Teaching History??

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  • December 7, 2008 at 6:50 am
    Lisalu70
    Member

    I have been homeschooling my children for 9 years, my oldest is 13. From the beginning I was attracted to a literature based approach, had read some about Charlotte Mason, but then ended up taking a very different eclectic route, using a variety of approaches and curricula, some of which has worked out fine, but overall, I feel like I’ve missed the boat. The Lord led me back to this CM approach and I feel definitely called to make some changes.

    Here is my question, I understand the concept of learning through living books, I get the nature and science stuff, I get the Math (we’ve been using Math u see for several years), I get the approach to grammar and copywork and spelling, I get the small increments, I get the foreign languages and reading shakespeare and poetry, etc. What I don’t quite get is, how do you bring things together with the lit based approach with history and such. I’ve run across some great booklists, but how many books can we expect to get through and are they comprehensive enough to provide enough information about a certain period or era? What role do I play as a facilitator, I mean, other than asking for narrations, how do I evaluate? how do I ensure that enough aspects are being covered? I’m used to having a “topic” and then using a variety of resources to get info about that subject, doing projects related to that, research assignments, etc. But when I see a list of narrative type books, I just wonder, how does this work? They read a few pages a day, I ask for a narrative and that’s it? Is there some sort of study pattern we should follow? Also, In order to be effective, do I also need to read the books my children are reading? I had considered Ambleside Online but I really want all 3 of my children to be studying the same historical era, just to simplify it for me.

    I have a lot more questions about the logistical aspect of how to spread myself between the 3 children, making sure they are getting adequate attention and direction from me, lately I feel like they all need me for more time than I have. But I will leave that for another time. I am going to begin making some gradual changes, and I want to start on a boolist for history asap, and just get my kids reading, WE’re going to begin with the Middle Ages/renaissance/reformation, they’ve already had exposure to everything else, and I’d like to carry that through then chronologically. My oldest is 8th grade and my younger two are 5th grade.

    Thanks for any clarification or tips you can provide!

    blessings,

    Lisa

    December 7, 2008 at 7:25 am
    christina
    Member

    Hello! I am going to be quick and perhaps choppy in my answer as I am very tired and it is late, but in regards to your history questions…I have a thought? Now, pls keep in mind, I have not been HS for as long as you, and my oldest is 8, but I will share what we do, so you can get an idea of what is happening in our home with history. I find the 1800’s to be a fasinating time period…it excites me and my daughter seems to be attracted to it as well. What we have done, is gathered titles of literature based living books, and started reading them. Some of them are based around Canada in the 1800’s, Little House on the Prarie, Pioneer living, etc. I have gathered as much as we can, and we have just read and enjoy. DD is currently reading independantly a book set in the late 1800’s, and in addition to narrating, I have found that she is bringing this era into her real life. It comes into conversations, activities, art, and interests. We also have a book of centuries, although a different format, is more like a scrapbook. I have found that through the living books, there is not much “follow up” material needed, as we dive into the story and it makes an impression on us. The easiest thing I found for us personally, was to find somewhere that fit to start and then just go at it. I hope this helps, and not too fly by if you know what I mean? I hope others have better suggestions for you!!

    Good luck and blessings! Christina

    December 7, 2008 at 3:46 pm
    Lisalu70
    Member

    Thank you so much for your reply, Christina. Maybe I am just so used to the traditional system where certain facts and ideas must be learned, dates or the particulars of a certain event that shaped and the type of study where if we read something, a teacher has to bring it together for us, or tell us what we were supposed to get out of it. Like during the pioneer era reading the Little House books are going to immerse you in the era, but I just wondered if there are supposed to be enrichment activities, follow up, tie-in’s, or is that solely at our discretion, or is that what the student is meant to do himself once the interest is sparked? I want to make sure I completely understand, I have a son who will be highschool age and I will be working on transcripts for him, so I want to be sure he’s getting what he needs. My highschooler’s best subject is history and he’s very politically inclined, but I know we’ve had many “gaps” and certain things we haven’t touched upon at all, probably due to changing curriculum so many times. Like we never learned all the presidents in order as I did when I was in 5th grade. Is that really important? I know there are certain things I will want him to learn, even memorize…the declaration of independence, preamble to the constitution, other things…and I can see how it could be incorporated into copy work and such, maybe I’m starting to answer my own questions. I’ll have to mull it over some more, gotta get to church.

    December 7, 2008 at 3:59 pm
    Lisalu70
    Member

    I just saw some of my questions answered in the thread HELP too. Ok, now I really have to go. LOL.

    December 8, 2008 at 3:33 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Lisa,

    Some things that have helped us: We like to use a well-written “spine” type book. I feel like it sort of helps us all stay on the same “page” Some living-book spines I like are the ones reprinted by Christine Miller, originally written by Helene Guerber. Then we add in biographies and novels and all the other fun stuff.

    Another thing that I think is critically important is a Book of Centuries/type of notebook. We’ve kept one for years. We never actually verbally memorized all the presidents. I never was sure of the true educational value of that. 🙂 But we have them all in our notebooks. If we have them all in our notebooks, however, it’s a simple matter to look up who was President when the Haymarket melee occurred or something like that. It really is a consistent thread running through all our historical reading.

    I think your basic plan is good. Just get started reading. Keep a book of centuries or even tape up a timeline on the wall. When you read something, encourage asking questions. That may in turn lead you to more reading to “flesh out” or answer questions you have, or seek for another perspective–these sorts of things are especially valuable for high school age students.

    Michelle D

    January 1, 2009 at 8:20 am
    Lisalu70
    Member

    Thanks Michelle! Do you know anything about Mystery of History? Do you think that would be a good spine? I just ran across a great deal on these, and I thought it looked interesting. Not sure if it’s considered “living” but I thought it might be a comprehensive spine. I also will begin the book of centuries. I really like that idea, and had infact contemplated one years ago, but the farthest I got was making up the pages, we never put anything in it.

    Is it a “bad” idea to cover 2 era’s at once, like Do World history a few days and American History a couple days. I feel like my younger kids missed out on key American history stuff, and My oldest has missed the inbetween of Biblical history and current events, so he really wants to begin with middle ages…I noticed in Charlotte Mason’s sample schedules, she had World History and American history at the same time on different days…so I got the idea to do the same, 2 days a week of WH, 2 of AM and then maybe one day of Geography. What do you think? I think my kids like the variety of different things, but I wonder if they will lose the “flow” inbetween subjects?

    Thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to encourage and advise!

    Blessings,

    Lisa

    January 2, 2009 at 5:24 pm
    csmamma
    Participant

    Hi Lisa,

    There was a thread on “World History and American History” awhile back so I thought I’d add the link for you.

    http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/world-and-american-history#post-1862

    However, the thread was not very long so maybe someone else would like to add their thoughts as well. You are in such great company here. 🙂

    Blessings to you & yours,

    Heather

    January 2, 2009 at 6:10 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    I, myself, don’t know anything about Mystery of History.

    I’ve tried in the past to try the “two history strand” thing and have never been able to carry it off. 🙂 Too complicated–probably more for me than for the children. One thing we HAVE been able to do is to do some American history as holidays–if we have no one currently doing American history, it’s been good to do a little nurturing of that when we celebrate Independence Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Washington’s Birthday, etc. We pick up a book or a video and keep it very simple, but try to acknowledge the day.

    HTH!

    Michelle D

    January 3, 2009 at 8:19 am
    Lisalu70
    Member

    Thanks I appreciate the input. I have considered it, and I think I may just go ahead stick with the chronological, atleast for this next term, and get used to the schedule and then I may incorporate American History somewhere along the way concurrently. Our family is politically active and keeps up on current events, so the children learn a lot that way anyway, just in the natural course of life and things. Thanks again.

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