Am I doomed?

[ciskegal]

I have not been very good on the history/geography front. I am scared that my (going into) 7th grader may be VERY far behind. 

I have a soon to be 7th grader, 6th grader, 2nd grader, and 1st grader. 

 

If I do Story of the World (it just seems SO SO cool!!!) can I do it from the beginning and involve all 4 grades and my 7th grader still have a good history/geography education? 

 

*I've tried so many history curriculums and still feel there is so much for him to learn... and... and... 5 years go by SO fast... EEEK!!! Help! :)

 

[Kiara.I]

Story of the World is an excellent overview of history, and will work well for the youngers.  And yes, it's super cool.  ;)  For your 7th and 6th, well, there are a few possible ways to look at this.

 

Option 1:

Most public schools don't manage much world history anyway, so you're not "behind" in that sense anyway, so whatever you do for history is a leg up.

 

Option 2:

Yes, SOTW is just fine for the 5-8 grade.

 

Option 3:

No, SOTW is written for younger than 5-8 grade so by all means they can listen in with their younger siblings, but they will need to be doing supplemental work to make it more appropriate for their age.

 

Option 4:

Have them read through SOTW quickly at their own speeds as an overview, and then do something else for them.

 

If you start SOTW with Ancients, and do one per year, that leaves the 7th with Ancients and Medieval, but he'd be high school age by the time Early Modern and Modern come around.  Would you be intending to do all 4 years with him of SOTW?  I really don't think SOTW 3 and 4 would be considered high school level work without heavy supplementation and, say, requiring essays.

[Rosie_0801]

You are not doomed, but you will want to supplement SOTW for your 7th grader.

[bnwhitaker]

You are not doomed, but you will want to supplement SOTW for your 7th grader.

 

Can you give some examples of supplements please :)

[SoCal_Bear]

You can add in the Usborne or Kingfisher encyclopedia and add in the additional literature and history books that are suggested in the activity guide. It's all in the Activity Guides that go along with the readings. You can have the olders do outlining from the encyclopedia. The selected pages are listed to go along with each chapter in SOTW. You could also decide to double-time your olders through as well.

[LindaOz]

My 7th grader likes SOTW. He still learns from it...which is kind of the goal ;) . He reads more advanced associated literature than younger children doing SOTW would, which gives it a lift. You could also put your 7th grader in charge of doing activities for the lesson with the younger kids and he could outline from a history encyclopedia after doing the SOTW lesson.

Edited June 27, 2017 by LindaOz

[sweetpea3829]

I would say SoTW for your 7th grader would be fine for the next two years.  Then, when you hit high school and begin studying Early Modern and Modern, switch to something more appropriate.  

[HomeAgain]

I think you could do it.  Your oldest child's work might look something like this in our house each week:

Story of the World lesson
Compatible lesson (when applicable) from Reading Like A Historian
Historical reader

Outline practice with SOTW, library book, or Kingfisher, with the goal to group the outlines as you go through SOTW and create a paper on each of the major civilizations studied. This works well if you are doing WWS at the same time.  You can combine history and writing class.

 

[JudoMom]

I would do the history portions of Sonlight G & H. They include the SoTW books. My boys loved these years.

[ciskegal]

When you say "Usborne Encyclopedia" do you mean "Usborne Encyclopedia of World History"??
And holy bat money!!! This entire idea of using SOTW and Usborne Encyclopedia costs almost as much as my entire homeschool budget last year!!! haha (almost)

[Farrar]

But... you can find an Usborne Encyclopedia for maybe $40 easily, SOTW1 is currently less than $9 on Amazon, and the AG is only $22. Even on Well-Trained Mind Press, you could get the full package for $46.15 at the moment and that includes the tests and audio files, which aren't absolute necessities for many people. That's under $100. Are you saying your entire homeschool budget for last year was only around $100?

 

I hate to say this, but if you're going to cover middle and - it's coming soon - high school, then you're going to have to get very creative or spend a great deal more and that's just something you should keep in mind going forward.

 

I agree with the above about how SOTW feels young when dealing with middle schoolers. There's a ton of information in there - many things middle schoolers won't know. But the tone of the books - especially the first book - is just younger. Middle schoolers are ready to think deeply and sink their teeth into harder questions and SOTW is set up very much like a storybook - this happened, then that, then this, imagine this, then this person did that. There's not that much of the "why do you think that happened" and "was that right or wrong" or "what was the overall theme of this or that" - those are the things middle schoolers are ready for and need. Supplements might look like individual books - the SOTW AG suggests some. Or it might look like outlining (though, honestly, that satisfies the need to be practicing writing and organizing skills at this age, but NOT the deeper thinking stuff, so for me personally, that would be insufficient).

 

There are other programs. One thing I've heard of people doing when they start with older kids is to get all of SOTW on audiobook and just listen to the whole thing all the way through in one big swoop. Then, from there, you can dive into something that's more age appropriate or choose specific topics to focus on.

[2_girls_mommy]

When you say "Usborne Encyclopedia" do you mean "Usborne Encyclopedia of World History"??

And holy bat money!!! This entire idea of using SOTW and Usborne Encyclopedia costs almost as much as my entire homeschool budget last year!!! haha (almost)

Did you try Amazon for used copies? 

 

And as to what supplements, have you read the Well Trained Mind Logic stage history section? It lays it out very easily as to what to do for middle school history. 

 

My first 7th grader did still listen into SOTW readings as she had a younger sister too. She did projects when we did them, and listened to read alouds from the AG with her sis. But she also did the middle school level work as laid out in WTM while little sis did narrations and mapwork from the SOTW AG. 

 

She read from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, put dates on her blank timeline, did mapwork in a map coloring book, outlined a section from the KHE, did additional reading from library books, and wrote a summary about once a month on a topic of her choice from the reading. 

 

This didn't all get done every week. Some weeks were just reading, dates on timeline, and work together on projects. Some busy busy weeks were just reading and dates. But throughout the year we kept up outlining and summaries and mapwork whenever possible. 

 

We always invest in all of the new history materials but in the logic stage, you are buying for several years worth with the map coloring book and history encyclopedia. They will get used throughout. (and honestly, my high schooler is still working in her same geography coloring book that she used from 5th grade on.) 

[2_girls_mommy]

One place to look is the blog, Classical House of Learning Literature. If you look at the logic stage lesson plans which you can download and print, there is a schedule written to go along with SOTW1 and 2. I think there is one for 3, but I can't remember. I know there isn't one for 4. But they lay out a reading plan for literature and encyclopedia readings and SOTW readings, all tied together. 

 

We don't follow it perfectly, but I do use the book lists and the free download workbook pages for reading for my middle schoolers to go along with history. It was created to be the full lit and history program together. 

[coastalfam]

Sonlight uses SOTW in the G and H history programs, which are right on target for a 7th grader. If you did the Sonlight program, you could leave out all the other books, etc for your younger kiddos, and just include the activity book and supporting story books from the library for them. Also, Wayfarers by Barefoot Ragamuffin Curricula, uses SOTW for the grammar stage, which is coordinated with other curriculum to enrich students in the dialectic and rhetoric stages. Your 7th grader could still enjoy SOTW with the younger kids (and it really is so enjoyable, in my opinion), and the activity books mapping activities would be spot on for your 7th grader to bolster geography knowledge, in addition to what Wayfarers schedules. So there are a couple of ideas to get you set up to use SOTW for your 7th grader. It really is a great way to enjoy history. Maybe a little too lean all on it's own (I don't know for certain), but with the additional resources provided by Sonlight or suggested by Wayfarers (or you could just take note of them and schedule them yourself), I think you might end up with something rich and enjoyable. Another idea is to read "The Well Trained Mind" for suggested resources for the age/stage of a 7th grader that would coincide with each time period. I don't think you are doomed at all! I think you are in for an enjoyable year with SOTW. :)

[Noreen Claire]

One place to look is the blog, Classical House of Learning Literature. If you look at the logic stage lesson plans which you can download and print, there is a schedule written to go along with SOTW1 and 2. I think there is one for 3, but I can't remember. I know there isn't one for 4. But they lay out a reading plan for literature and encyclopedia readings and SOTW readings, all tied together.

 

We don't follow it perfectly, but I do use the book lists and the free download workbook pages for reading for my middle schoolers to go along with history. It was created to be the full lit and history program together.

I'll second CHOLL. I'm using it for my rising 3rd grader, but I have all of the files for all of the years saved for future use. It is exactly what I wanted in a history/lit curriculum.

[blondeviolin]

WTMA does SOTW for the middle grades, but it's supplemented. Extra reading with Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, quizzes, summary assignments, a timeline, outlining, and primary source evaluations. Basically it is everything mentioned in WTM with SOTW as a springboard.

[jgrabuskie]

Pandia Press offers level 2 history that corresponds with SOTW, you could purchase the same time frame for your 7th grader, say Ancients that you are doing for your youngers. This will give your 7th grader the workload he needs but he will be on the same topics as the youngers.

 

Go to the Pandia Press website they have a lovely try before you buy sample that goes through the first 18 lessons I think.

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by jgrabuskie