aprilsblessings
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Posts posted by aprilsblessings
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:bigear:
I can't wait to hear the replies to your question. I will have a 4th, 3rd, 1st, 4k, and 3 yr old this coming year. When I just looked at time to teach math alone my head started spinning! Then I realized all the other subjects I wanted to cover...I need about three of me...well four would be nice then one can cook and clean
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:bigear:
Also, have been looking at biblioplan and would love to hear more experiences.
ByGrace3 How were the crafts? It seems like when I look at the samples they are a bit involved not necessarily with things I would have around. Maybe that is just the impression that I got.
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I'm looking at using Considering God's Creation with Galloping the Globe this coming year. I will be using it with a 3rd, 2nd, and kindergartner (and 3 1/2 yr old &1 1/2 yr old). I like that the student sheets are a pdf download so I will be able to print numerous copies for each of the kids.
Simply Charlotte Mason - 106 Days of Creation
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Five in a Row adding phonics and math on their levels.
It doesn't have all the subjects you listed but we really liked using Adventures in American History from Elemental History.
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If there is an interest in it, I could combine the additional readings, etc. into one complete guide for this book. This would include booklists, a reading schedule and additional activity suggestions.
I would definitely be interested! You have done a ton of work - thank you for sharing!!
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I didn't add any activities, mostly because I'm not an activity type of person. I have Biblical events, but those could easily be left out if desired. Some people/inventions were included specifically because of the interests of my family, so feel free to substitute other composers or artists of the same style if your family likes another better. Some of these lead to fun rabbit trails (for example the Phoenician Alphabet can lead to learning about writing in general in history, where our alphabet came from, etc).
Whirlwind 1-Year Timeline of World History
1. Creation
2. Flood
3. Discovery of silk in China
4. Pyramid of Giza built
5. God's covenant with Abraham
6. Phoenician Alphabet
7. Moses and the Exodus
8. David begins his reign as king of Israel
9. Nebuchadnezzar builds the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
10. Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon/freed the Jews from captivity
11. Pythagoras knew the earth is round (this was hard to find books on. I read the small excerpt from The Story of Science for this)
12. The month of August was named after Augustus Caesar
13. Jesus
14. Invention of paper in China
15. Justin Martyr as an early Church father
16. Constantine adopted Christianity
17. Mayan number system
18. Zero as a number (and not just a place holder) in India. (This was hard to find books for.)
19. Leif the Lucky briefly spends time in North America
20. Pick your favorite knight. Or get a book on knights and let your kid pick one.
21. John Wycliffe/First English translation of Bible
22. Johannes Gutenberg/First movable type printing press
23. Columbus tries to find a route to Asia and instead introduces "new" land to Europe
24. Leonard Da Vinci (focusing on the Mona Lisa)/any Renaissance artist
25. Galileo Galilei develops a Heliocentric model of the solar system
26. Squanto helps the Pilgrims/First Thanksgiving
27. George Handel (we read about him and listened to Handel's Messiah)/any Baroque composer
28. George Washington/First President of US
29. Richard Trevithick develops the steam locomotive (my son likes trains, so we used this on our timeline, but read about trains through history)
30. Abraham Lincoln/Civil war
31. Monet (focusing on "Sunrise")/any Impressionism artist
32. Tchaikovsky composes the music to "Swan Lake" (their favorite ballet)/any Romantic music composer
33. L Frank Baum writes The Wizard of Oz (family favorite, sub your family's favorite book)
34. Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
35. Salvador DalÃ/surrealism painting
36. Neil Armstrong/Moon landing
Thank you for sharing!
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Great Empires by Homeschool in the Woods
Oooooh, this might work! Lots of flexibility, some direction, the printouts that I would like to have for multiple kids without it costing crazy amounts, recipes, and projects. Thank you! For $18.95 what an awesome resource.
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Tapestry of Grace is coming out with Primer - A one year overview of History for about K-1st.
I will look into this, thanks!
Do you happen to have a link? Or is it not out yet?? (never mind found where they were talking about it)The grades are 3rd, 2nd, and K.
I have All Through the Ages to use as a resource just trying to see if I can use someone else's plan to keep me accountable. :rolleyes:
I was considering following the HOD Preparing guide but there is a lot I don't want to do and not sure it is worth the $ if I am only using it for some readings and activities.
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It's not a curriculum, but this year I've been doing a sweeping overview of world history for my 1st grader. We are reading about one event/person each week and adding them to our timeline. I tried to focus on inventions and people and not as much on wars, although we did talk about the Revolutionary War when covering George Washington and the Civil War when covering Abraham Lincoln. I made a list of what I wanted to cover before the year began and now I just find books from the library to read. I've enjoyed it, my son looks forward to it, and by putting the list of topics to cover together myself, I was able to make sure we covered things that interest my kids (like Tchaikovsky composing the music for Swan Lake, the invention of the steam engine, etc).
Would you want to share your list?? Did you add in activities at all?
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I'm currently working on putting one together for my 1st grader this year using picture books from the library and Ergermier's Bible Story Book. I'm making or finding notebooking/lapbooking pages to go with it.
Her older sister is doing Preparing Hearts for His Glory this year from Heart of Dakota so I wanted little sister to follow HOD's timeline, but using picture books. Dd6 doesn't listen in to the history readings or any of the Heart of Dakota stuff; it will strictly be her own program just the same time periods. I should be posting what we've done each month on my blog if you're interested.
I will bookmark your blog! Thanks!!
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This is an old thread but...
Have any other curriculums come out that cover an overview of world history for the elementary crowd? :bigear:
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I'm glad you were able to make a decision. Just some random thought to add.
I just wanted to encourage you that if you find yourself questioning that decision - not that I do that at all ;) - go through and read the Beyond activities and how much you are reading a day. I personally want to read more. You can add in from the MFW book basket or any books because you have more of a theme for the week in MFW. Every time I read back through the HOD manual I realize I can not see us doing the activities but MFW Adventure's activities seem more like a project to me which is what I am looking for.
I also would rather read The Story of the Pilgrims through the month of November instead of the 13 weeks it is scheduled. ;)
I too am one drawn to HOD on paper but do not like it in reality for our family. I haven't really figured out our plan... hopefully as time goes on everything will fall into place.
Enjoy the journey!!
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I have a couple that I made for my kids. You can check them out here:
http://www.momentswithapril.com/2012/01/abc-handwriting-book.html
This one she is probably past.
http://www.momentswithapril.com/2012/01/heart-of-dakota-little-hearts-for-his.html
These are KJV bible verses that are broken into parts over the week so she wouldn't be writing too much in one day.
http://www.momentswithapril.com/2012/02/hod-beyond-little-hearts-for-his-glory.html
There are three files with more KJV bible verses with different levels of difficulty. Tracing the letters, copywork with three lines, and copywork with a single line to write on.
I'm still undecided what I am doing next year for my 1st/2nd graders but will share files that I make on my blog.
HTH!
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Thank you for the suggestions... anyone who has already BTDT?
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We are not ready to start a history cycle yet as we want to wait to touch on difficult topics with our kids. I would like to do more than just American History though. (We went through Elemental History - Adventures in America this year and really liked it.)
I like the idea of an overview. I know Sonlight has an overview for this age but I don't like all of their book choices. HOD has an overview but it is more for 3rd/4th+ grades.
I was thinking of doing an overview using picture books. I could add in a history kit, lapbooks, or other projects.
Has anyone done this already?
Have a book list?
Even if you haven't done this what are some of your favorite picture books for early elementary throughout time?
Some things I want to stay away from - mythology, gods, nudity, pretty much any topic that would be scary - my kids are pretty sensitive. I know they would love to learn about pyramids, castles, etc. (and so would I) :D.
I do have All Through the Ages to find books along with the companies booklists that are out there but would love personal recommendations. Also, any books to stay away from. Thanks!
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Well I can't help you with the job situation but in general I believe TN is a relatively cheap place to live. It seems like a growing number of people are moving in because of the cheap costs, especially retirees. But on the flip side I think income is generally less than other areas so it seems to come out in a wash. We are in southern middle TN and our property tax for 1.5 ac with a 3000 sq ft house is $800. The areas around Nashville are much more expensive. We do not have a state income tax and home schooling seems easy to me but I don't have anything to compare it to. I don't know about housing costs in the area you are looking at as it varies so much. I would suggest looking up a realtor in the area and ask lots of questions. HTH..a little. And in general we are pretty nice too:0)
Thank you this is very helpful. Everyone that we have talked to does seem very nice down there! :D
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Thank you all, this is helpful!
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I posted this in the general board but thought I would post it here as well...
For those who live in Tennessee (specifically the Crossville area) I had a few questions. Our family may be relocating from WI to TN if my husband decides to take a job in Crossville, TN. He is an Automotive Technician and there is a job available there.
Ok, I don't know that you all can answer this but if your husband is also an Automotive Technician in TN how are you all doing? Here in WI he is paid hourly and the job would change to flat rate pay (I may have just lost you, sorry) and we are trying to find out if there is enough business/hours that are calculated to support our family.
How is the housing market? We live in a high cost area for housing and property taxes right now. Ex. our house is 1400 sq feet with 1.8 acres for 170,000 and taxes are 3400.
How is homeschooling in the TN area? I have briefly looked at the HSLDA website but wondered about families who are living there and how they find the laws - easy? difficult? a little difficult?
How about other cost of living expenses? I don't want to get too personal but how much can a family of 7 expect to live on? We are hoping to increase our income while decreasing our expenses - wouldn't we all like to do that right! ;) We know with having 4 boys our food budget will be going up yearly besides other expenses going up just with cost of living expenses.
Any info you would like to share good and bad would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!
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For those who live in Tennessee (specifically the Crossville area) I had a few questions. Our family may be relocating from WI to TN if my husband decides to take a job in Crossville, TN. He is an Automotive Technician and there is a job available there.
Ok, I don't know that you all can answer this but if your husband is also an Automotive Technician in TN how are you all doing? Here in WI he is paid hourly and the job would change to flat rate pay (I may have just lost you, sorry) and we are trying to find out if there is enough business/hours that are calculated to support our family.
How is the housing market? We live in a high cost area for housing and property taxes right now. Ex. our house is 1400 sq feet with 1.8 acres for 170,000 and taxes are 3400.
How is homeschooling in the TN area? I have briefly looked at the HSLDA website but wondered about families who are living there and how they find the laws - easy? difficult? a little difficult?
How about other cost of living expenses? I don't want to get too personal but how much can a family of 7 expect to live on? We are hoping to increase our income while decreasing our expenses - wouldn't we all like to do that right! ;) We know with having 4 boys our food budget will be going up yearly besides other expenses going up just with cost of living expenses.
Any info you would like to share good and bad would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!
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:crying:
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I'm not sure which I would vote for but here are my thoughts...
I am in somewhat the same position. We used most of LHFHG last year for K (5/6 ds) and pre-K (5 dd). I focused mostly with my son but my daughter wanted to do everything with us so other then math they are at the same level with everything. This year I had planned to do Beyond but with teaching 1st grade, K, preschool, a toddler, and a new baby, the boxes started making me crazy! I loved the detailed plans in the boxes but in the end I can't concentrate long enough to teach all that's in the boxes with the background noise of the 1st grader, Ker, preschooler, toddler, and baby. :D Maybe that is just my 5 but if not, know you are not alone!! We have been working through Adventures In America (Elemental History), have read half of Pioneers and Patriots, reading books from the Beyond read aloud list, memorizing some of the bible verses, and reading some of the poems. Pretty much taking things from the guide that we want and using them how we want. We also are using CLE 1 for my first grader and will start with my K pretty soon.
I have been doing a lot of thinking/praying/soul searching research for next year. I don't think know my family is not going to be a good fit for HOD how they want you to use it. I haven't quite decided whether to use HOD or SCM yet but one idea I had was from another thread "using HOD in a Sonlight way". I have the Bigger manual here with the books and was thinking of putting together a grid format to see the reading schedule with the extension package. I would use it for both of my older kids for 1st and 2nd grade, just the parts I want again. Part of me thinks that using the HOD guide would be great to have the readings scheduled out but that would mean I have to be ok with NOT looking at all those other boxes and NOT doing all the activities. This could be a way to keep using the books you enjoy but just narrating them the CM way.
I really am drawn to SCM and it makes sense to me (at least for our family) the CM principles of living books and narration. Their handbooks are very simple and can have books added to them from HOD's booklist for that time period if you want to be able to use the same books. You could use module 5 I think with the books you currently have from HOD to finish out the year. The download of the ebook is only $10-11.
My opinion of HOD is it is hard to use in larger families if you want to combine and if your children don't perfectly fit into the skills. If you do want to use HOD you have to be able to use it how it will work for your family and if you can't (speaking to myself here) without making yourself crazy then just use their books and let the beautiful looking perfect plan go :lol: ..... just read books!
Hopefully some of that rambling is helpful. I think I was talking out my thoughts for next year too...I hope you didn't mind. :rolleyes:
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I have four sons, ages 8-16. I've homeschooled all the way.
I like Charlotte Mason's methods, WTM methods and materials, Sonlight, traditional math or Math Mammoth, and hands-on science.
Teaching in an all-boy one-room schoolhouse for all these years has taught me that it's not about the curriculum. It's about watching the boys and responding to how they are learning or not learning in any given moment, and adjusting or stopping before the fire goes out. I protect that bright, interested love of learning, no matter what.
I like math and language arts that I can use anytime and anywhere, and that we can choose to stand up, sit down, walk, talk, or swing while going through it. I use blackboards, white boards, sandboxes, pans full of rice, crayons, construction paper, markers, brown paper sacks--anything that the boy wants to write "on" or "with" is fine with me, at least in the early grades. (On the other hand, one of my boys went directly from the magna-doodle to lined paper with perfect cursive at age 7. Whatever works.) A boy can learn his recitations and he will diagram sentences at a very young age, but nobody's ever been able to convince me that he must sit at a desk and write between the lines to do that. By waiting until they were developmentally ready, I avoided those famous school struggles. All of my boys were able to sit at a desk and write nicely by the end of third grade, which in my opinion is soon enough. They could all do stand-up-straight recitations by then, too, and were proud to do it well.
For history, story-telling is king. SOTW is great, but for my boys Sonlight has been even better for preschool through fourth grade. I'm an animated reader so I can bring those wonderful stories to life. Thanks to Charlotte Mason's methods of copywork, dictation, and narration, the boys are able to respond to their reading in their own way instead of conforming to someone else's ideas on a tedious worksheet. Narration has been tremendously successful for my busy talkers. Written narrations came naturally to them, by third or fourth grade.
For science--they all love science but if I want them to learn something specific, I have to love it more. I can't be boringly glued to the book or teacher's manual, reading it calmly, and expect them to pick up the concepts that way. Science means "on your feet and make a mess," with rules, concepts, and even formulas written on the whiteboard in the kitchen. I have to "overlearn" what I expect them to get out of it, so they can have my undivided attention.
As they get older, the same is true for Latin, Religion, Literature, and History. I need to know it, so I can maintain that eye contact while they are learning. When I was in school, I appreciated a good teacher but I wanted to make my own connections with the books. A good teacher, to me, explained when I got stuck but otherwise left me alone! Of my four sons, only one is like that and he does fly the highest, academically. The other three could care less about the material. They want to connect with me, and if I'm interested, they will be interested.
A controversial thing I've always done and will always do: I keep my boys out of classroom environments until age 12 unless I know that it's a boy-friendly environment. (Which has happened maybe twice in all these years!) I don't want them told to sit there, be quiet, raise their hands, etc. or be put down or receive too much attention for being curious and talkative. I am very serious about this. I've regretted every time I gave in, including Sunday school settings, because it's my opinion that many female teachers treat homeschooled boys like some kind of a disease or a curiosity and make too much fuss over them if they act smart. Whether it's positive (in their intent) or negative attention, I don't want my boys feeling like freaks for knowing the answers or asking their questions. By age 12, we can talk about reining oneself in when in a classroom setting, and how to blend in if it's your desire to do so. This has worked for three out of three boys so far. When they do join classrooms, it's not Sunday school or co-op, it's Civil Air Patrol (which is very boy-friendly). And then they're ready to learn and participate in a class that includes adults by age 14.
Lastly, I've found that my boys need lots of physical activity between sit-down times, but they also need left-alone times to ponder things. I'm sure all children do; I know I did. But I mention it because it seems to me that in discussions about boys, people predict that they will either be asleep or bouncing around. They need quiet contemplative time to sort out their ideas. Climbing a tree and sitting there four an hour, sanding and sawing wood in the garage for projects that don't exist yet, going out on the front porch to play the same guitar tune over and over and over...I don't interrupt those moments. I know that's how they think.
LOVE this!!!
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Thank you all for the great lists of curriculum that your boys have liked/disliked. Now I have a great excuse for my curriculum addiction - I have to find out what will fit each of my children. :D
Maybe my children are different than the norm but if just my daughter is around I sometimes would think no one else is here (it is actually quiet for 5 minutes). My boys on the other hand don't necessarily have volume control... we are still working on that. :p So in our house boys vs girl (or girls if you want to include me) there is a difference but I did not mean that certain curriculum must be for boys and others must be for girls. :blush:
My first plan of action is of course to meet each of my children where they are at. As I can see the lists go both ways for some kiddos who love them and others who loathe them. I personally have really appreciated the help for a jumping off point for curriculum ideas for my boys (and my daughter) based on some of your families - so thank you!! :D
Favorite Wall Timeline
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Does anyone know of a timeline that spans creation to modern history that is already filled in for the wall? I’m ok if it takes up some space. I would just like a nice visual so as we read we can find whoever we might be reading about and see what was going on at that time.
Any products like that out there?
Thanks!