Sue G in PA Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 What would you do for Amer. Hist. if you didn't want to buy a curriculum or a program (like MFW Adventures or Biblioplan or HOD or whatever!). I simply cannot afford any more curriculum. Period. I have Child's History of America, some Joy Hakim books, etc. Could I piece together my own? Any suggestions? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Joy Hakim + novels (Johnny Tremain, etc) works perfectly for us! Put a couple maps up on the walls, start a timeline, and I think you'd be good to go. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 Would Hakim be too much for an 8yo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 What would you do for Amer. Hist. if you didn't want to buy a curriculum or a program (like MFW Adventures or Biblioplan or HOD or whatever!). I simply cannot afford any more curriculum. Period. I have Child's History of America, some Joy Hakim books, etc. Could I piece together my own? Any suggestions? Thanks! Age??? I thought of this as well, then decided to use what wasn't working for us last year. LOL.... Use CHA as a spine and do biographies of people you come across. Or...just pick out biographies. Get a movie, a book from the library, have them write out a few statements of what they learned of that person...do a craft if they want. Have the kids choose the person. Create your own timeline or pull and print a pic off the internet and place him in a notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Use whatever books you have as a spine - we liked the Joy Hakim and our library has them. Then supplement with novels, biographies, online games etc. You can get a Rainbow Resource catalog and a Sonlight catalog to get ideas for books to read - also there is a website abookintime.com that I find very useful. Meryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I think Hakim might be a little tough for an 8YO. The nice thing about it, though, is that it's pretty self-contained--it has commentary, original source material, and lots of illustrations in addition to the straightforward history readings. I would recommend "The Story of the 13 Colonies" and "The Story of the New Republic" for that age. Those two together will take you up through about 1900. You can supplement with library books--the suggestions in Sonlight 3 and 4 are particularly good ones. I especially recommend the Jean Fritz books and also 'Ben and Me' which is so funny your DS will love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 That is what we are doing right now...just any spine like History of US, a timeline, some mapping and some crafts/activities, some reading from significant periods, and regional food. Most of the ideas (like regional recipes) you can find on the internet. Books can be checked out at the library. I think US history is the easiest thing to do "freestyle". I have to have some kind of plan though or I find myself doing too much. Monday, reading and timeline, Tuesday, mapping, Wednesday...and reading fiction for a little bit everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Would Hakim be too much for an 8yo? It would probably be too much as in too detailed. I don't think you would have any problem with it being too difficult to understand though. DS6 has done fine with comprehension for the select passages and chapters that I've used so far for our American history study. If you choose to use it for your older kids and select specific parts that you want your 8yo to use, I think you would be fine. Then just use the library and assign extra reading to each individual child at his/her own level (novels for the older ones, picture books for younger?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Can you use the library? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Joy Hakim + novels (Johnny Tremain, etc) works perfectly for us! Put a couple maps up on the walls, start a timeline, and I think you'd be good to go. :) :iagree: And field trips. Always field trips.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 If you would like a curriculum to use, here is a website that offers FREE American history lesson plans for K-12. I ordered their CD and didn't even have to pay for shipping. They sent it to me for free! http://www.americanheritage.org/k-12_lessons.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Look at the WinterPromise book lists for AS1 and AS2. I especially love the Betsy Maestro books for a spine. They are lovely engaging picture books with a LOT of text and info. There's even a timeline in the back so you can add the dates to your timeline if you keep one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in WI Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I especially love the Betsy Maestro books for a spine. And I hated those books, LOL. To each their own, I guess. :) I put together my own American History 1600-1850 last year. I recommend figuring out the time line of what you want to cover and then start filling in books from there. I made a list of all of the books we ended up using, if you're looking for ideas, and put it on my blog. You can see it here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrlabonte/697694/ HTH! ~Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 Thanks everyone. I think I will use Child's Story of America as our "spine"...just reading a few pages each day and adding in some bios, crafts, field trips every now and again, DVDs (we have Drive Through American History and the curriculum that goes with that...I just don't know if it is too much for an 8yo). I'll have to look at it again. I guess I could look at the MFW Adv. books, WP AS1 and AS2 and Sonlight to get an idea. And, I did forget about Our Los Banos free schedule. Thanks for reminding me. Now...off to plan something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 My dd loves the Drive Through History DVD's. I'm not sure if she understands all that is said, but the guy on there is a riot. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 What about the free program from the Guest Hollow folks? http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/americanhistoryindex.html This + the library might do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 All the above are great ideas. I just wanted to share my DIY American History future plans (slated for third grade, in two years): Mara Pratt's Series American History Stories as our spine The American Story as our co-spine The Smithsonian's Children's Encyclopedia of American History as reference Betsy and Guilio Maestro's nonfiction series The United States of America A State by State Guide Loreen Leedy's Celebrate the 50 States! Lots of other living books (fiction and nonfiction) to round out our studies, including a Book of the Centuries timeline activity, an American History wall timeline, map of the USA, available from the library and ILL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Sue, I know you said your budget is nil, but if you know somebody who has the VP cards for american history (Explorers to 1850 and 1850 to present), the cards schedule the readings from Child's Story of American *and* Hakim. In other words you could read both, in small chunks that would work for your spread of ages, and they would be perfectly scheduled for you, week by week. You could do one card a week or two worth of readings. On the days you don't do readings, you could use your book pile, do activities, etc. So if you can just get a hold of those cards, the work is done for you. If not, yes, CSOA is much more age-appropriate for the 8 yo than Hakim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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