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If you only had one year to teach world history how would you do it?


ummix3
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Ok, so my two older girls will be with me this year (5th and 3rd grade) and they may only be HS'ing for this year so I wanted to know if it was possible to cram everything in one year. Is it possible? Worth it? I was looking at CHOW and saw that it basically covers everything in one year.

 

Any suggestions on how to go about this?

 

Thanks!

Michelle

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Were it me I would do one of two things:

 

1) Utilize the Usborne encyclopedias for the various cultures and time periods supplemented with books from the library.

 

2) Read through all four SOTW volumes, which are full enough that supplementation wouldn't be necessary. If you read a chapter four days a week, you could get through all four books.

 

Tara

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I wouldn't do it. The strength of SOTW for history is that it spreads it out and gives you time to really learn and digest it. If you cram it into one year, you do what the schools do and make it so there's not real depth or understanding. Do the first year in the cycle for it this year, then afterschool it if you can't homeschool next year.

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Ok, so my two older girls will be with me this year (5th and 3rd grade) and they may only be HS'ing for this year so I wanted to know if it was possible to cram everything in one year. Is it possible? Worth it? I was looking at CHOW and saw that it basically covers everything in one year.

 

Any suggestions on how to go about this?

 

Thanks!

Michelle

 

I think you're on the right track. CHOW is a great idea. Your girls are the perfect age for it, you can easily cover it in a year, and it gives an engaging overview. You could just read it to them and have them narrate. Or you could get the package from Calvert and have them fill in the outlines.

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Gracefully disagreeing with the other posts. CHOW does a good job of covering "everything" in one year. CHOW is a Calvert grade 4 history text. While the text will not go in depth when covering historical events or people, it will provide a good foundation especially for the 5th grader, and at the same time the text will not be too difficult for the 3rd grader to comprehend. Calvert included with its 4th grade curriculum two other small books of stories which were a companion to CHOW--Mighty Men and Famous Legends. These are additional readings of the type suggested in SOTW but condensed and in a single volume. If you are interested in CHOW I have it listed on the For Sale board along with a lesson manual.

 

The down side of doing History in a year is that retention may be low, and the parent teacher must be careful to set a pace that will enable them to finish the text within their time frame. History pockets for easy projects maybe a good addition if you choose to go with CHOW.

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CHOW worked very well for us. I can't even begin to fathom reading all SOTW volumes in one year. Even I, as an adult, wouldn't be able to glean much information from that series if I stuffed it all in. Some people complain that CHOW isn't in-depth, but that's the point of using it in one year. I just don't see how world history can be covered in one year if it isn't only the big chunks that get mentioned.

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Another yes vote for CHOW with SL 1+2!! Definitely a good option. You can up the ante with some country reports for your 5th grader if you want. Have fun with it. The workbook Calvert sells to go with CHOW is also very good. It's such that both your dc can do it, and it will help with retention. It even has some fun activities in the back. Definitely worth the money.

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I wouldn't miss something with pictures. The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History is fabulous, you can add to the learning with the internet links. In TWTM, Susan states that you can use the encyclopedia instead of a library trip. I would definitely add it to CHOW. Another good thing to do would be a couple of different timelines to help it stick. I would do a wall timeline and a notebook if you can. (I have even seen wall timelines that you can put into a notebook and take back out.) There have also been history songs that various homeschoolers have made up.

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Many thanks to all who replied. Now I have a new question ;) I seem to like the idea of CHOW together with the sonlight core 1 + 2, but I also like the idea of doing the 4 year cycle and continuing years 2 through 4 afterschool as another person had mentioned.

 

My question to those who have used CHOW and went the one year route, do you regret it? If you could go back would you do it differently? My main concern is that they may not retain a lot if we do it all in one year.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Michelle

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Michelle,

 

I did CHOW with Preparing from HOD last year with my daughter and have no regrets. She is now starting the 4 year cycle (with HOD). I think CHOW is a good choice for a one year overview (if you, like myself, are of the one earth mindset you might want to skip the first couple of chapters...HOD did that for us). My daughter really enjoyed it.

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Many thanks to all who replied. Now I have a new question ;) I seem to like the idea of CHOW together with the sonlight core 1 + 2, but I also like the idea of doing the 4 year cycle and continuing years 2 through 4 afterschool as another person had mentioned.

 

My question to those who have used CHOW and went the one year route, do you regret it? If you could go back would you do it differently? My main concern is that they may not retain a lot if we do it all in one year.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Michelle

 

and then yr. 3 with SOTW 3; yr 4 - SOTW 4

 

I'm doing the same thing with ds #2 - so no regrets! :D

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Heart of Dakota offers Preparing for those ages in a one year world overview.

Winterpromise offers Hideaways in History which uses all 4 SOTW books in one year and is (in my opinion) more suited for the ages of your children than it is for the recommended age. (My DD is in 1st this year and the Hideaways program is too much for her, so we had to change plans.)

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Our library and those surrounding it are pretty well stocked and I was looking up some titles from core 1 + 2 last night and saw that I would have access to almost all of them. Could I get by with just buying the IG, CHOW and Usborne and get the books from my library? $300 is a little steep for us right now.

 

Thanks,

Michelle

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Our library and those surrounding it are pretty well stocked and I was looking up some titles from core 1 + 2 last night and saw that I would have access to almost all of them. Could I get by with just buying the IG, CHOW and Usborne and get the books from my library? $300 is a little steep for us right now.

 

Thanks,

Michelle

 

Yes. I buy my guide used. I either get my books off of paperbackswap.com or use the library. The only book I had to order from sonlight this yr for core 1 was a poetry book and the Sonlight book of time and timeline figures. If you don't want the timeline book you can make your own timeline.

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Well you have to trust that the person receiving your books marks that they got the book. I think if you use PBS's postage then they will give you your point as soon as you mark it mailed. I've swapped hundreds of books over the yrs and I've only had one or 2 that was said to be lost in the mail. They probably were. I've had some being sent to me that were lost in the mail as well. But in comparison to the amount of books I've gotten it is minimal. I've gotten a few not so hot books, most are in good used condition and I've even received some that were brand spanking new. My Charlotte's web copy was a brand new hardback. I pm'd the sender commenting on how it looked brand new and she said they received it as a gift and they already had a copy so she pulled it out of the gift wrap and sent it to me. It made that new book cracking sound when I opened it! So it has worked out well for me. It is the only way I've been able to use Sonlight.

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Many thanks to all who replied. Now I have a new question ;) I seem to like the idea of CHOW together with the sonlight core 1 + 2, but I also like the idea of doing the 4 year cycle and continuing years 2 through 4 afterschool as another person had mentioned.

 

My question to those who have used CHOW and went the one year route, do you regret it? If you could go back would you do it differently? My main concern is that they may not retain a lot if we do it all in one year.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Michelle

 

You could do CHOW and then just listen to SOTW 1-4 on CD. My boys have learned quite a bit from listening to these in the car.

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