Skipping Modern period of history in grammar stage--anyone done this?

[purplemama]

I am contemplating skipping the modern period after we cover the early modern period next year. It has taken us three years to cover the ancients and the middle ages; we started late because my ds went to ps for k and 1st grade and I didn't find WTM until halfway through my first year homeschooling. So, he is about to start 4th grade and we have only covered half the history. I see a lot of modern history resources that say they are appropriate for use with 6th grade and above because of the content. My older two do history together and my dd will only be 3rd grade next year. I don't think anything bad will happen just because I skip this period and start back with the ancients and then complete the entire cycle twice...Just wondering if anyone else has done this?

 

Jennifer

[Brindee]

Well, we didn't know about or use WTM stuff when my oldest two were that age. We did a variety of things. I think it'd work out fine to go back, if that's what you feel would work out best for your family!

[Angel]

I skipped the modern period with my dd8 this year (2nd grade). She got through the Civil War. After reading Susan Wise Bauer's intro to SOTW Vol. 4, I chose to wait. The only modern history dd had was listening to "Number the Stars" with her sis. I have plenty of time to hit all those wars with her later.

[Kim in SouthGa]

We skipped it the first time around with my oldest and did Galloping the Globe that year. It was a blast! I can't wait to do it again with my younger ones. Now you've got me thinking that maybe I should do that instead of Bigger Hearts for His Glory with my 8ds...decisions, decisions!

[Oakblossoms]

You could stretch year 3 out to two years.

You could go through year 3/4 and just pick out what interests you or you think is "safe". Then focus on those chapters instead and use supplements from the library.

[King Alfred Academy]

We are skipping it in a way. I am going to water it down and not get into the nitty gritty. I have a very sensitive child and I don't want him really knowing about some of this stuff yet. This coming year (3rd and 1st grades) we will be covering the colonies, the Revolutionary War, Westward expansion...mainly stuff up to the Civil War. Like I said, I will be watering it down. Then my plan for the following year is to do Galloping the Globe along with a 50 states study. We will pick up with the ancients again for 5th/3rd grade.

[purplemama]

Thanks for all the input ladies! Now, I am thinking about skipping it until high school too, or maybe just breezing through in four years. We may do a year of in-depth geography study, too. So many ideas came from the responses.

 

Jennifer

[Osaubi]

Great post! I had not really thought that far ahead in our studies before now. I really do not want to go through modern age with my children the first time around. I think the state study I have been trying to do this summer can wait until that 4th year of history.

 

Thanks again, ladies!

[Denise in IN]

We have "semi"-skipped it as well. We did World Geography as our main focus this year, and have loved it! We also did modern history very lightly, mainly focused on the U.S. We read the DK Children's Encyclopedia of American History, and occasionally add in a relevant book. We have not used SOTW 4; I'm saving that for the logic stage.

[laylamcb]

Wow--I'm allowed to skip? :001_huh:

 

:D

 

Thanks so much for these ideas, ladies. I wouldn't have come up with this on my own, but my youngest, who is along for the ride on SOTW with his older sister, will only be 7 when we hit SOTW4. I really did not want to tackle WWI and WWII--and certainly nothing after those conflicts--at that age.

[Arch at Home]

For my family doing the Modern Era has been the right thing to do. My girls (2nd and 4th) have read so much literature about this time period that covering it in SOTW is filling in the gaps and they are greatly enjoying.

[Lizzie in Ma]

For our first rotation. I didn't feel ready to teach things like the Holocaust and atomic bombs. We are heading into it this year in 8th.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[laylamcb]

I skipped the Modern period the first time through our history cycle. We did TOG Years 1-3; then Sonlight 5 Eastern Hemisphere; then started the Ancients again with TOG Year 1. The 20th century seemed like nothing but war, and I preferred to do something a bit less heavy! :)

 

I was thinkin' world geography, but Eastern hemisphere: Now THAT'S one I haven't heard. What a great idea, Shari. Thank you. I'm going to percolate that thought for a while.... :001_smile:

[Haiku]

It never occurred to me that I could skip modern history, but that sounds like a great idea. My first thought was to do a year of American history, but I like the eastern hemisphere idea, too!

 

Tara

[Mama Lynx]

Our first go-round with modern history happened when my oldest was in 4th, and my next child was in 2nd. My oldest *loves* modern history. I gave him SOTW, and he read it himself. That was history that year.

 

Meanwhile, my 2nd grader just didn't have any history that year. At all, really. In 2nd grade, I don't think that's a big deal :)

 

Next year we hit moderns again, and I'll have an 8th grader, a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 2nd grader. This time the two olders will do modern, and the youngers will do just a tiny little bit. Really just a picture book here and there. Or, I may go ahead and start them back into ancients, because my soon-to-be 3rd grader could happily spend a week on Egypt.

[skaterbabs]

You could go through year 3/4 and just pick out what interests you or you think is "safe". Then focus on those chapters instead and use supplements from the library.

 

 

This is what I would suggest. Read through vol 4, pick out the parts of each that wouldn't work for your family, and save them for later. There are lots of parts of modern history that are important to know, and if SOTW gets into more detail than you feel is appropriate for your 4th grader then you can find a library book on that topic instead.

 

Kids are smarter than we give them credit for - they know that bad things happen. Not telling them about parts of history because you think it's too tragic doesn't help them at all.

 

WWI & WWII can be covered in a sensitive way without divulging potentially traumatic details. SOTW 1,2, & 3 are full of war and murder and so on - modern times are not more violent, we just are "closer" to the violence.

[Haiku]

my soon-to-be 3rd grader could happily spend a week on Egypt.

 

Just a week? We spent 5 weeks on Egypt! :)

 

Tara

[Haiku]

Kids are smarter than we give them credit for - they know that bad things happen. Not telling them about parts of history because you think it's too tragic doesn't help them at all.

 

I agree that kids know bad things happen. But I also don't think it hurts them to refrain from getting into sensitive topics at a young age. I don't think it hurts a 3rd or 4th grader not to learn about the Holocaust until 6th grade, say.

 

SOTW 1,2, & 3 are full of war and murder and so on - modern times are not more violent, we just are "closer" to the violence.

 

And I think that closeness imparts an intensity that can be harder for kids to deal with.

 

Tara

[skaterbabs]

I guess my kids are weird - my sons have been into WWII history for years now. Their knowledge of the Holocaust is limited to basically the fact that it was the Nazis rounding Jews up and killing them.

 

I will say that, that even at almost 13, my eldest didn't understand that WWI and II is MODERN history. We actually had to explain to him that modern history isn't what happened just in that last ten years, but goes all the way back to the turn of he LAST century. :001_huh:

[debbielong]

...because it had taken us more than 3 years to get through SOTW 1-3 AND

 

...because I wanted to start back with ancients in year 5 AND

 

... because SOTW 4 was not a good match for my children at that time (4th, 2nd, 4yo), so...

 

...I read Childhood of Famous Americans books to the kids. Also, I read the American Girl series books. Plus other books I don't remember.

 

The only disadvantages I have encountered from this approach include:

 

1. My oldest (upcoming 7th grader) has very little knowledge of current history and government. Sometimes, he is out of the loop when his friends are talking about modern history. This doesn't seem to trouble him, but I noticed it.

 

2. Our family is stacked with educators who love to quiz our kids. It bugs the grandparents that our children don't know modern history.

 

3. Here is what my youngest said in a conversation with his cousin:

 

8-year-old COUSIN: Do you know who _____________ (fill in the blank with famous name from most recent century).

 

6-year-old SON: Is he alive or dead?

 

8-year-old COUSIN: WHAT??? Whaddya mean is he alive or dead?? He is alive!

 

6-year-old SON: Oh, then I don't know him. You see, I'm homeschooled. (Imagine patronizing 6-year-old explaining to older cousin.) We learn about history. So, I only know stuff about dead people.

[skaterbabs]

:lol: roflol That's AWSOME!

 

I fill that niche with DD (first graders are expected to know so much about US history, you know. :p) by reading her picture books on the history topics that k & 1st grade "social studies" would cover. It really *isn't* much.

[Omma]

We have just finished studying the Civil Rights Movement, as we have been doing the 2nd half of American history this year. My kids seem to have mixed reviews as to how they liked studying modern history. My 9 ds says he didn't like it because we didn't spend enough time on the Korean War (go figure!).

 

I had had strong feelings about skipping the 20th century, but I am now glad that we didn't. I thought it was very valuable to study the world wars with the depression happening in between... especially with all the talk this year comparing these tough economic times and what happened to the stock market this year with those past years.

 

We did spend quite a bit of time studying geography as we went along (ie. we studied Russia and European countries and read some good historical fiction novels that taught us a lot). I was surprised to hear my ds the other day talk about how he realizes that China is a communist country (and North Korea), and he 'gets it' about the Berlin Wall separating communist East Germany from West Germany (at the time). He is hoping for the same to happen to North and South Korea some day!

 

There is the Space Age coming up, and my ds really wants to know more about the Vietnam War has we know people who fought in that war. For my 7 dd, I emphasize more of the geography and cultural aspects of Vietnam. Also, it is neat to have them study the U.S. presidents. However, I will probably compact much of the rest of modern history and zoom back to the ancients by the time September rolls around.

 

In short, do whatever works best for your family! My ds really wanted to study the wars, and my dd didn't, but we emphasized geography and cultural studies along the way, and it has worked out well for us. But I've got to add that we had skipped the Middle Ages the first time around, so I was not ready to go back to the ancients again so soon! Come to think of it, I should've asked everyone what they thought about skipping the Middle Ages! Oh well... that is what worked for our family at the time. I know I will be excited when we get to that time period after next year! It'll all 'come around' again! :D

 

Brenda

[skaterbabs]

That's a good point. We study a lot of early aviation because all three of my kids like planes. DD likes to when we read her stories about the first aviatrixes, and I like knowing she's hearing about more than the Wright brothers, kwim?

 

I would say that if you have younger ones following along you can give them picture books like "Brave Harriet." Definately qualifies as modern history, but without the heavy baggage of the more serious subjects.

[Strawberry Queen]

I wonder if the intensity of the study depends on the approach you use. For whatever reason the Holocaust came up and I gave a brief discussion on what happened to my girls (6 and 8). They thought it was bad but then they've heard about rulers trying to kill people throughout history.

 

The facts I conveyed didn't cause them to have nightmares or be emotionally disturbed. The thing that would have changed that would be if I had shown them pictures. If I had exposed them to the pictures of bodies stacked like cordwood, emaciated people, the piles of clothing, etc. I think it would have been highly disturbing.

 

Don't get me wrong. I understand your hesitation as I am in the same boat. What do I have my younger dd do while I cover moderns with my dd who will be in grade 4? Do I do a cursory study and use the time to do extra geography studies?

 

I'm still trying to come up with a plan that I like. I don't think that it's a great idea for our family to skip moderns until almost high school. I think it's valuable to know the broad strokes of history so they can understand how things have changed and why.

[mcconnellboys]

I covered the early modern period pretty well with my older son (pre-WTM and SOTW days), but I studiously avoided modern history until he was in eighth grade. I think you can certainly skip it until logic stage.

[Mommy22alyns]

:lurk5: I'm definitely considering it, so I'm watching this thread with interest.

 

It's already going to take us more than a year to finish SOTW 1, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm enjoying spending time on each civilization without the feeling that we have to rush through to finish by a particular time. Judging by the size of SOTW 2's AG, it'll take us at least a year and a half to finish that, possibly two years.

 

On top of that, we started SOTW early and Sylvia will be joining in officially in another year. So I'm not in a rush to get to modern history even though I know woefully little of it myself. I've mostly felt like I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and re-evaluate if any new materials have been published by then. But we'll probably hold off on it.

[Mama Lynx]

Just a week? We spent 5 weeks on Egypt! :)

 

Tara

 

 

LOL, apparently my brain was not engaged with the typing. I meant a year. He could happily spend a whole year on Egypt.

[amyco]

I've thought about skipping SOTW 4 with my ds next year, but he really enjoys a game called Memoir '44 about WWII battles, and I'd like to give him a little context. Plus, we aren't done with SOTW 3 yet---42 chapters, and only about 37 weeks of school! So my plan is to finish 3, then go thru 4 as far as we can, then start over in Ancients again in 5th.