mom2koh Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I am so confused about history. I was so sure about everything else and now history just has me stumped! My dd will be in 1st and I am torn about what to do. SOTW and Truthquest have popped out at me. But I wanted opinions from people who have used one, both or even something else. DD loves to read, but she is senstitive to certain topics. So, while I don't want to shelter her, I would like to leave out the harsher parts of history until she's a bit older. She loves the ancients (went to see the King Tut exhibit this year and has been talking about it since) but is extremely interested in US history (thanks to her American Girl doll). Any reccomendations will do I just need some input! Thanks for any and all help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio12 Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I am so confused about history. I was so sure about everything else and now history just has me stumped! My dd will be in 1st and I am torn about what to do. SOTW and Truthquest have popped out at me. But I wanted opinions from people who have used one, both or even something else. DD loves to read, but she is senstitive to certain topics. So, while I don't want to shelter her, I would like to leave out the harsher parts of history until she's a bit older. She loves the ancients (went to see the King Tut exhibit this year and has been talking about it since) but is extremely interested in US history (thanks to her American Girl doll). Any reccomendations will do I just need some input! Thanks for any and all help! We are finishing up SOTW ancients. It is so very very good. I can't believe how it helps DD (6) understand human nature in addition to the time line of history. It did feel weird to be reading about some sort of gory ideas at first, but she accepted it very matter of factly. We are Christians and talked about the evil in the world being a result of sin. I was torn about the American history issue to, knowing she would love it, but I decide that doing things chronologically was more important and I am so glad I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 We also just finished up SOTW 1 and we loved it! The SOTW series does include American history, just not in the 1st book. We are planning on adding This Country of Ours to our SOTW reading when appropriate so that we get a bit more American History as we go along. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 As far as american vs. ancients, I'd just ask her what she wants to do. To a young dc, it's all stories. You could do american and play SOTW on tape in the car. Nothing says it's one or the other, kwim? I used TQ when my dd was that age, and I'll tell you it's pretty de-structured, meaning YOU have to bring your own plan and scheduling to it. It has no activities, no nothing that little kids want, just a booklist. So my suggestion? Ditch that and go look at WP. (Winter Promise) If that doesn't float your boat, then look at MFW Adventures. But with a girl that age, definitely WP... Don't sweat history too much. We started with american, have done ancients, and are now back to american. We even managed to have a baby in there and survive pregnancy! If you spend time on american now, you might condense world history later. Or you realize you like VP or something instead. It will all work out, honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 DD loves to read, but she is senstitive to certain topics. So, while I don't want to shelter her, I would like to leave out the harsher parts of history until she's a bit older. Conservative Christians can you please recommend Ancient.. We talked about ways to leave out some of the harsh aspects of ancient history in this thread (you don't have to be a conservative christian ;), look for my post). Have you seen Veritas Press? I like the way they divide Ancient History into two years. Maybe you could get a tmeline notebook, study ancientsfor 18 weeks and american for 18 weeks. we never stick with anything longer than that anyway. :lol: Hewitt Homeschooling has 2nd grade American History products that look good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aprilinparis Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 You might also consider Mystery of History, by Linda Hobar. It is a Christian text that combines Biblical and secular history in chronological order. We've used it for two years, and have enjoyed it tremendously. If you're interested, here's a link to their website: http://www.themysteryofhistory.com/ Blessings, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Have you looked at Heart of Dakota? It kind of sounds like your philosophy on history matches theirs pretty well. HOD takes the sensitivity issue well into account. You would need to check the placement chart for them, but it looks like your DD may be able to handle either the LHFHG, which is an overview of world history and biblical events, or BLHFHG, which is an age-appropriate American history overview. Good luck to you. There are a lot of great programs for that age, so I am sure you can find something you and your DD will love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 I went with Ancients for 1st grade, with SOTW and the AG. It was a WONDERFUL year. We actually started in Jan of her K year and moved slowly, fwiw. The SOTW 1 AG is so appropriate for 6 yo kids--and really, really fun. One thing you could do is go ahead and stay chronological by doing Ancients first, but add in some stories as the American holidays come up. So, you could tell a brief story about Columbus in October and do a little craft that day, read about the first Thanksgiving (traditional) in November, and cover George Washington in February. That's almost chronological order, too! lol In second grade, we continued with SOTW 2, Medieval/Ren year, but added Stories of the Pilgrims, a Christian Liberty book, to our reading in November. It was just a nice read aloud for the month. You can also go to the American Girl websites and do some activities there for fun. THen, when you get to that time period in your chronological study, she will have some backround. It's all good--I wouldn't keep anything away from her, just be intentional about one time period, and casual about the others you do the same year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBlessedThrice Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 (edited) Chris in VA has some good ideas for you! You can always cover American history informally. There are some really good narrative-style books of history stories for children free online at the Baldwin Children's Online Literature Project (older books in the public domain) at http://www.mainlesson.com. Having said that . . . that's not what we're doing for first grade this year.:D Because my son is starting Kindergarten this year and my daughter first grade, it just didn't make sense to do separate history programs for each of them. They already said they wanted to learn each other's history ("I'm going to listen to yours anyway!"), so it would just take up extra time that should go toward the three R's. So I decided to do an American history overview for them both this year and then start them both in SOTW for 1st and 2nd. Maybe you'd want to do that if you have another reaching school age soon. Edited June 29, 2009 by MamaBlessedThrice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I like this idea, too--because then you reach SOTW 4 with a 4th grader and a 5th grader, which is good b/c of the content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Loved SOTW1. The activity guide was priceless. We did a lot of the projects. Not all of them, but enough to bring history alive. There wasn't a lot of intense stuff, and if there is, you can skip over it. (My son almost cried when he found out Ashurbanipal hunted and killed lions. I wish I'd skipped that. He loves animals. I should have skipped that part. My poor little ds6 looked so stricken. ) But there wasn't a lot that would be too scary I don't think, in SOTW1. We did American history as well as ancient hx last year (1st grade). Ancient hx was done every day because my son loved it so much. American hx was twice a week. And for American hx we just got books out of the library about American stuff. We read in "What your 1st Grader Needs to Know" what parts of American hx are commonly taught in 1st grade and just got books from the library about those things. We'll delve into American hx more as we reach that time period in our SOTW books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 If you include Bible history with SOTW 1 it is incredibly easy to stretch it out for two years. This is my intention for our second go at ancients. I don't see being able to not stretch it out for two years. SOTW is very detailed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 One thing you could do is go ahead and stay chronological by doing Ancients first, but add in some stories as the American holidays come up. So, you could tell a brief story about Columbus in October and do a little craft that day, read about the first Thanksgiving (traditional) in November, and cover George Washington in February. That's almost chronological order, too! lol That is exactly what we did this past year. I took the week off from SOTW at Thanksgiving, and we did traditional 1st grade & preK Thanksgiving stuff. We read lots of books, did some crafts (pilgrim hats & indian vests, etc.) On President's day we read about several presidents and narrated about them, and did a craft. We read a book about Martin Luther King Jr. on his day. At other times just in our reading we read about Harriet Tubman & slavery, the Boston Tea Party, Phyllis Wheatley, & other Early American stuff. We will keep it up like that until we reach SOTW vol. 4, and then we will be more formal w/American History. The only problem I had w/SOTW vol. 1 being too gory for my girls was when we read the story of Oddyseous. My 4 yr old was frightened of the Cyclops threatening to eat him. (I think that was Oddyseous.. can't remember exactly) My 6 yr old had no problems with anything. By taking a week off here and there we are working through June on SOTWthough, and we finished our other subjects in May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2koh Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Thank you everyone!!! It really helped. I have been reading your replies and just absorbing them. I pulled some books about ancients and US history this week and dd defintley wants to learn about the ancients. She is so into the Egyptians right now. So I am thinking I'll probably go with SOTW and the AG. Then like you all suggested around Thanksgiving and other national holidays sprinkle in some US history. Thank you all again!!!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eruditio_Academy Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 We are going to do a combination of SOTW and Veritas Press History. The SOTW gives you a big picture view of early history, while the VP gives you a really indepth view of Biblical history. I think your daughter would really enjoy SOTW, too, because it's written like a story. Here is a website for combining SOTW and VP. http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 My .02 (and History is actually one of my BIG question marks still)...I have used "A Child's Story of America" (cannot think of the author) from Veritas Press with excellent results. It is chronological and a great supplement or stand alone for the lower grades for US History. I used it with my twins when we were doing first grade - we did Ancient Egypt and CSOA. CSOA is not gory but does speak to the issue of evil and its effect if a people turn their back on the Lord. The chapters are short (I copied every chapter for my fourth grade class when I was in the classroom) and there are excellent questions at the end of each chapter. I bought mine at VP. Hope this helps. Mariann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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