Who to teach to?

I have only 7 children (16-4), but once we hit high school I let them go on their own.  They wanted to also.  They could accomplish much reading independently then with us.  Also, I couldn’t figure out what books to let go so I did have a nice size list of books to get through.  I found when I looked at the pros and cons of letting them move on their own with history there were by far more pros than cons.  Just what worked for us!  Good luck, HS is like starting over, or shifting gears.  Just when I had it all down, I got high schoolers!  LOL

We’ve done it both ways. We have almost 9 kids, ranging from an 18 year old in his first year of college to the youngest due in June.

When I kept them together, I read aloud some middle range books (approx 3-8 grade level) and then had separate lists for anyone who could read well enough on their own, definitely for high school. It worked well and we all enjoyed it. We used TQ.

Unfortunately it just got to the point that we couldn’t do it anymore, too many health issues and moving multiple times due to layoffs/job changes for my husband that kept me from reading aloud. So we ended up splitting them up. That’s working well too. I have 3 that are working on their own right now (a 17 year old junior that will graduate in Dec, a 13 year old that will start high school in the fall, and a 12 year old that will be in 8th grade in the fall). My others work in a group with me (they are 10 year old/will be 5th grade, almost 8 year old/will be 3 grade, 6 year old/will be 1st grade). I also have a 2 year old and another due in June.
I miss having them all together but it would be hard to put them back together again with the different history knowledge areas at this point, although I am considering it. We’ve used a combination of HOD, my own plans and TQ for this.

As far as getting World and American history credits: I just taught World history with the American part included and then split them out on the transcript so they were easily understood by my son’s college choices. We did History all 4 years (easier to keep them together and to give more time for history) and they added Government/Econ as electives.

-Rebecca

retrofam:

What did your high schoolers use for Government and Economics?

Thanks,

Robin

Yep, I closed my blog down last month.  We have been using History Revealed for nearly 4 months now and it is going well.  I’m more than happy to answer questions here though.  And let me share why we went with History Revealed (most of this was explained on the blog):

History Revealed is set up differently than Tapestry of Grace (what I had been considering).  It has a student manual that teaches the student the month’s topic, along with audio cds that teach more of the topic. That means that if I didn’t have a single penny to buy another book my high schooler still had reading material on her level right in the curriculum and audio material. Each week also includes book, website, and video suggestions with suggested age ranges to expand on the topics, but the discussion questions relate to the student manual and audio cd information. You can explore the topic in more depth with any resources available to you instead of being tied to specific books. The teacher’s manual has more information I can share with my students too, or just more information for my own learning pleasure. 

The Elementary activity book adds to the Student Manual with simpler explanations of the module’s topic, more book suggestions, activity ideas, and simplified map work appropriate to the 4th grade and under crowd. It looks fun and keeps the whole family in the same time period together, something I love.

History Revealed uses monthly modules that have four phases of learning to address a variety of learning styles. This cycle gives variety to the studies and encourages each child to learn history through multiple learning inputs instead of staying in one preferred style. The more inputs by which information comes into the brain the more easily it is remembered. I love that this is integrated into the curriculum’s setup!  I’m very much a routine oriented person and will happily stay in my ‘read a book and talk or write about it’ rut.  Having the curriculum guide me through more varied learning activities is helpful.

In week 1 of the module students get the big picture. There are pages of information in the student manual to read, audio CDs (stories!) to listen to, and discussion questions. This is the week we would begin a read aloud as a family for the module and they offer historical fiction suggestions in the curriculum. The audio CDs are a big draw for some of my children. I have heard Diana Waring speak in person several times and she is enthusiastic and fascinating. I enjoy listening to her CDs on long drives to the hospital and back for Mason’s medical appointments.

In week 2 the focus is on research and reporting. In this week a student chooses a topic or topics to dive deeper into. The manual gives suggestions but you are free to pick anything and you are not tied to specific books. In other words, whatever books you have access to at home or through the library will work! If we are studying Napoleon we can read any books we can get, if we want to explore the architecture of Ancient Greece we can use a documentary on Netflix alongside a book from the library. Each student prepares a report in some format (written, oral, video recorded, etc) to share what they learn. Timeline and vocabulary work happen in this week as well.

In week 3 the focus is hands-on, finding ways to experience the time period topic.  In other words, this is project week!  There are ideas in art, architecture, science, cooking, and music related to the time period to pursue based on each child’s interests.  Mapwork and geography is also a part of this week.

In week 4 you have presentation week, a time to express what you have learned over the month’s module. This can be a continuation of projects but it is also a time to pull together everything you’ve done that month. We will do a special family dinner in this week of the module followed by presentations.

This four week learning cycle excites me! I’m just one mom and sometimes it feels crazy trying to encourage the different learning styles in my home. It is all too easy to get in a rut of teaching to just one or two learning styles.  History Revealed will nudge all of us out of our comfort zone at different times during the month as we move through the learning cycle.  In the end, we will all become a little more comfortable learning in new ways.

Potential Cons to History Revealed:

• The younger elementary activity book is light on content.  You won’t get four or five days of lessons each week based just on this book if that is what you’re looking for. I’m okay with that because we tend to focus on stories and play at this level, and all my children enjoy audio books, so listening to the History Revealed audio cds will add in more content easily for even young students. We will use the included book lists as jumping off points for a stack of picture books from the library to explore. We already have Story of the World from Susan Wise Bauer as a read aloud story for this age group.  It’s simple and hits on many of the same topics for a time period. Younger Elementary ages will be part of the family read aloud title as well.
• There is a LOT of flexibility in History Revealed which may be overwhelming for some students and parents.  For example, in Module 3 of Ancient Civilizations, (a free sample online if you want to look at it), there are 13 topic ideas in week 2 for a student to choose from when doing their research and report week.  In week 3 of the same module there are 11 options for hands-on ways to explore the month’s time period. This works well for me because I have children with varied interests who can select a few ideas that motivate them to study history.  They may work together in groups on some ideas and still have personal work on the side too. We enjoy project based learning!