a pan. We made a day of it. We went to the store and bought animals figures to go with it (crocodile, turtle, hippo, ect.). DD loved making the salt dough map. We also purchased Sojourn in Africa and have yet to start that.
Not CM…but we do American History First! My boys love learning about our country..we have a timeline so they know our country didn’t start first..of course we do read chronologically through the Bible!! We LOVE Am History! And can’t wait to start w/ the Ancients when youngest gets just a little older!
That is my take on it! But I agree that lapbooks, notebooking,dvd’s, any kind of “packs” will peak interest!
Have Fun!
Melinda,
We had the same experience with Ancient History. My kids love Bible History so we continue that as a separate class. We ditched module 1 and went back to US history. IMHO, if the kids aren’t happy, they aren’t learning. Try asking where THEY would like to start. They will be more willing to participate and learn if they have a say in what you teach. At least in my house it works that way. Not CM but not everything can be. BTW, my boys are 9 & 11. Hope this helps.
Have fun : )
Thank you for your responses and ideas! I’m going to check out every one of them.
This is our first year with this and for some reason I felt that to keep on schedule and keep it easy to follow and track I had to do exactly what I was told. I didn’t think to add on things that I wanted, at least to history. Honestly, we are not enjoying Letters From Egypt. Even I don’t like it.I’m going to get more creative with filling in resources to make it more interesting. Thanks!
Oh, the beauty of home education is that you can make it fit EXACTLY for your family.
I think this would be a great project for you to do with your kids: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/sugar-cube-pyramid-665727/
😉
We did module 1 a couple of years ago, and I thought there was a lot of time spent on ancient Egypt. About 1/2 way through, I could tell my daughters were getting a little bored with it too. You have already gotten a lot of great suggestions here, but one more thing I would mention is to add in some other ancient civilizations, too. Next time around, I will do this for sure. We have an activity guide by Diana Warring that covers all the major ancient civilizations in a well-laid-out format. The book is called Ancient Civilizations and the Bible. Here is a link from the Answers in Genesis site. It’s really easy to use this along with a biblical study of world history.
This is our first year with this and for some reason I felt that to keep on schedule and keep it easy to follow and track I had to do exactly what I was told. I didn’t think to add on things that I wanted, at least to history. Honestly, we are not enjoying Letters From Egypt. Even I don’t like it.
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