DragonflyAcademy Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Ok.. here goes.. I currently have a pre Kindergartener, a second grader and a fifth grader.. Soon we will add a toddler (adoption). I feel pretty good about every area in our homeschool curriculum except history.. I find that many weeks.. it just doesn't get done...I have felt this way for years.. We went through STOW 1 when my oldest was in third grade.. then STOW 2 the next year and now we are on STOW 3.. I loved STOW 1.. STOW 2 was ok..and STOW 3.. meh.. Last year I decided to add in History Odyssey because I really didn't like how STOW jumps around.. I find it confusing...back and forth through time..lol.. HO with STOW 2 did help last year and I think the year went well.. This year I am struggling with STOW 3 with HO Early Modern 1.. My focus really needs to be on American History this year.. I've gathered LOTS of literature for both children on this..My goals were to study Exploreres, American Indians, Colonization, Revolutionary War, US Govt, Pioneers/Westward Expansion, Slavery and stop at the Civil War.. But It's just not happening!! I feel like HO and STOW have me going all over the place except where I need to be.. Is there a history program that can be done with the ages I have (grammar and just sticking a toe into the Logic stage) where I can assign the older one reading.. and work to reinforce/expand on that.. work with the middle child and then combine to do something fun to illustrate what we just learned.. in a 2 day a week format..??? I mean they could take more than those days to read the information but we focus on it 2 days.. so 1 day for all the discussion/expansions the second for the activity??? I am fitting in science on the other 2 days.. and all our Core subjects M-F... Something secular or very lightly non secular would be best.. I looked at Elemental History.. seems too young.. Living Books doesn't seem to have "just history" as an option.. I don't need an entire new curriculum all around ideas? I feel stretched very thin... :001_huh: I really need something that is just ready for me to use.. hahah.. or that I can gather and file into my weekly files so it is grab and go when I need it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I'm with you. We started SOTW 1, but I am not sure how to read that book, plus more of the reading that supposedly makes it more interesting, plus any activities....my kids absolutely dread anything in the AG for it LOL. I decided to just READ SOTW like a read aloud but it is pretty dry on it's own. I like the idea of starting history from basically the beginning and working your way up but at the rate we are going I'm not sure that will ever happen lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Scattered in these links (all focused on American History) are some lesson plans..and some are by grade level. These just happen to be on my clipboard today while I put a course together, you are welcome to poke through and search I guess. Even some of the content might brainstorm something for you. http://bensguide.gpo.gov/pt/index.html http://constitutioncenter.org/ http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Liberty_s_Kids/70202872?trkid=2361637 http://constitution.hillsdale.edu/ http://www.congressforkids.net/citizenship_intro.htm http://www.kids.gov/6_8/6_8_government_rights.shtml http://ratify.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/index_no_flash.php http://new.civiced.org/ http://www.icivics.org/ http://free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=173&toplvl=178 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloggermom Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 We are really enjoying the Veritas Press Self-Paced History courses. It makes things so simple for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julikins Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I've heard that Mystery of History doesn't jump around as much as SOTW, or you could do Child's History of the World, CHOW, but I've heard there are some references in there that are pretty old fashioned--you can change the wording or talk about the things you don't agree with as you go along, I guess. But Mystery of History (MOH) seems really good for just history. Look on her website www.brightideaspress.com/ for more info. It is from a Biblical perspective, though. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 You just need to find a different American history overview book. A very simple one is A First Book in American History (Edward Eggleston). It was originally published in 1889, but it has been revised to reflect modern standards. It has 35 chapters which goes up to the Panama Canal. However, you could stop after chapter 31 at the Civil War. If your older child needs more reading, you could assign extra reading from living books or out of a history atlas. I really like your lineup of subjects to study. It looks like a great study on early American history. I think you just need to find a concise, overview book of early American history that you could read along with your other books and activities. I have not researched all of what is out there as far as American history overview books, but I have used the Eggleston book, and I liked it very much. If you choose the Eggleston history book, you may also like his other book that goes along well with it: Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans. My kids love this book. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 I really like your lineup of subjects to study. It looks like a great study on early American history. I think you just need to find a concise, overview book of early American history that you could read along with your other books and activities. I think you hit the nail on the head... yes.. that is exactly what I need.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 One more thing that I thought of... If you need activities to do, I use lapbooks as my history activities. The pre-prepared lapbooks are very good, and usually all you need to do is print them out and follow the directions. I have found lapbooks on all or almost all of the subjects you listed, either on Homeschoolshare.com (free), or project packs from Hands of a Child (for purchase). :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 thank you I spent the afternoon tweaking my history.. taking out HO and STOW...re-ordering some things to give us extended time in certain areas...I ordered the Eggleston books.. added some lapbooking units.. I feel much better about it. One area of concern is that I want to make sure I make history Logic Stage for my 5th grader.. but since I really struggle with this myself...I think I'm stuck in the grammar stage myself... I'm not sure how to do this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 We use TruthQuest American History for the Young Student and find that there are PLENTY of logic-stage resources listed, some of which are too difficult for my 5th grader. It's worth looking over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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