History odyssey Level 2 users...Question

[Guest]

How have you modified this for your child? We are looking at starting with Ancients. For children without a great deal of independent writing experience, would this be a bad fit? What have you liked/disliked? What would you have done differently? Would you have chosen another way? Does your child find it interesting?

[5wolfcubs]

I am wondering the exact same things! My oldest will be in 8th next year and wants to be more independent. TOG is good, it is great, but it has not been independent. I really liked the HO samples.

[Pensguys]

What grade?

 

My ds is doing this (Level 2 Middle Ages) for 5th grade. He has done no other writing other than CW-Aesop A/B. He has done keyword outlining and oral and written narrations. I sometimes require that he do outlining per HO. I don't require the biographies. We are using CW Homer and that is the bulk of our writing. I do require the summaries in HO. Make it work for you. Some is better than none. Work up to the level the student can handle. You don't have to do everything every year.

[Wendy in ME]

We are using this with the oldest ds 11 for Ancients this year. He has not done a lot of independent writing but is doing ok with this. Most of the writing in this program has been short summaries and outlining. The lesson tells the student exactly what to write about so they don't have to independently come up with the ideas. This is our first year with it and we have not made many changes. We are not doing the History Pockets due to lack of time. We do world history just once a week for about 2 hrs. We like The Story of Mankind but the reading is a little challenging for my ds so we read it aloud together. I also have him read the corresponding chapter of SOTW. We are using this with ds 9 anyway and it gives such a great overview. We use the literature books that are scheduled as extra reading but we do not do any in-depth analysis of them. For our literature study we following LCC and Highlands Latin School curriculum. These are the books that we really discuss in detail. The ds that is currently using this program is a very organized, independent worker who takes great pride in his work so it works for him. He loves showing off his notebook. We are planning to use Middle Ages with him next year for 6th grade but not for ds who will be 5th next year. We will stick to just SOTW and AG with extra reading. He just is not up to the level of independent work yet. If left alone, he will do the bare minimum. So, all this to say that it will really depend on the child. We chose to separate the older ds because he actually enjoys having some independence.

[Jenny in Atl]

There really is not much writing in HO2 Ancients. We started HO2 Middle Ages in January and already there is a good bit more. DD 12 is writing a summary (2-3) pages about Macbeth for a bk of Shakespeare that will be completed over the course. I don't see any of the assignments as hard to modify if needed.

[kRenee]

For my child there was too much writing in HO level 2. Both last year and this year I cut out most of it, so all that was left was reading the encyclopedia, doing the map work and keeping a timeline. At this point I can see she is ready for more so I'll step it up for the remainder of this year and beyond.

[Amy C]

I started HO Middle Ages, level 2 with my ds12 this month. I find it a nice balance of work - the time line and mapping I can hand to him to do on his own. I read the history books to him, he reads the literature on his own.

 

As far as writing, ds does the outlining, short summaries and biographies. Prior to this he basically did summaries. His outlining is already improving. The assignments can be modified fairly easily.

 

So far, we really enjoy HO. We were doing Sonlight Core 6 and we both prefer HO.

 

Amy C

[freethinkermom]

Ds10 (11 in a few days) doing Early Modern level 2. He works independently except when he has a question or wants to dicuss something. He does all of the writing with no problems, but he is accelerated and I would consider him a 9th grader if I had to assign a grade level(higher in some areas). I have required him to write essays and longer three-level outlines for about two years, although we have never used a formal writing program.

[Mama Lynx]

I cut out all of the notebooking stuff. I may have him try a biography. But that's pretty much it.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I couldn't figure out how to multi-quote :(

 

 

How have you modified this for your child?

By doing as little of the History Pockets as possible.

 

For children without a great deal of independent writing experience, would this be a bad fit?

I don't think so. It has been mostly short summaries. I have to be specific with how many sentences that constitutes. Ds could summarize anything in 2 sentences.

 

What have you liked/disliked?

See my review below.

 

What would you have done differently?

Possibly used Life in the Ancient World by Bart Winer instead.

 

Would you have chosen another way?

Yes, if I could find a secular alternative.

 

Does your child find it interesting?

Not particularly. Reading KHE is dull.

 

Here's my review:

We are on lesson 40 out of 66. My son would be in 6th grade this year. I have mixed feelings about it so far.

 

I chose HO because it's the only secular history program I know of for logic age.

 

The positives are that (1) History is done 2x per week here. (2) Outlining is improving. (3) Map work and timeline work is helpful.

 

I am not really one to sit around reading an encyclopedia, so I'm not so excited about the spine. I find it fairly dull myself. I don't find that much information for each topic and then you have to go around looking at the pictures and reading the captions (or not). I fear that the retention will be very low.

 

Although it can be done independently, I find that my son does the minimum and probably forgets it as soon as it's done. I would like discussion/review questions, sample outlines, lots more supplemental reading.

 

There are 2 History Pockets. We finished the first and found it a lot of work for the information given. Cut and paste is beneath us at this point.

 

I spent $165 for this program. It was by far the most I spent on any subject this year. With 20/20 hindsight, I would not have bought the supplemental books, even though they are difficult to find through the libraries here. There is absolutely nothing in the program about them other than to read them.

 

Finally, I know 1 person who uses HO and enjoys it. Her son tends to be more motivated than mine. I find HO similar to Noeo (Science). There is too much freedom for my unmotivated son to do a mediocre job.

 

To be completely honest, I am not sure if part of my disappointment has to do with the fact that we used SOTW for 4 years and loved it. It's a hard act to follow, imo.

 

Sorry this is so long. I feel bad about my negative review. I sincerely hope that I can look back at the end of this year and see it's worth. I have to admit though, that I've been thinking about polling the hs boards and loops for alternatives for next year.

 

YMMV,

Sue

[Pensguys]

I responded above, but I wanted to add that my ds loves reading the Kingfisher book! But he is a kid who will sit around and read the World Book Encylopedia's too! He isn't particularly motivated, but he gets his work done and I feel that he is learning enough about it at this point in time (5th grade). I don't expect him to become a history professor and our homeschool doesn't revolve around the 4 cycles of history :eek: (sacrilege, I know), so I feel that he is getting enough for how we want it covered. We'll be studying World History again (and then AGAIN in college), so I'm not too worried about what is missing or "not enough".

[KarenC]

I also have a 6yo and 9yo. We are doing the literature in Histery Odyssey as a read aloud for all 3 girls. I usually help her with the outlining. She does the rest on her own. This has worked well and I plan to continue with Level 2 Middle next year. I will still do the literature as a read aloud. But hopefully, she will do more of the writing on her own.

 

Karen