Anyone using Diana Waring Ancient Civilizations?

[Blueridge]

I admit to being all over the map right now. I wanted to have a completely non-rigorous, just plain fun year...but I've already purchased stuff, stuff, stuff. It may sit on the shelf for a year, I don't know yet. I am intrigued by Diana Waring's program. It looks like it might be fun, and a departure from the rigor that has exhausted me. Any comments?

 

ETA: I just realized that this particular program is being promoted by those who have been 'in the homeschool news' recently. I meant absolutely no disrespect to SWB by asking for comments and opinions on this program. It should have no reflection on the curriculum itself, but I did feel awkward about it. Sorry I didn't make the connection until after I had posted.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Blueridge

[ChrissySC]

I am looking at the additional resources. I am not sure of the book or the general program. I will be honest and say that I am fearful of the content based on the support that this program receives from various groups. I have disagreements with some of their opinions and stands (some of which made it to the WTM). However, I do find that it is appealing as well, if only I could be sure of the content. I am leaning more towards MOH for a logic stage spine.

 

I know that I am being vague, but a little research and a bit of "googling" should clarify my mystic words. :)

 

I am interested to see what someone else has to say about the content too.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I admit to be all over the map right now. I wanted to have a completely non-rigorous, just plain fun year...but I've already purchased stuff, stuff, stuff. It may sit on the shelf for a year, I don't know yet. I am intrigued by Diana Waring's program. It looks like it might be fun, and a departure from the rigor that has exhausted me. Any comments?

 

Ginger, I'll try to help.

 

We are really using Biblioplan ancients, but I incorporate some of Diana Waring's curriculum. I bought the CDs, and a friend loaned me the curriculum books.

 

I know you've already bought a lot of stuff, but if you're not satisfied, you could consider an easy year like this:

 

Use Biblioplan with SotW. (BP schedules SotW.) Also use BP's Cool History which is based on SotW readings, BP's maps (love these), and probably their timeline.

 

(They made improvements to their ancient's timeline mid-year this year due to problems with the original one. Honestly, I switched to Homeschool in the Woods timeline cards because I had them. I've used these a la the Veritas Press TimeLine Cards way... My kids remember a lot of the history facts like this. The first BP timeline figures didn't work so well for us. The new ones may be just fine. I just don't know.)

 

Purchase Diana's CDs, and be sure to ask for a schedule... when/in what order to listen to the CDs. You'll have to schedule these into the BP lessons, but that was not hard to do at all.

 

Decide on readers/read alouds, and you're set. BP lists readers/read-alouds, but they do NOT schedule them. This was my biggest disappointment about BP. I was expecting something like Sonlight's lesson plans. I did not enjoy having to plan out our reading. BP in general is not planned out like I prefer. I found myself trying to organize what a daily/weekly schedule would look like. That was hard. I frequently wondered if I was "doing" BP the right way. Otherwise, once planned, BP has been fine.

 

For composition, we use BP as inspiration and follow SWB's middle school writing. (We alternate history and science). We also are doing Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings (over 2 years: ancients and medieval). We've picked up kid friendly versions of Gilgamesh, and used The Wanderings of Odysseus, and Blackships from Troy. We just finished The Bronze Bow, and we'll read Archimedes and the Door to Science. You wouldn't have to do it like this. My kids just love LotR, and doing this study with ancients and medieval history just fit like a glove for us. To end the year, we are watching Drive Through History Greece and Rome.... a freebie from HSLDA when I registered a couple of years ago. If you can find this, it is a lot of fun.

 

BP is a reasonably priced curriculum. SotW can be found very reasonably now especially used, I would imagine. The CDs are a bit costly. I guess that would be the disadvantage.

 

I have the rest of Diana's curriculum, and I used the history sections to replace BP's Parent Companion. I grew tired of reading that. (You need it, however, because the answers to the Cool History are in it.) Diana's history made ancients fun for my kids. We have not used the crafts, maps, reading suggestions..... You may not need/want her curriculum books if you use the combination of BP, SotW, and her CDs.

 

Honestly, her curriculum books looked overwhelming to me and time consuming, but that's just me. (Don't get me wrong, her curriculum is organized, but there are so many activities to choose from that the details are left for you to work out.) I REALLY like it when something is planned out: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. The rest of Diana's history just wasn't as planned as I prefer. If your children like unit study crafts, drama, and out-of-the-box activities, you might love it!

 

Food for thought?

Edited April 27, 2011 by Sweet Home Alabama

[~blessedmom~]

I'm not sure what the second poster meant by "issues with the content," maybe she will clarify.

 

I have RRR, and at first glance it may seem like it is not "planned," but there are pages in the TM that actually DO tell you what to do on what day. At the beginning of each unit there is a chart for all 4 weeks and a Monday through Friday grid (each unit is planned for a month...we actually take two ;) ). I am pretty sure that ACB would be the same.

 

It is set up IMHO as a "spine" to flesh out with other in depth books of your dc 's choosing so they have the investment in the learning themselves. We also do a family read aloud that covers the time period, and the boys have their own individual books.

 

It seems to me that it would only be teacher intensive if you feel the need to plan out every book for your schedule. We choose as the unit comes up. That may not be for everyone, but I can tell you one thing: my 15 yo ds is very quiet, but with this curriculum we actually have great conversations! He had all these great thoughts inside his head, and this has been the only curriculum we have used that has actually drawn them out of him!:001_smile:

 

It truly honors who God made the student to be!

[Blueridge]

Ladies, thank you! Such great and helpful comments. I am looking at samples and have some good feelings about it so far, but the teacher's manual sample is a bit hard for me to figure out. I did notice as I was looking around her website that it has some connections to AIG, which is a sore subject right now. Anyway, I am probably seeking the impossible...fun, easy, great reading aloud and a well-written spine for continuity, variety, meaty, individualized work for each dd, no extra work for me because I'm old and tired lol. My 2 youngers are so close in age, and I really need something that will make them feel as though they are each doing their own thing so they won't feel competitive. Again, thanks so much for sharing!

[thowell]

You can call and speak with her or her husband. He answered alot of my questions. Also she is a regular visitor on her yahoo group and would be happy to answer any questions you have. She seems to be very open and honest about her belief systems. I think she is a great lady and love her excitement about history!

[SonshineLearner]

Just a "FYI"... her curriculum was out long before AIG picked it up. It's really separate, minus the fact that she sold it to AIG. I think it's good, it's not as pleasant to listen to as say... SOTW for us. Perhaps it's whatever you get use to... I keep trying to find something like SOTW, as we've listened till our ears may pop. We love it... and my son isn't tired of it... but... I could use a change. I tried Waring's for him.. and that's when he went through his "STORIES MOM!!!... You know... STORIES of THE WORLD!!!" kinda screaming thing to get his SOTW back on... well... if you're gonna throw a hissy fit... doing it to get SOTW back on isn't too bad... (And.. he wasn't actually being really bratty... he was trying to explain which cd he wanted ;)

But, with older kids... or different kids... Waring's material might be just great; I didn't think it was bad to listen to...

:)

[Blueridge]

LOL, I know what you mean about SOTW...we're finishing up book 4 in May. They are hard to beat.

[melanie3]

I am a little nervous about getting all my lab stuff for Apologia Science and getting things needed for the creative aspect of the history. I have been on ebay finding books like Hittite Warrior, Adam and His Kin, etc to do Read ALouds with my threee middle schoolers. This feels like a curriculum that will demand a lot of my time but will be very memorable and open us up to deeper learning. It is structured and creative and Diana's presence is on that yahoo group sharingwaring...the files section is helpful for printing ancient maps (I do not have to tear up my book in the printer copying. All mapwork is in week 3 of each month. It features student self evaluations, I agree with the audios not being as pleasant to listen to as sow and you can actually go on the site and hear an audio sample. She is very motivated and passionate when she speaks and that can make you speak fast and the tempo of my emotion wasn't the tempo of her speech. I was slightly annoyed with it. I clicked over to compare MOH (Mystery of History) audio sample of the book and it was monotone. So, two extremes. I went on Homeschoolreviews.com and really studied the difference between MOH and History revealed. Both are similar and some people use BOTH on the yahoo group! Wow, I hadn't thought of that. A lot of people enjoyed making the time line with this curriculum. I am a unit study person that needs structure because I am new. So that is a conflict I must work out. I am trying to move from traditional toward the creative. We tend to lose momentum mid year and gettting supplies for the creative week might hang me up. I do not like that the books are printed in black and white. MOH is more beautiful (at least the third volume is) and I am just plunging in giving this my best shot because it does look neat and I have had it for a couple of weeeks. One thing I do NOT like so far, I use KJV--always have. Her scripture for Genesis 3:15 takes the word it and replaces it with the word He (meaning Jesus) This is the scripture where God was cursing the serpent and many people think it is referring to God's plan to send Jesus. I think that makes sense, but if by chance religion has colored that one in for us--I'd rather have the Word as it is so I can color that picture by myself if you know what i mean. Don't paraphrase for me. That has me a little onguard. I do hope the scripture is talking about Jesus--but still~p.20 at the bottom of lesson 1

[Angie in VA]

Mr. Waring told me AiG makes it much more affordable for them to have Diana's works produced. Call and talk to him. He's nice. The whole family is nice.

When in doubt, I always say "Go audio." If you can swing it, get the cds and let your dc listen to them. Either line them up w/ another book/program, or let them go straight through and then they'll get the info a earlier or later than when it's covered in another source, but it's another time getting the info, especially if they listen to it more than once, like my dc do.

I know her voice is not for everyone, but we don't have a problem w/ it. (We also have SOTW on audio.)

[Blueridge]

Thank you. We decided to get their audio series to use alongside TOG next year when we return to the Ancients. I really liked the samples, even though they go at a fast pace. She sounds like a very happy person, full of energy...which is how I would like to be. :) Thanks again for everyone's help and suggestions!

[Angie in VA]

Thank you. We decided to get their audio series to use alongside TOG next year when we return to the Ancients. I really liked the samples, even though they go at a fast pace. She sounds like a very happy person, full of energy...which is how I would like to be. :) Thanks again for everyone's help and suggestions!

Here's my Diana Waring story:

 

When my mother was dying in the hospital, I would drive a 90 min. drive one way to stay w/ her nights. I'd leave around 4:30 am to be home in time for DH to leave for work. One early morning Mom expressed concern over my driving w/ such little sleep. I said, "Oh, don't worry. I have these history tapes to listen to." Mom looked at me like I was crazy. "History tapes? That keep you awake?" "Yep. The speaker is really engaging and the subject matter is very interesting."

 

Less than a year later at our state hs convention, I met Diana Waring and her family who worked her booth. I told that story. Her ds (one of them) said, "Diana Waring. Better than caffeine!" LOL!

 

Enjoy!

[Susie in MS]

Here's my Diana Waring story:

 

When my mother was dying in the hospital, I would drive a 90 min. drive one way to stay w/ her nights. I'd leave around 4:30 am to be home in time for DH to leave for work. One early morning Mom expressed concern over my driving w/ such little sleep. I said, "Oh, don't worry. I have these history tapes to listen to." Mom looked at like I was crazy. "History tapes? That keep you awake?" "Yep. The speaker is really engaging and the subject matter is very interesting."

 

Less than a year later at our state hs convention, I met Diana Waring and her family who worked her booth. I told that story. Her ds (one of them) said, "Diana Waring. Better than caffeine!" LOL!

 

Enjoy!

 

Hehe! That is sooo true!

 

We love Diana AND her program here. I agree with everything blessed said. It is truly a God honoring program. My kids were able to dig in areas that they were most interested. And I knew that if we were not able to get extra resources then their bases were covered with just the articles and the tapes. I mean how many people take 1 year to cover just the ancients, one more for reformer period and another for more current. That is a lot of info. This program is very organized, but leaves enough space with choices to make it your own. In other words on the writing day you know to write, but your child chooses what to write from the options listed. Easy peesy.

 

We used to listen to the tapes (now cds) in the car too.

 

Diana is a wonderfully sweet person. She love history and she loves the Lord...and it shows!