hlynn Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 I have 2 sons, three years apart. I had planned to start my oldest in the 1st grade with the Ancient time period. I have read the section in the Well Trained Mind addressing the history rotation with multiple children. However, when my oldest is reading Story of the World 4 in the 4th grade, , my youngest will be in the 1st grade. The intro of Story of the World 4 states that the content is not suitable for younger children. I considered just finding other resources for my 1st grader; however, the problems continues when my oldest is a 12th grader studying the 1850 to modern period. My youngest will then be a 9th grader. The Well Trained Mind recommends waiting until 10th grade to read the books from the modern list. I really want to keep the boys in the same time periods. We love history, and I look forward to family conversations about our studies. Has anyone found a creative way to keep their children in the same time period and follow the recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cottagechick Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 We just moved slower thru the books. We took almost 2 years for each of the SOTW books because we wanted to savor the great extra stuff. Not that we did everything or read every recommendation...just that I didn't stress about getting a book done every year. That was with my older kids. I'm starting over again with my youngest two. By the time your boys are past the grammar stage, they won't need to necessarily need to do history together anyway. Logic stage work can be done independently for history for the most part. You've got time to enjoy the history rotation.... I am doing the Medieval history (SOTW 2) with a 5th and 3rd grader...but the 5th grader will also do the logic stage outlining/summaries/timelining. I have it laid out on my blog under the label 'history' if you're looking for how it practically plays out at my house....or at least how I hope it will pan out when we start in a few weeks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittysmom Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 No suggestions here, but we're in the same boat. My 3rd grader and 6th grader are doing history year 3 this year and my youngest is starting Kindergarten. So he'll be ready to start SOTW next year, right when they move onto modern times. *groan* I don't know what we'll do, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwjx2khsmj Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 I'm not there yet but will run into similar issues before it's all over. My plan is to use my judgement. Discuss things at the level that is appropriate for all the children and make time to talk more in depth about other issues with the olders when the time comes. There's enough history in any time period to keep everyone busy. If there are sensitive topics I don't want to present to a younger, we'll make a special time to pursue the lesson with an older. I'm sure the younger won't mind a play date or special movie during that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlynn Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 Thank you everyone for your ideas. Sometimes I make things more complicated than they need to be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 (edited) . Edited September 5, 2023 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyW Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 I have two kids, three years apart. What I did was to start my daughter in on the cycle in kindergarten, and then I'll start my son in on it this coming year in first grade. They'll be in different stages, but the same time period. We're doing this for science as well. It means my daughter starts the logic stage a year early in history and science, but that's no biggie for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 I have 2 sons, three years apart. I had planned to start my oldest in the 1st grade with the Ancient time period. I have read the section in the Well Trained Mind addressing the history rotation with multiple children. However, when my oldest is reading Story of the World 4 in the 4th grade, , my youngest will be in the 1st grade. The intro of Story of the World 4 states that the content is not suitable for younger children. Has anyone found a creative way to keep their children in the same time period and follow the recommendations? I had the same problem. I have three but my oldest and youngest are 3 years apart. My creative solution was to begin with 2 years of American history and then start the 4 year world history cycle. Then my youngest would be in K for ancients and 3rd by the time we hit modern times. It was the best I could do. We are quite enjoying American history! The plan is to do 2 years of American, 4 years world, 2 years American, 4 years world. It's the best fix I can think of. There are huge benefits also. This sequence allows us to immerse ourselves in the fascinating details of American history without having to rush through. Then when we hit world history, we won't have to feel like we're slighting American history or (worse to me) focusing too much on American history to the detriment of our world history focus. Good luck finding your path! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlynn Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 Thank you for your post! I like the emphasis on American History..which curriculum do you use, and do you use Story of the World for World History? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlynn Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 This is a response to JennyW's solution. I think my oldest son could handle starting the history rotation in kindergarten. How did your daughter like doing the modern period as a 3rd grader? Did you have to omit any topics that might be disturbing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Thank you for your post! I like the emphasis on American History..which curriculum do you use, and do you use Story of the World for World History? I tried WinterPromise's American Story I but it didn't work for me. (They have a two year program for both the early years and the middle years which would be perfect for my plan if they are a fit for your style.) Instead, I am doing my own American history program, very Charlotte Mason with lots of living books and great biographies, correlating art, music, poetry, etc.. I will use SOTW for the first world history rotation, Hakim's History of US for the middle years American history rotation (also plan to do a comparative study of liberal/conservative American history volumes) and SWB's world history series for adults for high school (I do hope it will be finished by the time we get there). I have strongly considered using Tapestry of Grace for our world history rotations but I haven't decided yet. There is enough American history in TOG that I actually think I could have used it the whole way, even with my different rotation schedule. Thinking out loud... You'll feel so good when you make a decision and feel like everything is sorted out. I know I did! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlynn Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 Classical Conversations does a 3-year history rotation. They do 2-years of world history, 1-year of American History and then they start over. I considered doing that rotation for 2 sons, 3-years apart. However, I like how the Story of the World is divided into a 4-year study. Are there any opinions on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlynn Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 Thanks for the Info and Encouragement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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