What is the best way to learn history???

[awisha.]

When I first decided to HS my DD I went and bought History Odyssey Ancients 1 and SOTW 1. I was all excited to begin it in Jan next year and started buying the history spines for HO. And then I discovered Sonlight and I am completely confused now.

 

Which brings me (finally!) to my questions:

 

Which is the better way to learn History? The 4-year cycle (HO) or all at once (SL)??? Could I mesh SL and HO together?? (Follow the SL guide and then add in the HO activities when the time periods etc come up??)

[WishboneDawn]

The best way for a 6 yr old to learn history is the way that lets her retain information and enjoy the journey.

 

I'd stick with SOTW and HO. Both are just about as good as it gets. I used to listen to STOW with my daughter while she coloured pictures I got off the internet. HO would have been a nice addition.

 

You'll always, always, always find something else that will make you second guess what you're doing but just plug away on the path you're on now. Oh, if I had the money now that I spent when I just had to have the next best thing...:001_smile:

[awisha.]

Thanks for the quick reply Dawn :) You've given me something else to think about now.

[boscopup]

You can add in Sonlight books as they come up. There is a website that matches Sonlight books to the 4 year history cycle. ;)

 

Since you've already bought spines, I'd just stick with what you planned, and if you find that you aren't happy with it, you can always change.

[Evergreen Academy]

The best way to learn history, in my book, is the one that allows the child to both enjoy and retain it. For some children, SOTW straight-up, read aloud and discussed, is the ticket. I have one of those. For others, they have to read it themselves; I have one of those too. For some (I have a few of these), reading SOTW in order is confusing - they need it grouped by civilization or topic.

 

For most, adding in great historical fiction makes the learning richer, deeper and more fun. We love it. For all, using whatever you have along with narration - having the child tell you what they remember about the story, not necessarily bullet points you might have chosen, but their observations - makes the history stick. If the child isn't able to understand well enough to narrate, you will know whatever materials or methods you have going on may not be the best for that child, at that time.

 

One thing I've found is that most of the plans I've used (Sonlight, Biblioplan)are overly ambitious in the amount they schedule; slowing down and savoring the books a bit more slowly is really allowing the kids to enjoy things, and learn more too.

 

It sounds as if you have chosen great things - add in some historical fiction as suggested, and have fun!

[warneral]

Have you read The Well Trained Mind?

 

I actually own and started Sonlight and was trying to do B and C in one year. After reading TWTM I was convinced I want to do the 4 year cycles. Because of the ages of m y kids, I ended up deciding to switch to a US history focus for a while and then doing the 4 year cycles after that. This way we will get 2 full cycles. We are still reading Sonlight readalouds both from the world history cores and US history cores :)

[RootAnn]

When I first decided to HS my DD I went and bought History Odyssey Ancients 1 and SOTW 1. I was all excited to begin it in Jan next year and started buying the history spines for HO. And then I discovered Sonlight and I am completely confused now.

 

Which brings me (finally!) to my questions:

 

Which is the better way to learn History? The 4-year cycle (HO) or all at once (SL)??? Could I mesh SL and HO together?? (Follow the SL guide and then add in the HO activities when the time periods etc come up??)

 

When kids are younger, you are just trying to introduce them to lots of different events and people in history. This opens up their mind to the names (places, people) and events and gives him a "peg" in their mind to hang further information on later when they hear it. (How many times have you read something about a place you've never heard of before and suddenly it pops up repeatedly in newspapers, radio, or on TV? Chances are that it was mentioned before you read it, but your mind didn't have a spot to hang the info on, so your brain just let the info slide past.)

 

Anyway, both SL & HO/SOTW are good methods. Both are Charlotte Mason-ish, but SL leans more toward living books while SOTW provides the living books via a book list and adds that hands-on component that is so fun & useful for some kids. Both of those parts are in the SOTW Activities Guide (AG) or via HO's activities.

 

I choose to use SOTW w/AG for the first cycle. I found that we have read many of the SL books already because they are on the book lists in the AG. We are using SL's book list (edited/modified by me) for our study of US history this year, but we are adding a lot more hands-on stuff too.

 

Why don't you give HO/SOTW a try for a year & re-evaluate at the end.

 

And remember, the grass is not always greener!

[laughing lioness]

You asked 2 questions:

1. What is the best way to learn history and 2. Compare 4 yr. cycle to SL.

 

To answer question 1. Immersion. We listen to tapes (SOTW, MoH, Dianna Waring, TC), read books (directed reading and "fun" reading), read-aloud , make time-lines, memorize history cards, go to museuems and living history days/museums, particpate in drama, look up stuff on-line, etc.etc. We use book lists from SL, Bethleham books, VP, etc.

 

To answer question 2. I like Sonlight. It gives a good overview. But I've written before about how I don't think SL does a good job of giving the kids a good foundation in long term memory. It's more a foundation in "oh, yeah, I remember reading about that." but it's not solid, year, date, people long term memory. I think a 4 year cycle does that better because it's sequential and logical, easier to do a timeline with and gives the kids a picture in their heads of what happened when. For that reason I prefer a 4 yr. cycle.

[awisha.]

Thankyou so much for all the replies ladies. Very much appreciated :)

[MamaSheep]

I agree that it's easy to spend lots of time and money chasing after the "perfect" history materials (or any other subject). Reality is that "perfect" doesn't exist, that different children learn things better in different ways, and that any history program that GETS DONE is better than any history program that doesn't.

[MerryAtHope]

While 2 programs can be meshed, it's more work than just picking one and going with it. You may want to try one "as is" first and see how it goes. I do think that quality historical fiction adds a lot to history knowledge, and I love SL for that. I haven't used HOD or a strict 4 year cycle, though. I was willing to give a bit on the 4 year cycle for the ease of using SL. Some people do adjust SL to fit a 4-year cycle though. I'm sort-of doing that now with my youngest who is using a MOH/SL combo with other lit. added in.

 

Sonlight's Cores D & E are some of my favorites though, and we did those exactly as is.

 

Merry :-)