As most of you know I teach secular. Yet I am so drawn to Sonlight. Go figure. Now I think I am drawn to the idea. Well I really do like how they have the history subjects planned out, so I kind of want to follow some of it. Here is my ideas for our history. Now feel free to suggest anything, what to do when and where, books anything. Here is what I had in mind, yet it is not coming out the way I wanted. I need help with what to do on a couple years. Also if you have a better suggestion on what to do in higher grades I am all ears! Since I have not gotten there yet I am just guessing and going off of what Sonlight has planned. Grade 1 US History Grade 2 US History Grade 3 Wyoming History - not sure if this should be a whole year or not, if not what would you suggest? Grade 4 ???????? Need help here Grade 5 ???? Maybe something like Sonlight Core 5, any suggestions? Grade 6 World History Ancient times , something like Sonlight core 6 Grade 7 World History Middle Ages, like core 6 Grade 8 World History Early Modern, like core 7 Grade 9 World History Modern Age, like core 7 Grade 10 American History in depth like core 100 Grade 11 20th Century World History like core 300 Grade 12 Civics and American Government like core 400
The Well Trained Mind suggests starting at the beginning, and it makes sense; when you read a story, you don't read a few of the last pages and try to make sense of it, do you? You start at the beginning so that you can understand what led up to the end. This has helped me learn about history too - I hated it when I was in school, and took very little of it. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/history-at-the-center/
I'm not really doing history in any specific order. I remember reading once on the FIAR forum that just using a timeline for however you cover history, helps put all the pieces together, no matter when you cover the material. We don't test in history and I more so just want it to be about reading and enjoying. So this really works well for us. I also really like to pick and choose. I use a bit of Sonlight, Robinson, Ambleside and Miss Maggies Old Fashioned Education to create our history book list. And my older dd just reads through it at her own pace. We do use the Sonlight book of time and put any thing we read about on there.
I am not following the WTM or the 4yr cycle. I like to do history in the order I see fit. My son is not interested in ancients, he is interested in American at this point. We got to museums and he sees all this stuff and wants to know more. So, this is why we started where we did.
I remember taking world cultures in high school and really liked it. It's more "social studies" than "history". I'd also suggest spending a year or so on geography at some point. I think I did it in about 7-9 grade? Can't remember. I'm doing geography each summer with mine.
Well JoAnna, you pretty much know my plans, but here they are again. Oh and about teaching American history first.. in our state it's required in the elem grades, world history in the secondary grades Grades k-1 is a basic social studies.. holidays, family, community, self, children around the world. Grade 2- begin The Complete Book of United States History add in living books and hands on projects, trips and what not. Grade 3- TCBUSH continued Grade 4- TCBUSH continued/finished Grade 5- State and local history Grade 6- The Complete Book of World History add in living books, hands on projects etc. Grade 7- TCBWH continued Grade 8- TCBWH continued/finished Grade 9- The History of US by Joy Hakim Grade 10-THUS continued/finished Grade 11- Student choice Grade 12- Civics and Government ETA.. we also plan to cover geography every year starting somewhere between 1st and 3rd.
Since 4th grade till now (I have a 6th and 8th grader) we have been using Joy Hakim's A History of US books. Like your son my dd's LOVE American History so we have been going slow. We make timelines ( including inventions of that time period, foods, fashion/style, people, events,books written, etc), do geography (on the states ,like with the civil war, lakes, mountains,any landmarks, etc), watch PBS/History Channel DVD's (we get them at the library or on Netflix), do some social studies ( dialect of the time/region, civil issues at the time) , go to museums , read a book about that time period or written from that time period (write a summary report about what was read) and we have a dinner at the end of our time period that showcases a regional food or foods that were eaten in that time period. Now World/Ancient History will be done in 9th or 10th grade. We will follow the same things we did in American History (timelines, shows, geography, social studies, etc). I'm still looking at what curriculm I will use, I will most likely piece it together myself from different authors. FYI...we did a 1/2 year on our State History. Same guidelines as I did for American History.
Have you looked into Evan-Moor History Pockets? These books may enhance your study. We used History Pockets Moving West for grades 4-6. My son liked it. These books seem to be broken down into two groups, grades 1 - 3 and grades 4 - 6. For American history in grades 1 - 3, they have Life in Plymouth Colony and Native American. One year when my son was in about the second grade we studied the individual states. I got a sticker book about the states. It covered what each state is known for as in the state flower, flag, popular attractions, etc. This is probably more about geography than history. My son really liked that. I bought my timeline and many pictures to put on the timeline from Sonlight. Rest of the pictures I print from the internet.
Would you consider Story of the World for the World History? I do not use this, and even though the woman who writes claims to be a Christian, it is deliberately written in a secular perspective (or so I've been told). We're using MFW next year their Geography/World Cultures one....but after that it will be chronological history. Hmmmm....hope you get your answers!!!
I would probably do a world geography and cultures focus in fourth grade; that is, fitting in with what you outlined in the opening post. And sort of just mentioning some of the history of the place/culture as you get to it. It would be a sort of foundation for a more detailed World History/Geography for high school. I don't know if I'd do three years of world history through junior high, because third grade does both "ciommunities" and some state history but we do a more specific/thorough state history in 7th or 8th.
