1600-1800 History options for 7th and 4th

[HollyDay]

Please bear with me a little longer. I thought I had history all sewn up but now I am finding that is not the case. There isnt a curriculum fare near us this summer so I cant get a good look at the various programs.

 

TOG is too expensive and frankly I dont understand that program. It must be a learning style issue (mine).

 

Sonlight Core 7 looks overwhelming??

 

MFW looks like it is mainly focused on US history only??

 

I want a spine but also living literature.

 

I want some mapwork or a seperate quide to accomplish this.

 

I want US and significant World History.

 

I dont want a writing program included.

 

I dont want something overwhelming with tons of books required to read for each period.

 

I dont want SOTW by itself.

 

I want something that will engage and challenge my 7th grader but something I can adapt for my 4th grader (or the other way around).

 

I want a biblical world view or something I can modify and add to that end as I have done with SOTW vol 2 this year.

 

I have used and enjoyed MOH vol 1 but didnt like MOH vol 2. We currently use SOTW vol 2 plus additional recommended resources. I do not like the fact there are no dates for ease of timelining (is that a proper word). I do not like the tone of the reading - oldest feels it is talking down to her. But, it would be a wonderful addition to another program

[Sue G in PA]

W/out having used it myself (yet!) I can't say how heavy on the US or World it is, but I do know it is advertised as World and US combined or at least as US in light of World. Something like that. You could ask on the MFW board exactly WHAT is covered. It was everything else you want. It uses SOTW 3 but also adds in the crucial Biblical component that you want. I can do some asking around for you re: the US vs. World aspect.

 

Sue

[Hoggirl]

Biblioplan. It is no-frills, but this is what is appealing to me about it. It may not meet ALL of your needs perfectly, but it came closest for me. I would say that based on your desires, it would come up a tad short in the mapwork portion and in the guide portion. However, they do schedule in the Greenleaf

Guides for some levels. Looks like, however, you are a year ahead of me in the cycle, so I am not sure if those would apply for your time period. I haven't seen their year three, so I cannot speak specifically to it. Basically, it is a weekly schedule for you to follow for history with readers. For a spine, it schedules in Kingfisher for olders and SOTW for youngers a la WTM, but sometimes offers other history books as well. I believe that their years 3 and 4 incorporate Hakim's History of US, but I am fairly sure that it is not just American history in their years 3 and 4. There are literature resources used, but not nearly as many as SL or TOG. There are readers listed for three different age levels as well as a read-aloud for the whole family. Depending on the length of the books these may be spread out over 1 - 3 week, so the pacing appears more reasonable to me than some of the other literature-based programs. My son likes to read other types of books besides historical fiction! And, it looks like there is more time scheduled for their readers than other programs have. But, there is not going to be a "guide" per se in Biblioplan with discussion questions. However, especially for read-alouds, I don't find this necessary as we discuss as we go. Oh! Also, I believe that Biblioplan has an additional e-book for 7th-8th graders for their year 3. You sound like me in that you want "enough" but not "too much." I wish there was some testing or review (I like that part about MOH very much), but there isn't. One thing you could do it look on the Carson Dellosa (sp??) website for workbooks for the time period you are covering. These are very too-the-point, but I like using them occasionally to kind of tie everything together in a concise way. Biblioplan is scheduled for three days per week. My plan for next year is to do Biblioplan three days a week as scheduled and then do one day of "church" history. I plan to use the History Lives series for the time period with us just reading a couple of chapters a week. I also plan on that day to incorporate "Diana Waring's That's Why They Call It Grace" audio CDs. There certainly is coverage of church history in the Biblioplan history plans, so this wouldn't be necessary. I just want to use DWs audios and this gives me a tidy way to do that - 3 days "regular" history, and 1 day of "church" history. It will be easy to match the times up chronologically. We will then have Friday for "cushion," tying up loose ends, or projects. Now, given this epistle, please note that I have NOT yet implemented this grand plan of mine, so I make no warranties as to its success!!! :D:D:D But, after much searching and worrying, I think this is the best balance for us. And, it is only $29.95! I must say, I do like the incorporation of the Greenleaf Guides, in years 1 & 2, and I do not know if there is something equivalent in their years 3 and 4. You can poke around on their website and see sample schedules and sample resource lists.

I hope you find what you are seeking. History seems to be THE hardest curriculum for me to choose anymore.

[Michelle My Bell]

I just wanted to add the MFW bible in explorers-1850 is basically this...

 

Memorize the whole book of James

Go through "Boy have I got problems" every couple of weeks you do a few pages.

Occasional reading from "In God We Trust" or "Trial and Triumph"

 

Most weeks you are just memorizing James with a chapter out of one the books.

 

Michelle

 

PS Yes there is world history woven in there also, They basically use SOTW & George Washingtons World as their main history books.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

We are taking it nice and slow and it is going very well. You could mix in Sonlight of the Sonlight 3 and 4 book sfor your younger child.

 

Biblioplan would also work. It has boos for different levels.

[Sue G in PA]

Diana Waring's material might work for you. Now, she doesn't include US History (touches on it, I think) so you would have to supplement. Joy Hakim's History of US would be a nice supplement. I'm not sure about MOH 3...whether it includes US or not. I agree that there isn't a "perfect" curriculum out there!

[Ali in OR]

I would also encourage you to look at Biblioplan. We are planning to do year 3 next year, so I can't give any first hand experience yet (and our kids are younger). I do have it here in front of me and can tell you a little about it. It has 3 units, 17th century, 18th century, and 19th century. The first two spend the first half on American history and the second half on world history. The 19th century seems to have a heavier emphasis on American history. Kingfisher, SOTW, and History of US are primary resources. Regarding Bible, I just found this quote on the first page: "BiblioPlan represents one way to study history from a Christian perspective. In BiblioPlan for Families: Ancient History, Scripture and biblical history are featured. In BiblioPlan for Families: Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation, we included a study of church history. In this year's study of America and the World, we feature biographies of great Christians who served the Lord in a variety of contexts."

 

I think you could accomplish most of your goals with it and would encourage you to look at the sample table of contents and sample weeks at the Biblioplan site. And while it does schedule a lot of different resources and readers, you do not need to use everything and you can use your library to avoid having to purchase too many books (though I do like to buy many of them!).

 

http://www.biblioplan.net/

[Donna A.]

Holly, your other post that I just responded to sounds like you've decided on MFW. But to answer this post, have you looked at the scope & sequence for topics studied in Expl-1850? It shows how, when and where both US and world history are woven into the program, along with Bible and science (I know you said you don't want the science, but just mentioning in case you didn't see). If you go to the following page I've linked and scroll down to the link in the middle of the page for the pdf sample lesson, pages 3-5 of that document show the scope & sequence.

 

http://www.mfwbooks.com/exploration.htm

 

You might also pull up the page for 1850-Modern so that you can see where you'll be headed the following year. This was helpful to me in deciding for MFW a couple years ago, by printing out ALL the sample lessons from every year and reading through them in sequence.