WTM history - encyclopedia AND a narrative?

[razorbackmama]

Do you have your logic students read from an encyclopedia AND a set narrative and then find additional reading? Or do you simply have them read from the encyclopedia and then find additional reading (picking from a narrative at times if it fits best)?

[Stacy in NJ]

Mine read from either SOTW or TSOM and an encyclopedia as non-fiction history reading; they outline from the encyclopedia. Most of their assigned fiction reading is history related literature. For example, my ds13 is covering Middle Ages for our history rotation and is currently reading Robin Hood as his literature selection.

[MomsintheGarden]

Mine (5th & 7th grader) are reading and outlining from the old white Kingfisher. They also read between 200 and 300 pages from other books each week. I have a lot of Landmark books so they usually read from those, but they also read an occasional historical fiction book. They are also reading corresponding chapters from A Child's History of the World, Mighty Men, and a church history book series.

 

Here are sample week readings from our 34-week schedule:

 

Week 10

History, Literature, and Timeline: 1666-1675 AD

Kingfisher pp. 452-457 (6), Science and Technology, Oceania, Decline of Ottoman Power, Peter the Great

Readers:

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, 223 pp. (second half)

Famous Pirates of the New World Landmark

Courage and Conviction: John Eliot: Apostle to the Indians, pp. 239-244 (6 pp.)

 

Week 11

Kingfisher pp. 458-463 (6) The Glorious Revolution, Society and Government, African States

 

Readers:

A Piece of the Mountain: The Story of Blaise Pascal by Joyce McPherson

A Child’s History of the World Ch. 69 A Self-Made Man (Peter the Great)

Mighty Men by Eleanor Farjeon, Peter the Great (Russia) 1672-1725, pp. 148-157

Courage and Conviction: Other Reformation Christians, pp. 245-250 (6 pp.)

 

Week 15

Kingfisher pp. 482-485 (4) Austria and Prussia, The Arts

 

Readers:

Story of the Thirteen Colonies Landmark (second half)

Betsy Ross and the Flag Landmark

Hearts and Hands: Johann Sebastian Bach: Soli Deo Gloria, pp. 31-36 (6 pp.)

 

 

HTH,

GardenMom

[johnandtinagilbert]

We use the ency. as a back-up resource these days. TOG provides the list. It looks much like the PP. If they can't answer their questions from there (As assigned in TOG), they hit the ency. next...either KF, US, or Brit.

 

We have been using an ency.for science though and they like it. KF for the 7th grder, Usborne for the 5th grader.

[Avila]

I always use a narrative spine along with the encyclopedia. Then we fill in with the Famous Men books, biographies, primary sources and historical fiction.

 

I use Dorothy Mills' books for the narrative spine up until they end :( in the Renaissance. I am still determing the narrative spine for next year.

 

What I find is that our narrative fills in some of the dryness of the encyclopedia. Mills is mostly a social historian, IMO, so a lot of what she talks about is how people lived, what they ate, what they wore, and how they thought the world worked. So it covers the same time periods in a different way than most of the other texts I looked at.

 

My week varies, but it usually includes pages from the Kingfisher (with timelines, biography summaries and outlining), a chapter or two from Mills, one or two people from Famous Men, reading at least one book of historical fiction, and writing a short essay on a topic covered by one of those resources.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Asenik

[EKS]

I did a narrative (K12's Human Odyssey), no encyclopedia (they make me feel oogey), and supplemental reading (both fiction and non fiction).