History is SO BORING! Help please :)

[AnnaM]

Well at least the read out of a book and memorize facts kind. I am so jaded on my view of history (grew up on Abeka) that I am having a really hard time finding one for my girls (and son eventually). I need a vibrant and maybe even hands on history for us. Reading straight out of a text is just not going to cut it!

[KathyBC]

My first suggestion would be Story of the World. You could add the Activity Guide. It is not boring.

[Classically Minded]

I agree with the others, SOTW and the activity guide is the way to go! ;)

[asmall]

I agree with everyone else and say go with SOTW. It can be lots of fun if you have the activity guide. My kids love anything that is hands-on, crafty, and fun. Out of the history we have used, my kids have asked to keep doing SOTW. Sometimes they even ask me to keep reading out of the book when we get to the end of the chapter. We have not used this for very long, but I have looked through the activity guide and know that we will continue to love this for history.

AL

[kristinannie]

I don't know the ages of your kids, but we are taking a trip around the world spending 1-2 months per continent. It has been a lot of fun and a great intro to geography, culture, animals and local history. I am planning on jumping in on the 4 year rotation when my oldest is in 5th grade.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Another vote for SOTW. We are in our 3rd year and the kids and I are never tired of it.

[Canadianmumof5]

My first suggestion would be Story of the World. You could add the Activity Guide. It is not boring.

:iagree:

 

Although I did find that DS10 preferred just to read it on his own - he didn't really care for the activities.

We love SOTW but decided to try out Veritas Press online self paced courses this year and they are really awesome. I'm really impressed with it. A little pricey but worth the $$$.

[Aquinas Academy]

Agreeing with everyone who suggested SOTW. :)

[Mrs.W]

We love SOTW too, but I highly recommend starting with a year of geography first. We used MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures and I'm finding it helps so much with our understanding of history. This is my second time through the SOTW series and I wish I had done it this way the first time.

[momto2Cs]

I have a couple of recommendations based on what history you are studying.

 

1. I agree with everyone about SOTW and the activity book if you're doing world history.

 

2. For world geography/cultures, you might look at Expedition Earth as a framework.

 

3. If you're doing American history, check out the Time Travelers cd-roms from Homeschool in the Woods.

[justLisa]

I have a couple of recommendations based on what history you are studying.

 

1. I agree with everyone about SOTW and the activity book if you're doing world history.

 

2. For world geography/cultures, you might look at Expedition Earth as a framework.

 

3. If you're doing American history, check out the Time Travelers cd-roms from Homeschool in the Woods.

 

 

That expedition Earth looks so nice. I have no desire to use faith based curriculum, and I wish this was minus that part because I would pick it up

[momto2Cs]

That expedition Earth looks so nice. I have no desire to use faith based curriculum, and I wish this was minus that part because I would pick it up

 

I downloaded the animals study that goes with it, and it was so easy to make secular. Haven't tried it yet with Expedition Earth, but it may be possible!

[PeterPan]

Anna, you have so many options you haven't even scratched the surface yet. :)

 

Konos (hands-on driven!!!)

SL (read their wonderful books, add on activity books you find at the library)

WinterPromise (hands-on integrated)

TruthQuest (wonderful book lists, then add on activity books from the library)

Veritas Press history--I hate history but dd loves it. We used this as a spine, still do actually, and just run with it, adding tons of great literature, hands-on, you name it. Now they have the marvelous self-paced online classes you don't even have to teach it. Love, love, love that. ;)

 

Vibrant and even hands-on are relative. My dd wanted to re-enact, make costumes, build canoes. Some kids like paper crafts and coloring. You just have to know your kid. For us the TQ book lists were amazing and inspired her love of history. I have Konos to use with my ds. I didn't feel quite brave (or energetic?) enough to try it the first time around, hehe. So just look at different things and see what strikes you. :)

[OK Family]

U haven't read all the replies but did see SOTW listed. We love story of the world. We don't do the activity guide, instead we do a timeline/lapbook combo. After reading/listening to each chapter my son creates a lapbook template then we glue it on our timeline in our binder. Love it!

[Jay3fer]

That expedition Earth looks so nice. I have no desire to use faith based curriculum, and I wish this was minus that part because I would pick it up

 

We're Jewish, but I bought this anyway, hoping to use it this year (haven't got around to it, and now we might not, but I have read through it thoroughly). Are you looking for NO faith, or just not outright Christian faith? Because I found it pretty easy to "convert" it to a pretty neutral tone. But then, I'm okay with occasional "God" references... :-)

 

Anyway, if you leave out the "praying for..." segments, it's pretty neutral. Jesus is only mentioned in the section about Christmas around the world, which I would have omitted anyway. There are only THREE God references in the book, none what I'd call religious: "inshallah means 'if God wills it'", and the two national anthems of New Zealand: "God save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand." So buy it and just don't "pray for Samoa" or whatever she suggests each week... :-) (boy, do I feel like a humbug NOT praying for a country! :lol:)

 

Oh - and about HISTORY... it is SO not boring when it is done right. The book is called "Story of the World" for a reason. Read it as a story: the longest and weirdest and most convoluted story ever. Don't worry about the dates, just give kids "pegs" to hang the facts on... like such-and-such happened before or after Alexander the Great, and read them stories about him.

 

We have SOTW, but I also bought Hillyer's A Child's History. What a weird book. I have to leave some bits out and calculate dates because he does talk about things happening however-many years before or after Jesus. BUT it is such a strange book, so vividly written, that it has totally captured the kids' imagination. Another good one (two, actually) is Famous Men of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The stories are long but again, pretty vivid. If you want shorter versions, try Fifty Famous Stories Retold, but they are sometimes a bit TOO short and often go over my little kids' heads.

 

Also, it cost a bit, but I picked up SWB's "grown-up" history of the world book, too. It's fascinating stuff, and believe me - I have always hated history. I didn't hate history, it turns out - just hated the way it was mummified into textbooks.

Edited October 26, 2011 by Jay3fer

[Lily_Grace]

Any of the big ones would be great - Sonlight, Story of The World, History Odyssey...but if you find history boring then the level of commitment from these programs might not be something you're ready for. I would suggest going to your library and just browsing the non-fiction section. Start with the 8-900's and branch out, taking home a few new kids books, videos, or audiobooks at a time to get a feel for how you want to approach things.

 

I'd also suggest heading over to the adult section and finding Loewen's Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid The Tyranny of Textbooks And Get Students Excited About Doing History. It's written to public school teachers but the information is invaluable for at home, too. There was a thread on here not too long ago about Sign of the Beaver being a terrible book for Native American culture - I'm using Loewen's ideas to help teach the history within history and do better lessons than using it simply as a historical novel.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Well at least the read out of a book and memorize facts kind. I am so jaded on my view of history (grew up on Abeka) that I am having a really hard time finding one for my girls (and son eventually). I need a vibrant and maybe even hands on history for us. Reading straight out of a text is just not going to cut it!

A textbook is boring. Memorizing dates and names for memory sake is boring. Bringing history alive is not hard to do though with SOTW and the activity guide. The book is written in story form. It does not have vibrant pictures but is a diving board to jump into library books on the topic you study. For my dd, this is where she gets into the time period we study. Some of the things we did this year so far:

made a timeline of childs life

did an archeological dig in the ground, ice, and even a trash can

painted cave art

made different types of clay pots

built a shelter for fairies using sticks and other things

made the nile river

Hieroglyphics scroll

cuneiform tablet

made bricks for pyramid building

sarcophagus for a doll

and are in the process of making a chicken mummy

 

We have drawn pictures, read stories, watched DVDs, looked at online sites, and worked on maps. We are not memorizing dates but have a timeline hanging on the upstairs banister with picture to represent each chapter we learn. My dd is seeing the order of history pan out without memorizing dates.

 

There are many other curriculum out there besides textbooks. The ones mentioned here are great curriculums to get into history and enjoy. Know what your children like and then take it from there.

[Trish]

I have a couple of recommendations based on what history you are studying.

 

1. I agree with everyone about SOTW and the activity book if you're doing world history.

 

2. For world geography/cultures, you might look at Expedition Earth as a framework.

 

3. If you're doing American history, check out the Time Travelers cd-roms from Homeschool in the Woods.

 

I see E.E. is for K-3. In looking at the sample download, though, I was thinking my 5th grader could use it. I mean, he might not want to do the "song," but the rest of the stuff looks good!

[kandty]

I see E.E. is for K-3. In looking at the sample download, though, I was thinking my 5th grader could use it. I mean, he might not want to do the "song," but the rest of the stuff looks good!

 

I think it would work fine for a 5th grader. My 5th grader was always right there wanting to take part with my 2nd grader. I thought it would be to hard for kids younger than 2nd grade.

[FO4UR]

We use SOTW. The kids color, find the locations on the globe (which I pull down on the floor by me as I read), and we orally narrate. The narrations are casual...discussing what we've read and making connections to other things we've read...which brings me to the additional reading in the Activity Guide. I request those books at the library before we get to the chapter.

 

History for us, is a series of good stories, food for imaginative play. *I* enjoy sitting down and reading another chapter. It's what we do on our "break" from school (3Rs).:tongue_smilie:

[hollyandab]

I did a quick scan through the replies but didn't see where anyone mentioned Tapestry of Grace. It uses SOTW as an alternative spine (for the grammar levels) and has tons and tons of hands-on activities. Love Tapestry of Grace!

[AnnaM]

Thanks everyone. I guess I should have said up front that SOTW is not an option for us :)

 

 

 

I went to the store and looked at MOH and a few others and actually decided to try the Heritage Studies by BJU. I am starting with the G1 book even though the girls are 2nd and 3rd respectively but figured that it would ease us into it since this is our first year of formal history. It also has a timeline (which I havent purchased yet) and a notebook with fun activities that aren't stressful. I also, for the first time since I started HSing, bought the TM which has loads of easy to manage activities for enrichment. Going to see how this works and and go from there.

[beachnut]

History & geography are my boys favorite subjects to learn about. They're in 6th & 9th grade, and when they were younger they LOVED using SOTW.

 

However, if that's not an option, I think you can make ANY study of history more fun, regardless of what (if any) curriculum you use. But it really depends on what your kids enjoy. For example, my boys enjoyed...cooking ethnic recipes, going to ethnic restaurants, listening to music from other cultures, reading lots of relevant fiction (books set in a specific time period we were studying), doing webquests, drawing, making models, creating dioramas, coloring, exploring relevant website, playing board & card games (some we bought, most we made), staging debates to explore controversial topics, making timelines, creating lapbooks, making salt dough maps, etc. (Most of these activities were pulled together by me from many different sources, not one curriculum.)

 

As for curricurlum --

 

* If you're studying world history, you can just follow TWTM recommendation of using one of the history encyclopedias (like Usborne or Kingfisher) as your spine and writing narrations about a particular topic/period/event. Then let your kids choose one or more topics in the encyclopedia to explore further ... with lots of library books (fiction & non-fiction), movies, games, websites, etc.

 

* If you're studying American history, I'd highly recommend Joy Hakim's 10-volume series, "A History of US," written at a middle school level. There are teacher's guides available online, as well as an invaluable website that serves as a companion to a similar, one-volume book by Hakim: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/teachers/index.html .

 

IMO, history is one of those subjects that presents so many fun learning options. It should NEVER be boring.

[Diane]

I can not say enough good things about Story of the World. I did NOT like history myself (terrible, I know) and was not looking forward to teaching it. I picked up SOTW ancients and I have to tell you not only has this series been my favorite subject to teach, but I, myself, LOVE it.

You don't have to read all of the suggested books or even do all of the hands on recipes, projects, etc...but we did! (not every project, but most!) we spent two years on ancients. :)

[KrissiK]

My first suggestion would be Story of the World. You could add the Activity Guide. It is not boring.

:iagree::iagree: My boys love history. SOTW is great because she's always throws in these obscure little facts (like the fact that the Celts fought battles naked and painted blue) that make the kids perk up and remember things. We love SOTW. History is my boys' favorite subject.

 

Editing: I guess I should have read the entirety of the thread first. Sorry! But, I will add... there are a lot of wonderful bios for children out there, so supplementing with those would really help. We've discovered Diane Stanley's biographies to be great.

Edited October 27, 2011 by KrissiK

[NittanyJen]

Thanks everyone. I guess I should have said up front that SOTW is not an option for us :)

 

 

 

I went to the store and looked at MOH and a few others and actually decided to try the Heritage Studies by BJU. I am starting with the G1 book even though the girls are 2nd and 3rd respectively but figured that it would ease us into it since this is our first year of formal history. It also has a timeline (which I havent purchased yet) and a notebook with fun activities that aren't stressful. I also, for the first time since I started HSing, bought the TM which has loads of easy to manage activities for enrichment. Going to see how this works and and go from there.

 

SOTW is not my favorite either. I do use an encyclopedia, just as a jumping off point (we do now use History Odyssey, as I was starting to spend too much time invested in pre-digesting information, researching cool books, planning activities, etc; my boys are in levels 1 and 2, which has its pluses and minuses).

 

I would scout Amazon, the library, Barnes and Noble, and start plugging in book lists, both fiction and non-fiction, serious, and silly. Do not be afraid to tackle the same story more than one time. Kids that age still enjoy a certain amount of repetition. I think we read about 6 different versions of the Trojan War :). Including a selection in WWE, I am sure we have read that many stories of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot! The Kate McMullan series about mythology is a hoot to read. My new 8YO cannot get enough Magic Treehouse and Time Warp Trio, and LOVES the "You Wouldn't Want to Be A . . . " books.

 

When he found out there was a guy who was known primarily for asking lots of questions, DS8 felt immediate kinship :) and wanted to run to the library to get books about Socrates.

 

They have loved activities like visiting the university to spy out the columns and identify them as Ionic, Corinthian, or Dorian. We made wax tablets and practiced Roman Numerals. We excavated a pyramid (Thames and Kosmos) for which they first had to decipher the hieroglyphics to reveal the secret opening. We built Roman shields and marched across the livingroom, forming a phalanx. We drew a giant map of Europe/Africa/western Asia in window markers across the deck sliders in the family room and the kids got to add cities and bodies of water as we "discovered" them. We made a giant timeline that resides across one whole wall of the family room, 2 1/2 feet tall, and they add new discoveries to it. There are lots of things you can do that are fun and make history come alive that aren't just color/cut/paste crafts (which drive my kids crazy).

 

Good luck-- and treat history-- especially at this age-- like a wonderful story, not a memorization exercise. You might be surprised at the weird facts they decide to retain. It may not always be the ones you think they should, but they'll remember something, and hopefully learn to love history. And maybe you will, too.

[fourcatmom]

I have a couple of recommendations based on what history you are studying.

 

1. I agree with everyone about SOTW and the activity book if you're doing world history.

 

2. For world geography/cultures, you might look at Expedition Earth as a framework.

 

3. If you're doing American history, check out the Time Travelers cd-roms from Homeschool in the Woods.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion on the Time Travelers cd's. I just ordered my first two! I am hoping this will work for us.:lol: