AimeeM Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) <Insert sob> What kid doesn't like mummies and the like? MINE. There is only one thing remotely history-related that my 7 year old is interested in, and that's prehistory. I'm having a really hard time letting go of Ancients, though... because I enjoy Ancients. I'm having a hard time saying that it's FINE to do prehistory for 1st/2nd grade (Build Your Own Library has a program that I could flesh out), because... well, Ancients. I'm on my third or fourth (history) program. I'm several hundred in. And all because I wanted to do Ancients with them. That I'm an idiot (regarding this, at least) isn't in question. I've tried presenting it in different ways - and he just doesn't give a hoot. I bring out one book about prehistoric animals, though, and he's all over it. Now that my rant is over... DS7 is 2E. He is not yet reading fluently. He loves read alouds, hands-on projects, and videosAny suggestions on how to flesh out the BYL program to last a year? I need some sort of structure. We have a TON going on this year and I just can't pull this out myself - it won't get done. Edited September 28, 2016 by AimeeM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Does it have to last a whole year? Why can't it be as a simple as getting a reading list and working your way through as many of them sound good to you guys when you have time for history and leaving the books accessible to him in the interim hours to spur his interest in reading? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 At this point it really does not matter a whole lot. I'd go with what interests your son. He could certainly change his mind later on too. I'm with you though. It's my favorite time period. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. At 7, you are trying to build a love of learning. Your kid obviously loves to learn! You'll be coming around to them again, And, in any case, every time period can't be the favorite. I can take or leave the Ancients. But Medieval! Bestill my heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Although you might "reach" him if you pull out all the stops and offer to do the chicken mummy. :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I can take or leave the Ancients. But Medieval! Bestill my heart. Ohh...I love that period too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Ohh...I love that period too. I love medievals even more than ancients :) He loves the idea of knights and castles - but, perhaps it's my ridiculous need to do things in order, I had this idea that I absolutely had to do ancients before the middle ages/medieval period :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Does it have to last a whole year? Why can't it be as a simple as getting a reading list and working your way through as many of them sound good to you guys when you have time for history and leaving the books accessible to him in the interim hours to spur his interest in reading? He wants hands-on. If I'm left to figure those things out on my own, without a spine or structure to it, they won't happen. He is interested in reading - he just isn't capable of doing it independently yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcitedMama Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I couldn't find much already done for prehistory so even though I didn't want to I winged it. I used the Usborne Encyclopedia and just added on to the different sections as best I could. Get books on dinosaurs, mammoths, cave bears, etc. there are a lot of great books you can read. There are some fun things you can buy like those digging out of clay ones where you put the skeleton together which DS loved. Add in the great documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs. We spent a good chunk of time on it but I don't know if you can really stretch it to a year. Maybe he'll be interested in what comes next after you've done it? Or try to push it into science to keep him engaged? Maybe a bio/nature study? Then move forward with human history? Sorry I love ancients too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) You say that you have 3-4 programs, what do you have? And what does it mean that he 'hates' ancients? Does it mean he refuses to listen when you read to him? Does he cry and want you to pull out different books? Edited September 28, 2016 by redsquirrel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I would get a timeline so that he could see that ancients are between his favorites, prehistory and knights, and then follow his interests. You might also win him to liking some ancients if you do something knight-like, such as sparta, or look at castle-like ancient structures. My kid was happy to do all history, as long as there was a battle somewhere, so maybe linking to his favorites will help. But, its not a crisis to do things out of order if thats what works (we use core knowledge, which isn't chronological...as long as you have some sort of timeline or book, it will all get sorted out). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I would just do prehistory with him. The ancients will come along eventually. At this age, you want to instill a love of learning more than you want to insist on a specific topic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 The Big History materials are meant for teens and adults, but you could consider them a spine to go from. Try these: https://www.coursera.org/learn/big-history https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fardo Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 The BBC Walking With... series would be a good place to start. Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, Walking with Cavemen, and Walking with Monsters, and the specials The Ballad of Big Al, Chased by Dinosaurs, and Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy. To structure them, watch one episode a week, that would take 25 weeks if you did all of them (I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the specials, but even without them, you'd have 19 eps with just the main programmes). This BBC bitsize page might have some things you can use http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/z82hsbk although it might be a bit too much like ancients for your boy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 The BBC Walking With... series would be a good place to start. Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, Walking with Cavemen, and Walking with Monsters, and the specials The Ballad of Big Al, Chased by Dinosaurs, and Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy. To structure them, watch one episode a week, that would take 25 weeks if you did all of them (I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the specials, but even without them, you'd have 19 eps with just the main programmes). This BBC bitsize page might have some things you can use http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/z82hsbk although it might be a bit too much like ancients for your boy. OMG my kids LOVED those. Gosh, I had no idea there were so many, lol. They just kept watching them.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Oh wow. Those videos look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I did a prehistory study a few years ago. A lot of books, videos, websites, hands-on crafts. Can be found here with links to the activities as we finished them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrabuskie Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 My DS8 wanted to learn the Ancients, so I thought. He wanted Egypt and now Rome. We are barely out of Sumeria... We are going to skip around bc at this time in his life we can, and I want him to learn to pursue his questions. I would let him pursue prehistory, dinosaurs, ice age, etc. The Boy of the Painted Cave was a wonderful read aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 (edited) Firstly, I would suggest you try not to feel stressed about it. Honestly, history at that age is just not that big of a deal. Kids forget most of what they learn the first time around anyway. All you're really aiming for is: 1. To generate some level of interest in, or at the least awareness of, history ("History is a thing. Stuff happened in the past. I might want to find out more about it some day!"). 2. To file a few bits of information in the back of his brain so that they will seem familiar, and therefore not daunting, when he encounters them again later on ("Oh yeah, I think I've seen/heard of that before"). Those are the basic goals. If you can achieve more, as some families can, that's fantastic, but it's a bonus. Secondly, nothing awful will happen if you don't do Ancients in year 1, Medieval in year 2, and so on. There is absolutely nothing wrong with delving deep into prehistory while he's interested (if you want to extend this, you might consider alternating between your books and some of the great documentaries that are available). Then one day, something might come along to pique his interest in ancient civs, and you can explore them then. If you are keen to keep track of what you've covered, and promote the "sweep of history" view, you might like to put up a large, semi-permanent wall timeline where you can add things as he learns. That way if his interest suddenly jumps from prehistory to, say, the Titanic, it's no problem because you can just step over to your Modern Era section and put it on. ETA I second the recommendation to look at the 'Walking with...' videos. My kids have also watched them several times and enjoyed them. Edited September 29, 2016 by IsabelC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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