4 year history rotation or World History, Am. History, Govt?

[Shelly in IL]

What would be the best thing to do with my soon to be 9th grader? Should I follow the traditional method of doing a World history program, or the classical approach with the 4 year rotation?

 

I have a ds who will be in 5th grade and I was contemplating starting him over in ancients and starting 9th grade ds over as well. 9th grader has been through the rotation once already. Thanks.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

After 3 "cycles" through history, my teens wanted to go the traditional route in high school. We did not take 4 years for each cycle through history though.

[Lori D.]

What would be the best thing to do with my soon to be 9th grader? Should I follow the traditional method of doing a World history program, or the classical approach with the 4 year rotation?

 

I have a ds who will be in 5th grade and I was contemplating starting him over in ancients and starting 9th grade ds over as well. 9th grader has been through the rotation once already. Thanks.

 

 

Really, *whatever* history you cover in however many rotations or whatever methods will be more than what most schools do, so go with what YOU would like, and what DS would like.

 

Our original plan was 3 classical 4-year rotations when we started homeschooling with our then 1st and 2nd gr. DSs. The first "rotation" took us 6 years, we had so much fun going on "bunny trails" and getting into cool areas of our interest about history. We took a break for a year (gr. 7 & 8) for a fabulous world cultures/geography and comparative religions study, and then in high school I've let them pick what history and what order. So history high school has looked like this for for us:

 

gr. 8 & 9 = ancient world

gr. 9 & 10 = 20th century world

gr. 10 & 11 = American History (also doing Government)

gr. 11 & 12 = will be medieval world

gr. 12 = ?

 

Because we did do history in order the first time around, it really hasn't been a big deal (for us) to do it out of order during high school. They are mature enough to make the connections from what they remember from our past coverage of history. Enjoy your history adventure, however you organize it! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Donna A.]

My oldest didn't do a "complete" cycle of history in order during elementary, so she's doing it in high school. I mean, she did cover all the time periods, but I wasn't very consistent until recent years, so there wasn't a good flow to it. We'll fix that in high school. ;)

 

Second dd is getting a better cycle at the elementary level, though, so we may go the traditional route in high school. She's not as strong of a reader as her sister (she'd rather be outside playing softball!), so I don't think she'll read nearly as much literature, nor quite as deeply, nor do nearly the amount of writing as her sister is now. Thus, I'm leaving open the option of using textbooks with 2nd dd in the future.

 

Not sure yet on my 3rd dd. :tongue_smilie:

[Kim in SouthGa]

After much contemplation, we decided to go the WTM route. Some of the things to consider: are you going to try for AP tests or SAT II tests? The college my son wants to go to requires at least three SAT IIs, so I found a book at the local book store that has copies of old SAT II tests in it that he can use for practice. I'm also going to get him some flashcards that are for AP world history test prep and just have him practice all that stuff periodically until he finishes up this rotation, then take the SAT II World History test. I may try to squeeze the last two years into one year so that he can do dual enrollment his senior year, which shouldn't be that big a deal because we have covered that material pretty in depth the last couple of years. Of course all this could change by tomorrow evening ;) It's that time of year when we curriculum junkies are running wild, jumping from one ship to another in record time!

[Shelly in IL]

of course I want him to do well on testing. This kid loves history. Can't imagine just doing SAT preps with him - he would feel cheated.

[Mama Lynx]

We're currently considering this:

 

Gr. 9 and 10 - Ancient World (mostly Greece and Rome)

 

Gr. 11 - Medieval/Renaissance

 

Gr. 12 - Modern World + US history, likely with government rolled in.

 

Yes, that's going to make things trickier in terms of SATII or AP tests. This is my history-oriented kid, though, and he knows a great deal of world history, in-depth, already.

[Kim in SouthGa]

Oh, we're not just doing SAT preps, we are doing that in addition to the regular 4 year WTM cycle. For 9th he is doing a course online through Memoria Press using SWB's History of the Ancient World. Hopefully, they will have one using History of the Medieval World by the time he is in 10th, and so on. The flashcards and test preps will just be to keep the information fresh in his mind until he takes the test. He loves, loves, loves history and knows way more than I do, but I still think he would have a hard time with some of the Ancient questions if he had not studied anything about it for a couple of years before taking the test.

[Chris in VA]

I like the 4 year cycle, myself, tho we did it slightly out of order with ds.

I wanted 4 years to do world history, folding in gov't (made so much more sense when done in the 3rd year, in the context of world history) and doing econ as a semester elective apart from history.

[Storm Bay]

There is no one right way to do things.

 

My eldest, who is more interested in science & math (caught her doing LoF Advanced Algebra the other day instead of what she's supposed to be doing this semester) is doing:

World History 1 (History of the Ancient World)

American History 1

American History 2 with gov't & economics (at least gov't)

World History 2 (SWB's next book, most likely)

 

Reason: she has to have American history and isn't into history. Also, just in case she decides to go to ps later her credits will be correct for the local hs.

 

My second, who enjoys history, is going to do (subject to change given that she's not quite 12):

World History 1 in grade 8 (at 13)

World History 2 in grade 9

American History in grade 10

World History 3 in grade 11

World History 4 in grade 12

plus, somewhere the requisite US gov't economics.

 

Not sure about ds yet.

 

None of my dc will do 3 rotations through world history.

[bugs]

Of course all this could change by tomorrow evening ;) It's that time of year when we curriculum junkies are running wild, jumping from one ship to another in record time!

:iagree:

[SS in MD]

Our oldest 2 dc are two years apart (currently 8th and 6th grades); we started out doing the 4 year WTM history rotation, but decided to take a year studying geography & world cultures, also during year 3 & year 4 I added in more american history while studying world history so it took us a little longer to finish... so oldest hasn't had quite a full 2 year rotation of the cycle, but 2nd dd (if we keep on track) will by the time she enters 9th (right now we're finishing up middle ages).

 

In 9th for the oldest dc, I'm thinking of her doing Omnibus III which covers (I believe) Reformation to present. From 10th - 12th she wants to do AP history courses (govt, US hist, world). That's the plan anyway!!! LOL

 

Haven't mapped hs for 2nd dd .... we'll see how things go with 1st dc!

 

HTHs

[dansamy]

Just check to be sure you're meeting any requirements that the state puts on you. I think my state requires US History, Economics/Government and state history.