A question about Year 4 History, TOG, SOTW etc...

[Dolphin]

My son is 8 and we are in our 3rd year of the history cycle. I am trying to plan for next year. A few problems;

1. We are horribly behind. This is our first year of HS and history got off to a slow start. We are only on chapter 12 of SOTW 3.

 

2. I have discovered TOG. We haven't started yet, but I have unit 4 of year 2 that we are going to do as a trail run (starts at chapter 20 of SOTW 3)

 

3. Now that I have really looked at TOG, I think that I am really going to like it, and I want to switch and use SOTW as an alternative spine with it.

 

4.My son is a very young 8 year old and very sensitive, I have been worrying a little about SOTW year 4 as I have heard some kids have problems with it.

 

So, those are my issues. What I am thinking about is next year doing TOG 3, SOTW 3 and some of 4 (where it overlaps) and then just skip 1900 onwards this time around and start 5th back with TOG year 1.

 

1. How important is it for him to be exposed to 1900-present before 8th grade (when he will next be there) Will he have a big hole in his knowledge that he needs to have during grades 5-7?

 

2. Are there just a few chapters that we could add from SOTW 4 to the end of the TOG3 year and call it good? In other words, what should he really not miss?

 

3. Our "plan" at the moment is to HS through 8th grade and then do part time public high school, part local CC, and part Homeschool. Would I be damaging this "plan?" (I put plan in "" as things can always change, but I do like looking at the bigger picture.)

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance. We have committed to this HS journey, but it is all still so new to me. Looking ahead to 4th grade from the perspective of having done this is totally different to starting last year.

 

Nicole

[Dolphin]

:lurk5:

[Amy Jo]

1. We are horribly behind. This is our first year of HS and history got off to a slow start. We are only on chapter 12 of SOTW 3.

 

I think that's normal - it takes time to get going. If you are really worried maybe get the audio version and just listen to it.

 

1. How important is it for him to be exposed to 1900-present before 8th grade (when he will next be there) Will he have a big hole in his knowledge that he needs to have during grades 5-7?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. If you do geography studies you could cover some more recent events there. I would cover the major events at some point - perhaps just assign a bit of independent reading. I think you could do this informally too, just discuss the subject. There is plenty in the news to lead to discussions of the 60s, Nazi Germany, Vietnam, etc.

 

Doesn't WTM warn against covering the modern era to soon?

 

3. Our "plan" at the moment is to HS through 8th grade and then do part time public high school, part local CC, and part Homeschool. Would I be damaging this "plan?" (I put plan in "" as things can always change, but I do like looking at the bigger picture.)

 

I try hard not to plan so far in advance for those reasons! :lol: I've read that High-School assumes zero knowledge, and neither did my community college classes.

 

Anyway, I've decided in 2nd grade or so we will do CHOW along with memorizing a timeline (as in CC). Then we will know when the Greeks lived as well as when WWII was.

Edited February 27, 2011 by mtcougar832
typo

[Dolphin]

Thank you Amy. I hadn't thought about the news. I think I started watching that a little when I was around 6th grade, it would probably be a nice easy way to bring in modern history.

 

What is CHOW?

[choirfarm]

You will not be missing anything.. My boys are doing the 20th century for the first time and they are 8th and 19th... Well, no I guess we studied WWII a little bit when we did SL 4. That said, my daughter is doing TOG year 4 with them and she is 9 and very sensitive. TOG does a REALLY good job of picking books for the lower grammar that don't get into the really tough stuff. She is somewhere in between lower and upper grammar. I read the history things to her and picked some of the lighter lg or ug for her to read to herself. Number the stars for instance is a good holocause story that isn't depressing.. Anyway, you certainly won't hurt anything by waiting, but they have done a good job. I don't us SOTW.

 

Christine