melmichigan Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 I was looking through TOG's Y4 and wondering how many of you teach all the way to present day in history? I think I would teach through the presidents through the current president but am debating skipping Y4U4 until R. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We did two years of American history prior to starting SOTW1 this year. Yes, I taught to present day. It just seemed natural. You can go right up to your kids' births and then to breakfast that morning. :lol: Also, DH deployed to Iraq in February. Discussing how he was there when that war began in 2003 (for the first year of DS8's life) and will be there for the pull-out was fascinating to the kids, especially when I pointed out that their children will eventually study it just as we now study the wars that came before. We are living history. Going right up to present times drives that point home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 When I was in high school, we never had time to get to present day. We always stopped somewhere earlier in the 20th century. For the AP US History test, I think we studied through WWII thoroughly, then had to learn the rest on our own (since modern history was on the test). We were handed a book to study from on our own, and that was that. I always felt cheated that they never talked about anything later than that. There was a lot of history to talk about. They just didn't have time, since they were cramming ALL of US History (at AP level) into a one year course. I think knowing more modern history is important, because history repeats itself and repeats itself and repeats itself. I think children need to see that yes, the history really is still repeating itself, even if it happened during the decade they were born (so they don't remember it). So yes, I plan to go into modern day history. My children hear the news and talk radio shows anyway, so they know there are wars going on and things like that. As far as TOG goes, doesn't it focus on inventions and such in the lower levels? From what I've read, if I were using TOG, I wouldn't have any problem taking my LG student through Y4U4. I just looked at the book list, and it looks appropriate for LG students... MLK Jr., Bill Gates, Steve Jobs et al, Apollo missions, Nelson Mandela, Presidents of the US, Sally Ride, etc, etc. The books that involve war and such (like the Vietnam War) look to be gentle about it and not graphic. I would take a look at the book lists for the levels you plan to teach and see if any of those books look inappropriate for your family. Then see if there are alternate resources that might be more appropriate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in STL Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The first cycle through we stopped at WWII. That was enough history to get through that year, and contemporary history seemed very complicated for my 4th and 2nd graders. We will cover all the way to present day next year in 5th and 7th and again in highschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We did two years of American history prior to starting SOTW1 this year. Yes, I taught to present day. It just seemed natural. You can go right up to your kids' births and then to breakfast that morning. :lol: Also, DH deployed to Iraq in February. Discussing how he was there when that war began in 2003 (for the first year of DS8's life) and will be there for the pull-out was fascinating to the kids, especially when I pointed out that their children will eventually study it just as we now study the wars that came before. We are living history. Going right up to present times drives that point home. :iagree: I plan to go all the way to current times when I get to that year...We are only on our first run through ancients, so I have a few more years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 What do you consider 'present day'? The SOTW stops at the first Iraq war and I stopped there. To go right up to the present day is not history but 'current events'. It takes time to get an historical perspective on what happened. Even the first Iraq war is pretty fresh. Obviously, it is still playing out. Now, do we discuss current events? Yes, we do, more and more often with my elder son. But, I don't call it history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 :iagree: I plan to go all the way to current times when I get to that year...We are only on our first run through ancients, so I have a few more years... Agree as well. It makes the most sense to me. I know a lot of people like to shelter younger children from current events, but we've not done that. For example, with the 9/11 anniversary, out of a group of over 100 women from my older son's old Babycenter birth club, there were less than a handful that planned on telling their children anything about it at all. There was only one other mom who gave as much information as I did (also a homeschooler). DS watched the footage with me of the towers going down and people jumping, etc. The only subject that we "hide" from him at this point is sex, and that's only because I don't trust his judgment to not talk to his peers about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The school I attended did U.S. history 1 (explorers-just before the Civil War) in 8th and U.S. history 2 (Civil War-WWII) in 9th. There was an elective devoted to 20th century U.S. history but I didn't personally take it. We're on our 2nd year of U.S. history and I'm not sure how far we'll get. Right now we're in the Gilded era and I want to at least get through WWII. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 What do you consider 'present day'? The SOTW stops at the first Iraq war and I stopped there. To go right up to the present day is not history but 'current events'. It takes time to get an historical perspective on what happened. Even the first Iraq war is pretty fresh. Obviously, it is still playing out. Now, do we discuss current events? Yes, we do, more and more often with my elder son. But, I don't call it history. :iagree: It'll be another few years before we get to it, but I'm thinking that a good place to stop would be the year DD was born (so, we'll study up to 2006, everything since will be current events). No real reason, completely arbitrary, but I do feel that there is a strong distinction between history and current events... the same distinction I find myself trying to make between "history" and "journalism" when writing my own papers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We haven't yet, but, yes, absolutely, and during elementary school as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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