Looking for feedback on WTMA history courses

[redsquirrel]

My son is lobbying to take his history course next year with WTMA.  He would be talking Medieval history and will be a sixth grader.  He has had an excellent experience this year with Expository Writing 1 and I plan to enroll him in Expository 2. 

 

However, I am not so sure about the history course.  First of all, it uses SOTW. My son has already been through all of SOTW 1-4 and we have moved on to other resources.  How does that work with logic stage kids? Have any of you who have a kid in the course already used SOTW? I know he won't remember what he used as a second grader, lol, but I would assume extra reading is added?  Is it done as prescribed in TWTM?  Do they have to read a section of an encyclopedia and outline from readings etc?  That is very similar to how we have done it ourselves. 

 

My second concern is the workload. When I looked at the syllabus from last years course it had what looked to me like a respectable amount of writing.  TBH, when I did WWS with my older boy we stopped extra history writing when we started using WWS. It wasn't right at the beginning of the year, more of a gradual tapering off. I would say that by 3/4 of the way through the year I had started doing history as read/discuss only.

 

I have some great logic stage materials and really hesitate not to use them. But he really likes his writing class and wants more WTMA.  It's also been so nice to have him accountable to someone else...

[fourisenough]

Following

[blondeviolin]

Following too! I'm thinking about doing ancients with my oldest this way...

[redsquirrel]

bumping in case anyone has some insight for me.

 

I did look very closely at the posted syllabus, and some of my questions were answered. There is a decent amount of writing, but it might not be weekly? It isn't taught like a writing course anyway, and that is what I was worried about.

 

I am still a little worried about using SOTW with a 6th grader.  I did assign a chapter of SOTW1 to ds2 this week to do a quick rundown of a topic and he was a little surprised to see it. He associates it with first grade, so I understand. But he read the chapter quickly and easily and was able to discuss it with no problem.  

 

And I did use SOTW 4 regularly during 8th grade, but there is a big leap in tone (and content) with SOTW4.

 

I don't know, maybe I should just go for it and see how it goes? It's just 6th grade history, lol.

[skirch]

 

DD, who is in 6th grade this year is doing Medieval right now - she's also in the expository 1 class.
I had the same concerns as you since we'd already been through SOTW, and honestly, the first few weeks I was ready to drop it because all they did was read from the book and take the chapter tests. Things did pick up though and they do outline and write a research paper every 5 or 6 chapters I believe. They also keep a timeline. She has really enjoyed the class and the instructor. That said, I don't think we'll continue with history in the fall because we feel we can manage the same ting at home. 

We will continue on to Expository 2 though. Hope that helps. :)
 

[fourisenough]

bumping in case anyone has some insight for me.

 

I did look very closely at the posted syllabus, and some of my questions were answered. There is a decent amount of writing, but it might not be weekly? It isn't taught like a writing course anyway, and that is what I was worried about.

 

I am still a little worried about using SOTW with a 6th grader. I did assign a chapter of SOTW1 to ds2 this week to do a quick rundown of a topic and he was a little surprised to see it. He associates it with first grade, so I understand. But he read the chapter quickly and easily and was able to discuss it with no problem.

 

And I did use SOTW 4 regularly during 8th grade, but there is a big leap in tone (and content) with SOTW4.

 

I don't know, maybe I should just go for it and see how it goes? It's just 6th grade history, lol.

I have the exact same concerns. And, since I'm planning a fairly heavy year for DD11 otherwise (with high-school level math, science, & French), I'm currently leaning toward using HO Vol. 1 and just having her read and discuss. I feel like we can get a decent overview of the ancients this way in 30 minutes per day. Although, I know very well that without some sort of 'output' such as keeping a timeline, writing research papers, or completing projects, we're likely to get derailed and not follow through. Ugh...wish there were more hours in the day!

[redsquirrel]

DD, who is in 6th grade this year is doing Medieval right now - she's also in the expository 1 class.

I had the same concerns as you since we'd already been through SOTW, and honestly, the first few weeks I was ready to drop it because all they did was read from the book and take the chapter tests. Things did pick up though and they do outline and write a research paper every 5 or 6 chapters I believe. They also keep a timeline. She has really enjoyed the class and the instructor. That said, I don't think we'll continue with history in the fall because we feel we can manage the same ting at home. 

 

We will continue on to Expository 2 though. Hope that helps. :)

 

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. It was very helpful.

I was sort of thinking this might be what it looks like.  I can see myself being very happy with that in 8th grade.  I know when ds1 was an 8th grader, history was all about 'get 'er done'. His other courses, like science, math and writing just took up so much time and needed so much of my attention.  I would really value someone else setting the pace for history that year..and keeping us on track.

 

Plus, I am just fine with outlining and close reading of SOTW 4. It's a really good book and just fine for the logic stage. All of SOTW are great books, I am just not completely convinced that specifically 1 & 2 are books we would want to redo at an older age.  I could go either way with book 3.

 

So, I think I will save the online history class for either years 7 & 8 or just 8.  I have lots of great logic stage materials so I'm not struggling with that. 

 

It would feel very different to me if we hadn't already gone through SOTW 1-4 in years 1-4.  If we were new to homeschooling or hadn't really attempted a 4 year history cycle, or a systematic study of world history, then I might find it very attractive.

[poetic license]

DD, who is in 6th grade this year is doing Medieval right now - she's also in the expository 1 class.

I had the same concerns as you since we'd already been through SOTW, and honestly, the first few weeks I was ready to drop it because all they did was read from the book and take the chapter tests. 

 

 

So was the teacher just reading the book in class? In my son's Ancients class through WTMA the teacher teaches a lesson, with additional info that is not in the books.

 

 

 

However, I am not so sure about the history course.  First of all, it uses SOTW. My son has already been through all of SOTW 1-4 and we have moved on to other resources.  How does that work with logic stage kids? Have any of you who have a kid in the course already used SOTW? I know he won't remember what he used as a second grader, lol, but I would assume extra reading is added?  Is it done as prescribed in TWTM?  Do they have to read a section of an encyclopedia and outline from readings etc?  That is very similar to how we have done it ourselves. 

 

 

My son has read through SOTW, much of K12's History Odyssey, and Usborne/Kingfisher but he still likes the class. The teacher mentions things that are not in the assigned reading and he gets a chance to answer questions in class (he seems to be one of the few in his class that likes to speak instead of type). 

 

Besides the research papers (which are 300-500 words, with a longer one at year's end), there is not too much writing. You answer a very short discussion question a week, and do a few outlines and respond to original source readings (very short Q and A). We use supplementary readings outside of class, and we also like to save and go over the ancient maps that the teacher uses in the presentation.

[skirch]

 

 

So was the teacher just reading the book in class? In my son's Ancients class through WTMA the teacher teaches a lesson, with additional info that is not in the books.

 

No, they didn't read from the book in class, that was their homework. I feel like the first few weeks class time was spent explaining how the class work, going over the how the classroom (blackboard) worked, etc. E eventually, he did start discussing the readings and teaching from other resources. My CD really enjoys the class and the discussions - I just feel like it took awhile to get into a groove.