history for K ?s

[Aoife]

This is the one spot i am not 100% on for next year. I'd like to do a nice and fun history introduction before we head into HO in 1st. I was thinking about K12's history for K program but I can't find any reviews on it. I thought about using SOTW but we'll be using it again as a supplement to HO whe we do the ancients in 1st and I don't want to bore him with ancients. i am not up for sonlight for K and I haven't really heard of anyone else having a K level history program. I would prefer something more hands on with fun activities if possible :)

[Celia]

I wouldn't use SOTW with such a young one, but I think learning about Egypt through story books, and maybe some stuff in the AG could be fun for a K'er (then you could have a bit more time in 1st for the rest of the ancients). My kids really enjoyed a few of the extra story books of that time period. You could really have fun with learning about more of the animals that are native to Egypt, and of course all the myths and whatnot can be fun to spend extra time on.

[KarenNC]

For K, we did what amounted to a series of unit studies. I wanted to give my daughter a base from which to start SOTW in 1st grade. It happened that we did a lot of travel that year, so most of our studies were tied in to that (one unit of science focused on marine animals because we went to SeaWorld, for instance). I wanted her to have some idea of what we were visiting. Nothing really complex, just a fun overview and exploration. I found that the websites for many of the historic places we visited had great suggestions for fun and interesting activities.

 

We covered an overview of current world cultures by going through DK's A Child Just Like Me (this was in prep for going to Epcot in the fall). In the spring, we took a 2 week driving trip that included St. Louis (Lewis and Clark), Boston, Plimoth Plantation, Niagara Falls, Springfield, IL (Lincoln's home) and a few other places. In prep for that, we went over the major American holidays (July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter--the last two focusing on the cultural rather than religious aspects) and the basic symbols and stories of American history (Pilgrims, Pocohontas, Lewis and Clark, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, flag, eagle, etc).

 

I think I ended up using an old Abeka history book that I found for a dollar at a used bookstore. All the providential portion was conveniently sectioned off into separate paragraphs, so, as I was reading it to her, it was easy to leave out. I think it might have been a 2nd grade book? I don't remember. We also used a lot of picture books and easy reader nonfiction that year.

[give_me_a_latte]

I plan to cover the History topics outlined in What Your Kindergartner Needs To Know and filling in with living books. We'll start TOG in 1st grade so I'm not really going to focus too much on history before then. I am going to cover geography/cultures in K though, just not really from a historical viewpoint. Could you maybe pick the topics you know you want to cover and then find books/activities for each one?

[skueppers]

What is it that you're hoping to get out of an introduction to history in K? I thought about doing history for K, but couldn't figure out what I'd be trying to achieve, so I decided against it.

 

(We're doing geography and world cultures instead, which is going well. I opted not to do history this year, but figured geography would be useful when we did start history.)

[Mama2two]

What is it that you're hoping to get out of an introduction to history in K? I thought about doing history for K, but couldn't figure out what I'd be trying to achieve, so I decided against it.

 

(We're doing geography and world cultures instead, which is going well. I opted not to do history this year, but figured geography would be useful when we did start history.)

 

We did the same thing. We did a geography/round the world tour for K. thought it would be a great intro and good to have some basic geography before starting history in first grade. We had a great time!

[kalanamak]

For K, I did prehistoric, up through the ice age, ending with the read aloud Maroo of the Winter Cave. It was a great year.

 

 

Vids:

Walking with Dinos

Walking with Monsters

Life in the Undergrowth

Private Life of Plants

Walking with Cave Men

 

Books:

The First Dog

You Wouldn't Want to be A Mammoth Hunter

Burton's Life on Earth (the lady who did Katy and the Big Snow)

the prehistoric parts of the history encyclopedia

books with many pics of the cave paintings, pictographs, etc.

 

That's what I can remember. Search here for pre-historic resources.

[In2why]

For K I think family history, an introduction to timelines again using a family tree and then the history of every holiday is more than enough. You could also add simple Geography using black line world maps and teaching the directional compass by geo-caching or sending him on a treasure hunt.

I wouldn't use a formal curriculum for history in Kindergarten. But that is just me. ;)

[give_me_a_latte]

You could also add simple Geography using black line world maps and teaching the directional compass by geo-caching or sending him on a treasure hunt.

 

Ooh yes! I can't wait until my littles are old enough for geocaching!!

 

Like pp's I also plan to study dinosaurs in K, if there is an interest. Right now he likes friendly dinos ;-) so we'll see where he's at next year!