S/O- is anyone else delaying modern history?

[Coffeetime]

Just curious after reading a few other threads if any else is planning on delaying teaching modern history to their young ones.

 

This has been my plan from the beginning, but I kind of figured I was the only one. (I tend to be the rebel) :tongue_smilie:

 

We're taking 6 years to get through our first history cycle, spending extra time on Ancient, Middle Ages and Early Modern with the duel purpose of covering them more thoroughly and delaying modern history.

 

If others are doing this, what's your plan? My plan is to add in plenty of Biblical history to Ancients, Reformation and Church History to Middle Ages, and lots of American History to Early Modern.

 

And if you are teaching Modern- how do you plan to approach it in an age appropriate way?

 

Thanks! :)

[Mommy22alyns]

Modern history will be delayed here. Ancients are taking a while - we're just doing lots of projects and extra reading. From the looks of SOTW 2, we will be taking more than a year for that too. I just don't want to rush - I want to have fun! We started early and Sylvia will be folded in soon, so a slower cycle works well for us.

 

We may also divert and do Prairie Primer for a year after Early Modern history. It looks so fun I may not be able to resist. So it's kind of, I'll cross that bridge as I come to it. ;)

[patchfire]

And if you are teaching Modern- how do you plan to approach it in an age appropriate way?

 

We're getting ready to head into Modern - I'm actually taking a break from typing up plans today. I'm actually wonderfully excited to hit this time period. I've assembled a ton of biographies and histories that are written for kids. I have a couple of secondary spines - The Century for Young People and Our Century in Pictures for Young People. I can't give you specifics as to 'age appropriate way' since I'm not sure what exactly you mean, but I guess I can relate a conversation we had just the other day.

 

Dd watched Fiddler on the Roof. She talked about how sad it was, and speculated as to whether things would "get better" for the ones that went to Poland. We told her that, unfortunately, it was unlikely, unless they left Poland before 1939. She asked why. We mentioned World War II, and Hitler, and then simply stated that one of the reasons Hitler was so evil was that he had created concentration camps (and we explained they were not like a summer camp) for groups of people that he hated - Jewish people, Roma (Gypsy), unionist, gay people, "enemies of the state" and so on - and that many, many of these people had been killed, deliberately, in these camps. We didn't tell her how they were killed, just that they were. I don't think she needs to know details, but neither was I going to hide the reality of it.

 

Similarly, when we talk about September 11, 2001, we'll talk about the fact that people died, but not about the people who jumped out of the windows, nor about the pictures some people took and published of that.

Edited July 11, 2009 by patchfire

[dragons in the flower bed]

Just curious after reading a few other threads if any else is planning on delaying teaching modern history to their young ones.

 

:seeya: Me!

 

This is why I have not rolled my six-year-old son in to the history cycle with my nine-year-old and eleven-year-old. Instead, he's reading whatever picture book histories interest him (mostly Egyptian, it seems) until his younger brother is ready to start ancients. They'll be eight and five, I think, when we begin ancients, or seven and four when we begin prehistory. I'm looking forward to doing dinosaurs with my two little boys.

 

There's so much good historical fiction for the medieval - early modern periods. I'm having my kids read most of it; it makes the centuries drag on. Basically I'm just not concerned with how long it takes them to get to the 20th century. We'll linger over the great historical fiction, the interesting Landmark and Jean Fritz and Genevieve Foster books. So long as they plod along steadily and chronologically, and get to 1900 with a year left before high school, I'll be happy. I'd like to use 8th grade to study the 20th century and tie it in with activism and civics. Our family history is all tied up with peace movements, and at 13 and 11 they'll be big help as volunteers.

[Aurelia]

I'm planning to delay Modern history, probably until 8th or 9th grade. It just seems like really heavy material to teach to a 3rd/4th grader. My tentative plan (we're just about to start Ancients, so it's quite subject to change) is to do Ancients-Early Modern in 1st-3rd, then do a year each of state and American History, then come back to Ancients in 6th grade, though I might do a short state unit and focus on US history for one year and start Ancients in 5th.

 

 

I guess the short answer would have been, not until the 2nd rotation/~8th grade. :laugh:

[Moni]

is anyone else delaying modern history?

 

Yes

 

:seeya:

[Haiku]

I thought about this when there was another thread on this a few months ago. I considered taking the 4th-grade year to do American history and not hitting modern history until 8th grade. That is still a possibility, but at this point I am leaning more toward another plan. SOTW4 looks far too war-heavy and negative for me, so instead of using it as a spine, I think I will focus on biographies and historical fiction that focus on the lives people were living during this time instead of focusing on all the war and strife. I think is valuable for kids to learn about life during slavery, and during the period of heavy immigration, and during the depression, etc., and I think that these things can be learned in kid-friendly ways that don't harp on death and destruction. Do I want my fourth-grader learning about the horrors of WWI or Hitler's death camps? Nope. Do I want them to read about Helen Keller, and Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Jane Addams, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, etc? Sure! We are just going into Medieval now, so plans may change, but that is what I am thinking these days.

 

Tara

[Lori D.]

We did -- but sort of by default. Our first of three 4-year history cycles turned into 6 years so we could follow bunny trails; by that 6th year (modern times), the kids were grades 6 and 7 and could easily handle modern history topics.

 

We then took a 1-year break (7th/8th grades) to focus on world cultures/ geography / comparative religions; and just finished 2 years of a 4-year history cycle for high school, BUT doing it out of order to follow DSs interests (8th/9th gr = ancients; 9th/10th = 20th century; 10th/11th will be American History; 11th/12th will be Medieval World). Undecided what we'll do for younger DS's 12th grade year.

 

And you know what? It's all worked out just fine! There's too much history to know it all, so if you want to skip Moderns early on, no problem. You'll eventually get some exposure to it. Just relax and ENJOY your history journey -- and don't forget to enjoy the occasional bunny trail! Warmest regards, Lori D.