laughing lioness Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 ds 11 is bored with history. He is taking a class doing a World history overview. I want him to stay with that for a couple of reasons but he's begging for more challenge. He has pretty much memorized large chuncks of SOTW. He is NOT an activity guide kinda guy. He has read some Henty books- he'll get through it but not his fav. He LOVES graphic novels and can memorize portions on the first read but there are a limited # that I've found with history. Thoughts? Ideas? He is asking for challenge. He LOVES this subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Primary sources related to whatever he's studying in class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanM Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 I'd highly recommend a National History Day project (http://www.nhd.org/). The project can be in various forms (paper, documentary, website, etc.), and the students must use primary sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've looked at this for 2 years. Have you done it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Ds12 follows the topics/chronology in the SOTW that his sister is doing, but he uses National Geographic Almanac of World History and DK History Definitive Visual Guide. He also reads the readers and read alouds listed in Sonlight's Core 6 and 7 (correlated to the history topics). Sonlight has a list of discussion questions for each chapter that guide me in prompting him to disucss the books with me. (I do try to read them, but I don't always read them all.) We also have History Odyssey, but I've found that neither of the levels (middle school or high school) fit him very well, so I have to do a lot of tweaking. And I hate that. So I don't use it as much as I should. Some of this may give you ideas. I hope you find what works for your guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyCamper Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My daughter is younger, but we have been using History Odyssey Level 2 Middle Ages and it is pretty meaty and interesting. We do all of the reading (non-fiction and fiction), outlining, and map work. She does a good portion of the writing. It really doesn't have crafts. I use a post-it note to keep track of which assignment we are on. We bought all the books over the summer. It is completely open and go for us and I am really happy with it. (She would be happier if we dropped the outlining and she could just read . . . .) Maybe the high school level would be more appropriate for your child. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaDSB Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My DS11 loves history too. We were doing SOTW, but he wanted to read ahead on his own, which I allowed. Next thing I knew, he had read all the history books he could get his hands on, and there was really no point in my trying to micromanage his learning with lessons and activities. He now spends hours a day on wikipedia learning myriad facts and events, which he somehow manages to store in his brain and pull together to draw various connections. He is endlessly creating maps showing various empires and scenarios. Now he's into alternative history and participates in an "althist" wiki where various historical events are "rewritten" with twists to the facts. Maybe your son would be less bored if he could just take it and run with it -- perhaps have him do some sort of project to show what he's learned. Just my 0.02 :-). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 ds 11 is bored with history. He is taking a class doing a World history overview. I want him to stay with that for a couple of reasons but he's begging for more challenge. He has pretty much memorized large chuncks of SOTW. He is NOT an activity guide kinda guy. He has read some Henty books- he'll get through it but not his fav. He LOVES graphic novels and can memorize portions on the first read but there are a limited # that I've found with history. Thoughts? Ideas? He is asking for challenge. He LOVES this subject. The Usborne Book that Sonlight uses in 6th & 7th has internet links. My youngest daughter enjoyed those each day after completing the reading. If he likes the computer, that may give some extra research. Blessings, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junepep Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 The most interesting thing in history is the ability to run with and form a cohesive story about what you've learned. For an advanced child his age who really enjoys historical fiction I would suggest things like this taking specific really interesting people and time periods over the course of 6 weeks and writing a paper on his readings (rather than real historical research using primary sources which could kill it for him at this age, since most relatively accessible sources are pretty dull reads ;)): Write a 4-5 page paper about Richard the Third & The Power of Perception Suggested Readings (basically anything that's a mix of "good" historical fiction and real non-meaty biographies): Josephine Tey - The Daughter of Time William Shakespeare - Richard III (with modernized language) Josephine Wilkinson - Richard III: Young King to Be Anthony Cheetham - Life and Times of Richard III (King and Queens of England) Elaine Marie Alphin - Tournament of Time (supposedly rather scary, may be unsuitable) He might also enjoy: Elizabeth MacLeod - Royal Murder: The deadly Intrigue of Ten Sovereigns[/url] (Richard III is in here) In this example I've assumed that he likes the adventure, blood and gore of it all, you should modify subjects to meet his actual needs. You could do the same with the Henry's, Elizabeth, Famous Church Leaders, and even religious movements (ie How the Irish Saved civilization - thomas cahill, The world turned upside down - christopher hill, and maybe a modernized translation of Malleus Maleficarum). The following history radio series might be of interest (as with everything preview for content and appropriateness for your family): History of the world in 100 objects http://www.britishmuseum.org/system_pages/holding_area/explore/a_history_of_the_world.aspx - This is a lot more fun if you print out a picture of each object and laminate it so that your children can hold it, fight over it, look at it during car trips, and generally abuse it while listening to the radio. In Our Time with Melvin Bragg Podcast from BBC Radio4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot You could also assign small research projects (1-2 page paper or 5 minute oral presentation, 2-week projects) on things like specific minor civilizations or moments of change within a given civilization -- for instance you could have him "research" Catalhoyuk and present the information to you orally or in a paper. Catahoyuk (Çatal Hüyük; cha-tal-hu-yuk) 7400-6400BC http://okapi.berkeley.edu/remixing/mainpage.html - Play the video on the main page, it provides a good overview of the site. These are the direct YouTube links from the Life Histories of Peoples, Places, Things: and Senses of Places: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th3Nwb0nRvQ. Then "Excavate the Site". View the photos of the replica house: http://catalva.wordpress.com/display-and-exhibition/visitors-centre/replica-house/ and the illustrative reconstructions of the people who may have lived there: http://catalva.wordpress.com/illustrations/hodder-era-1993-present/and an finally take an interactive illustrated tour of one of the houses: http://www.smm.org/catal/mysteries/first_city/tour_city/catal_house/?flashVar=1 He could also put famous figures (like joan of arc) on "trial" preparing prep sheets for his friends / family members to put on a mock trial / interview setup -- each person could be an associated person in history witha specific backstory and "feelings" toward the person on trial - this would be a 4 week project or longer depending on the scope (*cough* how many family and friends he can rope into performing in this activity). He may be too young for this, I would categorize it as a 9th+ grade activity. I tried to stay away from "activity book" type things - I tend to have more ideas for things like that though ;) so I hope that this helped!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 (edited) Really awesome power point presentation on his favorite history era? Put together a 'magazine'? on an era or historical person, or write a series of editorials/articles on the events leading up to a war? Make a Lego video? ;) Create his own graphic novel? I think it's Nest of Three's son who visually records his own history lectures on various subjects. Those are awesome. :) Edited October 31, 2011 by LibraryLover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 (rather than real historical research using primary sources which could kill it for him at this age, since most relatively accessible sources are pretty dull reads ;)): Hmm....we've certainly not found this to be the case for us. We've not had trouble finding primary sources and my 10yo has found them fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanM Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I've looked at this for 2 years. Have you done it? Yes, my older ds did a National History Day project last year, and he's doing another one this year. Last year he and his friends made a documentary. It was a great experience for them! They had to research the topic, put the documentary together, and then they had to answer questions about it at the actual competition. He found a professor at a local college to use as an "expert witness," and ds had a fabulous time talking history with the professor. They were researching a world war 2 era project, and they found lots of primary sources online that were accessible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junepep Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Hmm....we've certainly not found this to be the case for us.We've not had trouble finding primary sources and my 10yo has found them fascinating. I'm mentally stuck back in the middle ages and pre-classical era because that's what I've been looking up in my own free time ;) it didn't even occur to me that they might be in the modern era when I posted. Also, I don't consider translated or modernized documents to be primary sources since they're technically not. If you're doing the modern stuff (ie last 150 years) primary sources are incredibly abundant. But for anything before that I think that it would be a struggle even for a gifted 10yo. For example, if he's not taking Latin primary sources pre-1500 will be hard to find, even later when documents are in English I think that many 10 year olds would find the archaic language difficult, that's why I suggested modernized and translated works mixed in with fictionalized or secondary works (biographies, solid social histories) since she indicated in he really enjoyed/preferred such things in her post (I think that she specifically mentioned graphic novels?) and it seemed best to stick with what he loved when introducing harder content :) Hth clarify things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Also, I don't consider translated or modernized documents to be primary sources since they're technically not. Maybe they are not a good fit for this particular situation and perhaps I used the incorrect wording with primary sources if they are translated, but I still think they are accessible. Here's a quick example: http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/asbook03.asp#Ancient%20Middle%20East My daughter loves this book-- The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: Eyewitness accounts of history in the making from 2000 BC to the present. If it's not an authentic primary source because it's translated--oh well. My ten year old loves it. She could be reading worse. ;) I would hope someone wouldn't miss out on Aristotle just because it's translated to English. :confused: ....For example, if he's not taking Latin primary sources pre-1500 will be hard to find, even later when documents are in English I think that many 10 year olds would find the archaic language difficult,... My point was that some children are interested in reading older works and that it's worth a try. If we don't expose children to various works/genres how do we know if they like them or not? I rather thought that being exposed to the archaic language was part of the point. Even if it's not a good fit for the original poster, I thought others might read the thread and be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junepep Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 (edited) LOL -- My last post wasn't as clear as I thought it would be. I was saying that I think that we're saying similar things, just using different words :) If you look at my post I suggested that they try a bunch of different things, such as Malleus Maleficarum modernized & in translation, that's a text from the 15th century... Edited November 2, 2011 by junepep 15th not 1500th ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Do you speak French? You could do the French middle school history program we are doing. It is almost all primary sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland Mist Academy Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 LOL--good. I think those couple phrases just stood out in my mind and I must have missed other parts. My daughter spent part of the evening trying to translate a small bit of the Rosetta Stone for fun, so I was just wanting to let others know primary sources can be enjoyable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted November 19, 2011 Author Share Posted November 19, 2011 Thanks for the great ideas! I've been swamped with house stuff the last 2 weeks and then he and I got sick. I'll be implementing some of this, though. And still thinking about the Nat'l Hx Day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pioneergirl Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 As Jean M mentioned earlier on, I immediately thought of National History Day. Our GT program in Middle school requires the 6th and 7th graders to participate as part of the curriculum. My son is not a writer and is more interested in math and science. Each year the NDH.org chooses a theme. Your child has a chance to express themselves in many different ways. My son, last year created his own website. Other kids do skits, documenteries, board presentations, and verbal presentations. It was a trying experience at first, but as my son moved through the process and judging it ended up being a positive experience. I think we all just didn't know the process. At each judging phase, if you place, you have an opportunity to take the feedback from judges to change/improve your work to submit for the next round. If you win 1st or 2nd place in the state for your child is eligible to goto Washington DC to compete for national recognition in their category. For us it ended up igniting an interest in my son as he won 2nd place in the State in his category, although we chose not to go to D.C. He enjoyed the interviews and being recognized for talent in an area that he underestimated himself in and a subject he thought he was "uninterested" in (in that traditional way). (if you make it to nationals it'll run about $2000-$3000 cost for 2); but a rare experience. This year, nhd mailed out the subject and my son has already begun to brainstorm what topic he might like to write about. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I've looked at this for 2 years. Have you done it? We have done it! I highly recommend it. 4 of my kids have done it in the past and my youngest is doing it for the first time this year. 2 of my kids made it to Nationals - which looks good when applying for colleges and scholarships. And - my one son who is now at Stanford said History Day taught him to formulate a good thesis statement - and he is doing very well in his humanities classes. They learn to do research, and how to write a bibliography - and how to present the whole thing. Feel free to PM me if you want help. I would highly recommend it. My kids have done the paper, drama, documentary and website - so the only one I can't really help with is the poster board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloggermom Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 If you are looking for a more challenging curriculum, take a look at Omnibus through Veritas Press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 This series of graphic history and philosophy books might be worth a look - Calvin loved them. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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