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Still trying to figure out what to do for History
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I have gone back and forth between what to do about history. I really like the look of Diana Warring’s series and I was given the student book and teacher’s guide (but not the CDs) for Ancient Civilizations and the Bible by a mom who has graduated all but her youngest. We covered Egypt this past year, though not to the depth that we could have, and we began to touch on Greece, but didn’t get too far. My boys will be starting 7th and 4th grades. My 7th grader has some mild learning challenges. So here are some of the options I`m looking at:</p>
<p>1) Allow my 7th grader to tackle Ancient Civilizations and the Bible on his own with younger ds listening to the CDs and perhaps some age appropriate read-alouds. Pro: A more independent track for a son who needs to get out of the shadow of his younger brother Con: the first four units will be essentially a fast forward through what we
ve already covered this past year. Maybe thats ok because he`ll be stepping it up in many other subjects: Science, Math, Grammar, etc. and that would allow a bit of an adjustment period. Of course there are always more books to explore on each topic and the activities and assignments and presentation would be different — I really like that.2) World Geography focus year. Not sure I could pull this off. I`m not great at planning out my own thing. I would need a basic curriculum like Trail Guide and then select literature that supports the continent/country we are focusing on. A variation would be to spend a term or two learning about the countries where our church supports missionaries – maybe even correspond with them, learn about their work and challenges while praying for them.
3) SCM Greece year. Not a bad choice, keeps us going on the same path, would mean keeping them working together for another while, which is ok I guess. There’s just something about the guides that didn’t quite work for us — not sure if it’s a case of needing to sustitute too many books because we couldn’t get what we wanted at the library and buying everything wasn’t in my budget (still isn’t). Digital books helps some, but I really miss having the physical books in my hand. I also found many of the Bible readings too long for us, so I had to shorten them.
4) Canadian History year. I have the Story of Canada I could use as a spine, but if I don’t use it in the next year or two my oldest will definately be too old for it. Once again I’d be putting my own thing together, but it may not be as difficult because I already have the spine and a vision of where I’d be going with it. The hardest part would be varying assignments beyond the basic narration after each reading. We find that really boring, actually.
5) Final option. Just see where interests take us. My youngest has mentioned wanting to learn about Brazil. He is also interested in learning languages. He varies between Spanish and Portuguese, even though as Candians French seems the natural option. I want to capitalize on the interest, though. We could then pick up with the Diana Warring curriculum the following year when they are in 8th and 5th.
Bumping for another try. I know it’s a lot of ramblings and indecision. The only thing I know for sure is that I want both boys to get Canadian history in the high school years.
Have you asked your kids for their input?
A few thoughts on your options…
Option 1) My 3rd/4th grader doesn’t listen to the CD’s that go with ancient Civilizations and the Bible. Her interest level just isn’t there yet and Diana does speak fast and move quickly through the information. That doesn’t mean your 4th grader wouldn’t get anything out of them, of course, but that has been my experience. Also, I have done this curriculum two ways. First I did it with my now-adult daughter and she was doing it alone. Now I am doing it with 2 kids together and I read/listen to the same resources they are using. It works much better this way because we can discuss together. They present projects to the whole family. Younger kids are roughly at the same place in history with CHOW so they can have meaningful interaction about the topic at hand. What I’m trying to say is that I think if you just have your youngest is too young to really
do ACB, it might be beneficial to wait a year or two and do it all together.
Option 2). If you do this, the SCM Visits To series would be a great addition. I just of the Middle East one and it is wonderful. I have done the Trail Guide to World Geography this last year with my kids and I think that the SCM guides would have worked beautifully with it.
Sorry, I don’t have an answer for you, but maybe these few thoughts will help with your decision making process.
Tough question:) I think I’d wait on Canadian history since you want to do it in HS and think what you have is boring. Maybe that would be good to do in 12th/9th to combine and you’d be able to have a lighter history year for senior year for your eldest?
I usually figure out where I want my eldest to end up and add in my youngest. We did SCM Egypt last year for 7th/4th and it worked well. I agree that Bible readings can get long. I started to just skim the commentaries and just read small sections.
I’d personally not spend a year on geography with older kids just because I need all years with a history focus to finish where I want and I like studying geography related to our history focus. But if you have a year to spare and still get all your history in that could work. Not sure how much a American you plan to study?
I’ve heard good things about Diana Waring. The independence for the kids sounds good. Is the study all of Ancients? How does that fit with your long term plan for eldest? Do you have something to follow that up with?
I’m not much help…just how I’d think through it:) I’m so thankful for the SCM guides because I finally have a plan mostly done for me:) Blessings, Gina
I would vote for doing SCM but substitute books that you can find and give your oldest more independent reading and maybe make a history notebook or pick a focus person or topic of the time period to do a special project on. He could also do his own book of centuries and keep a mottos book.
The guide is really to help you facilitate but if you need to tweak it to fit your family that is okay. I don’t think its supposed to be one size fits all. Break up the bible reading if you have to read part in the morning and part in the evening with dad after dinner maybe. Substitute books you can find digitally or at your library. The guide still gives a good frame of reference and keeps you moving. You could also use the Truthquest guide to give you ideas for books to substitute or supplement. Just a thought.
Thanks, ladies, especially you, pslively because you’ve used the Diana Warring books before.
My thoughts this morning took me to starting it next year (8th and 5th)with the first 6 units of Diana Warring’s Ancient History and the Bible, spreading them over 5 weeks each instead of four (for non-skill subjects I like to plan no more than 30-33 weeks) We would finish the last three units the next year (again 5 weeks each) and possibly continue with the first 3 of the next series with the last 6 units the following year after that — so three years to cover the first two books of the series). The final two years (my older son’s 11th and 12th year) we could do Canadian studies, but I don’t want to skip American history all together as I found it very interesting (and very helpful as so much of our culture is influenced by America). One option would be to just listen to the Warring CDs alongside our Canadian studies, perhaps? Not sure, but I have time to figure that out. That leaves my younger son covering Canadian History in 8 & 9 (same years I did in PS, though in NS high school doesn’t actually start until 10th, so I’m not sure how I would handle that one.)
Still leaves me up in the air about this year, though…
Hello fellow Canadian! I don’t have much to offer on all the non-Canadian options you’re considering because I’m struggling myself to put something together in that area. BUT, if you want to stick with doing Canadian history this year, I have a few options for you (and I struggle also with my two boys and who is in the shadow of the other, different struggle from yours but still a factor for me):
1. Use your current spine and partner it with Maxine Trottier’s Canada Biographies series. They are $5.95 each and come categorized… Artists, Inventors, Explorers, Leaders, Greats, Pioneers, Heroes. An idea might be to do oral narrations from the spine, and assign written narrations -only to your older boy – from the biographies – I believe they are short, so might make good written narration assignments. If you wanted to get even more independent reading into it, you could also choose select books/by period from the Dear Canada Diaries series IF you think your boys would get into that series sufficiently with it being mostly female main character stories. On the strategy of getting some separation for your boys, you could assign one of the biography series to one boy and the other to the second boy (?) that way they will be less likely to be competing/comparing?
2. I’ve recently come across (not seen or used) a Canadian history resource entitled, “Modern History Through Canadian Eyes: A Canadian History Guide for All Ages” by Heather Penner. Here is the description:
Canadian author Heather Penner has taken…to teaching Canadian history using various resources including literature, videos, maps, and textbooks. Reflecting her love for Canada and incorporating a Charlotte Mason approach to history, the guide is designed to be use for children from K to 12, and includes world events chronologically into the study.”
The CHER website has a list of resources that are go with the guide. I think the guide would give you the variety of activities beyond narration that you mention you are finding your boys are bored with…but I suspect you’ll have a bit of a hassle having to gather all the resources needed to go with the guide. (just a guess)
3. Another resource cited in a catalogue I have is the video series (4 DVD set) entitled “Canada: A People’s History Series”. It begins in the year 15,000BC and comes all the way to 1990, and even better, it’s broken down into 4 separate series, and even within the series the segments are 20 minutes each, so if you were into this, you could assign a 20 minute segment once or twice per week, have a pre-selected biography or two that fits in that period, and assign narrations and/or mapwork from there? This might be your easiest option to just dabble in an overview of Canadian history this, possibly alongside your desire to do other world focus.
Hope this helps some! My own struggle is wanting to “do history from the start” AND do Canada in the background. This past year I couldn’t make a decision for the life of me, so we just did Around the World in 100 Years”. The boys LOVED it (it will be a tough act to follow). But now, with my new first grader ready to join us for readings and narrations, I want to start the history cycle chronologically – from the Ancients – but I can’t stand the idea of my kids (age 9, and 10) not knowing the “basics” of Canadian history. Fitting it all in, and keeping it Charlotte Mason, is challenging indeed. I am thinking of just getting Dr. Noggins’ History of Canada game at this point!
good luck! Angie
I fit Canadian history in as it happens in relation to world history. So as we read narratives about explorers, we talk about who explored Canada… I love My First History of Canada for young kids and Story of Canada for older ones. For high school, I had my oldest read through this book:
A Short History of Canada.
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