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A Little History Help Please


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It sounds like this is a moment where your philosophy (WTM) is meeting your real, actual child (project lover) and not working, yes? I think you need to decide what the ultimate goals are and what's more important. Honestly, I think WTM is too focused on the sort of repetitive practice with history during the logic stage (outline, outline, outline) when many kids need things to change up. There's no reason you can't do a healthy dose of outlining amid some more fun projects. Kids in this stage really aren't too old for the project books that people tend to use a lot in the grammar stage with the added bonus that they can really run the projects themselves.

 

Have you seen National History Day? That could be a good thing to do.

 

One of my ds is doing Prufrock Press's Exploring America (we're doing the 50's) and that's fun so far. There are other resources like that out there depending on what you want to study.

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I'm probably being dim here, but I think I need more specific details about what you need help with?? Do you just need ideas of projects to add to WTM recommendations? Are you looking for a chronological history program with hands-on already incorporated into it to substitute for WTM recommendations?? Or something else??

 

SWB is the first to say that TWTM is just a guide, not a strict "must follow" checklist, and to freely adapt to fit your family and your student. The key skills you slowly work on developing throughout the Logic stage, AS YOUR STUDENT IS READY, are writing and thinking. I would guess that the majority of 6th grade students are NOT ready to do so much weekly writing as is listed in the summary above.

 

And if you have a very hands-on learner, it would be counter-productive to force the student to use a text-based/writing-based system of learning. I really don't think that's what SWB is suggesting that anyone do. ;) She's just giving a very broad overview of topics to cover, and some general skills to work on *throughout* the Logic stage years. The classical education police will not come knocking at your door if you adjust the volume of writing output, and use materials not listed in TWTM that are a better fit for your student's learning style. ;)

 

That said, a quick overview of SWB's WTM method for History in 6th grade, from her Academic Excellence, Grades 5-8 Conference Handout:

 

"HISTORY

… focus on cause and effect, on chronology and relationships between countries
… [6th grade =] Medieval/Early Renaissance   400-1600 AD

 

Choose a base text:
- Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
- Dorling Kindersley History of the World
- National Geographic Almanac of World History
- History: The Definitive Visual Guide (Dorling Kindersley)
- Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (difficult availability)

 

1)  Read and summarize or outline a section from your history resource
2)  Mark all dates on the time line
3) Find the region under study on the globe, the wall map, and in the atlas
4) Do additional reading from the library, including primary sources when possible, depending on the child’s interest.
5) Summarize the information in one of these additional resources in a 2-4 paragraph composition...

 

...[add] additional resources"

 

 

If you and your student are happy with one of the spines SWB suggests above, then, JMO, I would:

 

1. add lots of high-interest books of all types (historical fiction, non-fiction, etc.) from the library

2. and drastically reduce the amount of narrations to one a month -- take a week or two to write them, a little at a time. And then include those as part of a year-long lap-book project on the Middle Ages, so the writing becomes part of a hands-on project.

 

I would also be sure to plan for a weekly activity, and schedule one day a week to have a longer block of time for History for doing the activity.

 

select ideas from a unit study program:

Konos

 

books of ideas:

- Great Medieval Projects You Can Build Yourself (gr. 4-7) -- book of projects

- Middle Ages unit study (gr. 4-9)

- Days of Knights and Damsels activity guide (gr. K-6)

 

activity ideas:

- use a purchased kit

- use Sculpty clay to create an item from the time

- make an illuminated manuscript

- try calligraphy

- make a food from the time

- play a medieval game

- listen to music from the time

- make medieval costumes

- get together with other homeschoolers for a Medieval festival of foods and activities

- watch a feature film set in the time

- watch a documentary on the times

 

Ideas of kits:

Middle Ages Lapbook -- or Assembled Lapbook

Cut and Assemble Medieval Castle kit

Build a Medieval Castle kit

Catapults & Crossbows kit

Medieval Fashions coloring book

Medieval Alphabet to Illuminate

 

 

On the other hand, if the suggested spines in TWTM don't click for you and your student, then try one of the other great chronological history programs that would have a spine AND projects scheduled:

 

History Odyssey, Pandia Press (secular)

History at Our House (secular)

Heritage History Classical Curriculum (secular)

Biblioplan (Christian)

Mystery of History (Christian)

Tapestry of Grace (Christian)

Trisms (Christian)

 

 

I think as long as you cover major people and events of the historical time period, and do a little writing and thinking/make connections, you ARE covering the WTM goals for History. Selecting specific resources that are project-based in order to fit your student's learning style will also click with your specific need/goal. win-win! :)

 

BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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We are actually doing a project for NHD as a part of our African American history study this year.

 

I personally feel likes she needs more depth than reading and outlining but since she was in traditional school through the grammar stage, I feel like she missed most of the overview although they did SOTW 1 and 2.

 

It sounds like this is a moment where your philosophy (WTM) is meeting your real, actual child (project lover) and not working, yes? I think you need to decide what the ultimate goals are and what's more important. Honestly, I think WTM is too focused on the sort of repetitive practice with history during the logic stage (outline, outline, outline) when many kids need things to change up. There's no reason you can't do a healthy dose of outlining amid some more fun projects. Kids in this stage really aren't too old for the project books that people tend to use a lot in the grammar stage with the added bonus that they can really run the projects themselves.

 

Have you seen National History Day? That could be a good thing to do.

 

One of my ds is doing Prufrock Press's Exploring America (we're doing the 50's) and that's fun so far. There are other resources like that out there depending on what you want to study.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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We don't do the outlining constantly as in WTM, and I have always followed WTM history. We start the year off with outlining to refresh the skill, and do occasionally throughout the year to keep it fresh. On a weekly basis my middle schoolers read the KHE, add dates to timeline, and read from a variety of books in the time period: lit suggestions set in the time period, historical fiction, additional reference books, online sources, etc. We watch documentaries. And semi weekly write on what is being read about. 

 

And we do projects. In the middle school years  we were part of a co-op that generally was in the time period we were studying, so we did projects there. A lot of hands on and field trips would be around the time periods each year. Once a month we met for a couple of hours to learn about a topic within the time period and do a hands on project. (We still do this for high school, btw.) We attended plays that were relevant. 

 

Then for a couple of bigger projects a year, the kids were assigned a presentation at the group of some sort and had a night to show off whatever projects they were working on. So they sometimes had to research a character and give a report that they wrote in costume, plus there would be the display table where kids showed dioramas, posters, maps, etc. that they had made. 

 

Currently, we are in a middle ages year, and continuing as in the past. Mine are 8th and 10th grades. The 10th grader is using the rhetoric stage history/great books suggestions. The 8th grader is in the KHE and reading from the Classical House of Learning Lit. book list at a much slower pace than given. Aloud we are reading through a book called Uppity Women of Medieval Times. Last week the kids learned about heraldry at our monthly day at co-op and designed and painted their own coat of arms. The next day in their weekly co-op art class they worked on painting an illuminated letter and practiced calligraphy while in history time we discussed chps 3-4 of Story of the World vol. 2.  We do that with all grade levels, so we use the SOTW as the base, assuming the high schoolers are doing more reading and writing than that. My high schooler has just finished up the Ancients SWB History book so instead of writing on the middle ages, she chose to research Spartacus, and she wrote a two page paper on that revolt. She has since started the middle ages book and will do the next written assignment from it. My middle schooler read from her KHE last week, did dates on a timeline, and started a book of King Arthur legends. She wrote a summary of the first chapter. 

 

So projects, written and hands on, are a big part of our history.  But I have artsy kids and could never leave it out, or it wouldn't work for us.

Edited by 2_girls_mommy
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We don't do the outlining. I sometimes do narration on what we read, but we really do more of a discussion. We love projects here. However, this year, I tried to do some projects that incorporated writing for my 6th grader. Such as...design a period newspaper and write an article as if you were covering a famous battle. Or write a fictional letter from a soldier to his family.

 

I am also trying to do notebook pages periodically where they write a paragraph on a topic we just read. But I LOVE history, and outlining an encyclopedia sounds like a boring way to do it. I want them to feel the stories and understand the different perspectives and immerse themselves into it. We love hands on projects. But I do try to pare down to do the ones that provide insight and learning and not just busywork. Although, sometimes it's just fun to make a log cabin out of popsicle sticks.

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