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Has anyone designed a History of England study?


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My girls would like to study all things "Brittish" next year, they will be in 6th and 3rd (with the k'er along for the ride). Both the 6th and 3rd grader have the same reading level(3rd grader is ahead and 6th grader is just on grade level but not a strong reader), neither are great with comprehension, so I'm looking for books on the easier side for middle school.

 

Has anyone made a study to perhaps save me some work and give me some ideas??? Perhaps there is something already out there that my sleep-deprived brain is overlooking.

 

Through searching I found- 

The Story of Brittain

 

It looks like it would make a great spine for read aloud. I know Our Island Story is often recommended but I need to preview it because I am concerned about the bias (especially as a Catholic).

 

Horrible Histories has several books which I think both would like. 

 

I've been looking on Mater Amabilis' reading list for inspiration but need to really comb through it.

 

I'd like some movies /documentaries to go along with our study. I know both are especially interested in Kings and Queens. 

 

A few projects would be great but not a ton. 

 

A few biographies and some literature.

 

They aren't book lovers like their brother so I don't want it too lit heavy.

 

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I was just working on this today!!

I ordered the three "So You Really Want to Learn History" books which are geared for ages 11-13, I believe. I lined up the stories in Robert Lacey's Great Tales from English History 1 with SYRWTL History 1 (the only one That has arrived so far). You can order the textbooks from book depository and the stories from Amazon. It looks like it will be a really fun year-ish. I ambitiously hope to get through all three history books in one year, but they are meant to each take 1 year. I can email you the lineup if you want to pm me your email address.

 

ETA: The books are out of print, but I was able to order from Amazon.co.uk. I doubt many sellers would ship to the US, though. So that might not work, sorry!

Edited by ondreeuh
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This is a fun book - it has the traditional stories that children were told (Alfred burning the cakes, etc.) and then there's a sidebar about the documented historical background:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Stories-British-History-Britannia/dp/1444013904/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511807602&sr=1-2&keywords=britannia+mccaughrean

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Yeah, we've been doing it this year.

 

We read Our Island Story as a spine.  We've also read some shorter books, mostly from the library, things like Usborn titles.  We used a BBC documentary, The Seven Ages of Britain, and some others as well.

 

We did some family research as well, and focused a bit on the village my Nana grew up in.

 

For lit, we've read some kid-friendly versions of Beowulf and the Canterbury tales, we looked at Norse mythology when we studied the Danes, we read some British children's titles - The Secret Garden, some Rosemary Sutcliffe, etc.

 

For geography I did Europe more generally and then a fair bit of map work on the UK, looking at pictures, relating things we read to the map.

 

Biography - there is a lot available, so it is really difficult to suggest anything!  Dd read Boy, and watched My family and other animals.  We did Turner for our art study.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Bluegoat
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My girls would like to study all things "Brittish" next year, they will be in 6th and 3rd (with the k'er along for the ride). Both the 6th and 3rd grader have the same reading level(3rd grader is ahead and 6th grader is just on grade level but not a strong reader), neither are great with comprehension, so I'm looking for books on the easier side for middle school.

 

Has anyone made a study to perhaps save me some work and give me some ideas??? Perhaps there is something already out there that my sleep-deprived brain is overlooking.

 

Through searching I found- 

The Story of Brittain

 

It looks like it would make a great spine for read aloud. I know Our Island Story is often recommended but I need to preview it because I am concerned about the bias (especially as a Catholic).

 

Horrible Histories has several books which I think both would like. 

 

I've been looking on Mater Amabilis' reading list for inspiration but need to really comb through it.

 

I'd like some movies /documentaries to go along with our study. I know both are especially interested in Kings and Queens. 

 

A few projects would be great but not a ton. 

 

A few biographies and some literature.

 

They aren't book lovers like their brother so I don't want it too lit heavy.

 

So about bias in OIS.

 

I don't think this is something I'd worry about - there is no theological issue with her presentation of the history.  She's pretty straightforward about the factual issues, and generally quite fair-minded about people being treated poorly.

 

You might or might not guess that the author is not Catholic, but its quite clear that she thought the religious violence was bad.  And she makes a point at one point- over prayer books in the CofE I think - that a particular issue was important not so much because of the details, but because everyone ought to be able to worship as they choose.

 

One of the things I rather like about it is that it's quite matter of fact that people who were at one point invaders, are actually from the other end of history, part of what it means to be English.  The reader goes from seeing the same people first as villains, and then they become the heroes.

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I edited OIS as I used it.  Sometimes I pointed out bias so that we could discuss it, sometimes I skipped things.  It's not a book that I would give to a child to read, nor use it whole.  I searched on 'savages' on this copy as an example:

 

https://archive.org/stream/ourislandstoryhi00marsuoft#page/n3/mode/2up/search/savages

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I was just working on this today!!

 

I ordered the three "So You Really Want to Learn History" books which are geared for ages 11-13, I believe. I lined up the stories in Robert Lacey's Great Tales from English History 1 with SYRWTL History 1 (the only one That has arrived so far). You can order the textbooks from book depository and the stories from Amazon. It looks like it will be a really fun year-ish. I ambitiously hope to get through all three history books in one year, but they are meant to each take 1 year. I can email you the lineup if you want to pm me your email address.

 

ETA: The books are out of print, but I was able to order from Amazon.co.uk. I doubt many sellers would ship to the US, though. So that might not work, sorry!

I didn't think about Galore Park. Do you know where there are samples of SYRWTLH? I can't find any and want to see the reading level. My oldest would be the lower end of the age range and since she is not a strong reader I'm not sure if it would work for her(or my younger daughter). I do see samples for Jr. History, it is on the younger end, but with my older daughter getting frustrated easily and a younger daughter it might work better for my girls.  Great Tales looks great from what I can tell.

 

This is a fun book - it has the traditional stories that children were told (Alfred burning the cakes, etc.) and then there's a sidebar about the documented historical background:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Stories-British-History-Britannia/dp/1444013904/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511807602&sr=1-2&keywords=britannia+mccaughrean

 

I did see this book on a list, thank you for the recommendation.

Yeah, we've been doing it this year.

 

We read Our Island Story as a spine.  We've also read some shorter books, mostly from the library, things like Usborn titles.  We used a BBC documentary, The Seven Ages of Britain, and some others as well.

 

We did some family research as well, and focused a bit on the village my Nana grew up in.

 

For lit, we've read some kid-friendly versions of Beowulf and the Canterbury tales, we looked at Norse mythology when we studied the Danes, we read some British children's titles - The Secret Garden, some Rosemary Sutcliffe, etc.

 

For geography I did Europe more generally and then a fair bit of map work on the UK, looking at pictures, relating things we read to the map.

 

Biography - there is a lot available, so it is really difficult to suggest anything!  Dd read Boy, and watched My family and other animals.  We did Turner for our art study.

How old were yours when you went through it? I'm not sure what versions of Canterbury and Beowulf and Canterbury Tales for my girls. I'd have to ask my genealogy experts to see if we have any family from England, they'd love to share.

 

So about bias in OIS.

 

I don't think this is something I'd worry about - there is no theological issue with her presentation of the history.  She's pretty straightforward about the factual issues, and generally quite fair-minded about people being treated poorly.

 

You might or might not guess that the author is not Catholic, but its quite clear that she thought the religious violence was bad.  And she makes a point at one point- over prayer books in the CofE I think - that a particular issue was important not so much because of the details, but because everyone ought to be able to worship as they choose.

 

One of the things I rather like about it is that it's quite matter of fact that people who were at one point invaders, are actually from the other end of history, part of what it means to be English.  The reader goes from seeing the same people first as villains, and then they become the heroes.

Thank you for your perspective, I will review it and see if it will work for us.

I edited OIS as I used it.  Sometimes I pointed out bias so that we could discuss it, sometimes I skipped things.  It's not a book that I would give to a child to read, nor use it whole.  I searched on 'savages' on this copy as an example:

 

https://archive.org/stream/ourislandstoryhi00marsuoft#page/n3/mode/2up/search/savages

 

Ya, there is no way I'd just hand it to either one and things like that would really bother me. If anything I might do it as a read aloud.

My kids were older but we really enjoyed Great Tales from English History.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Thanks for the rec, I'll check it out.

Edited by soror
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There are Galore Park sample pages on the website:

 

https://www.galorepark.co.uk/Product?Product=9781471808845

 

The McCaughrean Canterbury Tales is one option.  Preview to make sure you are happy with it:

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/760288.The_Canterbury_Tales

 

And Michael Morpurgo might work for Beowulf (I haven't read this version):

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/838989.Beowulf?from_search=true

 

Or Sutcliff:

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/903004.Beowulf?from_search=true

Edited by Laura Corin
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Something else to consider is what country(s) you actually want to cover.  England?  England and Wales (united fairly early)?  England, Wales and Scotland - bloody wars of conquest then united by inheritance in early 17C followed by a treaty a hundred years later?  Ireland - a long a bloody war of conquest and a split in the last century?  Different books may cover different areas, so it's good to check.

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Something else to consider is what country(s) you actually want to cover.  England?  England and Wales (united fairly early)?  England, Wales and Scotland - bloody wars of conquest then united by inheritance in early 17C followed by a treaty a hundred years later?  Ireland - a long a bloody war of conquest and a split in the last century?  Different books may cover different areas, so it's good to check.

I don't know that they know enough to care, I need to do more research myself because my own knowledge is very limited, this is not something I've really studied either.

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When DD was about 3rd grade-ish, we used OIS (edited a bit while reading), Britannia: 100 Great Stories from British History, several lit books - Peter Pan, A Child's Garden of Verses, The Moorchild, The Children of Green Knowe, Little House in the Highlands (about Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother), Robin Hood (plus the movie, of course!), Stories from Shakespeare, Questing Knights of the Faerie Queen, The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. DD also watched the British Isles episode of Little Travelers and a lot of Horrible Histories (on YouTube), plus The Secret of Kells (does have one scene that might be scary for your youngest). They also have Song of the Sea now, about the selkie myths. She ended up deciding to be Boudicca for Halloween that year.  :001_smile:

 

She also took Irish dance around that time, too, but that wasn't planned as part of "school". 

 

For an older child, I'd add the Galore Park books, Canterbury Tales, The Sword in the Stone, Kidnapped (preferably an audio book for the accent), and some others I'm forgetting.  :laugh:  

 

Edited by Aurelia
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I really like The Story of Britain. It was one of the books I reviewed for At the Helm. I ended up using it with my Dd last yr when she was in 5th. We enjoyed it.

Thanks a million for your rec, that means a lot, sounds like the grade level will be spot on too.

 

When DD was about 3rd grade-ish, we used OIS (edited a bit while reading), Britannia: 100 Great Stories from British History, several lit books - Peter Pan, A Child's Garden of Verses, The Moorchild, The Children of Green Knowe, Little House in the Highlands (about Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother), Robin Hood (plus the movie, of course!), Stories from Shakespeare, Questing Knights of the Faerie Queen, The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. DD also watched the British Isles episode of Little Travelers and a lot of Horrible Histories (on YouTube), plus The Secret of Kells (does have one scene that might be scary for your youngest). They also have Song of the Sea now, about the selkie myths. She ended up deciding to be Boudicca for Halloween that year.  :001_smile:

 

She also took Irish dance around that time, too, but that wasn't planned as part of "school". 

 

For an older child, I'd add the Galore Park books, Canterbury Tales, The Sword in the Stone, Kidnapped (preferably an audio book for the accent), and some others I'm forgetting.  :laugh:  

 

Those are great rec's, thanks so much. It's been ages since we've seen Secret of Kells and we've not watched Song of the Sea. My girls were little when I did Narnia so we've got to get that in. I do have lovely picture book versions of the Faerie Queen and Sir Gawain that will be perfect. I've not heard of some of then but we'll have to check them out. Thanks again!!

Look at the AmblesideOnline curriculum for year 7. It is heavy on early English history

 

Thank you, I'd looked at AO some but hadn't looked at that year.

I used The Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland as a spine one year. We really enjoyed it. :)

Thanks I'll check it out.

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I feel like I got a really good start on their study thanks to you guys. I started an Amazon wishlist to keep track of everything. 

 

I'm all ears for any other recommendations you all have and I'll try to remember to share my booklists when I get it done (which could very well be months from now as long as early as it is).

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