Irishmommy Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I'm a bit confused. I thought SOTW 3 was American history, but on first glance, it looks more like world with a bit of American thrown in. How and where do you fit American history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I am contempleting doing an American history overview over the summer as part of our "school light." We generally keep up on math and reading so I am considering using American History as required reading for DS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 My kids are about your kids ages... this is our first pass through history so I'm not worried about going indepth to US history. We'll do US within SOTW3, taking more time out for some things, but really, at this age I'm not worried. I'll have them read US related things in their lit to get more in too. In HS I'll make sure we slow down and study US history/government more indepth... but really, as long as they know the basics before then I'm not too worried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 We are doing concurrent US History. We are nearing the end of SOTW 2, when Christopher Colombus is introduced, so we are now working through Carson Dellosa's Complete US History text, which is relatively light and easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 We are doing concurrent US History. We are nearing the end of SOTW 2, when Christopher Colombus is introduced, so we are now working through Carson Dellosa's Complete US History text, which is relatively light and easy. This is similar to what I was planning to do... Once we get through SOTW2 we will start with Am. History and let it flow into our summer. I have the Abeka 3rd grade program (Our American Heritage) which basically gives an overview of Am. History through an introduction to famous people from Columbus to Laura Ingalls Wilder. It should be an easy summer reading/comprehension program for DS and will give him a glimpse into some of the characters and events in our nation's history. As an aside, I'm not a huge Abeka fan but my MIL teaches at a local private school and they give away their unused/slightly used curriculum at the end of each school year so I try to use the free stuff where I can. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In2why Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I decided to step out of the 4 year cycle and do US history this year. I didn't like that the 4 year cycle didn't have a year devoted to it, since I feel it is really important. We are going to start the cycle next year which will mean hitting it 3,4,5,6 grade. In 7th we will study US history again and then the cycle 8th, 9th, 10th 11th, and then Civics for 12th. At least that is my long term plan. Of course it is written in pencil. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 What our "plan" is. We just started this year in third grade. We like the Story of the world and want to keep that as our guide with US history. Time line wise so that the kids understand just how young our country is (if that makes sense) SOTW 3 along with The story of the USA. We have started on volume 1 chapter 8, and will move on to volume 2 SOTW 4 continue through The Story of the USA SOTW 1 State history year SOTW 2 History project and in depth on a part of history that they are interested in (ie the titanic, French revolution etc... ) First 7 chapters of The story of the USA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 We're doing it for the second time and I feel it's more than just a bit. SOTW III deals heavily with American history up to the point of the Civil War. SOTW IV takes up with the Civil War and moves on from there. I have found that I much prefer covering American history within the context of what was going on in the world at the time, rather than in isolation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Perhaps consider working your way *backwards* from what you know you HAVE to (and want to) cover in high school, to then what you want history/social studies to look like in middle school as either prep for high school (or last chance to get to something), and then work backwards into the elementary grades, so you'll have covered what you want to in the elementary/middle school years. Our experience: by the end of our first year of homeschooling, we had shifted from a 4-year cycle to six years. It was great! Not only did we have time for "bunny trails" of interest in world history here and there, we were able to take about 1.5 years for U.S. history, plus time for a short unit on our state (history, state flag, counties, etc.). Elementary-aged kids REALLY connect with the history focused on their own country, so I highly recommend trying to work in a year of U.S. history so you can enjoy all the GREAT resources and books for elementary aged kids on famous Americans, key events, inventions, discoveries, etc. Our DSs are just 1 grade apart and we started homeschooling when they were grades 1 and 2, so our history has looked like: Elementary (6 years) grades 1/2 thru grades 6/7 = 6 year world history cycle, with time for U.S. history, state history, and bunny trails Middle School (1 year) grades 7/8 = break from history; world culture/geography and comparative religions focus High School (5 credits in 4 years) grades 8/9 thru grades 11/12 = - 3 credits world history (1 year ancients; 1 year medieval; 1 year 20th century) - 1 credit American history - 0.5 credit Government - 0.5 credit Economics BEST of luck in planning out what works the best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfcartmama Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 I'm a newbie, so take it as you will, but we're using SOTW 3 with the AG this year for 2nd grade. When we get to a section on American history, I use the Guest Hollow (free!) resource to expand them. For example, the founding of Jamestown, we spent 3 weeks on...crafting, making pockets, he wrote a newspaper article on the Lost Colony, TONS of books with different perspectives in them, etc. As I've planned, I think it will take about 1 1/4 true school years to finish if we take the summer & holidays completely off. I will then pick up SOTW 4 in the same fashion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 I'm pretty new a homeschooling too but here's what we're doing. I do history with both my kids together so the two grades listed are for each kid (DS is in 2nd and DD is in 3rd, currently). We're doing Ancient World History right now (up to 400 AD) and we'll do Medieval next year (400 - 1500 AD). That seemed like a good point in time to insert US History. As always, the "plan" is written in pencil on toilet paper. :tongue_smilie: Grades 2/3- Ancients Grades 3/4- Medieval Grades 4/5- US History Grades 5/6- Early Modern Grades 6/7- Modern Grades 7/8- Ancient/ Medieval Grades 8/9- Early Modern Grades 9/10- Modern Grades 10/11- US History Grades 11/12- Civics and Government Grade 12- Student’s Choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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