World History or US History for Logic Years?

[MrsWeasley]

I know WTM recommends three four year cycles of world history, but I see a lot of people here doing US history in the logic years. Can someone give me a quick down and dirty pro/con for each method?

[MrsWeasley]

Bumping. I'd love to hear more about why people choose to stick with world history or defect to American history for the logic years.

[redsquirrel]

I've heard of folks doing 4 years of world history, or 3 years of world and 1 year of US in the logic stage years, but not all 4 years on US history.

[Luckymama]

We did three years of world history (5th-7th) and one year of US history (8th).

 

Why?

 

1. We started homeschooling in 5th grade. I gave dd the choice of beginning with ancient world history or US. She chose ancient history because she found it more interesting.

 

2. We did three years of world history because she preferred the three-book K12 Human Odyssey series to the four-book Story of the World. She found SOTW 1 to be babyish.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited August 31, 2023 by SilverMoon

[Reefgazer]

We're doing 4 year history cycle, but we cut out a few topics here and there from each time period.  This allows me time to "plug in" events in US History during the appropriate time in the history cycle. 

 

So for DD, we are currently working on early modern history, and I am now plugging in early explorers of the Americas and early American settlements.  So essentially, I am doing world history cycle with emphasis on US history at applicable time periods.  I offered DD the choice of doing things this way or taking a "breather" from World history to do American, and she preferred this way.  I had my doubts about how it would work, but I actually have grown to like this method because you can see where the US was in relation to other events in the world at that time.  We are using Memoria Press' "The 13 Colonies and the Great Republic" because it is middle school level and concise enough to fit everything into our time frame.

 

For DS (4th grade), we are not doing any American history unless it is included in SOTW because he came from public school recently and has no concept of the general sweep of world history and I want that solidified first.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I prefer history chronological, but not necessarily in four year cycles. We are just about midway through doing 2 American, 4 world, 2 American, 4 world (with kids having entered the cycle at different ages). I give more time to American history than the strict four year cycle because I think people should know the history of their own country best and because, more importantly, it allows our world history study to keep American history in proper perspective. So many people supplement American history heavily when teaching the 4 year world history cycle, which I think gives it too much weight. While I do think my kids should know their own nation's history in greater detail, I want them to keep American history in perspective in the grand scheme of things. The beauty of doing American history separately is that the supplemental reading for our world history rotation has been much more multicultural than it would be otherwise. I think Americans are woefully uneducated about the history (and current issues) of other countries. That's not what I want for my kids. It feels like the world is getting smaller every day.

 

And speaking of a small world, one of the best things I have done in our homeschool is to put a huge focus on current events and world geography in these middle grades. Sometimes I wish I could magically score an extra year to focus solely on the subject. If I ever actually get around to producing the homeschool curriculum I've got floating around in my head, it will be in the rotation along with history, as a stand alone subject.

 

So, anyway, in your shoes, for the logic stage I would do either...

 

three years world and one year American, or...

two years world and two years American, or...

two years world, one year American, and one year world geography and current events (my favorite :D )

 

(I will say that the closer we get to high school, the more I look at high school graduation and college admission requirements to see where I can easily lead in and, flow-wise, score that extra year. LOL)

[KarenNC]

We did the the 4 year cycle but switched main spines halfway through. For logic stage, we used k12's History Odyssey, then, when we hit the third year, shifted to using Hakim's The History of US as a main spine, with HO becoming more supplementary.

[Momling]

We did an Ancients year, a Middle Ages year and a Renaissance/early Modern year all focused on European history. For sixth grade, we studied (non-western) World history extending into modern history. Now we're doing a two year study of US history. We'll stop homeschooling next year at the end of eighth grade and her history education is far, far better than mine was.

Having taken this path, we can see our own history in a wider context -- imperialism, independence movements, revolution, reformation, nationalism... My daughter makes connections between various historical events, cultural encounters and current events. It's cool to see her begin to understand the world through history.

 

I don't know why this order... I never planned it this way, but it has made the most sense as we've gone along. The Greece/Rome and Medieval period involved a fair amount of mythology and legend that is perhaps more appropriate for younger kids while the more modern world and US history is far grittier and the tragedies and successes are closer to home, so it's nice to do those in middle school.

[Luckymama]

I forgot to add that, in addition to the world history sequence above, dd also studied world geography for a year as an elective. That has helped her so much with subsequent history and social science classes.

[MrsWeasley]

We did an Ancients year, a Middle Ages year and a Renaissance/early Modern year all focused on European history. For sixth grade, we studied (non-western) World history extending into modern history. Now we're doing a two year study of US history. We'll stop homeschooling next year at the end of eighth grade and her history education is far, far better than mine was.

Having taken this path, we can see our own history in a wider context -- imperialism, independence movements, revolution, reformation, nationalism... My daughter makes connections between various historical events, cultural encounters and current events. It's cool to see her begin to understand the world through history.

 

I don't know why this order... I never planned it this way, but it has made the most sense as we've gone along. The Greece/Rome and Medieval period involved a fair amount of mythology and legend that is perhaps more appropriate for younger kids while the more modern world and US history is far grittier and the tragedies and successes are closer to home, so it's nice to do those in middle school.

 

What did you do for non-Western world history for sixth grade?

[redsquirrel]

I did 4 years of world history in years 5-8. It went very well and we had plenty of time to spend on topics that sparked extra interest. So, in 5th grade we spend lots of extra time on Greek and Roman history. In 6th grade we did extra reading on the US revolution, in 7th grade we delved into the US civil war and in 8th we spend extra time on the US Civil Rights movement. I think it worked out very well.  We do history as described in the 3rd edition of TWTM, with reading, written narration, outlining etc. I also aligned our literature to our history cycle.

 

I am considering doing a 3 year cycle of world history and spend 8th grade on US history with my ds2, mainly because I have a very nice US history book and it seems a shame not to use it, lol. OTOH, I would miss the time to follow those rabbit trails. It was nice that ds1 had some say over what got extra attention. I think if we tried to do world history in 3 and a year on US history we would lose that option. So...decisions, decisions..

 

I honestly can't think of a benefit of one over the other for us. I think what matters is studying history in a systematic fashion, not just hopping around like they do in the public schools around here. Especially in the logic years, I saw my older boy making connections, understanding things, questioning things. It was a very fruitful area of study and TWTM provided a great structure.  It was also a great way to do writing across the curriculum. It was also nice to see the way he had retained things from SOTW, got excited when things came up that he remembered, had something to offer to the discussion. 

 

DS1 is in public high school now, and frankly, the history instruction is pathetic. I am happy with how every other subject is handled but for that one. The good thing is that the years ds1 has spend studying history has stood him well, he knows more than what his teacher is teaching and his grade is strong. OTOH, he is also frustrated b/c he knows just how much more interesting the subject can be.  He hopes there is space in the AP European History class next year. He is clearly so ready to work at that level.

[EKS]

My favorite history sequence:

 

K: American

1-3: World

4: American

5-7: World

8: American

9-12: World for 1 or 2 years, American again if 8th grade wasn't at high school level, human geography, economics, government, electives, etc.

[Momling]

I did a continent-by-continent approach and included geography, literature and religion.

 

History -- OUP African and Middle eastern World, The Asian World, the Ancient American world, select chapters from K12 Human Odyssey vol 1-3.

 

Religion - World Religions workbook - http://www.teachercreated.com/products/world-religions-0624(aligned by chapter to the area being studied)

 

Geography - MP geography I and II (aligned by chapter)

 

Literature - either in whole or excerpts of: Gilgamesh, 1001 Arabian nights, african folk tales, Mulan (http://www.amazon.com/Mulan-Versions-Classic-Chinese-Related/dp/1603841962), Popal Vah, Mahabharata, Rabbit Proof Fence, Pride and prejudice, Animal Farm.

 

There was lots of other stuff, documentaries and such, I can't remember... It was also a great opportunity to follow the rabbit trails we'd missed in our focus on European history when we got to Europe. Oh - and opportunities for yummy ethnic and historical cooking!

[Kareni]

We came to homeschooling late and began in 7th grade.  We allowed my daughter the decision of whether or not to homeschool each year, so we took things on a year by year basis.  I'd describe our homeschooling as WTM inspired; however, I elected to do a three year run through world history.

In 7th grade, my daughter covered Pre-history to about AD500.

In 8th grade, my daughter studied the time period AD500 to about AD1700.

My daughter finished her three year sweep through world history in 9th grade.

 

(9th grade included American History.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[EndOfOrdinary]

My son could have cared less about history until 4th grade. Before that it was just bits about Ancients I could somehow find a way to convince him were interesting. If you begin with some denser ancient history in fourth, you can complete four years of World by 8th grade. 8th can be geography and U.S. History (depending on how dense, for credit). That leaves high school for the last four year cycle of world.

 

Colleges want U.S. History and the culture to some degree expects competence in a basic understand of generalized US History. So we doa year. More than likely we will do one dense year and call it good.