Hi all! I'm starting in abt 3 weeks with my first time homeschooling ever! (little cheer)..But I still cant figure out the history part... Although we are moderately religious, I want to go with the secular scientific approach. A lot of the curriculums I looked at were religious based, so I figured I would just get books from the library, do own research, etc, but now I'm stumped. Do I start chrologically, or just jump around..Wanted to start with the popular dinosaurs, since they love that stuff, and it would ease in to the subject in general, but then would I have to jump forward and backward...? Does anyone know any good books that I could borrow from the library? My kids are 6 and 8, so we're not going to delve too deeply into it, just keeping it simple and fun. We'll study these subjects more in depth as they get older. Planning on making a timeline, and projects, acting out some parts (when we get to civilizations), that sort of thing... Thank you for reading!
Usbourne and Eyewitness books are both great. Mainly picture based with facts thrown in to label the pictures. Also, Magic Tree House books would be fun supplements and there is a website with extension activities that are really cool
We did something similar to that last fall/winter- no official text, just pulling from web resources. Are you talking about World History, or U.S. History?
US history I'm doing with the social studies curriculum, People and Places for my 6yr old and Our Communities for the 8yr old. So mainly world history is what I want to do seperately. Magic Tree House, yeah, we love those, but have only read a few of them...will use them to supplement as well, thanks. Meghan, could you let me know which web resources you used? Thank you
I'll be happy to share, but I mainly did U.S. history, so I'm not sure how much it will help your planning: Netflix has some great documentaries on dinosaurs. "Walking with.." series I particularly liked. Too much nudity in walking with caveman though :shock: http://www.usa-printables.com/ Loved these- would print and add to a binder. I used them mainly as a visual while we were talking. http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/historical.html maps of 13 colonies and early America. Youtube has most (all?) of the 'Liberty's Kids episodes. For instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ-FWHN3ljI If you really search online you should be able to find "Frontier House" and "Colonial House" by pbs. We loved those as well, although the kids could only handle them in small doses. They really taught my kids more about early living than the trip to the museum did. My kids were 1st and 3rd, so I tried to keep it somewhat light and interesting. I made the mistake of trying to read a journal page from a former slave and totally lost my audience :roll: Ditto from a page in 'Angela's Ashes' (when we were talking about immigrants)
MIne are 1st and 3rd right now! Thank you for the links, and reminding me of netflix, it never even occured to me!! lol at ur comment about walking withe caveman...we went to the museum in New York, and my kids couldnt stop laughing at the caveman displays, it was so embarassing!
Look at at the Sonlight book lists. Some of the matrial is religious but alot of it is not. Usborne books are great. Check with your library system they may have book lists based on history subjects. Our system also has subject kits for homeschoolers so you could see if they have something like that too.
