I'm very frustrated trying to find a H&G curriculum that DS9 won't just hate. I realize that it's possible this will never happen, but I'd rather not make him miserable while doing school work if it can be avoided. [Note: I don't coddle, but I'd love to find something that catches his interest] We've tried MOH and SOTW and LPs. He's seen his brother doing All American History and isn't interested in that, either. He'll be in 5th next year. Suggestions?
What about doing something like Homeschool In the Woods stuff? He could pick the period of history that interests him.
Elle never did any formal history until eighth grade. Lots of terrific resources out there for those who love it. Keep trying new things. Something might light the fire. Don't be afraid to stray from conventional methods and curriculum. But yeah...Elle wasn't a history kid either. She read some children's historical fiction, went to pioneer days, visited the State Capital and had a very basic understanding of how American government works. We talked about current events, but never really spent time on history. It didn't catch her interest at all. I tried a lot of different things...and nothing caught fire except ancient history and paleontology...and those were more from a scientific perspective. Some kids LOVE history and can't get enough....which is great. There are some AMAZING resources for the kids who do. Eventually, she did have to take American History in Eighth grade, and again in ninth. She got an A in both classes with some studying....but it was painful for her. She took World History in tenth grade, studied hard (and painfully) and got an A. I asked why she took them back to back when she seemed to hate them.... and she said that she would never take another history class again if she could get away with it. Just wanted it done so she could move on to things she enjoyed. LOL. Just was not her cup of tea. To each their own. On the plus side, your son will never find a History question on the ACT or the SAT. College entry tests measure your skills with reading, writing, math, and science.....but curiously do not include ANY history. (likely because students study in America from so many International origins) So I guess if he had to have an aversion to one particular subject....he picked the right one. LOL. (and maybe that'll change? you never know) Good luck!
For a boy? It's "Horrible Histories" all the way! They love the stories in them and the way the material is presented.
if you live in Northwest Ark, go to SDC they have some curriculum sheets too, but make it come alive... Ark, has another place too pioneer something... that would also be a good place to go. Before going into American history, have you really went into depth with Arkansas history, I find the ozark history so fun!
I would agree with Steve here. My son has love the Horrible Histories books. Also, the Homeschool in the Woods stuff is very "boy" friendly as it has a lot of hands on activities, etc. We've only done the Explorers pack, but my son LOVED them!
Never heard of Horrible Histories. What grade level? Phillip will be 9th grade; would he be interested? I can fully understand his not wanting to do All American History! DRY, DRY, and DRY!!! But one thing I did learn from it was Phillip's very telling comment, "Can't we just skip to the next war? That's the fun stuff!!!"
The BBC built an educational series based on the Horrible History books. They are not the same, but you can see why they did it. Try doing a search on YouTube for Horrible Histories. As for age group, I'd say from 11 to 14. If you watch this one, you'll understand why the books appeal especially to boys.
Here's one cool thing I did for history to try to get her interested... Elle was interested in sewing and ghost towns. I know...lol...we really had a WEIRD version of school at our house. We'd already hiked into a deserted ghost town and found some really cool treasures...some old rusted locks on pieces of wood, and a crushed tin toy horse that we brought home and put in a shadow box. We drew a map of where we'd been and burned it around the edges...and included some pictures of us there. Turned out very cool! And Elle was VERY into it. (believe it or not, this will tie in) But I digress... Elle liked to sew. She wanted to make a replica of a Civil War jacket. (She has an exceedingly weird sense of fashion, and I love it....she also wanted to wear the coat for a freestyle huntseat riding competition) So we were experimenting with all sorts of patterns, trying to get the look she wanted, looking at antique pictures and things... and she ended up making this absolutely amazing jacket (my bestie Hebbers can sew and helped her) that looked something like this: http://www1.westcoastcwc.com/images/store/Cav Majors Jacket.jpg So, I started thinking about the shadow box...and how completely pulled in she was by the found objects.... and I went on Ebay and found a farmer in Virginia who sold Civil War relics he'd found on his property. I got her two buttons that were dug up at the site of one of the battles. They were very tarnished and worn....but the history attached to them absolutely captured her. She wanted to read about battles in that particular town, she wanted to know exactly what the rank and position of the man who might have worn them was, she wanted to watch this whole mini-series on the civil war with me...which was fun! But yeah, she really connected with those buttons. That they were likely worn by a young man on the day he died. It made the relevance of history real for her...to hold them in her hand.
This is where I've found family history to be invaluable. When you have a vested personal interest in stories from the past, history comes alive. It seems like you've found the same to be the case now that Elle has those buttons - something real and tangible that belonged to a real, living, breathing, human being. In our case, we have cassette tapes (now transferred to CD) my grandfather made in his 90s, telling about life in a Cornish village, being encouraged to sign up for the army while considerably under-age, being sent to fight in WW-I (with a description of the Battle of the Somme) and then to the Afghan Wars, about life in Cornwall in WW-II, and so on. Without exception, all my children found those descriptions fascinating.