Jump to content

Menu

Have you used a history program for all your kids?


Recommended Posts

A history program that is supposed to have multi-level learning? 

 

Like Tapestry, or My Father's World, Mystery of History, or Story of the World, which can be used for a wide age range?

 

I like to think about the future, and how our school is going to look in 3, 4, or 10 years, and I want to continue to keep my kids together in at least ONE thing.  :001_rolleyes:

My oldest will be in 5th grade, next one in 2nd, and the third a 3 year old next year. (We are enjoying MoH Vol. 1 right now, but I keep thinking of ToG.) At some point down the road, I'll have a child in elementary, middle, and high school. 

 

So, have you used one of these programs to successfully keep your kids learning together?

 

I guess I'm wondering about the flip side too; folks that bought these programs because of the one-room schoolhouse appeal, but then real life took those paper plans and threw them away. 

 

 

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year I have a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 2nd grader with a little tag along 4yo. We use TOG and have since my 6th grader was a Ker. (It is late and I'm tired...grammar is probably out the window by now. Hope this is readable!)

 

I do like that they are all in the same place in history, but have their own books based on their level. We get together at the beginning of a TOG week (which is not always the beginning of a week btw) and I give a talk about the weeks topic. At the end of the week we get together again they give me bullet points that I write on the board about what they learned. It is fun because one remembers something they learned and someone else has their memory jogged and they pipe in with another fact they learned about that event or person. Then when we finish the sharing time they each get out a scrap of paper to make a rough draft paragraph or two about one of the topics on the board. Then they pick a notebooking page they like and write their work in final draft form on the notebooking page. During the week they read their books independently unless they are in Lower Grammer. The Lower Grammar kid gets to snuggle with me and read. We do the geography lesson together as well.

 

Portions we have bailed on...the read aloud. We just didn't find the time and some of my kids were too squirrely to sit through the length that was assigned. TOG assigns SOTW in the supplemental reading section and I bought the audio version to play in the car. This takes the place of our read aloud and they love it.

 

The crafts. We do some...maybe one or two a year...but they prefer Artistic Pursuits for art so we often do that instead. They still read the art books assigned as there are facts in them.

 

The lapbooks, they didnt like them, and the Writing Aids...I didnt like it for younger years. I will probably use it in High School.

 

I also ditched the 5 day week per TOG week. I allot 7 days per TOG week (yes it means that we use TOG through the summer). I shorten it to 5 or 6 days if there is one of the subjects that doesn't have reading scheduled. I did this because my middle schooler could not keep up with the work load. She LOVES math, science, and history so none of these subjects is done less than the other. This meant something had to give to make it work...and that was stretching out the TOG week. History then is taken in smaller bites, but she does all the D level work. Our rotation looks like this: Day 1 topic talk, lit, and vocab; Day 2 History Core; Day 3 History in Depth; Day 4 Geography; Day 5 Art; Day 6 Bible; and Day 7 Share and notebook.

 

I would not say this is One Room Schoolhouse because while they do study the same time period, they are not using the same books or reading them together (well they are if you have more than one lower grammar maybe). But it is the discussion and sharing time that brings it together and the fact that you as a teacher do not have to keep up with multiple time periods at the same time.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't truly combined big age gaps... yet. And I don't know if I will at a serious level, but I am considering it for my current 5 and 8yos.  The 8yo hasn't really picked up much momentum with history for multiple reasons and my 5yo has a decent attention span and high interest level.

 

While my daughters (a year apart) were combined for more than 7 years, it's no longer suiting them well no matter how hard I try to differentiate.  The first half of this year involved watering down for one and pushing for the other in the name of saving ME time.  There's absolutely no way I could have included my 8yo or my 17yo and done a decent job.  The span (age and ability) is just too wide.

 

If nothing else, I do think I'll be able to get the 5, 8, and 12yos in the same time period by next year, which helps, but I'll likely be using SOTW for the youngest, HO for the oldest, and mashing them up for the middle one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year I have a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 2nd grader with a little tag along 4yo. We use TOG and have since my 6th grader was a Ker. (It is late and I'm tired...grammar is probably out the window by now. Hope this is readable!)

 

I do like that they are all in the same place in history, but have their own books based on their level. We get together at the beginning of a TOG week (which is not always the beginning of a week btw) and I give a talk about the weeks topic. At the end of the week we get together again they give me bullet points that I write on the board about what they learned. It is fun because one remembers something they learned and someone else has their memory jogged and they pipe in with another fact they learned about that event or person. Then when we finish the sharing time they each get out a scrap of paper to make a rough draft paragraph or two about one of the topics on the board. Then they pick a notebooking page they like and write their work in final draft form on the notebooking page. During the week they read their books independently unless they are in Lower Grammer. The Lower Grammar kid gets to snuggle with me and read. We do the geography lesson together as well.

 

Portions we have bailed on...the read aloud. We just didn't find the time and some of my kids were too squirrely to sit through the length that was assigned. TOG assigns SOTW in the supplemental reading section and I bought the audio version to play in the car. This takes the place of our read aloud and they love it.

 

The crafts. We do some...maybe one or two a year...but they prefer Artistic Pursuits for art so we often do that instead. They still read the art books assigned as there are facts in them.

 

The lapbooks, they didnt like them, and the Writing Aids...I didnt like it for younger years. I will probably use it in High School.

 

I also ditched the 5 day week per TOG week. I allot 7 days per TOG week (yes it means that we use TOG through the summer). I shorten it to 5 or 6 days if there is one of the subjects that doesn't have reading scheduled. I did this because my middle schooler could not keep up with the work load. She LOVES math, science, and history so none of these subjects is done less than the other. This meant something had to give to make it work...and that was stretching out the TOG week. History then is taken in smaller bites, but she does all the D level work. Our rotation looks like this: Day 1 topic talk, lit, and vocab; Day 2 History Core; Day 3 History in Depth; Day 4 Geography; Day 5 Art; Day 6 Bible; and Day 7 Share and notebook.

 

I would not say this is One Room Schoolhouse because while they do study the same time period, they are not using the same books or reading them together (well they are if you have more than one lower grammar maybe). But it is the discussion and sharing time that brings it together and the fact that you as a teacher do not have to keep up with multiple time periods at the same time.

 

Wow, this is a great explanation of how TOG works for you. It really makes the program seem doable. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the older girls got older, I'd just have the youngers follow whatever cycle the olders were on. When my kids are younger, we mostly read books and did some crafts. I had several really rough pregnancies, where I was in bed for months--man, did I buy history books! I think I could outfit an entire school for the Civil War!

 

 

Ooo, yes!! That's a simple approach. Any excuse to buy more books!!  :hurray:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We really like SCM.  My DC aren't really into history books or tons of activities, so it's been a great fit for us.  Each day we have a family reading and an independent reading for each age group (I read aloud with grades 1-3). Every 12 week term has a few ideas for a history project or two.  I love not being overwhelmed with tons of extras (or feeling guilty when we don't get to them).  

 

One change we did make is to use it as a 4 year program (it's designed to be a 6 year program).  We used MOH to cover ancients and added in some of the SCM books. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Diana Waring materials.

 

We actually use SL but I am using some DW materials for a unit during our family learning time. This is with kids that are 15, 13, 11, and 5. My 20yo was kind of listening in while doing something in the next room and became interested, and my 4yo (who wasn't even involved in the lesson) is talking about it too. Now that's multi-level learning....;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year I have a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 2nd grader with a little tag along 4yo. We use TOG and have since my 6th grader was a Ker. (It is late and I'm tired...grammar is probably out the window by now. Hope this is readable!)

 

I do like that they are all in the same place in history, but have their own books based on their level. We get together at the beginning of a TOG week (which is not always the beginning of a week btw) and I give a talk about the weeks topic. At the end of the week we get together again they give me bullet points that I write on the board about what they learned. It is fun because one remembers something they learned and someone else has their memory jogged and they pipe in with another fact they learned about that event or person. Then when we finish the sharing time they each get out a scrap of paper to make a rough draft paragraph or two about one of the topics on the board. Then they pick a notebooking page they like and write their work in final draft form on the notebooking page. During the week they read their books independently unless they are in Lower Grammer. The Lower Grammar kid gets to snuggle with me and read. We do the geography lesson together as well.

 

Portions we have bailed on...the read aloud. We just didn't find the time and some of my kids were too squirrely to sit through the length that was assigned. TOG assigns SOTW in the supplemental reading section and I bought the audio version to play in the car. This takes the place of our read aloud and they love it.

 

The crafts. We do some...maybe one or two a year...but they prefer Artistic Pursuits for art so we often do that instead. They still read the art books assigned as there are facts in them.

 

The lapbooks, they didnt like them, and the Writing Aids...I didnt like it for younger years. I will probably use it in High School.

 

I also ditched the 5 day week per TOG week. I allot 7 days per TOG week (yes it means that we use TOG through the summer). I shorten it to 5 or 6 days if there is one of the subjects that doesn't have reading scheduled. I did this because my middle schooler could not keep up with the work load. She LOVES math, science, and history so none of these subjects is done less than the other. This meant something had to give to make it work...and that was stretching out the TOG week. History then is taken in smaller bites, but she does all the D level work. Our rotation looks like this: Day 1 topic talk, lit, and vocab; Day 2 History Core; Day 3 History in Depth; Day 4 Geography; Day 5 Art; Day 6 Bible; and Day 7 Share and notebook.

 

I would not say this is One Room Schoolhouse because while they do study the same time period, they are not using the same books or reading them together (well they are if you have more than one lower grammar maybe). But it is the discussion and sharing time that brings it together and the fact that you as a teacher do not have to keep up with multiple time periods at the same time.

I like the way you described this and the way you have adjusted to make it work for you.

 

I bought one quarter of TOG and tried to use it with my then aged 7th and 4th graders primarily and with a 1st grader, too. I watched all the videos for plannig and preparing but just couldn't make it work well for us. Maybe I need to revisit with fresh eyes.

 

Sent from my SM-G360P using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep looking at tapestry but I can't make heads or tails of the samples. I think they are going to be at the homeschool convention here so I was planning on looking at it there and talking to the representative about it to try and wrap my brain around it. I'm a whole to parts person so I really need to see the whole picture before I can begin to understand. I have 4yo twins, 4th grader and a 5th grader. I've read the literature selections for rhetoric are similar to omnibus (vp) so that intrigues me and being able to pull my twins in on the studying would be great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...