Bokons Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I'm looking for a history curriculum for my oldest (going to grade 7). I'd like one where he could do a lot of it independently so I can spend more time with my youngers. He read all four volumes of SOTW last summer, so doesn't want to do that again (I'm doing SOTW with my other dc). He does enjoy history. I'm thinking of HO now, but would welcome other suggestions as well. Thanks. Colleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freethinkermom Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 What level are you thinking of? I just got HO Early Modern Level 2 in the mail today. I have not had time to really look through it yet, but I will be going through it tomorrow. It uses Kingfisher and Story of Mankind as the main spines. I picked up Story of Mankind to look over this evening and I did not want to put it down. I never liked SOTW, so I was surprised I like SOM so much. There is a copy of Story of Mankind available for free on Project Gutenberg. if you google it you will find it. The one you need for HO is the newer updated version, but the old version on gutenberg will give you a feel for it. In my quick thumb through of HO it looked like it will work well for independent work. It says in the introduction it is written with the intention that it be done independently by the student, but some will need guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy in ME Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 We are using this with 11yo this year and so far so good. It is very WTM in that it uses Kingfisher for outling, a timeline, and topics to add to a notebook. It has literature books scheduled but not an in depth discussions of them. You will have to initiate your own discussions or get a separate lit. guide if you want indepth analysis. It does make suggestions for writing assignments. My son is doing well with it but he is self motivated and is taking great pride in his notebook. It is primarily a history curriculum, not an all inclusive literature, history, writing curriculum. I like it because it does free me up a bit to work with the youngers and we don't make history the center of our curriculum. I have already purchased Middle Ages level 2 to use next year. It does look long so I may need to weed out some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokons Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Thank you, Wendy and freethinkermom, I am thinking of level 2 because my ds will be in grade 7. If I go with HO, I will probably let him choose which time period he wants to study. Wendy, how are you scheduling HO since you are LCC based? I have also been trying to implement LCC with my boys, and I know that history is usually done one day a week with that. I also don't want history to be the center of our curriculum but my ds likes history so I want something that he will enjoy. He will be motivated if he enjoys the subject. Colleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stirsmommy Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 This is our second year using HO level two. We are happy with it. For the most part dd can do this on her own. We did have to modify it for her in that she doesn't like to color preferring to make her own drawings for things. I like that it says what to do next! I hear that early modern and modern history become more rigorous. Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy in ME Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Colleen, We do world history rather than modern studies. I have heard that the new LCC will actually be set up this way. We do history only once a week for about 2 hours in the afternoon. During that time ds outlines, adds brief summaries to his notebook, and does his timeline. The literature selections are read outside of class time in the evening. I also like TSOM and we read this together. My ds is 5th grade this year and some of the wording is a little challenging for him but he enjoys it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awanama Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Those that are using HO Level 2, could you answer a couple of questions. I am considering it for next year. Do I need to buy the books with matching covers to the ClassicalHomeEducation.com website or can I buy the same books that Rainbow Resource carries but have different covers. Will our page numbers be off if I don't buy a certain publication year? Also, outlining will be new to my ds. Can you tell me what book HO recommends to teach outlining with? I want to be able to make one big order and not have to buy any extras. And my last question, do you like their timeline or do you make your own? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy in ME Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 As far as the lit. books go, any one will do because it just says read such and such a book. There are specific page numbers for Kingfisher and The Story of Mankind. I am not sure if HO actually suggests a resource for teaching outlining but my 11yo ds is using Remedia's Outling and doing well with it. It starts from the very beginning of outling basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stirsmommy Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I got most of our books from RR. It was cheaper. I also picked up the ones I could at the used bookstores near me. I just made sure I had the title and author. I don't remember seeing it refer to a particular page in a book other than KF and SOM. I have made my own time line and that was a pain. I will buy that in the future. Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokons Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 Those that are using HO Level 2, could you answer a couple of questions. I am considering it for next year. Do I need to buy the books with matching covers to the ClassicalHomeEducation.com website or can I buy the same books that Rainbow Resource carries but have different covers. Will our page numbers be off if I don't buy a certain publication year? Also, outlining will be new to my ds. Can you tell me what book HO recommends to teach outlining with? I want to be able to make one big order and not have to buy any extras. And my last question, do you like their timeline or do you make your own? Thanks. Great questions! I'd like to know too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pensguys Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I used this with my older son this year (5th grade). It has worked great. I believe that HO starts teaching outlining in level 1 toward the end because there was a statement or two in the beginning of HO2 to the effect of "remember how we do our outlining...1st, this, then this, etc". My ds does most of it on his own and I check behind him or help him out if he has trouble with the outlining. I don't require all the papers that HO suggests :rolleyes: since we are doing Classical Writing and I'd rather focus our writing on that right now. I do require summaries and some smaller writing assignments in HO. I bought my books from Amazon and they have been fine. Sometimes HO will say "read this book over one week". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 And my last question, do you like their timeline or do you make your own? Thanks. Just thought I'd mention that we LOVED their timeline. Took up a whole wall, but it was great! And I loved that I could fold it up nicely when done to transport it to (yet another) new house/apt when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pensguys Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I forgot about the timeline. We had started the year with TOG. I had set up our own timeline from a timeline CD I had bought (all I had to do was print out the pages on cardstock, 3hole punch and put in a small binder). DS writes the event and date of the event. There are lines and main dates included already on the printed timeline. We like it and it works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokons Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 Colleen, We do world history rather than modern studies. I have heard that the new LCC will actually be set up this way. We do history only once a week for about 2 hours in the afternoon. During that time ds outlines, adds brief summaries to his notebook, and does his timeline. The literature selections are read outside of class time in the evening. I also like TSOM and we read this together. My ds is 5th grade this year and some of the wording is a little challenging for him but he enjoys it. Wendy, what is TSOM? Colleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freethinkermom Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 TSOM is The Story of Mankind by Van Loon, one of the HO2 spines. It looks like it will work well for ds10. He will be able to do it on his own since he is very independent already. There are around 90 lessons, so to finish in one year about 2 need to be done a week. Depending on how much time you do history each week it might need to be thinned out a bit. Ds10 does history for an hour a day and is a speedy worker (usually) so I am guessing it will take him until the Fall. IMHO, the lit books assigned with it are a little on the easy side, but that is OK since they are more of a supplement to the history than a formal literature lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy in ME Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 That is exactly how we use the scheduled lit in HO. For lit, we are using suggestions from LCC and I do like the schedules at Highlands Latin School. I have him read the HO books as his evening independent reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokons Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I used the level 1 of Ancients & Middle Ages. Even with a younger student, I found it was easy to get him started on his own. I like the way materials are well-coordinated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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