US History and World History

[AllBoys]

Does anyone study US History and World History separately? Last year we started US history but there was so much the boys were interested in, we didn't get nearly as far as I thought we would. Now I am considering continuing where we left off (maybe slowly and less time per week) and starting world history as a second class. Has anyone done this? It seems like it might be a little overwhelming . . .

Edited September 11, 2010 by AllBoys

[Guest aquiverfull]

Well that was my plan for this year, but 4 weeks into school so far, I don't know. We've only done American History, my plan was to add in Ancient history but keep them separate subjects. I still want to do this, but I don't know where in the world I'll find the time for both. I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.

Edited September 8, 2010 by aquiverfull

[*Jessica*]

I'll be doing them as separate subjects. I've always wanted to, and tried to do so last year but it did seem like too much so we dropped American History. My son was only a kindergartener at the time, and it was my first year homeschooling. His favorite subject is history, though, and he asked if we could do history 5 days a week from now on. Instead of racing through world history faster, or going too in-depth and having it be boring, I decided to go back to doing them separately. We'll do World History three times per week, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then we'll do American History on Thursday and Friday, which tend to be the days where meetings, appointments, or unexpected things come up and we have to scale back school. I'm not going to worry if we don't get to American History every week, which should keep me from getting too overwhelmed. We'll work through the cycle a couple of times throughout their school years, so anything we miss the first time through can be gone into in-depth in the future. We are going to try very hard to get to it, though, since history is so important to Nik and I want to nurture his love of learning.

 

I don't know how old your child/children is/are, but I've started a website for our homeschool and my American History plans for first grade are there. The site is only a couple of days old and is still missing a lot of content, but I'm going to share the link anyway in case it is helpful for anyone else. Other subjects, like World History, can be accessed by clicking the First Grade tab at the top of the page.

 

Mind-Fires Academy First Grade American History Plans

[VaKim]

We did, until just the last couple months. It went great because we all love reading and love history.

I just recently bought a unit of TOG, though, which we are loving, and since it is right where American history comes into world (year 2, unit 3), there is no need to do them separately anymore.

[Poke Salad Annie]

We are doing this. I am reading aloud our world history spine, and he has assigned reading in an American history title of his choice. He must write about his readings 2X per week, and also add to our timeline on Fridays.

[Carol in Cal.]

I did world history and state history as separate subjects--I think that this was in 4th grade, but maybe it was in 5th. It worked out really well. That was a low science year, however, and history was already DD's favorite subject, so it was joyful rather than challenging.

[stripe]

Does anyone study US History and World History separately? Last year we started US history but there was so much the boys were interested in, we didn't get nearly as far as I thought we would. Now I am considering continuing where we left off (maybe slowly and less time per week) and starting world history as a second class. Has anyone done this? It seems like it might be a little overwhelming . . .

I am thinking of doing this. I found the neatest little booklet at a library sale about our state history, published by the state archives, that is really good and clearly the text is aimed at children! I thought it would be a good way to introduce my kids to local history so they could better understand some local outings (such as historical homes in the area for early settlers). I am still looking for a good US history book -- any ideas? I'm thinking maybe just picture books?

[AllBoys]

I am enjoying your suggestions! I think I am going to try this and see how it goes. The boys love history, the problem will be fitting in the other subjects.

[MyLittleWonders]

We do them separately as well. We are doing Ancients this year (we were slated for early modern, but ds#2 seemed too young to be starting modern next school year, so I went back to the beginning). I didn't want to have to wait another couple years to finally get to US history, so we are taking this year and next to do a survey of US history along with world history - world history is M & T, and US history is F.