SnMomof7 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well, we are Canadians, and despite the fact that there are many lovely lit-based currics that combine US/World history, there seems to be no such ready-to-go beast for Canadian history without a lot of tweaking/planning/sheduling. Okay - I'll admit, I love open and go - my own knowledge of history is lacking (typical of public education). In any case, I have a few questions. Any thoughts on MHCE vs. Donna Ward vs. Vince Marquis? Which of these would be easiest to add living books to and move along through chronological Canadian history at the same time? Would any of these be easy to integrate with an existing US/World history program for modern history and somehow line everything up, or is it better to look at doing Canadian history on it's own? I'm really not very organized or good at this lesson planning thing, so it sounds a bit overwhelming to me. We haven't done much so far beyond your typical casual geography etc. We're currently doing Sonlight Core K, next year we'll be doing 1+2 to get an overview of history, but I'm trying to figure out our plans beyond that. How many times should I hit Canadian history and how? HOOOOOWWWWWW???? Sigh. I DO want my children to know US history, but I'm not sure i want to devote two years to it like most 4 year cycles do for modern history and THEN also add on another year of Canadian history...KWIM? Anyone been there, done that before me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well, I have not BTDT yet but we'll be doing our first go through Cdn History this coming fall with a 4th and a 2nd grader. I am using MHCE and I am quite excited about how it looks and the long lists of ideas it contains. Previous to buying it, I had a Vince Marquis guide called Canada, Our Home which was for Gr. 1-4 (I think). Looking through it, I found it rather boring and the project and activity ideas didn't seem that doable to me. For example, one idea was to build a model of a birch bark canoe. I don't know, that kind of thing just isn't my cup of tea, especially when there is no instruction on how to do it! We have also done Donna Ward's Canada My Country. We did that last year and it was good. I'll do it again when my two littles get to be a bit older but that wasn't any history. It was more of an overview of geography, Canadian symbols, etc. With MHCE, there are many different options for spines and the author lines it all up with SOTW 3 & 4 so that you can do Canadian and world history at the same time. There are LOTS of suggestions of different spines and books to use, plus a few projects, literature ideas, etc. However, it isn't all planned out exactly for you. You need to pick a spine (or two or more!) and coordinate the lessons yourself. But everything is broken up into chapters and units so I don't think it's that hard. It is very easy to add living books to and there are lists of suggested books in each chapter. My plan is to do Canadian history for year 4 of the 4-year cycle. Once we get to older grades, I will try to do world/Canadian both in year 4. While my kids are young we'll just do Canadian for now. Hope this helps a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks so much for letting me know what you thought of the various options. We do have Canada My Country and I think I'll run the kids through it this summer to give them an official 'start' on Canadian..stuff. Sounds like MHTCE is our best bet for later on. I'm tentatively planning to do a year of straight Canadian history in 2012/13, that will be grade 4 for my oldest (I know, I am planning way in advance). Then I'm thinking of doing MFW's cycle starting with ECC and trying to integrate MHTCE with the last two years of that cycle if possible! Then maybe MFW Ancients for high school, the next one..(name? church history/NT studies), then a year of MCHE/Canadian civics to wrap it all up. Whew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) :) Edited January 23, 2011 by Jennifer Bogart Duplicate post, bad dial-up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 With MHCE, there are many different options for spines and the author lines it all up with SOTW 3 & 4 so that you can do Canadian and world history at the same time. There are LOTS of suggestions of different spines and books to use, plus a few projects, literature ideas, etc. However, it isn't all planned out exactly for you. You need to pick a spine (or two or more!) and coordinate the lessons yourself. But everything is broken up into chapters and units so I don't think it's that hard. It is very easy to add living books to and there are lists of suggested books in each chapter. Ohhh, thank you for sharing this :)! I am still not clear how I will be going about Canadian History but from what you just described I think MHTCE will definitely be a useful tool. I was considering getting it but now I am even more curious to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Well, I debated for awhile before buying it but I must say, it's the best thing I've bought for Cdn history so far and I plan on using it for every cycle through high school. I'm happy with it. It seems like the most classical-friendly Cdn history curricula I've looked at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) We started our Canadian History using MHTCE after sotw 3 and got up to the Fraser River Gold Rush. This year, we started sotw 4 and alternate between it and Cdn History. The way I have it planned (Cdn geo thrown in there too!) it's going to take us 3 years to finish both. My daughter was is grade 5 when we started and she really enjoys the Canada A People's History dvds; don't know that she would have gotten as much out of it at an earlier age. Edited January 24, 2011 by cschnee adding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 We are just finishing up our explorers unit study, which we used time travelers new world cdrom, and added Canadian explorers to the study with "Our home and Native land part 2 - explorers", and history pockets. Next we will be using core 3 from sonlight, one of the users on there has developed a Canadian history plan similiar to the sonlight layout, that roughly follows the same time line with MHTCE and Story of Canada as the main spines and following a literature approach to history. I will see if I can find the link to her plan because I know she has it on her blog which is accessable to all, not just sonlight users. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Oooh, let me know if you find that Brandy! We love SL, but have only found lit supplement lists so far according to week, but there are always TOO many books, and it isn't 'laid out' like SL is. I love that open and go goodness. I would LOVE to do a SL-ish Canadian 'core' if it was laid out like that with spine and lit slotted into a schedule. Maybe I could use that for our Canadian history in 2012/13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Oooh, let me know if you find that Brandy! We love SL, but have only found lit supplement lists so far according to week, but there are always TOO many books, and it isn't 'laid out' like SL is. I love that open and go goodness. I would LOVE to do a SL-ish Canadian 'core' if it was laid out like that with spine and lit slotted into a schedule. Maybe I could use that for our Canadian history in 2012/13. It is one of two ladies I am thinking she may be talking about and the one lady's blog is no longer linked in her signature (so she may not want it linked here) and the other is a forum that you need to register for. I can give you the link to that if you like but you can visit the Sonlight forums (just go to the Canadian History forum) since the two ladies I am thinking have already posted their schedules there :). HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 What is MHTCE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sorry. Answered my own question with a quick search. :blushing: MHTCE being Modern History only, do Donna Ward's resources go back further in time and deal with Canadian History from the beginning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Sorry. Answered my own question with a quick search. :blushing: MHTCE being Modern History only, do Donna Ward's resources go back further in time and deal with Canadian History from the beginning? Here, this should help. Check out the sample pages also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 The book does look at the land bridge theory and Native People's in Canada, and explorers who "discovered" Canada, but Canada's history is modern compared to other countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 The book does look at the land bridge theory and Native People's in Canada, and explorers who "discovered" Canada, but Canada's history is modern compared to other countries. Do you mean MHTCE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I agree, the 'modern' in MHTCE's title can be misleading - it does actually begin with First Nations and carry forward with first contact (Vikings) until present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I agree, the 'modern' in MHTCE's title can be misleading - it does actually begin with First Nations and carry forward with first contact (Vikings) until present. Awesome.. Now to see if they will ship to the UK.. my everlasting question to curriculum suppliers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) Awesome.. Now to see if they will ship to the UK.. my everlasting question to curriculum suppliers! I linked this for you earlier. Not sure if you saw it: http://www.solidoakpublishing.com/About.htm You can read an overview and also check out the sample pages. They are the publishers of MHTCE. I would contact them to see if they are willing to ship to you. They seem to offer the best shipping here in Canada from what I have seen. Also, here's their order page. If you scroll down you will see a list of suppliers that carry the book. Some have links directly to their website. http://www.solidoakpublishing.com/Order.htm Good luck, Edited January 25, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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