I can see where you are coming from, but to understand many of the things that happened in our country, you have to understand the many other things that were going on in the US and world at the same time. I think that is where we get our 'Canadian history is boring' from. When we can show our children why something happened, as opposed to having it be just an isolated incident, I think it makes a difference, and cements it in their minds. To me connections are so important. It would be really hard for me to teach Canadian history if it wasn't intertwined with US and world history.

I agree..it would be great if the two were intertwined.

I might be hard to coordinate, but I would love to divide up some of the work. It would be great if we all had different strengths, and we could agree on some kind of rough outline.

I must be one too!:lol:

I would love to have another narrative option, so please write one!:001_smile: I love doing the research part, so that is why that appeals to me. Here is a link to one of the Critical Thinking books. http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/006329/620188242525b9a9e387c9c0

I will be writing a guide something like what you have described for my DC, starting in the new year. I am going to focus on the logic stage, but I want to also include my younger ones. I have already been collecting books, but the real work will start after Christmas so that I am ready by next fall. I will be writing something that we can basically use along with year 3 and 4 of our world history cycle, so the key will be balancing the work load/reading load of world history and Canadian history. I will not be writing a text like SOTW, because with 5 children I do not think that I could do it justice. I will be going through all of the narrative texts that I can find, to find the best fit for our family(so if you want to write one, that would be awesome), then I will be adding primary sources, biographies and literature. I will have discussion questions, essay and short answer questions, as well as outlining and re-writing from outlines from a variety of sources built-in. I would also like to add a Canadian supplement something like the Critical Thinking books for US history. I am the kind of person that tweaks every single history curriculum that I have ever used, and honestly I still haven't found anything that I totally love.

I have sent a message! I still can't make up my mind as to what I am doing this fall.:tongue_smilie:

:001_smile: I have nothing to add, except we just watched the Waltons episode that was about the Harvard Classics and the Five Foot Shelf.

This is what we do. In the summer we basically do skill subjects like math, spelling, phonics, grammar, handwriting, and reading, because these are subjects that would normally need a 5 day week. We do them so that we are 'ahead', and are able to do a 4 day week during the school year. We generally do content subjects during the regular school year, although my DD11 has already started Apologia General Science, so that science will be a little lighter during the regular year. We still take breaks during the year. We finished up last year during the first week in June, took three weeks totally off, then started again in July and did two weeks, after which we took two weeks for holidays. We are are in the middle of doing a four week run in August, then we will take a week off, have three weeks of school in September, followed by one final week of holidays, before we get going on the rest of the school year. I will also plan for three weeks off at Christmas and probably two more weeks scattered through the spring.

Nevermind...I found the thread I was looking for and now I know why I had scrapped the idea before.

I know that I had read a post by someone here in the past who had their DS/DD add the literature that they had read to an on going list of themes. If my memory serves me correctly, they were doing this to prepare for essay questions on the SAT. I wish I could find that post, and I would be ecstatic if someone knows which one I am talking about and could point me in that direction. I would like to start a simplified version of this with my DD11(7th grader), to help her think about things on a deeper level. I would love any comments on this, and if you have worked with themes, which ones would you work with at this level. Are there any good reference books that I need to take a look at? Or is this a crazy idea, and not grade appropriate?

I have been perusing the internet for Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation primary sources and I came across this site - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.asp and this site - http://lib.colostate.edu/research/history/medievalhist.html?vm=r. They look like a good place to look for primary sources online.

I am looking for primary sources to use this year. Has anyone used this book from Greenleaf?

Thank you for the link, Amy...I have just spent some time on that website and there are some really great ideas.

HappyGrace...How do we find the confidence to do what I have bolded at the beginning of your post? I am talking about those of us who are at the beginning of the logic stage with our first child. I love your ideas about how to go about planning, but I lack the confidence at this point to pull it off. I know that by the time my next ones come up to the logic stage, I will have gained that confidence, but right now I second guess myself constantly. Your example about comparing the prince and the body to the Church and Christ as the head is fabulous, but I would 'feel' like I was floundering if I tried to discuss this with my DD11. We are doing Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, too, and I am about to start my planning as well. I have also come to the conclusion that as much as my DC love the historical fiction we have done, maybe it needs to be cut back, so we can focus on the history itself. Just considering the amount of planning this is going to take is making my head hurt!:tongue_smilie:It also makes me procrastinate. HappyGrace...do you have your plans for next year posted anywhere? I would love to see what else you are planning on doing.

HappyGrace, I am glad that I am not the only one that feels that time and energy are huge obstacles we have to try to figure out how to overcome.

Wow, 8, I still am amazed at all that you accomplish, especially with the added excitement of a very 'new' granddaughter. I am a morning person, but I do not think that I could get moving by 5am, although my husband gets up by 4:30am to get ready for work. I do have a couple of kids that like to get up early, and usually have all of the work that they can do themselves finished before breakfast. Maybe I need to capitalize on this by getting up earlier and doing my one on one time with them then, as opposed to later...hmmm, I will have to consider that. A couple of questions...do you do your prelection planning before the school year begins, monthly, weekly, or daily? And if you have time, could you elaborate on this statement - 'fewer topics and more discussion vs. covering a lot of material focused on the surface'. I guess what it boils down to for me is giving my children the best education I can, working with my limitations, while protecting my sanity. I have met a lot of homeschooling parents who seem to 'check out' when their children hit high school, because they are 'burnt out'. In my experience, they either put their children into public/private school, or turn their entire education over to online teachers or tutors. (I am not talking about a class here and there, as I can see that it might be beneficial to have a few online/outside classes.) Although I fully realize that some people have those plans all along, I have a real desire and calling to educate my children right through high school. I am just trying to figure out how to go about it.

I have been pondering this. My problem is time and energy. I don't know how you can do this, 8FillTheHeart, with all of your children. My DD is hitting 7th this year and my oldest son is in 5th. I also have twins going into 4th and a DS going into 1st. How do I spend the time needed with my DD, who is half-way through the logic stage(but barely doing logic stage work), and my DS who is just starting the logic stage. My DS who is going into 1st needs a lot of attention from me to make sure his reading and math skills really take off this year. I also have to add in the twins somewhere. Please help me understand how to go about helping my logic stage children make these connections in the most efficient way, as far as my time goes.

Hi Helen...welcome to the site! There is a lot of knowledge on these boards. I am fairly new to classical education, although I have been homeschooling from the beginning, so I probably can't help a whole lot, because I am figuring this path out myself. It might help to post where your rising 7th grader is as far as reading ability and comprehension.

:iagree:

I started my DS with R&S3 when he was in fourth grade. I think that is the perfect time. I started my DD with R&S5 when she was in 6th grade, and we had to go back to R&S4 a quarter of the way through the year - R&S5 went a little too quickly for her, since she hadn't had any formal grammar. I am going to stick with starting in 4th grade for my other children. My twins are in 4th this year, and they are trying GWG3, my oldest DS will be in 5th, doing GWG4, as I needed something a little more independent for them with my workload.

We do a four day week, leaving the fifth day free for house cleaning, appointments, field trips or doctor appointments, we do not do any school work on this day. We make up for this by doing school in the summer(6 - four day weeks) to get a head start on the things that would normally need a five day school week, like math, spelling and grammar. My children are happy to do these things in the summer, because they know that they are doing them in order to have 4 day school weeks during the year. When I first started homeschooling(7ish years ago), I tried to do 5 day weeks, but I found that after I had spent lots of time planning out our yearly/weekly schedules, things would always come up, we would get behind and I would feel so guilty. Sometimes I would fall into the trap of 'oh, well, we are behind anyway, what's a few more days'. We would spend the summer trying to finish things up. There is a huge mental difference between trying to finish up things because you are behind, and working ahead, which is what we do now.

:iagree: 100%!

Thank you!

Exactly!