Ok I have decided after much reading (still haven't been able to read The Well Trained Mind but want to get it when we get the money - kinda hard with DH out of work), that I like the the classical education approach especially to History. Here's a few questions? Do I need Story of the World? I know it's recommended but is there a way to do this with free / cheaper resources? Also does anyone have a time line that doesn't include creation? We are secular homeschoolers and I don't want creation as part of our history, and the time lines I have found start with creation. Thanks...
Hi Cara - I'm not sure about a timeline that does not include creation, but I'm sure there's some out there. Maybe if you did a google search that might help. You don't have to use Story of the World if you don't want to. Another good resource for chronological history is All Through the Ages by Christine Miller. Hope this helps. Blessings - Carla
I don't use SOTW - neither kid liked it. I'm still reading TWTM and there are a few other recommendations I believe. We are following Ambleside's line of history...and just doing some of the rest as "classical"
I have such a newbie question do people homeschool using PS text books as their base? I looked up both sets of books SOTW and TWTM and I'm not sure if it is important to use a book like that or a regular text book. Does it matter? I have a wonderful World History book that was given to my by a highschool history teacher. It was endorsed by National Geographic and is very visual and simple to follow. Would this be sufficient? Sorry but I'm still a bit confused on some of the homeschooling aspects.
You could just make up your own timeline. That is what we are going to do. I am going to take 8x11 cardstock and tape the ends together. Then we will add our own characters and times on it. I am the best at stick people On the bookshelf I have History Encyclopedia (Kingfisher) and Encyclopedia of World History (Usborne). Can you get Story of the World thru the library to give it alook see? At my library you can even get a copy of the SOTW activity guide. You could just get books thru the library for the timeframe that you want to study. This year we are going to use A Child's History of the World and it shows making a staircase timeline. A friend of mine has made a list of all the books she used with A Child's History Of the World. She gets 90% of her curriculum from the library or used.
StoneFamily- if you agree with the material in the textbook (and great pictures are a plus!), then by all means use that resource! Cara- have you tried to get the Well-Trained Mind book at your library? It is available at both local libraries here, or you could ask for an inter-library loan from a bigger library. Also, our library has Usher's history book, I'm sorry, I've forgotten the whole title. MT3
Thanks so it really is only personal preferance? Thanks again I love my world history book I saved it so I could use it to homeschool. DH says I shouldn't use a high school book with a small child but I figure it will deffinately grow with her. It goes in order and the chapters are small enough that I can elaborate on my own.
Stonefamily- In my opinion the ps text skip the topics. We prefer to go indepth and cover more or less where we want to. Also the ps texts are so edited to what "they" think needs to be taught and usually it is not that much. Well some of the high points here and there, but not as much of a full rounded opinion/ view. Well this is just my opinion. Cara- no you do not have to use the SOTW, I really like it, but it is not a must. As for time lines here are a few sites world history: hyper history history explorer ehistory http://www.fsmitha.com/ http://timelines.ws/ http://www3.canisius.edu/~emeryg/time.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_timelines http://www.internet4classrooms.com/timelines.htm http://homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=10766&highlight=timelines (this one is a link to a thread of a list of places to look)
My HS history teacher tried to get our school to use this book but they said it had to much info and would take to long to teach.... which is ignorant but hey what can you do? So I asked for it and she gave it to me. It gives a good over view and then sites additional books and info inside if you'd like to learn more. I figure I can use the book as a guide then print off worksheets and info that would be more towards her grade level. I probably wouldn't endorse the book but it is by National Geographic and they've never steered me wrong yet...lol.
Prior to SWB writing SOTW, she had suggested a child's world history encyclopedia. She was recommending a particular edition of Kingfisher. It was hard to get and I bought DK which I really like. Then you make your own time line. When you look for WTM Book, try to find an older edition with the older suggestions. The new editions simply suggest all her new books she has written herself. To me, the differences between the new edition and the old felt somewhat like an advertisement for her materials, and if you are not interested in that, you are better off reading the older editions which have much of the same content, just the actual curriculum suggestions are not just things written by her.
I use textbooks often. I find them at rummage and garage sales and at thrift stores and library sales. We don not follow them directly and often only use them as a resource. I find the illistrations and photographs in them handy. With math, I will use them as a supplement to a curriculum we purchased. The curr for math does not have a great deal of any given problems in it because they offer practice workbooks as an extra. Instead of purchaing that, I will just get a few problems from the .50 text as needed. For other subjects we use the text as a road map and use outside resources to cover topics that are in that book. I think it is good to model using various sources this way and perhaps even scrounging for information. Quite often in college I found that the text that was required by a course was a (explicative deleted) and that I needed to find another approach to learning that material. Pulling information from several sources is also good preparation for research.
Thanks everyone. At Amazon, you can see the context pages for SOTW so I looked there to get an idea of what timeline to follow, thanks for all the other suggestions, I'm going to look into them. I'm hoping since I found SOTW, the activity guide and First Language lessons for $50 all together at Amazon, I can order them sooner then later LOL
