Skipping Year 4 of the 4 Year History Cycle?? WWYD?

[FlyingMOm]

I like to think ahead. :tongue_smilie: heh.

 

We use Tapestry of Grace and are on Year 3, the 1800's. Next year we should be doing Year 4, the 1900's. I'm just not looking forward to teaching Year 4. It's not a time period that I find particularly enthralling. I think the children are pretty young to really delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc. I'm considering two options. (Thinking about this now as I usually order in Jan. for the following year. So about 4 months until I order.)

 

#1: Skipping Year 1 completely. Restart the four year cycle at Year 1. The kids are still very young (next year they will be in 3rd, 2nd, Kindy). We've got plenty of time to get this info over the years. By the time we got to Year 4 again they would be older- the two big kids would be 6th and 5th grade.

 

#2. Do an abbreviated, VERY lightly covered Year 4 over the summer months. Spend about 10 weeks covering Year 4. I'd probably have to design much of this myself but I am okay with that. Start over with Year 1 in September and spend the rest of the year doing Year 1.

[nukeswife]

I voted other. If you don't want to go back to Year 1 right away, what about a geography type study. Maybe do something that would take you "around the world"

[staceyobu]

What about doing year 4 as more of an American history year? Wagon trains and pilgrims and that sort of thing? Then you could do year 4 but not all the rough stuff.

[NancyNellen]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

[lexi]

What about doing year 4 as more of an American history year? Wagon trains and pilgrims and that sort of thing? Then you could do year 4 but not all the rough stuff.

 

In the Tapestry Rotation, year 4 is 1900's to present day. It's some pretty heavy stuff. I've been wondering what I'll do when I get there........it's a few years off but I already stress about it...........

 

To the OP, I would almost think a summer year 4 study might be good and then jump back in to Year 1. Year 4 is lots of war and is so deep....I don't know.

 

I need to figure this out myself!

[kristinannie]

I agree with PP about taking the trip around the world. We are doing that this year (spending 1-2 months per continent) and we are having a lot of fun and learning a lot! Maybe you could have a year of unit studies or focus on science or something else that you might have an interest in. Alternatively, I would just skip year 4.

[jewel7123]

I chose other because I think you could do Year 4 and avoid all of that stuff by using the LG books (have you looked at the TOG titles? They seem pretty light for the most part)

 

OR

 

You could do a light Year 4 over the summer, also using the LG selections.

 

I wouldn't skip it completely, but you can certainly edit out all the war and bloodshed I think.

[myfatherslily]

Hmm. We aren't there yet, so I'm just pondering it, since you asked:) I think I would still take a full year for that period. There is SO much that's happened in the last 100 years. Much more than just awful wars. For younger children, I don't see why you couldn't skim over most of that, telling matter-of-factly that it happened, but not dwelling on it. Read books, both fiction and non, such as the American Girl stories. Can't think of others off-hand but I know there are lots and lots. You could learn about your town over the last 100 years. Make a history of a great-grandparent. Learn about the development of cars or airplanes. You could break it up into, say, 1.5 decades a month, focus mostly on the "fun stuff", make a timeline, and stick on pictures of those things.

 

LOL, now I want to do it!:D Suddenly I'm sad that we're "stuck" in the middle ages! Okay, we'll have fun there too!

[jewellsmommy]

I would do a skimming and hit the light highlights. Do just enough that the kids know that the 1900's existed. :lol:

[Joy at Home]

Year 4 is so much fun for youngers:001_smile: There is a lot of innovation: The Model T, the space race, color tv. Focus on the fun stuff and skip over the heavy.

 

We just finished Year 4 and loved it. I had dd10 keep an inventions notebook and she had so much fun researching the advancements of the 20th century.

 

Good luck,

lisa

[Aquinas Academy]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

:iagree:I don't use TOG, but this is the kind of stuff my younger kids studied when we did year 4. It was so much fun. :D

[boscopup]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

 

This is what I'd always heard about in TOG threads about Y4. When I read the OP, I was thinking, "Huh? Is this the same curriculum?" :lol: In fact, Y4 was part of what has tempted me to use TOG at times! It sounds like it'd be great for the younger set.

[Carol in Cal.]

I would skip it.

I voted to go back to year one, and that's probably what I would really do. I'd use Classical Kids and some of the other really good craft books about ancients to have fun with that material.

 

But there are some cool alternatives. That might be a good year to study state history. The kids will all be old enough to remember good field trips to living history sites, and you can give age appropriate writing assignments to the older two.

 

Another idea might be to focus more on science and less on history next year. I'd cover the physical aspects of science--simple machines, water chemistry, ocean science, plant biology, simple earth science, habitats. It would be so much fun! And then I would tie as much of it as possible into geography, studying the areas of the world where those kinds of science are observable. Polar ice caps, rivers running into oceans, volcanos and how people deal with them around the world, earthquakes ditto, temperate and tropical rain forest comparisons, etc. You could do that for a year or even two years, and then start history over again with year one and all the kids would be ready for it.

[LucyStoner]

Just like earlier history has some horrors and atrocities that your either skipped or skimmed (mass murder of Native Americans, the brutal horror of slavery etc), the 1900s also has some amazing, not very scary things. You could talk about the movement from farms to cities, the technology developments, music and art history, changing family life, the impact of the car on the country, jets, medical advances, civil rights and so many other things without only covering the Holocaust and 9/11. Modern history is important, I would not choose to skip it.

[cbollin]

given their very young ages and your preferences

 

do a year on geography/world cultures. and maybe age appropriate current events magazine. I used MFW's ECC. There is also Galloping the Globe. something along those lines. or do a year long study of your state's history if you're in US. One idea out there is statehistory.net

 

-crystal

[FlyingMOm]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

 

Thanks, this is helpful to know!

[Hsmomto4]

See, I'm the complete opposite. I can't stand years one and two! I would love to spend 4 years just in books 3 and 4. I can't wait till next year because we finally get to book 3 again.

[EKS]

I haven't used TOG, but I did combine years 3 and 4 last year with my younger son (we used K12's History 4, which does this remarkably well). We are doing a year of American this year prior to going back to the ancients next year.

[RootAnn]

What about doing year 4 as more of an American history year? Wagon trains and pilgrims and that sort of thing? Then you could do year 4 but not all the rough stuff.

 

given their very young ages and your preferences

 

do a year on geography/world cultures. and maybe age appropriate current events magazine. I used MFW's ECC. There is also Galloping the Globe. something along those lines. or do a year long study of your state's history if you're in US. One idea out there is statehistory.net

 

-crystal

 

I haven't used TOG, but I did combine years 3 and 4 last year with my younger son (we used K12's History 4, which does this remarkably well). We are doing a year of American this year prior to going back to the ancients next year.

 

:iagree: We're skipping Year 4 of our 4-yr cycle (using SOTW) & doing American History + State History. A one-year Geography study also sounds great.

 

Good luck with your decision!

[Haiku]

I have the same concerns as you. I read SOTW 4 and felt that a) it was far too political and therefore b) far less interesting than SOTW 1-3. We decided to completely skip SOTW for the fourth year. I am using an Usborne world history encyclopedia as our spine, and I am covering modern times mainly through biography and a focus on innovations and inventions, such as the discovery of insulin and the invention of radio/tv, etc. I am pretty much leaving war and politics out of it. We're going to do a whole unit study on the Roaring 20's, and we're going to read some books about growing up during the Depression (my kids know what it is and are interested in it ... dd9 read a book recently about growing up as a coal-mining child). Basically we are going to focus on what life was like for people living during the last 150ish years and not on world political events.

 

My stepfather, who is excruciatingly political and always calls me on Pearl Harbor Day to remind me to tell the kids about it, asked me a few weeks ago how much I was going to teach the kids about WWII this year. I sheepishly admitted, "Not much," and he (to my surprise) said, "Good. I was talking to your mother about it, and we agree that you shouldn't burden the kids with worrying about it when they are this young." Odd, because the kids' cousins have always had WWII memorabilia pushed on them.

 

Tara

[HSMom2One]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

This is exactly what I would do if I were in your shoes. Modern history has a lot of really great things for kids to learn about, it's not just about the horrors of war and terrorism. I'd keep it light and focus primarily on things that were developing and changing during this era.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

If you don't feel comfortable doing year 4 I would do a geography year. Make it fun. Maybe hit on some high points but not the gruesome parts, kwim? Make if light and the geography fun!!

[melmichigan]

I will have kids in LG and UG of TOG for year 4 next year. I would spend some time with the titles, maybe at your library, and then make a decision from there. From what I've seen so far I will have no problem doing that year plan at that level, for me the focus is in the right place and keeps it light. As a second choice, I'd do a geography year as many have mentioned.

[HLDoll]

We're doing TOG3 this year and my kids are 1st and 2nd grade. We're doing mostly the LG level books, but a few UG for my son who is a strong reader. We plan to do TOG4 next year in the same fashion with LG/UG books. They're more in to the Reign of Terror and the guillotine (sp?) right now than I thought they'd be - I'd planned to hit that lightly but they latched on. Their dad deploys every 2 years with the National Guard and they like learning about wars (grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-greats were all military vets). I don't plan on emphasizing the heavy stuff but if they want to know more, I'll cover it at an appropriate level.

[HSMom2One]

In considering this thread during my morning, I thought I'd share some thoughts I've had since my last post.

 

Every single era of history has been filled with war, violence and brutality. From the ancient world to America's 9/11, we've had to deal with the same themes and subjects as we teach our children about history. To be honest, I think there have been eras in world history that were even more brutal than the modern world, but we present it to our children in a way that we feel is best - (i.e. Attilla the hun, the Vikings, fierce Sumarai soldiers, etc.).

 

With this in mind, I'd like to encourage you not to gloss over this whole era completely. Like every other period of history that you teach, present it at a level that is appropriate to their age. The whole idea is to present history in chronological order with the four cycles being given and repeated at different age levels. With each repeat, they get more information and time to discuss, learn and digest.

 

I hope this give you food for thought.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Hedgehogs4]

I voted to spend the year doing Year 4. We completed TOG Year 4 last year and the LG & UG kept the topics very light. We spent most of our time reading about and studying about all of the famous people and inventions of the 21st C. My then 7 year old loved learning about the Panama Canal, Walt Disney, Zeppelins, Gandhi, T.V.'s, etc. We certainly did not "delve into the horrors of the mass murder of 6 million Jews, Sept. 11, etc." It was light and entertaining, in general.

 

The D and R levels, on the other hand...

 

I voted this as well, if in fact it is kept on the lighter side. I will be doing TOG yr 4 with a 2nd grader and I would not "delve" at all. There is so much change that happened, and there are interesting historical folk in that century--kids can enjoy it--plus we can say, "I remember when..." and they think we are so cool and so old.