Is there a Grammar level history curriculum with old earth and Biblical perspective?

[tillie]

Or are old earth history and Christianity considered oppositional?

 

We are trying to find a program that includes Biblical history (including Creation) in the ancients without getting into the old earth/young earth debate.

 

SOTW seems to start well after creation and omits much of the early Biblical aspects. MOH has been given a big veto by my dh due to timeline discrepencies for some Biblical events and the one sided approach to old earth/young earth debate.

 

I have researched MFW, CHOW, VP, Biblioplan, and TOG. Anyone have any other ideas? Right now I feel like SOTW is the only option. I have also noticed that just about everyone who uses it supplements with some other program. I would appreciate any suggestions.

 

I am not wanting to open a young earth/old earth debate. I simply need help finding a curriculum that either presents both sides or doesn't put firm dates on creation and the flood, for example.

 

Thank you.

[clwcain]

IIRC, there are some Catholic resources aimed at the young, but I can't remember titles at present. Maybe "Bible History" by Father Knecht? He did one for a high schooler/adult and one for grammar school children.

 

In general, Catholics have never been "young earth" creationists and, so long as you're sticking to the early bits of the Pentateuch you shouldn't have to adapt to much to fit your confession.

 

IIRC, Plaid Dad may be of help since I think he's using some of these resources.

 

HTH

:)

[HFClassicalAcademy]

I am using SOTW 1 this upcoming year (next week!) and I purchased RC History to supplement. I'm not sure what grades you are looking for, but the RC History can be adjusted for any grade level. It is meant to be used as a stand alone curriculum, so it might be what you are looking for!

 

I really like the look of it. I do know that they are still working on their second volume and are releasing it as it goes along. Here is the link if you are interested. RC History There are timelines and books they recommend using with the program as well, but the program is chronological.

 

I hope this helps a bit! I understand your concerns with history, as I have the same issues.

 

Liz

[Ali in OR]

I was uncomfortable with MOH for the same reason. I have had no trouble with Biblioplan. Of course, it's mostly just a book list and schedule, not a curriculum from a particular viewpoint per se. If you like the idea of learning history by reading a lot of great books, it may be a good fit. If you want a more traditional textbook type approach, maybe not. Biblioplan schedules SOTW, but the chapters are used in a different order (to me it's a better order). You stay with one culture for an extended period of time instead of hopping back and forth from one culture to another. I think the Creation to Jacob unit was 3 weeks and I think the Nation of Israel unit was 6 or 7 weeks. There is very little in SOTW for those, so most of the reading was from the Bible or Bible storybook and other read alouds. Nothing anywhere sets a specific date for early Bible events. The Timeline suggestion for The Flood and Tower of Babel is simply "before 2500 BC on timeline". Our timeline begins with creation and has the fall, the flood, and the tower of babel on it with no date indicated. I drew a break in the timeline to indicate an unknown number of years before we begin to have more of a historical record. It works for us.

[angela in ohio]

Why not VP or TOG? Are you just looking or more suggestions, or have you written those two off?

[tristangrace]

Great question; thanks for asking it. I'd been planning to "skip" ahead to the beginning of the ancient civilizations and avoid the whole young/old earth thing until my oldest hits third grade, but if there are resources out there that can help me now, so much the better.

[chai]

Or are old earth history and Christianity considered oppositional?

 

 

Absolutely not! There are lots of Christians that believe in an old earth.

 

We are trying to find a program that includes Biblical history (including Creation) in the ancients without getting into the old earth/young earth debate.

 

I am not wanting to open a young earth/old earth debate. I simply need help finding a curriculum that either presents both sides or doesn't put firm dates on creation and the flood, for example.

 

 

I used SOTW 1 and combined it with reading from Egermeier's Story Bible. For Bible events like the flood, I didn't use specific dates. For other events, you can use archeological dates--most of these are in SOTW AG.

I did a lot of research on dates so that I could line up Biblical events with other events. Choosing an Egyptian timeline is one of the more difficult areas.

[Trivium Academy]

TOG welcomes both perspectives as far as I understand. Here's a file from the Tapestry website about Timelines, you can use TOG with an old earth perspective. At least we are.

[ELaurie]

in SOTW. She begins with "the first nomads" in chapter 1, assigning a date of 6000 BC. This allows parents who ascribe to an "old earth" POV to fill in the history of early Biblical events in a manner consistent with their beliefs, without contradicting those who ascribe to beliefs about a younger earth (however, those who ascribe to theories about a very young earth - 4000-5000 BC might take issue with her about this).

 

In The History of the Ancient World she places the flood narratives prior to 5000 BC, probably after 11,000 BC. She makes it clear that any suppositions we have about these early events are based upon certain sets of assumptions about archaeological evidence, geological evidence, one's interpretation of early written histories, the reliability of various sources, and one's understanding of why and how these histories were written (I hope I am not misrepresenting her here : )

 

When reading SOTW to my dc two years ago, I simply began with a children's Bible, and read the early stories to them before beginning SOTW. I didn't assign specific dates at the time, as the concept of a time line seemed relatively abstract to them at that point. Instead, I focused on helping them remember the chronological order of events, and recalling the stories as part of a (relatively) cohesive narrative.

 

I have begun to create time line with ds 8 this year, filling in dates that are consistent with our beliefs. He is aware of the young / old earth debates from watching NOVA and the History channel with his dad, and this is a subject we have discussed with him many times.

 

When he is in the logic stage, I will probably help him devise a time line that represents both sets of dates, in a parallel way, so that he can see how various events line up (or don't) depending upon one's POV.

 

In the rhetoric stage, he will be prepared to take a more in depth look at this debate from an informed perspective.

 

CHOW takes an older earth POV, but omits early Biblical narratives.

[Dawn E]

It's hard to find and can be rather expensive, but you might like The Story of Mankind aka A Picturesque Tale of Progress by Olive Miller. The first chapter has the timeline 150,000 BC to 50,000 BC.

[jg_puppy]

I just wanted to say thank you for asking this question. I have been wondering the same thing.

 

Jan

[Plaid Dad]

Maybe "Bible History" by Father Knecht? He did one for a high schooler/adult and one for grammar school children.

 

These are really just retellings of the history portions of the Bible. They don't bring in other events or peoples, so they unfortunately wouldn't work for a general history course.

[clwcain]

These are really just retellings of the history portions of the Bible. They don't bring in other events or peoples, so they unfortunately wouldn't work for a general history course.

 

Upon reflection, I think I misunderstood the original question. Thanks for clarifying that it is just bible stories retold.

[tillie]

Thank you for the recommendations. I will spend some time this week researching the resources each of you mentioned. I am also so relieved to know I am not the only one dealing with this issue.

 

I will look at Biblioplan again. I couldn't tell from my first pass at the website how it handled timeline dates.

 

TOG is simply out of our budget to be honest.

 

I am under the impression VP is for older ages. My dc are 8 and 5.

 

I will look into RC history, which is one I have not seen. I will also look up the source books mentioned as well.

 

All of you really helped ease my mind. Thank you for the support and comments about SOTW being "safe" with regard to young/old debate. And thank you to those who shared it is a balance you are facing as well.

[Veritaserum]

I like SOTW and don't supplement it beyond doing stuff out of the activity guide. Well, we do read from our children's bible when we come across Biblical figures, but otherwise we read SOTW, read some library books and/or historical literature, and do activities from the activity book for SOTW. It works for us without me being stressed out. :)