DragonFaerie Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 How many years do you take to cover US History at the elementary/middle school level? We did ancient history last year (2nd/3rd; two kids, one grade apart) and are covering medieval this year (3rd/4th). I am planning on doing US History next and the original plan was to do it in one year. However, I am a curriculum junkie and I have TONS of stuff. The current plan is to use Hakim's History of US series as the spine. I have all ten books and they look great so I'd really like to use them. However, there are something like 405 chapters in all. That, along with all the other stuff I have will take me about three years to cover. If I do that, we'll do US History for 4/5, 5/6, and 7/8 grades. That doesn't leave much time for covering the rest of world history (early modern and modern), civics, government, US again, etc. in late middle-high school. What to do, what to do? This is how it looks now. How would you rearrange to allow and extra year of US History without compromising something else? Could I maybe just skip covering ancient/medieval again? Other ideas? Help! Grades 4/5- US History Before 1865 (include US Geography) Grades 5/6- US History Since 1865 (include US Geography) Grades 6/7- Early Modern World History (include world geography) Grades 6/7- Modern World History Grades 7/8- Ancient/ Medieval Grades 8/9- Early Modern Grades 9/10- Modern Grades 10/11- US History Grades 11/12- Civics, Government, Economics Grade 12- Student’s Choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I am kind of in the same boat. If you think about it they only really cover ancient history once in PS, right? I am doing US for older DD in 6th and 7th, then swinging back to world history early modern(skimming the US parts here since we will just have done them) for 8th, Ancient-Middle Ages for 9th, Renaissance-early modern world, modern world, civics and government for 12th. I realize that the need for older info is there to really understand the modern world but we started late for her. I clearly remember my favorite class in college was US History since 1945 because it clearly explained why the world was the mess it was and I finally understood! Your plan looks good to me. I wouldn't scrutinize it too much unless there are plans for going to college to be a history major maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 We're doing it this year, for 2nd - after having done ancients and medieval for K and 1st. I had originally planned to cover it in a year and come back to the 4 year history cycle. Now, with a huge trip in the middle of our year and my desire to drop history and do a big unit study for that, I know there's no way we'll finish, so I'm thinking it'll be a two year affair with US history then we'll go back and spend a year on modern with something other than SOTW. Then we'll start over. At least, that's my vague plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 I think my best choice to use everything I want to use would be to stretch it out over three years. However, I think I would get bored of three years of US history, never mind the kids. Darn it! I want my cake and to eat it, too!!! :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enviromommy Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 How many years do you take to cover US History at the elementary/middle school level? We did ancient history last year (2nd/3rd; two kids, one grade apart) and are covering medieval this year (3rd/4th). I am planning on doing US History next and the original plan was to do it in one year. However, I am a curriculum junkie and I have TONS of stuff. The current plan is to use Hakim's History of US series as the spine. I have all ten books and they look great so I'd really like to use them. However, there are something like 405 chapters in all. That, along with all the other stuff I have will take me about three years to cover. If I do that, we'll do US History for 4/5, 5/6, and 7/8 grades. That doesn't leave much time for covering the rest of world history (early modern and modern), civics, government, US again, etc. in late middle-high school. What to do, what to do? This is how it looks now. How would you rearrange to allow and extra year of US History without compromising something else? Could I maybe just skip covering ancient/medieval again? Other ideas? Help! Grades 4/5- US History Before 1865 (include US Geography) Grades 5/6- US History Since 1865 (include US Geography) Grades 6/7- Early Modern World History (include world geography) Grades 6/7- Modern World History Grades 7/8- Ancient/ Medieval Grades 8/9- Early Modern Grades 9/10- Modern Grades 10/11- US History Grades 11/12- Civics, Government, Economics Grade 12- Student’s Choice What I'm doing with my 6th grade dd is running 2 parallel history courses at the same time. She is doing medieval this year with my 4th grade ds and simultaneously doing US history with history of us and other sources; I'm planning to do this over three years so that she finishes world history and US history at the end of 8th grade. This works well for her because she loves history and doesn't mind doing history twice a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 Wow. I think my kids would completely rebel if I tried to do that much history with them! That's awesome that your DD enjoys it so much. I'm completely rethinking using the History of US now. If I keep it simpler, I can cover all of US history this year, hit early modern and modern and then re-visit US history (and use the Hakim books) when the kids are in 8th/9th grades. I think that might work better than pushing so much right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Reads a Lot Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 I think my best choice to use everything I want to use would be to stretch it out over three years. However, I think I would get bored of three years of US history, never mind the kids. Darn it! I want my cake and to eat it, too!!! :glare: I say eat the cake and have some ice cream with it, too! History rocks when you are reading wonderful books! At least, that's how I'm feeling about it now, in our first month of doing Am History with my second grader. We are both having a blast with TQ. It sounds like you've got your books planned, but your post made me think of how Michelle, the author of TruthQuest History, suggests laying out your studies. I just pulled this from her Web site re: the ideal eight-year plan to study history. This assumes that you've done Early American History for Younger Students I, II, and III (which cover exploration to 1800 in year 1, 1800 to 1865 in year 2, and 1865 to modern times in year 3). I plan to do this three-year study of Am Hist so we can really dig in on areas my son is fascinated by (like the Vikings, which he loved). Eight-year plan (when beginning at Grade 6): Grade 5) Beginnings Grade 6) Ancient Greece Grade 7) Ancient Rome Grade 8) Middle Ages Grade 9) Renaissance/Reformation Grade 10) Age of Revolution I Grade 11) Age of Revolution II Grade 12) Age of Revolutions III She's got several other plans on her site if you don't want to spread it out this much: http://www.truthquesthistory.com/howtochoose.php#long_range The grades 10 through 12 Age of Revolution studies are American History again with the same time frames as for younger students but much more in depth. Maybe this will give you some ideas for covering the massive thing that is world and American history! christina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommylawyer Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 I use SOTW as the spine for our 4-year history rotation. In year 3, I took out some of the chapters and spent 2 months on the Founding of the Country. I used the American Revolution for Kids as the spine for that period. This year, we're in SOTW year 4. Again, I've reworked the year, took out some of the topics covered in SOTW4 and I'm spending 2 months on the Civil War (using Civil War for Kids) and 1 month on World War II (using WWII for Kids). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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