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xpost - No History Curriculum?


TheAutumnOak
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I posted this on the logic forum, but thought I would also ask here...I think that is what xpost means :blush:

 

Does anyone here just follow WTM's reccomendations for history and not use a standard curriculum like TOG or MOH?...Do you use the encyclopedia and just study out people and events like recommended?

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My answer will be very skewed against using any kind of *boxed* program, so keep that in mind.

 

Yes, you can use a history encyclopedia, living history book, or whatever you'd like from the library which covers the time period you are interested in exploring. You can then read that book aloud, asking for a narration, then asking general discussion questions. To me, (and this is JMHO), that is a more *natural* way of studying history.

 

If you feel comfortable reading with the kids and discussing, it shouldn't be a problem. You can do that for free without paying for an expensive program.

 

Have you read Marva Collins' book, Marva Collins' Way? I am inspired every time I read that book, and believe me, mine is getting dog-eared by now. :) She did Socratic discussions with the children in her one-room school without much of anything but a text and her own thoughts. Discussion kind of starts to flow naturally when you offer an opening question, and that's how Marva began to draw her students into the readings.

 

You can find plenty of history project books at the library for some extra fun to add to the study of the time period you're covering. Also, remember there are many titles at Librivox to download and listen to ---Famous Men of Greece, Famous Men of Rome, etc. These could add more flavor to the time period.

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I am currently doing history with my older using an encyclopedia as our main history resource. We've tried several different approaches, but right now it is working very well. She reads, enters her information on a timeline, looks it up on a map then we discuss it. She writes summaries about once a week from a topic we covered during the week.

 

She's my history loving child so I had thought that a bigger program would be better for her but had trouble placing her in any. We did this as a way to get history progressing while I looked for a solution. It turns out that the simple solution was the best.

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We do. My youngest ds uses the Usborne history encyclopedia and living books. My older girls are using WTM high school lit/history, along with Omnibus articles for help with Christian perspective. We're using the 1st edition WTM (though I have read the newer editions,) so prior to SOTW, etc.

 

:bigear: I'm not familiar with Omnibus. What exactly are the articles you use?

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:bigear: Does anyone else do this?

 

Yes, we do. Even more free style than the WTM suggestions.

We use the encyclopedia as a spine - but don't like it very much.

I have found the Universal History of the World books which are wonderful, well written so that one can actually READ them. We use living books, documentaries (DS is a very visual learner and documentaries work well for him, he actually remembers everything). I make up my own writing assignments. DS chooses research topics and makes many powerpoint presentations about his history topics.

With DD13 we have begun the rhetoric stage and are following WTM suggestions for Ancients.

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We tried it with dd10, but it was very dry and we soon gave it up. I loved history at school, and it was the thing that most drew me to the WTM, but we have not been able to get it right so far - SOTW with crafts was too time consuming, and simple outlining etc was too dry. Our snatches of success have been where we have spent a lot of time on historical fiction or literature from the period. This year we are just reading, reading, reading - both the four narrative world histories that I know of, and a range of historical fiction. We will timeline as we go. Next year the goal is to do in depth projects in areas that capture dd's interest.

 

For me, the bottom line was that her retention of facts is much better when they are taught in the context of a story, whereas her recall from outlining was negligible.

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:bigear: I'm not familiar with Omnibus. What exactly are the articles you use?

 

Omnibus is Veritas Press' 7th-12th grade history/literature/Bible/art/etc. curriculum. Each volume contains a discussion/article about each book used and then discussion questions and writing prompts. We have found the information in each book to be very helpful to our studies. :001_smile:

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I have not read the other replies. One of my best friends does(follow WTM) She always has. I've admired the fact that she never curriculum hunts and has just followed WTM. She used to be on this ooard, but now comes on minimally. I'll tell her about your question:001_smile:

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