American History?

[TXMary2]

Does anyone else feel like American History gets cheated in your studies? I really want to follow the history cycle with my youngest, but I am torn. If I am understanding correctly we won't do American History until 4th grade. Part of my problem is that I love history period and want to do it all, but I really like American History more than any other.

 

Do any of you follow a different history schedule or work more American History in? If so, how do you do it?

[KrissiK]

I was really torn when I was figuring out what to do with my boys regarding history. I love TWTM's history cycles and I love SOTW, but, like you, I felt that Am History was getting cheated. So, I just made a decision and I'm sticking with it. We're in first grade right now and I'm doing Am History 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade using BJU Press Heritage Studies as a spine. I've been very pleased with it, and of course I supplement like crazy. We're doing the chapter on Native Americans right now and I'm incorporating History Pockets and the boys are really getting in to it. I also picked up some A Beka 1st grade History Readers second hand for really cheap, so we'll do that to finish out the year. One thing I like about BJU, at least for 1st grade, is that it's designed only for a semester, so I can add in all sorts of stuff and still finish the book by the end of the year. When they get to 4th grade, we'll do a 4 year world history cycle, probably using Mystery of History and then in 8th grade, we'll do one more year of US History and Government.

[TXMary2]

I was really torn when I was figuring out what to do with my boys regarding history. I love TWTM's history cycles and I love SOTW, but, like you, I felt that Am History was getting cheated. So, I just made a decision and I'm sticking with it. We're in first grade right now and I'm doing Am History 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade using BJU Press Heritage Studies as a spine. I've been very pleased with it, and of course I supplement like crazy. We're doing the chapter on Native Americans right now and I'm incorporating History Pockets and the boys are really getting in to it. I also picked up some A Beka 1st grade History Readers second hand for really cheap, so we'll do that to finish out the year. One thing I like about BJU, at least for 1st grade, is that it's designed only for a semester, so I can add in all sorts of stuff and still finish the book by the end of the year. When they get to 4th grade, we'll do a 4 year world history cycle, probably using Mystery of History and then in 8th grade, we'll do one more year of US History and Government.

 

Thank you for this! This is almost exactly what I was considering. Doing American History with a strong focus on Native Americans for 1st-3rd and then starting with the Mystery of History books in 4th because I was thinking the last MOH book would be out by then. I then would do American History again in 8th and then either MOH cycle through high school or more traditional texts.

 

That will work out fine for my youngest who is K this year. However, I have a 13 yo ds who is 8th grade this year and we are doing the Middle Ages. I am having a hard time deciding on what to use for high school.

[Kate in VA]

We have done something similar...

When we started out a couple years ago with TWTM and starting Ancients. It was hard. My dd hated it and did not understand much. She was completely uninterested. So we skipped the first 2 years of the grammar stage and focused on geography. (more similar to social studies). We took a trip to D.C. and that started us talking about the monuments and what they are for, as well as the white house, etc....

This year my dd is in 3rd and we are doing a 2 years study on Am history and it is awesome. She has been completely prepared and is really enjoying it....

We will go back to the ancients when she is be in 5th grade and then continue with the rotation.

It has worked out well for us.

Hope that helps,

Kate

[Lori D.]

Our original plans to do three 4-year history cycles changed once we got into homeschooling. We started with a 1st and 2nd grade boys, and so have ended up with:

1. grades 1/2 through grades 6/7 = 6-year history cycle

(which gave us two additional years to follow "bunny trails of interest along the way, plus plenty of time to focus on US history)

2. grade 7/8 = 1 year world cultures / world geography / comparative religions focus

(that was a fantastic detour, really prepping our boys with a focus on non-western peoples, cultures and religions, and I WISH we had time to spend 2 years on it!)

3. grades 8/9 through grades 11/12 = 4-year history cycle

(doing it out of order, to follow our students' interests; first we did ancient world history; last year it was 20th century world history; this year it is US history; next year it will be medieval world history)

 

Younger son's senior year is TBA. :001_smile:

 

We found the history cycle concept helpful, but made it work for us, rather than feel enslaved to a specific curriculum or accomplishing certain subjects in a specific way. The freedom of homeschooling -- make it fit for your family! Enjoy your homeschooling journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Lori D.
added info

[Chris in VA]

Just to throw something else into the mix--

American history actually starts in SOTW 3, not 4. We have just started and have covered Jamestown and the Pilgrims so far. What's great is that my dd has the world context for these studies. She knows the parts of the world (from our previous two years of SOTW) from which the colonists came, and what was happening there, and that makes it easier to see why they'd leave their countries to come here.

 

BTW, I found Sonlight's 100 to be a good Am Hist course for early high school, and 300 to be a good 20th Cent World history course for a little later.

[sarahv]

Hmmm. I've been contemplating this alot lately. My older son loves the medieval time period, knights/castles, etc. We haven't really gotten into any type of ancient period, except to talk about Vikings, and the Old Testament some. (This is all just very casual, of course, books, etc.) I'm sure we'll love doing any period in history come next year, however...

 

I only really like certain curriculum, and besides maybe doing Artner's guide to American History, I don't want to piece together my own.

 

VP's history cycle looks good to me, starts in 2nd grade, but does not contain a separate Am History. I like the looks of BF (Primary Am. History) for the younger grades, but that only goes through the 1st half of Am History. Sonlight's American History, I LOVE the looks of, but that has to wait until 4th or 5th grade. So I'm considering doing Am. History alongside the VP 5 year cycle of world history and use it all. :tongue_smilie: Ok, maybe I'm crazy, but I think I've read at least one other person on this forum that does Am History right alongside World History. (ETA: I REALLY wish a program like BF existed for ALL of American History, like an Intro to Am. History, except for early elementary years. If anyone is using Artner's Guide, I'd love to hear how you're using it...)

 

I'm thinking of doing Beautiful Feet Early Am History nice and easy 1st-3rd, then doing Sonlight Am History for 4th, 5th and 6th grades. By 7th, we'll be doing Omnibus, and heck, that's a long ways away anyway. I can't really think that far ahead, I just like the Omnibus program.:lol:

 

Anyone else thinking of doing both World History and Am. History side by side for the elementary years??

Edited October 19, 2009 by sarahv

[*Jessica*]

We're doing both World History and American History side by side and it's working very nicely. I am using This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall along with other resources for Grades 1-4. My current plan is:

 

In 1st, 5th, and 9th grades we will be learning about:

Native Americans

Explorers and Pioneers

Stories of Virginia

Stories of New England

 

In 2nd, 6th, and 10th grades we will be learning about:

Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies

Stories of the French in America

Stories of the Struggle for Liberty

 

In 3rd, 7th, and 11th grades we will be learning about:

Stories of the US Under the Constitution

Gold Rush

Civil War

WWI

 

In 4th, 8th, and 12th grades we will be learning about:

WWI to Modern Times

US Government

[KarenNC]

What we have done so far (we are now in SOTW 4 and using the AG):

K--we did unit studies on basic American literacy (major figures like Washington and Lincoln, holidays, symbols, that sort of thing) which tied in well with a trip we took that year to several points---St. Louis, Lincoln's home in Springfield, Boston, etc. I pulled a lot of material from the websites of the historic sites we visited. I wanted her to have at least a passing familiarity with the basics.

 

3rd---added in the Story of the USA workbook series, vol. 1 and most of 2 (the end goes with SOTW 4), reading suggestions from the Sonlight core 3, various other books, videos, etc that were available and appropriate, slotting them in with the relevant SOTW chapters. This meant that we skimmed a bit some of the world history in order to have time to beef up the American history, but that's fine with me as I am looking mostly for exposure to world history, and I do want her to retain more American history at this point. Did some basic geography work on the names and locations of the states. We have a lot of colonial and Rev War historical sites in our area, so we did field trips to these. She also did a summer day camp at one of the historic sites.

 

4th---added in Story of the USA vols. 3 and 4 (and end of 2), reading suggestions from Sonlight core 4, other books, videos, etc as above. We're tying in field trips as possible, and in geography are doing the state capitals (using "Yo, Sacramento", state capital flashcards, blank US outline maps) and some additional things. I picked up a cheap used textbook on our state history, as this is the year that that is typically covered (if I had remembered I had this, I would have introduced it last year). We've worked on the state bird, motto, flag, song, etc and how the events related to our state specifically. I treat geography as a separate subject. I've got the materials to do something with the presidents and may pull that out ("Yo, Millard Fillmore" and an activity pack).

We spend extra time on the American history sections (for instance we just spent about 2-3 weeks on the Civil War). We go year-round, so I hope we will finish in time.

 

One thing that is helping me this year to not forget the things I want to add is to do a master schedule for history, laying it all out in specific lessons in order, just no dates attached. It's a fluid document and is continually being refined, but helps me remember to request books from the library, find x thing I wanted to use, watch that video, etc.

 

For the future, I am at present planning to use Hakim's Story of the US along with the k12 Human Odyssey world history textbooks and spread it all over the next 4 years in a similar fashion. I will be adding in a time line starting next year in 5th grade.

[StephanieZ]

I've used SOTW as well as Sonlight, and tho' SL fits us best (all in a box, books pre-screened, schedule prepared, etc,), I could see using SOTW and other traditional WTM resources and still getting in plenty of US Hist.

 

I think you'd just have to make sure to choose your readers/read alouds well, with an eye for US Hist topics. . . SL 3 & SL 4 cores are for the same age range as SOTW 3 & 4, so you could easily peruse the SL book lists for good am history choices and then align them with your SOTW, perhaps condensing some SOTW non-US weeks and taking more time with the US Hist weeks/chapters. . . It could work.

 

I love SL elementary Am Hist cores: 3 & 4. Such great reading. The kids and I loved them. If it worked into someone's plan to do an extra year or two between world history cycles somewhere in 4th-6th grade, you could take a SL detour. . that would be a fun core (or two) to try. SL 3+4 is a one year US history, 3 and 4 take a year each.

[sarahv]

I love SL elementary Am Hist cores: 3 & 4. Such great reading. The kids and I loved them. If it worked into someone's plan to do an extra year or two between world history cycles somewhere in 4th-6th grade, you could take a SL detour. . that would be a fun core (or two) to try. SL 3+4 is a one year US history, 3 and 4 take a year each.

 

Do you think SL cores 3 and 4 are reasonably doable over a three year span, just doing one day of dedicated Am. History per week (with extra read-alouds and independent reading the rest of the week)? I admit to not having much experience with SL core schedules, I've only seen P3/4 and P4/5.

[sarahv]

We're doing both World History and American History side by side and it's working very nicely. I am using This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall along with other resources for Grades 1-4. My current plan is:

 

In 1st, 5th, and 9th grades we will be learning about:

Native Americans

Explorers and Pioneers

Stories of Virginia

Stories of New England

 

In 2nd, 6th, and 10th grades we will be learning about:

Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies

Stories of the French in America

Stories of the Struggle for Liberty

 

In 3rd, 7th, and 11th grades we will be learning about:

Stories of the US Under the Constitution

Gold Rush

Civil War

WWI

 

In 4th, 8th, and 12th grades we will be learning about:

WWI to Modern Times

US Government

 

So you are using This Country of Ours as your spine? What other resources are pulling from? Are there book lists, etc, that you are following? Do you have experience with Artner's guide? I've not seen it yet. The plan you drew up is your own, I am assuming. It looks great, I just know I need a little more hand-holding as far as resources are concerned. :tongue_smilie:

[Ravin]

We're not following the WTM history cycle here. Aside from me not caring for Story of the World (my anthropologist brain balked at the very first chapter), we're not making history as big a focus.

 

This year, we're doing a quick tour of history using the book "How Children Lived" as a spine in the fall, then a unit study combining science/history/geography of Arizona in the fall. In 2nd we're going to follow the LCC recommendation of doing American History, probably using mostly biographies with some historical fiction and a timeline to hang things on.

 

I do intend to incorporate some of the WTM ideas of history cycle. A timeline to hang things on I think is helpful for integrating history when you focus on national and world history separately. It's rather ridiculous, for example, how long it took me to connect the French and Indian War with anything going on in Europe. I also want to include more about the history of our neighbors and nations which we interact with; it's ridiculous how little I ever learned about the history of Mexico, for example, except as directly related to the history of Texas (where I grew up), and even that was never really put in context.

[sarahv]

So Raven,

 

Are you planning a four-year cycle like WTM, or just putting to use some of the principles of historical study that the WTM outlines? You mentioned following LCC (I'm trying to follow that somewhat myself) in terms of American History. How do you plan on incorporating the World History studies, or are you just putting World History off until later?

 

I agree that WTM has great history suggestions in the 1999 edition. I was really convinced that chronological history is the way to go. I like alot of her teaching style as well, I just don't like Story of the World. I also want a solid emphasis on Am. History. So where's the balance?? Sigh. Maybe it's not in a curriculum, per se, more in following our own interests with a little guidance in literature suggestions? (Based on a timeline, I appreciated that reminder, Raven!) I'm not quite sure which way to go on this one. Thanks for your input!

[KrissiK]

I just had to chime in regarding "This Country of Ours". What an awesome book. I'm just reading it right now for my own edification and knowledge and I can't put it down. I love it. I'm learning so much. I think for my boys at their age it is waaay too advanced, but I'm looking forward to using it in the next several years.

[Annie Laurie]

Do you think SL cores 3 and 4 are reasonably doable over a three year span, just doing one day of dedicated Am. History per week (with extra read-alouds and independent reading the rest of the week)? I admit to not having much experience with SL core schedules, I've only seen P3/4 and P4/5.

 

I'm not the person you were asking, but I use SL so thought I would say that this might be hard to do. SL is really packed, many people end up stretching a core over 18 months instead of 9 while still doing the SL core 3 or 4 days a week.

[sarahv]

I'm not the person you were asking, but I use SL so thought I would say that this might be hard to do. SL is really packed, many people end up stretching a core over 18 months instead of 9 while still doing the SL core 3 or 4 days a week.

 

Thank you! That helps me to know how to use it! :001_smile:

[*Jessica*]

So you are using This Country of Ours as your spine? What other resources are pulling from? Are there book lists, etc, that you are following? Do you have experience with Artner's guide? I've not seen it yet. The plan you drew up is your own, I am assuming. It looks great, I just know I need a little more hand-holding as far as resources are concerned. :tongue_smilie:

Yes, This Country of Ours is our spine for the grammar stage. For the logic stage I plan to use Joy Hakim's A History of US. The rhetoric stage is too far off for me to have a plan yet.

 

Because This Country of Ours does not cover Native Americans as in-depth as I wanted, we used other resources before jumping into TCOO.

Pronto Lessons Native American History

Native Child

Learn About Native Americans

Plus picture books, and activities I found online.

 

I don't have a book list I'm pulling things from, though I do pull out TWTM and check it for recommended books at times. I rely on good old Google searches to unearth gems, and read threads here to discover appropriate picture books that we might enjoy. I've never even heard of Artner's guide, but I thank you for mentioning it! I added it to my wish list.

 

I have a blog where I'm trying to keep track of all of the resources we use. You're welcome to check it out, though it's still very rough around the edges. My Blog

[Georgia]

IUs, too. It was my kids who were anxious to get to American history. We'd been doing SOTW, but I was not moving fast enough for them. I'm glad we slowed down in ancients, it was worth it. But they are curious about current events and history and how they interrelate, and we frequently talk about US history in this context. So, we are continuing along in SOTW2, but keeping it casual, reading aloud and doing timeline figures, and really focusing on History of US, with all our writing coming from that. We really like this way of doing it, and we are all satisfied with our new interest. I think the two will begin to overlap, but I will not try to time them to line up together, and will just let the topics fall where they do.

[sarahv]

Thanks for your reply, Jessica!

 

I'm really enjoying hearing the way everyone has been working more Am. Hist. into your schedules. It's giving me lots of ideas, and growing my book wishlist. :D