anyone NOT do ancient history for 1st grade?

[Targhee]

So, who's not done ancients in first?

 

I am thinking of skipping it (more likely starting it later). I love the ancients! I think it's the most exciting history (partly because there is so much "story" mixed in with the history). BUT I feel a need to work on some different social studies (more about maps, what history is in general, communities/civics, our country, relationships, etc.). I am wondering how my child can learn these about ancient and foreign when she still doesn't know a lot about local and current.

 

Am I just doing my typical over-the-top worrying, or do these concerns ring a bell with anyone else?

 

Advise welcome.

[WTMindy]

Well, I think you can do whatever you want! However, my kids loved SOTW ancients so much at that age that I think it is great. I didn't find my kids were confused and the map thing came because we love maps and we like playing games with the globe, etc. :-)

[curlie]

There are two schools of thought when it comes to teaching history/historical literature/cultures/etc.

 

1) Children need to learn about their immediate environment and work outward from there, eventually delving into the most distant.

 

2) Children enjoy exposure to new ideas and in a lot of ways come into the "strange" with fewer preconceived notions than adults.

 

Personally, I go with #2. My daughter is only 4, but I already see her very interested in other cultures (the People book from SL PK, for example). Teaching children about a big, wide world gives them exposure to a broader context and allows them to immerse themselves in possibility before they are so old that they *have* to focus on any one thing.

[Plaid Dad]

We don't follow the four-year history rotation. I wanted my dd to have an overview of history before we delved into specific time periods and cultures, so we used CHOW for first. In fact, it could easily be stretched over two years if you wanted to go more slowly or to add in activities and projects. For reference, we did history once a week, "just reading" aloud with light discussion and (very) occasional oral narrations.

[HootOwl]

but I wouldn't do it again. We enjoyed the study, but I would have rather started with world geography or a "lighter" study the first year or two. I had 4yo with my 6yo, and I realized too late that he was always going to be "riding along", and this would be even more problematic with the last 2 volumes of SOTW.

 

We are taking a break this year (and next) to do WinterPromise American Story 1 and 2. When we start back with SOTW, they will be 4th and 6th.

 

Blessings,

Lisa

[...................]

We're just doing Topics of Interest at the library which may or may not include the Ancients at some point.

 

:001_smile:

[rafiki]

.

[PeterPan]

My dh wanted us to do american first, so we did. Actually, we did some country studies and geography (continents, basic stuff) in K5, american through the summer, and started ancients in like Feb. of 1st grade. Charlotte Mason said the very thing you're suggesting, that a student first learn about their own area, so you're not the only one to think that. :)

 

VP suggests doing the same thing, covering geo and local history in 1st, then starting ancients in 2nd, when the student is reading and writing better. If you look at their catalog, they list all kinds of cool resources. SL has ancients in the lower cores but covers geo concurrently with the Geography Songs by Audio Memory, which we really like. There's also a grade leveled sequence of books called Maps & Globes, just in case it kills you not to cover those skills sequentially, hehe. I have my dd doing them, which she puts up with.

[Susie in CA]

Well, we loved SOTW 1. It does cover 'What is History?' at the very beginning. We did learn many map skill while doing SOTW. We always did the map from the activity guide and looked at the globe and wall map. I would do SOTW in 1st Grade again in a heartbeat.

 

Susie

[Dayle in Guatemala]

We started with American History. We did a geography program to broaden their horizons, and then started with ancients in about 2nd grade or so.

[ThelmaLou]

I like to thoroughly cover the Old and New Testaments in K and 1st before jumping into Ancient History. I use VP as a spine, but we listen to SOTW audio along the way.

[asher]

We haven't done the Ancients for 1st and don't plan to do it for next year. We've opted to study American History and then we'll do Story of the World. :)

[Jenny in Florida]

. . . because I always had him go along with what his big sister was studying, history-wise.

 

It worked fine for us.

[MelissaMinNC]

Well, we're doing Ancients (dd is in 1st this year), but I certainly don't think you "have" to. I really don't think my dd at this point, grasps just how long ago "ancient" times were. In her mind, anything that's older than...well, me, for instance, is ancient. (As she demonstrated when I mentioned that something was before my time and she asked me, "Why? Was it from the time of Job?" :lol: I explained that there was a slight gap between Job and my birth.) My hope is that by the end of 4th grade, she will understand that we've been studying history from the beginning through current times, and that she will have a better understanding of what ancient really means.

 

Mostly, I'm following the 4 year cycle for ME. It makes sense to me to do it this way, it's orderly, I don't have to worry that I'm going to skip something important, etc. I don't think it makes a bit of difference to a first grader, though - so whatever you're comfortable with should work fine.

 

I think it was MomOf7 who posted that with her 1st graders she does a family history book, to introduce the concept of what history means, etc., and the kids really enjoy it and learn a lot about themselves and their families, and have a nice keepsake when they're done. I thought that was a lovely idea - I hope she doesn't mind my sharing it with you. :)

 

Take care,

Melissa

[Sue G in PA]

though I had hoped would at least listen in...did not! So, he won't actually get to Ancients until our next cycle...in 4 years! So, he'll be a 6th grader! He'll do MFW ECC with us next year, move to Rome to Ref., through Exp. - 1850 and then 1850 - Moderns. Actually, if we do ECC again after that, he'll do Ancients in 7th! Yikes! I'm really NOT worried. We've hardly gotten through MOH1 due to my own brain and lack of motivation, so hopefully he can begin listening to a bit of our lessons during the summer. Okay, I'm rather optimistic! I figure he is getting WAY more history than his public schooled counterparts no matter HOW many cycles he goes through, KWIM?

[Sarah CB]

My kids have loved doing SOTW. We did Ancients last year with ds in grade 1, other ds in preschool and my older dd (her second rotation through). It was fantastic. Little ds listened in to our reading and played, grade 1 ds did a little more. The best part were the hands-on activities and the fact that so much of what they learned leaked into their play. This was last year and they still talk about Alexander the Great, the fall of Rome and the Egyptians. They got Roman Playmobil for Christmas so now it's all about Caesar and conquering other nations and the barbarians invading.

 

I don't think they would have been quite as inspired by learning about "our community".

 

Besides, a lot of that local stuff comes from just living in a community. We have a map of our country on the wall and they know that there are provinces other than ours, that mom grew up in Alberta, that Grandpa lives in Ontario. They have met the Mayor, they complain about potholes and we talk about which level of gov't is responsible for the roads and how they get the money to pay for repairs. I've never felt the need to use a formal curriculum (or set aside a whole year!) to concentrate on early elementary level "social studies".

 

We pull our own history into the history cycles. Next year we're doing Early Modern Times and a big component of that will be Canadian history. The year after will be Modern Times and that's when we'll look at our country and how it functions today.

[Philothea]

I am doing ancients next year. I do like the four year cycle a lot.

 

I agree with the other posters that children just pick up the "community and the town around me" kind of stuff.

 

My problem is that many many curriculums do US history almost every single year. I checked out our states curriculum frame work and they show that while the children are learning US history almost every year, they are only getting about a semester of other time period and places-- and it is not repeated in their whole k-12 cycle!

http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

 

I'm inches away from my degree in History, and I can tell you that the climate has really changed as far as what colleges want. Western Civ. is basically out and you are expected to know and study World Civ. There are not that many classes in US history that you are required to take unless it is your specialization. And more and more classes about Asia, Africa etc. are required. Just something to think about for anyone with college bound kids.

 

If I was going to start with something other than Ancients, it would probably be a map study with a general overview of world history.

[Donna T.]

We did, but we focused on Biblical history rather than World history. My oldest son, who will be nine in a few days, is just now starting SOTW. I am pleased to find that starting SOTW at this point has not been a bust. You can do whatever you want. There is plenty of time to cover each time period in depth.

[Rebel Jedi Mom]

I did SOTW with my oldest in 1st grade and he did enjoy it, but I have decided to wait until 2nd grade to start ancients with my middle ds. I have decided on SL Core K because it has an Introduction to the World and Cultures overview. I am including a few books to go along with our studies like DK Children Just Like Me, DK Jobs People Do and few young geography books such as Me on the Map, Me and My Place in Space, Usborne My Street and My Town. I am really looking forward to it.

Jill

[Rhesa]

We are doing SOTW Ancients this year for 1st. It has been a lot of fun, but I don't see any problem with putting it off.

 

When interest waned, we took a brief break (like a week), and I let my children pick history books from the library that they want to read.

 

As much as I like the idea of a 4 yr history cycle, I'm not seeing a lot of retention. But my children are not scared of ancient history. The other day they were back in the bedroom playing "quest in the Ice Age." I'm not exactly sure what that game involves, but it sounded interesting!:)

[TracyR]

I haven't used SOTW so can't comment on that . But I can say that we didn't start with the ancients . We did like you are planning and it really has worked out nicely .

We worked on maps and learning about what was around us . A little bit of American History thrown in . I also purchased a few Sonlight story books about children who live in different countries ( Stories in Africa , New Toes for Tia ) but we didn't study outside countries until this year . Now with my oldest at grade 4 we started ancient history this year with CHOW . She understands it better, and we get MUCH more out of it then if we had tried it at a 1st grade level for sure .

 

So it can work ,and work out well if you do it the way you plan to. I found bringing this history topic up a bit later for us worked out much better in the long run .

Of course every family is different and mileage may vary :>)

[my2kidsmom]

We use STOW. Next year dd with be in the 4th volumn. I am going to let my 1st grade ds "tag along". Then, we'll cover ancient when he is in 2nd and dd is in 5th (for her 2nd time in the rotation).

[coffeefreak]

We started off doing Ancients, but half way through the year she was frustrated with it. (I'm finally realizing she does better with Unit Studies instead of covering the same topic all year) We did "Galloping the Globe" for the rest of the year. It was perfect for first grade and gave her a better understanding of the world as a whole. I've decided VP has it right, do a year of Geography in first grade and then continue on the 4 year cycle (note - it takes them longer to get through history than 4 years, which doesn't work for us). If you feel "off," you could always combine year 3 and 4, doing less with Modern History knowing you'll cover it again twice.

 

So:

1st -Geography

2nd - Ancients

3rd - Middle Ages/Ren

4th - Rest of history/very brief on modern history

5th - Ancients

 

Incidentally, with my youngest in K next year, I've already started thinking about how I'll combine them. I'll do Geography in 1st grade and have my oldest do Geography at the same time (4th grade). Then, I'll start with Ancients (2nd and 5th) and figure it out from there. Since we follow the Classical Education from a Unit Studies approach, it ends up a little different scheduling wise. However, now that I see the results, I know this was the right choice for my daughter. That's the challenge, finding what works for your kids!:confused: Too bad they weren't all born with instruction manuals!:willy_nilly:

Blessings!

Dorinda

[dalynnrmc]

(I didn't read replies! Sorry!)

 

We're going to use Little Hands to Heaven (by Heart of Dakota) in K along with community unit studies. Then, in first grade, we'll move on to Little Hearts to Heaven (HoD again) which does a very general overview of "world history". We'll learn "social studies" skills like maps and more specific community things through cub scouts. Second grade will involve more scouts and the next HoD level (which includes American history). Third grade we will begin with a semester doing a state unit study, and then start on Mystery of History 1 and Christian Liberty Press Book E. We take a full year and a half to cover the ancients and Biblical history, starting halfway through third grade and through fourth.

[Malenki]

We didn't do ancients in 1st. We did do geography type readings in kindergarten and had a lot of fun with it, but kept it real light.

 

DH really wanted us to do American history first... or no history at all at this age. We went with TruthQuest and it's been wonderful. After much thought this spring we're going to continue with TruthQuest in the fall with the second guide.

[Storm Bay]

We don't do it in first grade. For my eldest, it was because she did K-2 in ps. For my second it was because I had other issues to handle with my other two children at the time. For my last it's because he thought history was boring unless it had to do with flight, so he'll start in Gr 3 (or 4). I have decided that two good cycles through history will work well here. My second did Canadian history first, then SOTW 1 in Gr. 4, and 2 in Gr. 5. She loves it and goes through it and extra reading quickly. She's now working on finishing All American History 1, which she thought boring until she had a break from SOTW and is eager to finish the book (she isn't even half way through, but volunteered to do an extra lesson this weekend.) She'll get SOTW by the next grade, and finish up with modern history her last year in middle school before she starts it all again. I'm not sure if I'll do SOTW 4 or not, but do plan to get 3. My eldest was beyond 3 (even 1 and 2 were too easy), but now that extra materials are being worked on for this for other ages (SWB made a post) I'm rethinking this.

[Jill- OK]

Several of my kiddos needed to work on a basic understanding of what history *is*, first.

 

About third grade is what I've found is a good age, here. We're getting ready to start Ancients again next year, matter of fact!

[Aletheia Academy]

I target our studies for ds (5)...we will do CHOW next year for K (pre-k 4 for dd) as a read aloud to aquaint dc with the pageant of history. For his 1st grade year and my dd's k year, we will begin with the Beautiful Feet American History unit study for primary grades. I understand the philosophies on both sides, and we have chosen to teach the children something about their own country and heritage first before beginning the chronological study in earnest.

 

In addition, we feel more comfortable with starting mainly with literature and read-alouds, i.e. gentle learning, rather than on other learning activities that would be little more than "busy work" that distracts from our main focus of the 3 R's. This feels right for *our* family.

 

I do look forward to undertaking the chronological cycle the following year.

 

Warmly,

[rafiki]

.

[HootyTooty]

When I run through the cycle with my youngest I am going to use our first year to read CHOW and do some geography US/Canada studies.

[vmsurbat]

Having started homeschooling eons ago when there were very few "texts" geared for 1st grade history, I followed Miss Mason's advice and we indulged in all manner of living books. We didn't follow a particular order, mainly what I could find at our local, well-stocked library. When we found something that was a huge hit, we just kept going. For example, we read several of the Little House in the Big Woods books (not all because as Laura and Mary get older, their adventures are not as interesting to a six year old). We discovered Lucy Perkins "The XXX Twins" series and read a bunch of those. I had "Classic Myths to Read Aloud" and we dipped into it every so often throughout the year. (This is an excellent book with age-appropriate (but not dumbed down) content.) We read our way through Vos's The Child's Story Bible. With all these books, we looked at a map (when appropriate) and maintained a poster board timeline (This is marked by eras, not dates: Anc. World, Age of Empires, M.A., R&R, Expl, Colonization, Ind. Rev, Mod. World) and put in a stick figure for *some* of the people/events we read about.). All my children had an excellent foundation for beginning proper history studies at age 8/9 (starting with Am. History).

 

Don't burn out on history; there is really no need for it to be a "class." What the kids should ultimately take away from "history" at these young ages is that the world is a big place and people live differently than we do both now and in the past.

 

HTH,

[angela in ohio]

My little upcoming 1 st grader (3rd dc) will be doing geography, and then starting history in 2nd with VP Old Testament/ Ancient Greece. Both of my older girls did U.S. history (with living books) in 1st grade, and then we started world history later.

[muffinmom]

What would be a good resource for an overview of world history at the first grade level?

 

Thanks, Melanee

[Shasta Mom]

Sorry, what is CHOW?

[MSMom]

We're completing MOH 1 for 1st grade and plan to move on to MOH 2 for 2nd grade. We have thoroughly enjoyed the program and have learned some geography along with it. The activities for younger children have worked well for dd. We've delved deeper into areas as she has been interested.

 

We cover "local" things at holiday time - Thanksgiving, MLK, Memorial Day - and just in driving around. "Why is today tax day Mom? Why do we have to go to the Post Office?, etc.)

 

HTH

[dorothy]

CHOW in 1st and then SOTW 1 for 2nd grade.

[keptwoman]

We started ancients with DS(8) in 2nd because thats when we started home ed. I think that worked out well. So with DD I decided to wait to do history with her until we are 2nd time around the 4 year rotation, and she will be in 2nd, which seems about right.

I'm not sure what I will spend K and 1 doing, but I'm tending toward the "Better late than early" concept, so probably not much in any formal way, just lots of reading and fun.

[Rebecca in VA]

They offered Geography the first semester of kindergarten and K-level American History the second semester. It was excellent. The geography instruction gave a good foundation for studying history.

 

K12 then went on and began Ancient History in first grade.

[Carmen_and_Company]

We did geography in 1st grade by learning about the continents, oceans, major rivers, major lakes, and mountain ranges, then we selected several countries from each continent for a more indepth study of the people & culture.

 

We did lots of literature, lapbooks, crafts, and cooking for each detailed country study and a huge one made out of cardboard for the continent study. We used the older AO reading list & suggestions.

 

We also read Cinderella stories from each continent.

 

I wanted the dc to be on the same history rotation more than anything, and having Storm do a year of geography placed Taz & her on the same rotation for 9th & 2nd grade.

[Michele B]

I think you could learn a lot about modern government and civil structure while studying the ancients. Egypt had a great internal structure. Once the government was centralised, the king could organise large building projects, wars, mining projects, temples, the Nile-o-meter. The king had a ton of government officials - how are their roles similar/dissimilar to what we have now? Egypt rose again from two of its "Falls." You could study what happened to cause and to repair those falls. As you study Greeks and Romans you could talk about the roots of our own civilisation and government. What do people always need from government, what do they want, what are they willing to surrender to government? Great jumping off points to study what we now have.

 

Michele B

I am a wee bit prejudiced in favor of the Ancients!

[Chloe]

When my dd was in 1st and my ds was in K we used Galloping the Globe for a World Geography unit study. The next two years we did US history with Truthquest the first year and WinterPromise American Story 2 the next year. This year for 4th and 3rd we've been doing Ancients using a combination of CHOW, SOTW and other living books.

 

If I had to do it again I would do an overview of US history first (maybe for K and 1st grade, just focusing on key people who shaped our nation) and then went to World Geography (in 2nd grade) before moving into World History. I don't think my dc retained much of the world geography doing it so young, but I think they would have retained learning about major people from US history. Biographies seem to be more interesting to dc and they remember more, plus Thanksgiving, Presidents' Day, Columbus Day, etc help keep those people in their memory.

 

I'm not sure how it will work out with my younger two, as I would like to keep us studying history together. I haven't planned that far yet.