Ancients in First Grade? convince me.

[aminuteorless]

I'm doing some planning ahead for my preschoolers and although I like the idea of hitting the history cycle three times, I am wondering how the study of ancients goes with a first grader. Is it too remote? Over their heads? What are your actual goals the first time around? I really like the VP materials and SOTW. Talk to me.

[LittleIzumi]

Mine isn't interested (almost 6). She's a science/math/logic girl mainly.

[JulieD]

We had tons of fun with it. At this age familiarity with the stories of history is what we were going for. We got more out of it than that, but I wouldn't have been upset if we hadn't.

 

Egypt was lots of fun. My kids also liked the early writing activities we did. Both of them struggled with handwriting; I think they appreciated that not everyone wrote then. Greece and Rome have great stories.

 

We ended up spending a year and a half on the ancients since we were having fun. Plus my librarian is a Latin major and stocked the shelves with books about Greece and Rome. So my daughter will be finishing early modern and starting modern times next year in fourth grade.

 

On the other hand, it's good not to get too caught up in following the cycle perfectly. It all works out in the end.

 

Julie D.

[VBoulden]

My daughter loves history. She begs for it. (We use Story of the World Volume 1. We listen to the audio version and do the students pages, maps, corresponding literature suggestions, projects, etc.). She isn't mastering everything... If you asked her the difference between the Assyrians and the Akkadians, she might have a hard time telling you... But, I think she is learning the basic things... She is getting a better idea of how big the world is (and how small our little part of it is) with the help of finding the maps on our globe, etc. She is learning about how writing has progressed, how people had to live near water to grow crops, travel, etc., how leaders took control using force, how civilizations needed to cooperate to survive, how they went from temporary buildings to better and better ones... all this is important and not too abstract or difficult for a first grader, in my opinion. History is just about the best part of our day and it really broadens my daughter's understanding of the world and her place in it. :001_smile: I am beginning to think it's one of THE most important things I will ever teach her.

[robsiew]

The first time we did ancients I had two preschoolers. The younger one didn't get a lot out of it, but my 4 year old LOVED it! We've now studied through SOTW3 and I would have to say they enjoyed the ancients the most and middle ages the next best. I've actually found as history goes on my younger ones lose their ability to catch it. I'm not sure if that's what others discover.... we actually dropped SOTW3 for my younger two this past year and we watched Liberty's Kids instead. Just early American history, but they loved it! It was perfect for them.

 

I'm taking my younger two back to SOTW1 again this year. The stories I believe make it all. Our kids love stories and that's what SOTW is built on. There are also lots of super fun projects in the Activity Guide. I wouldn't miss that. I scheduled out both SOTW1 and SOTW4 this year and by far SOTW1 has many more fun activities (and I'm not a huge activity lover).

 

Oh... and I have no expectations other than exposure at this age. I know they won't remember a lot, but hopefully when we come around to it again they'll have a few connections they can make, some names may sound familiar.... I'll see if this works as my 5th grader goes back to Ancients with History Odyssey this year! ;)

 

I think you'll find lots of people who have a blast studying ancients with their first graders! :001_smile:

[Heather in WI]

I would not use VP Ancients with a 1st grader. It is a difficult program even with a second grader in my opinion.

 

We LOVE Story of the World Ancients with the Activity guide for 1st grade. It was so much fun! The goal for us at that age (and through 4th grade) is simple exposure especially to the stories/myths/images from each culture.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Heather in WI

[Aubrey]

Ds was 5/6 when we did SOTW 1. Not only did he love it, 3yo dd insisted on hearing the stories & coloring the maps (& even doing narrations, often) right along w/ him.

 

Now, for the 2nd time through, 8yo dd is reading it to 4yo dd (& sometimes 2yo ds). 4yo has carefully colored her maps & asked for coloring pages. W/out knowing what a narration IS, she drew a picture of one of the stories & told me what to write next to the picture.

 

Beyond the nitty-gritty above, when my oldest 2 were going through SOTW the 1st time, they incorporated so much of it into their imaginary play. 8yo remembers little of this, but as she reads back through it, she's finding out *why* she named her stuffed elephant "Pharaoh" & one of her horses "Hera." It's very cool, too, to watch them try to trick ea other into "buying" Greenland, etc.

 

I love doing SOTW in 1st grade! :D

[jenangelcat]

We did it last year for kindergarten. We had fun but she had trouble staying focused during the reading parts. This year (grade 1) we're going to recap ancients until January and then move forward into the medieval stuff. We're going to do the reading parts in the Usborne book and SOTW and I've gathered a massive list of books, movies, documentaries and internet links for us to check out. I'll throw in a couple of projects for good measure.

[redsquirrel]

SOTW with a kindy or first grader is totally delicious fun! This was my second time doing it and it is always my fave. Of course, next year I will tell you SOTW middle ages with a first or second grader is my fave :lol:

 

So much fun, so much learning!

[Tiberia]

We did SOTW1 for first this year. Dd loved it! Like a previous poster, we did audio cds and some of the workbook pages. Her favorite was Egypt.

 

There are lots of great project ideas. We made cave art, baked a cookie map of the Nile, built a pyramid, made a Trojan horse, wrote in hieroglyphs, made a toga, etc. It was not over her head; these are the stories that have inspired the imaginations of kids the world over for many centuries.

 

I didn't learn much about the ancients until I fell in love with them in college, so it seems more academic to me. But to my dd, history is cool and fun and very interesting. She doesn't have mastery, but she knows her way around the Mediterranean Sea map better than most adults. She knows the major myths and important characters from ancient history.

 

This is a great time to study ancient history. I hope you have a blast!

[boscopup]

My first grader really loved SOTW1. He's a math/science guy, but SOTW really peaked his interest. He's currently reading through SOTW2 now because it came last week. We won't finish SOTW1 until October. He's already on chapter 11 of SOTW2 (having started reading straight through it yesterday). He LOVES these books and just can't put them down!

 

I suggest taking it one section at a time though. Don't try to read the whole chapter one day and do activities the next, unless you have a child with an amazing attention span. We do one section, narrate that section, then the next day do another section and narrate that section, etc. Pretty easy.

 

There is a HUGE difference between a 4 year old and a 6 year old, so don't let your current preschoolers color your ideas of what a first grader can do. ;) My 4 year old is NOT ready for ancient history yet (he's still figuring out myth vs. reality). I don't have him sit in on it yet. The 6 year old was totally ready though, and it's become one of his favorite subjects! (though he still loves math and science ;) )

 

My goal for this age? Just be exposed to the major events. I don't expect him to have long term, detailed memory of these things.

 

I don't know about the VP cards. I tried to mix SOTW and the Bible, and it was just too much for first grade. We're going to wait until 5th grade to try to correlate them. He's actually making MORE connections now that we've separated the two (going through the Bible at a good pace and going through SOTW at a good pace, with SOTW being waaaaaaay ahead of where we are in the Bible... we're at Elisha in the Bible, and we'll soon be getting to Jesus timeframe in SOTW). So simple is good. Less is more. ;)

[Dmmetler]

DD loved Ancients at age 5/6, but we used CHOW instead of SOTW. It just worked better for her at that age. I figure she'll still have plenty of time to dive into SOTW later.

[RachelFlores]

My dd is a September birthday so we did K1 last year and will be doing K2 this year, but we started with SOTW1 because a co-op I joined did the activities and mapwork once a week. Dd LOVED it. She chose to be an Egyptian for Halloween last year. She liked the reading and loved the activies and her history class. Do I think she 100% understood and remembered everything? No, but I was looking for exposure and interest and I know I suceeded there. I HIGHLY suggest getting the audio version as well as the book. I did this only the last month, but dd was happy to listen to each chapter over and over and her retention was much higher than when I read the chapters to her only once.

 

I think Ancients introduces SO many high interest historical groups (Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Ancient China and India) that it is a great way to develop a love for history in small children. They might not remember it all, but they will remember that they like history.

[NittanyJen]

Ancients is a blast; I wasn't HS'ing yet with a 1st grader, but I would have loved it.

 

All the mythology stories! My "just started 3rd grader" is actually only 7, and working his way through Ancients, and he's having a blast with Level 1 History Odyssey-- we just did some Sumerian Math with the toothpicks, paperclips, and rubber bands. And we got the book "Ug" from the library, about the little boy with the stone pants who goes out to seek soft pants to wear -- a kid with some sensory issues who always tries to get away with wearing sweatpants or these dreadful silky basketball shorts that I hate, DS#2 totally identified with that poor kid: "Oh poor him. He can hardly move Mom!" He's also loved reading Time Warp Trio and Magic Treehouse books that match our current history theme.

 

We read a chapter of SOTW, and I ask him narration questions and write down his answers, just like the exercises in WWE, and he thinks up a summary sentence or two, which he'll use as copywork--again, just like WWE. That isn't necessarily part of History Odyssey, but I put it in the summary section of his HO binder, and I found that his retention is higher than I really even was gunning for. Like a PP said, this round of history is mostly for familiarization, not for memorizing all the facts. We did Gilgamesh (McCaughrean) as a read-aloud, and he loved it. The stories associated with the ancients are good stuff at this age.

 

We actually started with Greeks and Romans for our first few months of home schooling, just making up a curriculum as we went, and working with his older brother and him together, and we did Padric Colum's "Children's Homer" as a read-aloud, and he followed the whole story, much to my surprise. He still remembers it, and when we read new books now, he will say, "Hey, that's just like what happened in the Odyssey, only the people have different names in this book!"

 

Building ziggarauts, excavating pyramids (Thames and Kosmos kit) dressing gladiators (Lift the Lid on Gladiators) walking around a University and identifying their columns as Ionic, Corinthian, or Doric, for a field trip, making shields out of floor pillows and holding them in phalanx formation as we march across the living room to demonstrate why this new innovation was such a good defense against attacking armies . . . all great stuff to do at an age when their imaginations are ready to run (not to mention when he's still playing with his Playmobile pyramid and sphynx set!). Build a Roman road, look for keystones and arches, make a timeline that shows the rise and decline of the Greeks against the rise and decline of the Romans. Draw a map on your sliding doors and let them draw in the cities and rivers and names of bodies of water as they encounter them. Frankly, I'd rather cover this stuff now than WWII at this age!

 

I can hardly wait until we move past Europe and study China (gunpowder, fireworks!) India, Japan, the Americas, the Vikings . . . cool stories from every continent, and a rich tradition of mythology from every corner of the globe. Kids this age LOVE stories!

 

Jen

http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/

[Mallory]

Ancients- Mummies, gladiators, the olympics.

 

Middle Ages- Knights, castles, the plague.

 

'Nuff said.

[Brenda in FL]

My kids love Ancient History. If you just stick to SOTW and not try to complicate it with combining it with anything else other than a children's Bible story book - it should be a hit with most first graders.

 

Do the coloring pages and map work in the AG and purchase the audio books so that the kids can listen to their favorite parts over and over and over again!

 

You don't even need to worry about doing all the activities in the AG.

 

But I will encourage you to work on narration with your first grader and use some short sentences for copywork.

[LMD]

yep, we're loving it for 1st aswell (part way through SOTW1 with DD nearly 6y/o). My DS3.5 tags along aswell, he often spontaneously comes out with things like 'Yeah, the sphinx is in Egypt'... I guess he's picking up something!

 

We keep it simple, it's for fun and familiarisation atm. We read the story, usually a literature selection too, do the maps/colouring/narration and an activity. We take our time, do what we get to and have fun with it. So far so good.

[veggiegal]

I think it depends on your kid. My oldest had zero interest in history at age 6--I did try a few times--and so we went into way more depth in science, his love. At age 8, suddenly an interest in history appears, leading to us touching on ancients (Egypt, China, Greece), Medieval Europe and Renaissance Europe in 1 year, and far less science. His 6 year old sibling tagged along and enjoyed some of the videos we watched about ancient life, but had zero interest in medieval/renaissance. This coming year, my older, now 9, is keen to learn all about the history and geography of Canada (we're Cdn) in great depth, and a bit about the modern world more generally. So over the 4 years we've hit on all parts of the cycle, but in a format that worked better for him, and IMO, held his interest more and hence he got more out of it.

[KrissiK]

I did SOTW1 with my 5 & 6 year olds and they loved it. It's not like it's some dry dull history book. It's stories. Personally, I think if your kids like stories, they'll love SOTW. We had a lot of fun with the Ancients (my one boy got totally addicted to Egypt and the mummies for a while, and then the whole Celts painted blue, fighting naked was fodder for the imagination, we read about the Trojan War and Greek myths and they loved that, too) and we've been having a good time with SOTW2, as well (Vikings were a huge hit and then the whole knights and siege engines caught their fancy, they loved King Arthur, we read Ivanhoe which they loved, too!). I mean, for boys, what's not to like with all this?

[KarenNC]

My daughter really enjoyed the ancients in first grade with SOTW (btw, we mummified potatoes instead of a chicken;)). I haven't seen the VP materials. We did the audiobook, activity guide and I read aloud from the text as well. I tried the tests, but felt those were too ambitious for first grade.

 

Something I chose to do in K, since she was already reading so we had some extra wiggle room, was to go through some highlights of American history/social studies: major figures like Washington, MLK, Abraham Lincoln, etc; holidays (Plimoth Plantation's website has lots of ideas for Thanksgiving); national symbols (flag, Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, etc); and so on. I wanted her to have some basic American cultural literacy under her belt before we started the history rotation. I used an old Abeka social studies text as a spine (I think it was a 2nd grade level---found it used for $1:)) and just left out the providential material---it was usually in a separate paragraph and I was reading aloud, so it was pretty easy to do.

 

We also did some prehistory in K (dinosaurs are fun at that age;)). I repeated that pattern for the summer before 5th, this time focusing mostly on hominid evolution. We'll get to it again this year in life science (we're not on the WTM science schedule), but I liked it as a lead-in to history.

[eloquacious]

Hmm tough one. I'm debating doing World Geography for Kindergarten, American History / Folk Tales for 1st, then going into an extended rotation a la VP... 2nd is Old Testament, 3rd New Testament ancients, 4th medieval, 5th renaissance/reformation/early modern, 6th modern. I'm not sure how my 1st grader would be able to handle ancient history. I so wish that I remembered what I learned in 1st and 2nd in Germany... I would wager not much beyond reading, writing, math, and art.

[KarenNC]

Hmm tough one. I'm debating doing World Geography for Kindergarten, American History / Folk Tales for 1st, then going into an extended rotation a la VP... 2nd is Old Testament, 3rd New Testament ancients, 4th medieval, 5th renaissance/reformation/early modern, 6th modern. I'm not sure how my 1st grader would be able to handle ancient history. I so wish that I remembered what I learned in 1st and 2nd in Germany... I would wager not much beyond reading, writing, math, and art.

 

I forgot that we also worked through a bit of geography in K using DK's A Child Like Me (and associated books, there are more of them out now). We read the two page spread on the child from a particular country, then would listen to some music, watch some dancing, eat something from that country. It was fun.

[nov05mama]

I have gone back and forth with wanting to start SOTW in First Grade (this coming year) but I think I am going to hold off until maybe 3rd grade. We are doing geography right now, with Expedition Earth and then with Road Trip USA and we are also covering basic map skills with Maps, Charts, Graphs so I think we will stick with that and our Ambleside read-alouds for getting in our History right now.

I really want to keep our focus on Math and Reading right now and keep those foundations solid. I LOVE History, so I know it's something I want him to enjoy too and I worry about adding too much into the mix too soon.

[aminuteorless]

Wow! thank you for all the quick responses. I think in focusing on all the VP history materials, I was a little overwhelmed with the thought of teaching all of this to a six-year-old! The main theme seems to be keep it simple and fun! My boy is very "boy" and he'll love battles, knights . . . The audio books have been mentioned often as well. Back to the VP history cards, is anyone incorporating the memorized timeline into their history study? Maybe cycle 2?

[Ecclecticmum]

I'm actually currently working out a lesson plan for history next year.

 

My DD5 will be up for "first grade" material then.

 

I am usually never happy with one program, I'm fussy and like to pick and choose to exactly suit us.

 

Heres our line up:

 

Monday - SOTW Chapter, SOTW AG

Tuesday - Reference Books, SOTW AG & HO Ancients Level 1

Wednesday - Library Books & HO Ancients L1

Thursday - Movies/Documentaries & Myths, Maps and Marvels

Friday - Audio for Chapter, Test, Lapbook Component, MMM & any extras.

 

This would NOT work for most people. As combining this many programs would be a complete overdoing scenario.

 

My younger children will be following it too, so we are using the curriculums to suit our household.

 

i.e. SOTW Chapter we may read all at once, or may read bits throughout the day, and at bedtime. We are very choosy with the activities we do. I'll be making up the map, and just showing the kids, they'll do colouring, and we'll do either one or maybe two (if they are smaller) "projects" from the book. Reference books are about the only books we'll actually own, and our library is honestly terrible for library books, so I will be lucky to actually get any "library books" on my list. History Odyssey we are mostly using for the notebook definitions. I do the definitions up in Wordpad, and DD will draw a picture to go along with the definition. We also use HO as a helper for history pocket pages. Myths, maps & marvels we mostly use for internet ideas (quicklinks, and optional internet activties). Then Friday we'll actually do the lapbook component (from runofthemillfamily) whilst listening to the audio for that chapter (and listen also whilst doing any oher activties) then we do the test.

 

If I actually properly combined those programs, I would have a heart attack :D lol. We just use the AG, HO & MMM as jumping off points for ideas.

 

There may also be days we're we don' feel like doing the activties, so we can skip them knowing we have mutiple other sources on other days.

 

If we were short of money/on a budget we would just get SOTW the book, thats all. Then do some narrations, and dressup games.

 

We are using SOTW for the 1st round just as an introduction to history, learning about how different people lived, that people lived waaayy before Mummy & Daddy.

 

For the moment, we aren't even planning on a timeline. If we did, we'd get a premade one. I'm saving the diy timelines for round 2.

 

That how spiel probably doesn't help LOL. Anyhoo, what I am saying is learning ancient history is fine from any age, theres "different" vocab to learn from present day words, theres always lovely picture books available, and it just gives your child an understanding that the world is a lot bigger and older than her backyard :D We plan to have lots of great silly fun!

[KrissiK]

Wow! thank you for all the quick responses. I think in focusing on all the VP history materials, I was a little overwhelmed with the thought of teaching all of this to a six-year-old! The main theme seems to be keep it simple and fun! My boy is very "boy" and he'll love battles, knights . . . The audio books have been mentioned often as well. Back to the VP history cards, is anyone incorporating the memorized timeline into their history study? Maybe cycle 2?

I wouldn't worry about "teaching" it per se to children that young. My goal for my boys this go-round is just exposure. We read the stories, do the map work and narrations and some of the activities and I try to read a lot of biographies, but I don't "hold them accountable" and I don't worry if they don't retain a lot.

[walkermamaof4]

I would not use VP Ancients with a 1st grader. It is a difficult program even with a second grader in my opinion.

 

:iagree:

From experience... we bought VP1 - the whole kit and caboodle. Then VP designated their books by color, red, purple, and green for how much they thought you really needed each book. I bought them all for VP 1 and 2 thinking we'd love it. My girls detested it. It was so far over their heads. Perhaps my boys would have been different. But I even bought Bronze Bow on audio and they hated it. SOTW1 (used on our 2nd time through) was better received, but my girls didn't really love it either. I'm not sure what they do love:confused:. Actually we did BF Early American Primary this year and everyone thoroughly enjoyed that. I did find out this summer as we review the world in that era with SOTW3 that my girls do better if they listen to the audio while they have a copy of the book to follow along with.

 

HTH!

[justamouse]

Picture books! There are fantastic picture books for ancients out there.

[Dinsfamily]

I'm doing Ancients right now with my new 7yo using SL Core B (CHOW) and he loves it. He kept asking for more history chapters so we started supplementing with SOTW 1 for fun. I agree with what others have said: don't worry about what they're retaining. It's just for exposure. We are doing a timeline but it's more so ds can see how it all fits together. I'm focusing more on him learning where the countries are/were located and that borders change over time. My 5yo is also having fun listening in. He'll retain even less but can tell you where Egypt is located and loves Greek mythology.

[NittanyJen]

Wow! thank you for all the quick responses. I think in focusing on all the VP history materials, I was a little overwhelmed with the thought of teaching all of this to a six-year-old! The main theme seems to be keep it simple and fun! My boy is very "boy" and he'll love battles, knights . . . The audio books have been mentioned often as well. Back to the VP history cards, is anyone incorporating the memorized timeline into their history study? Maybe cycle 2?

 

 

Hmmm I don't know anything about the VP stuff. We do a giant timeline on the wall, but aren't memorizing it. We do it so we can visualize what's happening in different parts of the world over time in relation to one another. It's pretty easy to see the decline of Greece coinciding with the rise of Rome, for instance, if they are mapped out on separate lines one over the other, even if they originally had early settlements at about the same time, and then . . . whoa! Look how much earlier things happened in Mesopotamia! Looking at it graphically, it makes history not only make sense to my 7YO, but it acts as a kind of 'natural' review for him without me pushing him to review at all . . . and the dates seem to be kind of sinking in by osmosis, even though that wasn't even a goal I had for him in the grammar stage at all.

 

Jen

http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/

[Heather in WI]

Back to the VP history cards, is anyone incorporating the memorized timeline into their history study? Maybe cycle 2?

 

We tried doing a timeline in first grade with our oldest (a current rising 6th grader). It was helpful for me, but not so much for him at that age. I had him do one this past year (5th grade- Ancients) and it worked out really well. Personally, my advice is to wait for the logic stage for timeline work.

 

 

From experience... we bought VP1 - the whole kit and caboodle.

 

 

We did, too. :tongue_smilie:

[Sahamamama]

I'm doing some planning ahead for my preschoolers and although I like the idea of hitting the history cycle three times, I am wondering how the study of ancients goes with a first grader. Is it too remote? Over their heads? What are your actual goals the first time around? I really like the VP materials and SOTW. Talk to me.

 

As I was planning last year for First Grade and Pre-K, I asked the same question. :D In the end I decided to not tackle Ancients with a first grader (6) and twin pre-K'ers (4 & 4). We put most of our energy into mastering basic skills -- reading, writing, and math.

 

I wanted something lighter and less abstract for History/Geography in the primary years. I also noticed that the VP materials (which I like) begin History (with Ancients) in 2nd grade. We will begin when our youngest students are in 2nd grade, rather than setting our oldest student as the pivot point.

 

So, we are doing an Around-the-World study of countries and cultures. We love it! The girls enjoy singing these Geography Songs. They color flag coloring pages, listen to read alouds (from the library), do crafts, find places on the wall map & globe, go on safari, wear costumes, play drums, cook recipes, and learn about other people and places. I think they have retained a TON, even though they are only 6 and 4 and 4. ;)

 

It's fun, and it's enough for this age (IMO). In fact, I still don't feel the time is right for us to begin our history cycle next year, so we plan to study US History and US Geography for at least 2nd & K, possibly also for 3rd & 1st.

 

1st & Pre -- Geography Around the World

2nd & K -- The American Story I + US Geography

3rd & 1st --The American Story II + US Geography

 

Then there will be enough time to do two complete cycles this way:

 

4th & 2nd -- Ancients: Old Testament, Egypt & Mesopotamia

5th & 3rd -- Ancients: New Testament, Greece & Rome

6th & 4th -- Middle Ages

7th & 5th -- Age of Exploration

8th & 6th -- Modern Era

 

9th & 7th -- Ancients

10th & 8th -- Middle Ages

11th & 9th -- Exploration

12th & 10th -- Modern Era

 

-- & 11th -- Government and/or Economics?

-- & 12th -- Eastern Hemisphere?

 

HTH.

[JessieC]

I definitely won't be able to convince you to teach ancient history in first grade. My view is that they are just learning about some basic concepts of place and time, and there is little value in exploring Ancient Greece or Rome in great detail. I plan to spend a year or two just talking about places in the world and major events, so that when we do teach it, it will be in some kind of context.

[kalanamak]

I'm doing some planning ahead for my preschoolers and although I like the idea of hitting the history cycle three times, I am wondering how the study of ancients goes with a first grader. Is it too remote? Over their heads? What are your actual goals the first time around? I really like the VP materials and SOTW. Talk to me.

 

We read every rendition of Homer I could find for a child, mummified a fish, built a ziggurat, memorized TMBG's I'm a Mesopotamian, made a family tree of Greek gods, and generally had a blast. Thus far it has been my favorite year of history, and I'm eager to see it again at 10. Have no fear: it is a great age for 6 year olds.

[ChandlerMom]

Personally, I much PREFER Ancients and don't plan on covering modern history (beyond the broadest brush strokes) until perhaps my oldest is in 5th grade.

 

Why? Because I think the remoteness of it makes it more cut and dried and more suitable to their concrete thinking. Distance gives you the perspective to dispassionately consider things like motive and methods. I think you can learn a lot about human history in general from the ancients (after all, it themes tend to repeat) without the baggage of fresher social wounds.

 

Modern history has a lot of nasty bits -- ancients does too, but somehow the slaughter of a few hundred greeks doesn't feel as traumatizing as the mass murder of a few thousand jews in WWII. There's also a lot more things in modern history that require IMO more of a logic-stage appreciation for nuance and different perspectives, and a lot of things are still "being written" and interpreted. Sure, those things are nice in ancient history as well, but studying the ancients helps prepare kids to study modern history.

 

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :lol: DD8 has covered thru the middle ages and we've restarted with prehistory with her and DD6. We cover modern history only as it applies.

 

ETA: We only lightly and slowly covered history at all with DD5/6 until she had learned to read (finished 100EL at least) as we focussed instead on the 3Rs, though that was K.

Edited June 25, 2011 by ChandlerMom

[Laura Corin]

It went really well here. The boys were interested in the stories (we used SOTW) and the remoteness wasn't an issue.

 

Laura

[matchpenalty_2]

We absolutely LOVE Story of the World. We did Ancients when my daughter was in K. We mainly just listened. Her older brother did more of the mapwork/etc. that is in the workbook.

 

This year we did ASOW II and it was just as good. They get a lot out of it by just listening to the stories. They may not get it all now, but you'll see they make the connections that will become apparent later.

[Haiku]

Is it too remote? Over their heads? What are your actual goals the first time around?

 

Not in my experience. My kids were 6 and 5 the year we did ancients, and it remains the best year of history we've ever done. I think the kids have retained more from that year than any other year. We used SOTW but arranged things by culture, so we did all the Egypt chapters together, all the China chapters together, etc. It was like unit studies.

 

My goal was basically to get kids excited about history through stories, and it was a smashing success.

 

Tara

[Kathleen.]

We love the Ancients. We're currently revisiting Egypt and my two kids love. My 7yo even looks through her Bible for the Egypt references. :)

It just so happened that we watched quite a few shows of mummies and archaeology (on the Green Planet channel Sundays and Mondays in our area) thus sparking a fire to learn even more than our first time around with Ancients.

Kids love learning about everything. It's not remote if you make it fun.

Plus, I got Evan Moor's Ancient Civilations History Pockets Grade 1-3.

[KrissiK]

I wouldn't say it's remote, in the sense you are thinking. They're young children and the way SOTW is written, you're not emphasizing the aspect of "these things happened thousands of years ago." SWB doesn't mention dates or a timeline or anything this first go around because indeed, it would be meaningless to children at this age. I mean, my kids still don't get "last week". But, it definitely captures their imagination more than what passes for Social Studies in PS these days and kids understand it. My kids have loved history and they understand it. We just say, "It happened a long time ago". I think it's so important that they have this foundation so that when the concept of time does sink in, all this information isn't new to them. What really helped me understand this philosophy is how it is explained in the grammar stage history chapter in TWTM. Because, you really have to buy in to and understand why we do it this way for it to make sense.

[Mrs_JWM]

Just another mama whose kid loves SOTW! One of her imaginary friends even came to our house today because "Aunt Pegliatella (the pretend friend) is an archaeologist, and she heard we were studying archaeology." There's a TON of crossover into imaginary play; our dolls are always being renamed after goddesses or historical figures. Very fun stuff!

 

I've also decided to take 2 years to do SOTW1. We've started doing a section each week, raher than a chapter, and it givrs us much more time to delve into projects and additional books.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Mrs_JWM
More info.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Ds1 was in first grade and ds2 was in kindergarten when I purchased SOTW Ancients on CD. They were going to public school at the time, and we would listen to it in the car. They LOVED it, so I bought the activity guide, and we colored the pictures and did several of the projects. We are almost finished with The Middle Ages and they still love it.

 

Can't wait to start Early Modern next year.

[Momling]

I tried SOTW with my not-very-sophisticated first grader last year and it didn't work for her. She just wasn't ready for it. She wasn't interested and didn't understand even the most basic parts of it. It was a little heartbreaking because I love history and have another history-loving child. We ended up using the Usborne World History Sticker Atlas to focus on some geography and basic historical events instead. We've taken some bunny trails off of that. We'll continue it throughout the summer and fall. We'll try again with history next year. Meanwhile, I'm focusing on language arts and math.