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Using TQ — How to plan History for multiple children
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Hello,
I am really bogged down with trying to determine which time period/guide to choose. Last year was our first year homeschooling, and we were not CM-based (yet), however we did use TQ and LOVED it. We did AHYS 3 because my oldest child had come from a classical Christian school and had not had any American history, and was particularly interested in the inventions, etc. My kids this year will be: 8th grade, 5th grade, and 3rd grade (and a two year old in tow). I have written down several possibilities of how we could proceed, but can’t seem to find comfort in any of them.
First, I have to say that it was because of TQ last year that I am re-inventing the wheel this year and plan to eliminate some of the traditional curriculum in other subjects we did last year in favor of a more CM approach. Because this year will be so new for us, I have considered switching to SCM modules because it’s all planned out for me, even though I was totally comfortable last year with “winging it” in TQ and picking and choosing what to cover in the guide. My kids read a ton of books and loved it. But, narrations for instance will be totally new to us, as will copywork, dictation, etc. For this and plenty of other reasons, I really love us all studying the same time period in History.
However, tell me if this would negate what I just said (cause more work/chaos), but I am considering doing the TQ Beginnings guide as our Bible (perhaps broken down like SCM modules — perhaps even using SCM module 1, etc as “Bible” omitting the geography)– for as many years as it takes, going slow, since it would be IN ADDITION to whatever we do in History.
It has been suggested to me that my middle kids are at the age where they might love to cover AHYS 1 and 2 this year and next, so I thought of having them do that while my oldest does Age of Revolution 1 and 2. Problems: I don’t know when that leaves my oldest to cover Age of Revolution 3 because we all JUST did AHYS 3 last year and that seems redundant, at least for my middle two kids, and perhaps even for my oldest to spend a full year back in that part of American history (although it would also incoporate world history at that level) after just two years from now. Also, the problems I see there are: my now 5th grader would then only have 3 years left to cover the other 4 guides (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Middle Ages and Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration before going BACK to American history in Age of Revolution 1 and 2 in high school, AND there wouldn’t be time for him to get Age of Revolution 3 in either. Also, and I don’t then think I’d want my now 3rd grader to revisit american history again at that point UNLESS she did Age of Revolution as opposed to the one for young students with him as an 8th, 9th and 10th grader (which might work out well for her as well as my youngest — he’d be in 1st or 2nd grade at that point and could do corresponding AHYS…that is sounding kind of like a nice scenario, actually). So if I do that scenario — when would my current 8th grader do Age of Revolution 3? And, actually my now 5th grader wouldn’t get to do Age of Revolution 3 in his future run either — that would be the year AFTER he graduates that my current 3rd grader would be finishing that up. Bummer. Other issues: i’d really like for my current 8th grader to get 3 out of 4 of the yet-to-be-covered guides in, you see, as opposed to devoting another full year to Age of Revolution 3. Plus, given only 5 years left, I’d like to cover Ancients and consecutively forward as soon as we can for the benefit of the middle two…which would mean my current 8th grader could cover all BUT Renaissance and Reformation/Explorers (assuming I squeeze in Age of Revolution 3 somehow) in his remaining 5 years. But, being a Christian, I really don’t want him to miss that time period — in fact, maybe we should all cover that time period ASAP — like this year. In which case, it would make consecutive sense to do Middle Ages this year, then Renaissance and Reformation/explorers next year, THEN Age of Revolution 1,2, and 3 BUT then that throws American History out of whack for the others I think… and my oldest wouldn’t get Ancients (however, he covered “Famous Men of Greece, Rome, even Middle Ages in school prior to homeschooling, but he didn’t enjoy it/mostly memorized dates names and did not seem to make connections).
It’s the 2 levels of American History that really throws me off with TQ…can you tell?!
And, can you tell I barely breathed as I wrote out that last paragraph? I really need help. Trying to figure out History is cutting into my time that I need to be figuring out a daily schedule and getting things ordered. If you are still reading…God bless you! This post HAS to take the cake for the most long-winded confusing jumbled mess ever. Lord help me.I would make having them all study the same period a priority. What I do with my 4 kids is have a spine I read to all of them which covers the whole scope of whatever period we are studying and then pick books on specific events and people for each of them to read at their own level to fill in in greater depth.
I wouldn’t worry about the different TQ levels. The older student books still list the younger kid selections. I would just get the older ones. I also don’t worry about doing a guide a year. We get through what we get through. When I was in public school, we never got past WWII in history.
Nebby
I would run through the history portion of the guides from Beginnings on forward (doing Bible separate as you mentioned), taking as much or little time on the topics as you and your children enjoy, not worrying about who is going to get what study in what grade. Also if I was going through American with TQ and at least one of the kids was high school age I would only buy the upper level guide and work with that.
When your children get to be Juniors/Seniors, no matter what time period they happen to be in, they can take an indepth government course as part of their studies. This will help with American history if they aren’t covering that in High School. At some point you could also do a year long geography course that covers the US/North America.
It’s also worth mentioning that with TQ, 8 guides doesn’t mean 8 years. Some may take more than a year and some may take less. So don’t get stuck on thinking you must complete exactly one book per year.
Let me start with an important fact: I’ve never used TQ. However I have lots of ages (8th, 4th, 3rd, 1st, K, plus a 3, 2, and 1yo).
For me, we aim to keep children in the same time period to promote shared conversations and to simplify teaching for me. We worry less about chronological (because if we really cared I would start each child separately in 1st grade with the rotation from ancients going forward). So to me it doesn’t matter if we cover specific topics in specific grades. However, I will also let my high schoolers choose a different history course if they are planning to work independently. (Some will be more or less inclined to work independently!) I think in the high school ages their buying in to the plan is the most important thing.
I would keep everyone together if possible and not worry about who ends up finishing at the “proper” place. Have you seen the suggested schedules on the TQ website – http://www.truthquesthistory.com/howtochoose.php toward the bottom of the page? Also have you seen the actual guides? Greece, Rome, Middle Ages and Renaissance/Reformation are the “slim” ones with only 100-150 pages. Beginnings and the three Age of Revolution ones are huge – 200-300 pages each. I would just start with something like Greece and Rome this year taking whatever time you needed and see how far you get. If your oldest gets to AOR III – great. If not he has already covered that time period.
Beginnings for Bible would be fine. There is a bit of Eqypt in there but it is mostly Bible. But DON’T try to combine the Biginnings guide with SCM Module 1. The combining would cause more work – I have been there and dropped it. Lesson 1 of SCM takes 22 lessons in Beginnings – Michelle is a bit more chatty than Sonya. I like both but they are totally opposite styles.
Schele
Thank you, ladies, for your patience and guidance. I really appreciate it! I see a trend in what you all have said and that is that I should not worry who does or doesn’t get what in History as long as we are learning and enjoying it along the way. I am beginning to feel a sense of calm…that it’s all going to be okay no matter which time period in History I choose to go with this year.
Here’s a question — would it make sense to use SCM Module 1 as our “Bible” this year, omitting the geography and probably the Egypt history too (or possibly incorporating some of that Ancient Egypt info too since I think it’s only one day of reading per week)? So, I suppose my question is — how does “Beginings” TQ compare to SCM Module 1 as far as Bible goes?
I’ve never used TQ’s Beginnings, but if you’re just wanting to read the Bible for that period of history, I suggest getting a copy of Catherine Vos’ Child’s Story Bible and perhaps reading a chapter a day until you get through Deuteronomy. You don’t really need a Bible curriculum or guide if just reading the Bible and narrating is all you’re trying to accomplish.
Have you seen SCM Module 1? You can download a sample here: https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/genesis-deuteronomy-ancient-egypt/. There is enough in the download for you to try it out and get a good feel for it. SCM and TQ are nothing alike, although they recommend many of the same books. SCM Modules are basically a schedule. So they say something like “Day x: Read y. Discuss.” Beginnings is commentary with no schedule. If you want to do SCM style Bible, you can easily just do what Lindsey suggested without the guide. Read a chapter each day and have your children narrate. If you want commentary, you need Beginnings.
I’m grateful for TQ and also for the author’s personal notes to me when I have had questions, but whlle I use her HISTORY commentary, I am not a fan of what I’ve seen of her commentary in the Beginnings guide, at all. She means well, but I don’t find her commentary in line wiht Scripture. Skimming her “Beginnings” commentary almost made me throw out TQ entirely– glad I didn’t. So, if I were to use the TQ Beginnings guide, I would largely be omitting her commentary, or editing at best. It’s the Egypt history and extra living books that I originally kept it for, but haven’t put to use yet.
My kids are 8th grade, 5th and 3rd — I do have the Vos’ Child’s Story Bible — in fact it was the ONLY thing my then 2nd grader girl did totally willingly last year (pre-CM days)…well, that and our TQ history last year. I doubt she’d want to hear it/read it again. 🙁 I had thoughts of incorporating the Nancy Ganz Genesis commentary but read some things on this forum that made me second guess that.
Don’t forget, you can just read right from the Bible. You don’t need a children’s version or a commentary or anything. You can just read, narrate, and discuss. 🙂 It worked well for hundreds of years, so even though we love to have all these extras to help us out, we don’t really need them.
Thank you for the heads up on the Beginnings commentary. I hadn’t heard that before and won’t get around to beginnings for another 4 years but it’s good to keep in mind when the time comes. 🙂
And, can you tell I barely breathed as I wrote out that last paragraph? I really need help. Trying to figure out History is cutting into my time that I need to be figuring out a daily schedule and getting things ordered. If you are still reading…God bless you! 
This post HAS to take the cake for the most long-winded confusing jumbled mess ever. Lord help me.
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