4 Year History and Story of the World Question

[spaceman]

Why does it begin with Ancients and not the beginning of the Earth?

 

Perhaps this is a naive question, or one that debates (or misunderstands) the meaning of "history".

 

If you do History this way, when do you study the origins of the Earth, evolution (and/or creation)?

[Laura in STL]

I assume SOTW starts this way to make it usable for those on both sides of the creation/ evolution debate. If you want to cover prehistory, many of the history encyclopedias have pages before the ancients section that include this information. You could cover it in the summer or plan it into the ancient year. I know some people who have covered beginning of the earth to the last ice age in K(a simple overview), since dinosaurs are an interesting topic to many children this age.

[SonshineLearner]

We, because of our Creation based believes, picked 2 lessons of "Creation" and how it started off Ancient History. We picked some nice little books for the kids to color/fold up that we got free from the internet.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I think it probably has something to do with the definition of history. "History" is technically only that for which we have written evidence of. Anything before that is prehistory, and often falls under science studies for many people. (dinosaurs, ice age, etc.)

It also makes SOTW usable for both creationists and evolutionists I suppose (not 100% sure on this, since I haven't used SOTW yet).

[Alte Veste Academy]

I don't know what SWB's reasons were for starting SOTW1 when she did. However, some people believe in a young Earth. Even among old Earth people, some believe that a formal study history should only include that period of time for which we have records and regard the rest as science. Starting when it does, the SOTW series does make itself usable to a wider audience.

 

I choose the definition of history as the first listed by Merriam-Webster: a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes. To me, that does include everything we know about the Earth, whether through science or historic records/archaeology. We start at the Big Bang and work forward from there. We covered this material prior to starting SOTW1, which worked well for us. :)

[spaceman]

Thank you all for replying.

 

Alte Vista Academy, I chose the same definition of history that you did and interpret it the same way.

[go_go_gadget]

I choose the definition of history as the first listed by Merriam-Webster: a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes. To me, that does include everything we know about the Earth, whether through science or historic records/archaeology. We start at the Big Bang and work forward from there. We covered this material prior to starting SOTW1, which worked well for us. :)

 

If we want to get truly picky, we might say that in prehistoric times, there weren't any nations or institutions to be affected by significant events. I can certainly understand the point, but I do find value in distinguishing between scientific and essentially sociological studies of the past, so I appreciate the distinction between "prehistory" and "history". :)

[Carrie12345]

I was just brushing up on SWBs high school/adult Ancients book today, and she wrote something along the lines of historians deal in written/recorded history. Archaeologists and anthropologists can sort through the stuff before that.

 

ETA: We did some origins of the earth stuff before starting SOTW, but it often weaves its way into our science study.

[Alte Veste Academy]

If we want to get truly picky, we might say that in prehistoric times, there weren't any nations or institutions to be affected by significant events. I can certainly understand the point, but I do find value in distinguishing between scientific and essentially sociological studies of the past, so I appreciate the distinction between "prehistory" and "history". :)

 

Well, I don't care enough to get truly picky. The institution of life on Earth is enough for my definition. Semantic and philosophical disagreements as to when history began would go on far too long for my particular level of interest in bickering about it. :D To each his own. :)