I am so behind. School starts for us on the 13th. I am having a hard time figuring out how much to teach for History. The more time I spend teaching my son this last 6 months (since we just started homeschooling this last Feb.), I am finding out that the public school system has taught him nothing! He doesn't know anything about history, science and many other things. He is going into the 4th grade and I am finding myself trying to play catch up on so many things. I have decided to teach the basics like : Plymouth Colony life Native Americans Ancient Civilizations (basics for now) Ancient Egypt (more in depth) Is this too much for one year? Or is it not enough? Add more? Is this the basics? Any suggestions would REALLY help.
Okay this is just my personaly opinion, but I would not mix ancient times with colonial times- really it could get confusing. We're studying ancient times and it's going to take all year and then some. I'm following the guidelines in Well Trained Mind- basically says to do history and sciences 2 days a week for a total of 3 hours for each or something like that- I'd have to go look in my book again. I think if you did unit studies or something like that for what you have listed below you could easily do it all.
Thank you. I think I will take out the colonial and work up to that. I am basing everything off of history pockets, I have bought the whole set and love the layout and everything about them. I will be adding resources from there. I found these books that look really interesting called 'Science in Ancient _____" (Rome, China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece).
I would start with ancient civilizations and work forward, in chronological order whenever possible. I remember an Art History class I took in college where we did that...started way back & worked forward. It covered many different civilizations within the same time frames and compared them to each other.
If you have the wall space, a timeline is a great visual. Don't foret your local library for books on the subject. Sometimes the craft section will have a book on how to make things according to that time period, or a cook book with foods that they ate. A book for any age, his reading level and younger, can teach. The younger books have great photos and simple words that can spring the older ones thought process into gear. A travel journal is an idea. Have him pick a mascot to travel with ( we have History and Geography, the traveling mice ) and journal where he goes and what he sees and who he meets. You are doing a good thing!!! *high-five*
HAve you looked at Story of the World - I wanted to use that this year - hubby kiboshed until our youngest would be in 1st grade... BUT, there are 4 volumes...starting at Ancient times and the last volume comes into modern times. I think one volume is supposed to take a year, then after you complete the 4th, you start over again. I looked at it a lot, looks really neat. Wish I could get it! Maybe I can convince my hubby for next year!
I did world type history and geography last year, so stick with the world stuff not the US stuff, you can do that next year and I can let you know then how my US history according to ________ my kids name went by then! REmember not to stress and to remind yourself that everything in History that your child learns in grade school will be repeated in Highschool with more emphasis so keep it simple and fun, so he will be interested in learning more when that time comes! !
Does he have a preferred time, so you can start with that? I mean, start with the most interesting stories (for your kid), and then you can go forward or backward in time according to his growing interest
I reckon you will cover all that and more. I spent the first year being appalled at what my kids didn't know. We just started at the beginning and plugged the gaps. We have done 5 years worth of work in 2 1/2 years in some subjects. I spent the second year wondering what they do all day in ps? lol
I just got done telling a friend of mine that I could not figure out what they did all day in ps, I mean 8 1/2 hours of what? I guess no one will ever know. LOL
Let's see, Jo Anna! Start with 15 minutes of record keeping (ie: attendance and lunch count, collecting lunch money, reading any notes from parents, collect report cards, etc.) Follow this with another 15 minutes of taking everyone to the bathroom before the day actually begins. Then comes a half-hour of "Opening", which includes things like Calendar, News, a song or finger play for younger grades, usually a counting activity, etc. Only it takes more like 45 minutes, because you waste 15 minutes with dealing with that one boy that can't sit still for more than 3 seconds and is pulling the pigtail of the girl in front of him, etc. The next 15 minutes are spent passing out "busywork" or explaining the assignments on the board that need to be done while others are doing their reading groups. Then that's followed by anywhere from 3 to 6 fifteen-minute "Reading Groups". Of course, they're really more like 20 to 25 minutes, because the teacher is constantly reminding those NOT in Reading Group that they need to be staying on task, and need to get back in their seats, and no, they've ALREADY been to the bathroom twice this morning! Another 15 minutes for a bathroom break, but this is stretched into 30 when the janitor complains about all the boys who are taking target practice on the tile with a dead bug on it. This is followed by Math. Ten minutes to review yesterday's lesson, another 15 to RE-TEACH yesterday's lesson, and then we can actually start on today's!!! YEAH!!! But just as we get started on it, we notice that it's time to get ready for lunch...... :lol: :lol: :lol:
hey that was pretty good Jackie! We had time in 7th grade though to learn stuff we should know know about as well as our teacher sat back and told us stories of his days in England! What would you call that today, Culture? Lol. We also had time for art, and science and SOcial studies in there that we had to go to another classroom for ( even in grade school) that took five mins between classes to get us to the class let alone settle us, and we had PE a lot too!
