sweetpea3829 Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 (edited) We just finished SoTW 4 this past spring and I'm planning on taking my 11 and 10 yr olds off-sequence for the next two years. The plan is to launch back into Ancients in 8th grade, Middle Ages in 9th grade, US 1/Civics in 10th grade, Early Modern in 11th and Modern/US 2 in 12th grade. Specifically, I want them to be much older when we next pass through modern history, so that they will have a better appreciation for how historical events play out and impact our world/culture/etc. Anyways, so that leaves us with 6th and 7th. I've decided to go off-sequence and just study something topical or....? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Maybe some geography? Local history? Explorers? Science history? I don't know. ETA: Thus far, I've decided to focus on NY State history as well as US Geography for 7th grade. Which leaves 6th grade. For that, I'm kicking around the idea of interest-led unit studies. Maybe I'll give them a list of topics to choose from...one a month or so. Require a report or some kind of something to demonstrate what they've learned. To answer a specific question...so far neither of the Bigs has any particular interest. I asked DS10 what he would choose if he could study anything from history and his response was "dinosaurs". Yeah...that's science. DD11 answered, "horses". *sigh* Back to the drawing board...lol. Edited June 29, 2017 by Sweetpea3829 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Mapping the World With Art by Ellen McHenry? I've had two kids do this as freshman but I think it's recommended for as young as middle school. Great program with the added benefit that it's easy to add in lit about explorers as you draw the areas of the world they discovered. Another thought I had was Trisms middle school program called History Masterminds which concentrates on the people of history in science, inventions and explorers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amateur Actress Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Beautiful Feet has a History of Science course that one of my kids did this year. We liked it. http://bfbooks.com/Literature-Packs/History-Of-Science-Packs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 Bumping this to see if there are any other suggestions. I was thinking of going with Old Testament history but...I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 You could go with your specific state history. That's a little harder to find stuff for, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Have you read Lies Across America? I'd use that as a springboard for an off-sequence study, looking for monuments and plaquards in our area that detailed events, then finding out more about those events. Many libraries will have small-batch published books/memoirs written by local authors, and Google newspapers can help to see how different towns or areas covered the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Do your kids have any particular interests that you can follow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I'm doing a year of mythology instead of history for my upcoming 8th grader next year. She chose the topic so I'm going with it. It's shaping up to be a really interesting study that's about history, but from a different slant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 What are they interested in? I let my both of my two oldest children go "off sequence" in 7th grade. My dd wanted to do an in-depth study of the Elizabethan age. She read several serious adult history books including biographies of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. She also did an intense Shakespeare study: 6 plays, all the sonnets, and a Great Course lecture series on Shakespeare. My ds will be in 7th this fall and wants to study ancient Rome. He'll be reading several history books on Rome, and I ordered a bunch of Nat Geo documentaries. I'm not making any effort to connect his literature, because he has no interest in that (and it would be over his head). He's doing a study of fantasy and sci-fi literature instead. I think "off-sequence" can be really fun if you follow your child's genuine interests. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verity Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Another idea would be to look at either Layers of Learning or The Good and the Beautiful which has more of unit studies instead of one year in the same history area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Concentrated world and US geography. Trail Guides to Learning have a lot of fun ideas. Study world music, art, food, monuments. Do they have any particular interests where they'd like to dig deeper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastalfam Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 An idea I would like to do on an "off year" is a world cultures year combined with music of world cultures/tribal music. I think that would be fascinating. Maybe even combine that with deeper study of world ecosystems/geography... a macro planet earth year. :) Think of the documentaries available! (Now I'm excited!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Hakim has a three volume history of science series that keeps catching my interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Many kids, including my DD are huge fans of mysteries in any subject. They love to learn about the unknown and then speculate about how to resolve those mysteries. You could do a year of history's unsolved mysteries. For instance, my DD was intrigued by the origins of the Celts and Druids, so we studied that last year and she really enjoyed it. Topics could include (some will be more scientific, but have been historical mysteries as well): Roanoke Colony: Yes, you've probably done this, but there are new books out and several documentaries on the subject. Sailing Stones of the dry lakebed Racetrack, Death Valley Taos Hum Vile Vortices: 12 geographical areas known several for mysterious disappearances (Bermuda Triangle is one of them) Atlantis Bog Bodies Amelia Earhart - there have been several new findings on this case as well. Voynich Manuscript Bimini Road Babushka Lady - related to the Kennedy assassination DB Cooper Loch Ness Monster Marfa Lights Cleopatra's Tomb Oak Island Money Pit Crystal skulls Copper Scroll Treasure Ball Lightning Tunguska Explosion The Mary Celeste Kenneth Arnold's "flying saucers" The Devil's Footprints of southern Devon, England Shroud of Turin - fascinating new developments here, including corrected radiocarbon dating falling within the time of Christ and new 3-D modeling of the Shroud Richard the III & the Princes in the Tower The Dancing Plague of 1518 The Uffington White Horse Robin Hood's Identity; how did this legend arise King Arthur - reality, myth, or misnamed Wow! Signal Kaspar Hauser - who was he? Bronze Age collapse - several interesting theories here Rongorongo & the Indus Valley script I'm sure there are many more, but these may make for very interesting and thought-provoking studies. I can also see many potential writing prompts/stories with these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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