How do you deal with all of the death in teaching Ancients to the very young?

[pitterpatter]

As mentioned in other threads, I'm working on putting together our Ancients curriculum. DD will either start it this September or next January. She will be 5 to 5.5-years-old.

 

How do you deal with all of the death that goes along with studying such a subject at a young age.

 

For example, in Usborne's Ancient World book, in regard to the first towns, it states...

 

"Dead people were buried underneath the houses. Their skulls may have put on display, as a way of showing respect."

 

It goes on to say...

 

"...the body was left outside to rot. The skeleton was buried under a bench in the house or in a shrine room..."

 

My DD is pretty sensitive and we do not talk about death a lot (my DH was diagnosed with a pretty rare and serious heart condition a-year-and-a-half ago :sad:).

 

Anyway, I think the previously mentioned text would freak her out. (She wouldn't go to the bathroom alone for a week after watching the Bubble Guppies Halloween episode. :001_rolleyes: Her bathroom has no window, so it's kind of dark.) Can I effectively teach Ancients by editing out such specific references to death and treatment of the dead? I do realize Egypt might be dicey.

[FairProspects]

So sorry about your dh! That must be tough and add a whole other dimension to the discussion.

 

But to be honest, this is exactly why we waited until 1st grade to begin SOTW because of these kinds of maturity issues that had nothing to do with difficulty content. Ds 2 still does not do SOTW with us due to maturity issues and emotional sensitivity.

[Sara in WA]

Maybe not go to ancients quite yet. All history periods do have death in some way or another and it is so different for each child. Your child's age is still quite young, even for next year's school year. There is no harm in not starting the official 4-year history cycle! Maybe do a year of library books about American history? I love using All Through the Ages for a guide for library books for different time periods. Or if you want to do ancients, you could use All Through the Ages and use library books at your discretion.

[WeeBeaks]

To be honest, I found that at every single year of the history cycle. Right now we are dealing with CA gold rush and people shooting each other. Civil War is coming soon. It just seems unavoidable as history is all about dead people.

 

That said, I did avoid the most graphic, and my kids were more resilient than I believed at the time. I've come to accept they are more interested than appalled, and don't think as much about death and dying as I do.

[chepyl]

We uave not come across anything in SOTW 1 that has caused issues. It seems fairly age appropriate. If you are really concerned, don't do ancients yet. Wait until first grade. Get What Your Kindergartener needs to know and use that as a spine for hist and geography. If you get library book to go with the topics, you can fill a year. We did one week per continent and week on the oceans. Then we did one history topic a week. It is written for 5 year olds. We added a few presidents, but that was it.

[jewel7123]

I focused on Biblical history, and glossed over everything else quite a bit. What they wore, what they ate, things like that. On some books I would just edit on the fly, omitting things I thought my 6 and 4 year old girls wouldn't be able to handle. I admit, it hasn't been necessarily easy, which is why I'm doing American history next year instead of the history cycle. :001_smile:

[AnointedHsMom]

Honestly? I don't do Ancients at this age for those kinds of reasons. I personally love HOD's history scope and sequence for this very reason. Since your situation is the way it is right now I might consider taking a different sequence with history right now. She is sooo young to chance hearing things like what you referenced. You can censor it but honestly having to sensor would drive me crazy.

 

Praying for you and your dh and family. I'm sure things are tough right now :grouphug:

[Jay3fer]

I don't do Ancients at this age for those kinds of reasons.

 

This makes it impossible to do any period of history - is Hiroshima or the extermination of the Native Americans any more palatable than placing skulls under your hut out of respect for the dead... or less so?

 

Now, I do realize that in your situation, you want to be careful in discussions about death. I would tread lightly and emphasize the fact that times were way more brutal (on an individual level, not necessarily societal, but that's a distinction for us grown-ups to understand) than now, and that unlike in ancient times - when your dh would likely have died already by now - we have excellent medical care, etc, so we are grateful to God that he's still with us (or whatever you want to say to put a positive spin).

 

But to be completely fair, if you are teaching history in a way that there is absolutely no death or violence, you are probably not teaching it right.

 

This is sort of what I do with my younger kids, though, of course, we don't have that sword hanging over our heads every single day. :-(

So sorry for you having to be in that terrible situation.

 

Still. When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he up and took my kids to a marionette show (mostly aimed at adults) called Famous Puppet Death Scenes, which featured various puppets facing their own various deaths. Facing things head-on was his way, and I think it actually did the kids good.

 

(edited to add: thinking about it now, my 2 older kids actually DID lose their father, 5 years ago, but we have never shied away from discussion of death in any form, historical or otherwise... I think if it's a taboo topic, they'll only fear it more.)

 

:grouphug: - whatever you decide. Sounds like there's a lot on your plate.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Jay3fer

[Guest]

I don't. I wait until 3rd or 4th grade to start history. The core LA and math get higher priorities here.

[ChandlerMom]

I find ancients LESS upsetting than middle ages and modern history.

 

Ancient history can focus on how/why people moved from hunt/gather to village to city. Why the Egyptians left great ruins and writing but the mesopotamians generally did not. Why people lived by rivers, how civilization spread, different experiments in governing philosophy, the accumulation of wisdom, etc.

 

Once you get to middle ages, it seems to mainly be about kingdom building, wars, and death on a far more massive scale. I also think that death, murder, war, and mayhem in ancient times seems so far more removed from "real" life than more modern equivalents. Kids can be remarkably blasé about it.

 

ALL of history is important, but I actually dwell in the ancients until the kiddos are older. I agree that eventually you need to cover the less happy parts, but early on there's plenty to discuss without going into the details (where most of the death is) and still provide a useful structure on which to build deeper knowledge later.

 

So, you don't need to go into the nasty bits at this stage. You need to find the level that you and your dc are comfortable with. You might opt to focus on topics like how manages developed/spread or inventors/inventions.

 

Best wishes.

[Lovedtodeath]

We ended up skipping the spine texts. We used picture books and focused on other things for the most part, here are quite a few of them. I admit that there are some that will have to be avoided. Usborne's Alexander the Great has most of his army dying and him killing a friend. Any book on Cleopatra, any book on mummies, even some about Ancient China... wow, that would be difficult.

 

I seem to remember a book with children in different historical cultures. It is on the tip of my tongue. I know there is a series called Growing up in Ancient... check those out.

 

 

The Assyrians can get too graphic, but you can leave that out and focus on myth (Lugalbanda) and architecture, which was a big part of what made these civilizations interesting. Abraham moved from a city that was very advanced with a system of running water and sewage to live in tents. Did you know that Mesopotamians started wearing a model of their city's walls as their crown and other countries followed suit? Think of a crown. Recognize the shape? That is from Ancient Mesopotamia. There are things to learn that are not gory.

 

The Trojan Horse by Emily Little is a great book, for example. Children are familiar with the life-styles and geography of Greece and Troy and introduced to the story of the Iliad so that they will recognize it when it comes up later (it is not as intimidating), but they don't have to hear about the mistreatment of Hector's body, and other gory details to be familiar with the story.

 

My DD recognizes aspects of ancient life without hearing about beheadings, etc. She finds Ancient Egyptians fascinating. Focus on their lives instead of death. What did they eat? What did they wear? What kind of houses? etc.

 

Or... you could do ecology/geography/cultures this year?

[pitterpatter]

Been thinking about everyone's posts today. I think I'll order a spine and see whether I think I can adequately present Ancients by editing out the really specific details. I do realize these details are what makes everything so interesting, but I think we'll leave them for the second and third cycles.

 

It's not that we can't generally talk about death. I just think some really specific details might be a bit much for her. She watched Disney's Mulan for the first time yesterday and was more stuck on why Mulan/girls weren't supposed to do certain things. She did question about ancestors a bit, but seemed fine by it all.

 

I have been planning on primarily using picture books as our texts, but I haven't read any of them. Is there a large focus on death (the details of death) in the picture books as well?

 

Probably need to just start accumulating and see what I think. I can always save everything for later, if need be.

 

Thanks, everyone for posting. I'm digesting everything. :001_smile:

[mamajag]

I don't tend to edit anything. The truth is that people and animals die, and we have rituals and ways of dealing with that. Our family has lost a lot of people and is in the process of losing more, so maybe my 3 grew up a little faster to that reality, but it did not bother them in the least to talk about burial rites or mummification.

 

My ydd did ask me once if all of history revolved around people arguing and then going to war and killing people. "Pretty much. It reflects on us as humans that in all this time we still haven't figured out how to solve arguments without war." I then started talking to her about her and her sister sharing a room and the "wars" that come from that. It was a pretty amazing conversation to have with a 5 yo, and if I hadn't trusted her enough to not shield her from the reality of history I would have never known just how deeply she contemplates the things she hears and reads.

 

I think you could edit it out, but would it be editing for her sake or for you not to have to deal with questions and what ifs regarding your DH? I would have to think about that long and hard in your shoes because as much as we want to protect them they need a space to ask questions and express their feelings. My oldest is very sensitive to just about everything, but I haven't found anything we couldn't sit and talk about for a few minutes and her be OK with. Most of the time she's worrying and turning it around in her mind and is relieved to express it. It took me a while to understand that she is extremely anxious internally and doesn't need protecting so much as a venue to express these things and get support.

[Testimony]

As mentioned in other threads, I'm working on putting together our Ancients curriculum. DD will either start it this September or next January. She will be 5 to 5.5-years-old.

 

How do you deal with all of the death that goes along with studying such a subject at a young age.

 

For example, in Usborne's Ancient World book, in regard to the first towns, it states...

 

"Dead people were buried underneath the houses. Their skulls may have put on display, as a way of showing respect."

 

It goes on to say...

 

"...the body was left outside to rot. The skeleton was buried under a bench in the house or in a shrine room..."

 

My DD is pretty sensitive and we do not talk about death a lot (my DH was diagnosed with a pretty rare and serious heart condition a-year-and-a-half ago :sad:).

 

Anyway, I think the previously mentioned text would freak her out. (She wouldn't go to the bathroom alone for a week after watching the Bubble Guppies Halloween episode. :001_rolleyes: Her bathroom has no window, so it's kind of dark.) Can I effectively teach Ancients by editing out such specific references to death and treatment of the dead? I do realize Egypt might be dicey.

 

I am sorry about your dh. I would not teach it that young unless necessary and especially if she is sensitive. Couldn't you start with American history first? I never started my children with ancients until about age 7, but that is me.

 

What I mean by necessary is when my father passed away. It was a good time to talk about it and learn. I guess I may be odd that way. Just my $.02.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[NanceXToo]

I don't personally see what a five y/o could possibly get out of or really retain from learning ancient world history anyway. Why don't you just do things more relevant and meaningful to her now, and less intense for such a young sensitive child, and introduce that stuff when she's older? Why the rush?

[mamajag]

I don't personally see what a five y/o could possibly get out of or really retain from learning ancient world history anyway. Why don't you just do things more relevant and meaningful to her now, and less intense for such a young sensitive child, and introduce that stuff when she's older? Why the rush?

 

Speaking for my 5yo, she loves it. She can talk about ancient Egypt and ancient China endlessly and has really enjoyed documentaries on the subjects. She loves paging through the Usborne World History. I have never given tests on SOTW, but they can hold age-appropriate conversations easily. All of history is about death and war, and if you're gonna teach it may as well teach it in order. History makes a lot less sense as a collection of random chapters from different time periods.

 

We're talking read aloud stories and a map. It isn't intense, but I like that as they get older and progress into the Middle Ages and beyond they will understand in some way what came before and how that influenced the cultures that came after.

 

The quoted passage is by no means representative of the rest of the text. The first couple of chapters are the heaviest in such matters and after that it isn't that common other than mentioning that certain leaders did not care about the people they ruled and conquered. There may be more, but we yet to reach it.

[boscopup]

I'm not having my 5 year old do history yet (except Bible, which has plenty of death and gore!). He's not ready, mainly because he's still figuring out what's real and what's not. SOTW1 would be too confusing for him.

 

My oldest, OTOH, is more mature and did great with it in 1st grade (6 years old). I don't think he would have gotten much out of it at 5, but now at 7 he can handle all four volumes.

 

If she's not ready, set it aside until she is. Just get some easy reader picture books from the library for her K year. It's not a big deal.

[StephanieZ]

Personally, I'd suggest waiting until the child is 6-7 (1st grade age) to teach the ancients in a WTM/SOTW way. A real survey of ancient history is going to be rife with difficult topics. For my kids, they were ready by age 6ish, but earlier would have been tough.

 

If you want to do history younger, then I would simply pick nice topics and do more of a unit study approach. Pick and choose books and projects that appeal to you and aren't gory or creepy. (Human sacrifice! Canibalism . . . etc. lots of creepiness in the ancients, lol)

[chicagoshannon]

We'll be doing a history overview next year instead of starting the 4 year cycle. We'll be focusing on cultures around the world instead of a specific time period.

[ItoLina]

We'll be doing a history overview next year instead of starting the 4 year cycle. We'll be focusing on cultures around the world instead of a specific time period.

 

This would be my suggestion too.

 

I have been thinking about this as well since I have a 5 year old too and am thinking about what to do with history next year.

 

That said, I think the Ancients is probably the safest time period. I feel like it just gets worse the more toward the present we go, or at least it doesn't get any better.

 

I am a little confused by all of the people suggesting doing American History first...that seems pretty full of death and some pretty heavy topics to me--in fact I fail to see the "fluffy" "light" part in it all. Thinking long term I was actually thinking my son would have to be a lot older before I could even think about doing American history with him. Genocide, slavery, religious persecution, racial prejudice,....on and on....how do I talk about those things with a 5 year old? Or 6 year old? Or 7 year old....you know what I mean. Just my thoughts.

[pitterpatter]

Isn't that the truth?! It took me forever to find a Bible story book that I felt was truly age-appropriate and wasn't heavily editorialized. I also didn't feel she needed to know about things like circumcision.

 

I'm not having my 5 year old do history yet (except Bible, which has plenty of death and gore!). He's not ready, mainly because he's still figuring out what's real and what's not. SOTW1 would be too confusing for him.

 

My oldest, OTOH, is more mature and did great with it in 1st grade (6 years old). I don't think he would have gotten much out of it at 5, but now at 7 he can handle all four volumes.

 

If she's not ready, set it aside until she is. Just get some easy reader picture books from the library for her K year. It's not a big deal.

[pitterpatter]

Thank you. This was very helpful to me. :001_smile:

 

Speaking for my 5yo, she loves it. She can talk about ancient Egypt and ancient China endlessly and has really enjoyed documentaries on the subjects. She loves paging through the Usborne World History. I have never given tests on SOTW, but they can hold age-appropriate conversations easily. All of history is about death and war, and if you're gonna teach it may as well teach it in order. History makes a lot less sense as a collection of random chapters from different time periods.

 

We're talking read aloud stories and a map. It isn't intense, but I like that as they get older and progress into the Middle Ages and beyond they will understand in some way what came before and how that influenced the cultures that came after.

 

The quoted passage is by no means representative of the rest of the text. The first couple of chapters are the heaviest in such matters and after that it isn't that common other than mentioning that certain leaders did not care about the people they ruled and conquered. There may be more, but we yet to reach it.

[pitterpatter]

Well, we officially started DD's kindergarten year this year, so next year will be her first grade year. I was going to try to follow the WTM method, thus the study of Ancients. What we're doing now to then (we're schooling year-around), is what several people have suggested. We're studying American symbols, famous Americans, early Americans, and American holidays right now at an age-appropriate level (see siggy...Non-Fiction Literary-Building Booklets). I'm really not sure what we'd do history-wise, if we don't start with Ancients next school year.

 

DD has a very good memory...she remembers things better than I do! :tongue_smilie: She loves school. No real hurry, but we're pretty much beyond basic pre-school/kindergarten things now. She regurgitates info well too.

 

 

I don't personally see what a five y/o could possibly get out of or really retain from learning ancient world history anyway. Why don't you just do things more relevant and meaningful to her now, and less intense for such a young sensitive child, and introduce that stuff when she's older? Why the rush?

[pitterpatter]

Something to consider...thank you! :001_smile:

 

PS - Do I know you from another board?

 

We'll be doing a history overview next year instead of starting the 4 year cycle. We'll be focusing on cultures around the world instead of a specific time period.

[kitten18]

 

I have been planning on primarily using picture books as our texts, but I haven't read any of them. Is there a large focus on death (the details of death) in the picture books as well?

 

Probably need to just start accumulating and see what I think. I can always save everything for later, if need be.

 

I use the SOTW AG but I don't usually get the specific picture/supplementary books that she has listed. I don't really plan ahead enough to get them ordered from other library branches ;). I just go to my local branch and take home a pile of books that pertain to the chapter we are studying. That way you can pick the books that are best for you family.

[Lovedtodeath]

Something to consider...thank you! :001_smile:

 

PS - Do I know you from another board?

Have you looked at Sonlight K? It might give you some ideas.

[In2why]

We didn't start the history cycle.that young. I went with that dreaded subject, Social Studies:D. Each month had a holiday or person we could focus on and read books and do projects. I don't think there is ever a time to get back to that once you do start the cycle. For us it wasn't a decision based on death, but retention and age appropriate. Ancients are really interesting, but would lose a lot of oomph at that age IMO.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I'm really not sure what we'd do history-wise, if we don't start with Ancients next school year.

 

...we're pretty much beyond basic pre-school/kindergarten things now. She regurgitates info well too.

 

Some people care about this and some people don't, so I'll throw it out there just in case. By designating your dd as first grade when she'll be typical kindy age, you will either have to make a choice to "hold her back" later or have her graduating at 17. It's easier to not think of grades at all sometimes. Some kids get attached to their grade level and get mad or embarrassed when it is changed later. DD has an early Fall birthday and misses the cutoff in our state, but she was more than ready for the work. I never told her her grade, just kept her working ahead. I was very glad of that because although she was academically fine with the work of the higher grade, her maturity was not there.

 

You can separate skills from content. If she's past basic pre-k/kindy skills, that's fine. You just increase the skills while keeping the content age appropriate. In your shoes, I would spend next year centered on world geography. I would do a world tour, complete with passport, mapwork, crafts/art projects, making recipes and playing games from different countries, math connections, etc. You can do first grade skill work with content that won't be too scary for her.

 

There is nothing inherently better about doing ancients in the first grade, especially when you're working with a child who is not the age of a typical first grader. You're concerned enough about her reaction to the material to have started this thread and asked the question. You know your dd best. Respect your own knowledge of your dd's sensitivities. :)

 

(Said by someone who knows how incredibly exciting it is to plan. I love how much I am learning along with my kids and sometimes I am more excited about it all than they are! All that to say, I get it. :D)

Edited January 26, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy

[pitterpatter]

Thanks for the post! :001_smile:

 

I've read about the grade thing on here quite a bit. Our state pretty much doesn't regulate home-schooling. You may report your child, but you don't have to. (They actually state that by reporting your child, you may have a better chance of being investigated. :001_huh:) You must maintain records, but you don't have to submit them. No testing for sure. If I ever have to make her official, though, I will surely list her according to her age as it correlates with public school grades. That totally makes sense.

 

We may end up studying cultures and geography next year. Still researching it all. I ordered an Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World book this morning so I can read up and better understand what studying Ancients really entails. For the first cycle of Ancients, I was really thinking it more of an ancient culture/geographic study anyway. Honestly, age 6 still seems too young to me to dive into those specific details that I originally posted about. I figure DD would have two more cycles to learn about those things.

 

PS - I pretty much just throw "first grade" out there when looking for materials because if I don't, people look at DD's age and recommend fluffy stuff. I've found first grade is more her level, but it's tricky because she doesn't have the stamina for a lot of writing. So, I have to track down a lot of cut and paste/worksheet/paper activity kind of stuff that teaches at a little bit more advanced level.

 

 

Some people care about this and some people don't, so I'll throw it out there just in case. By designating your dd as first grade when she'll be typical kindy age, you will either have to make a choice to "hold her back" later or have her graduating at 17. It's easier to not think of grades at all sometimes. Some kids get attached to their grade level and get mad or embarrassed when it is changed later. DD has an early Fall birthday and misses the cutoff in our state, but she was more than ready for the work. I never told her her grade, just kept her working ahead. I was very glad of that because although she was academically fine with the work of the higher grade, her maturity was not there.

 

You can separate skills from content. If she's past basic pre-k/kindy skills, that's fine. You just increase the skills while keeping the content age appropriate. In your shoes, I would spend next year centered on world geography. I would do a world tour, complete with passport, mapwork, crafts/art projects, making recipes and playing games from different countries, math connections, etc. You can do first grade skill work with content that won't be too scary for her.

 

There is nothing inherently better about doing ancients in the first grade, especially when you're working with a child who is not the age of a typical first grader. You're concerned enough about her reaction to the material to have started this thread and asked the question. You know your dd best. Respect your own knowledge of your dd's sensitivities. :)

 

(Said by someone who knows how incredibly exciting it is to plan. I love how much I am learning along with my kids and sometimes I am more excited about it all than they are! All that to say, I get it. :D)

Edited January 26, 2012 by pitterpatter

[RebekahnDavidMom]

I am doing Elemental History with my 5 year old before starting ancients next year. It is American history at a K level. We haven't done a lot of it so I'm not sure how it deals with death but so far in talking about Native Americans it seems very appropriate. I love that it includes literature and a hands on artsy activity as well.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Thanks for the post! :001_smile:

 

I've read about the grade thing on here quite a bit. Our state pretty much doesn't regulate home-schooling. You may report your child, but you don't have to. (They actually state that by reporting your child, you may have a better chance of being investigated. :001_huh:) You must maintain records, but you don't have to submit them. No testing for sure. If I ever have to make her official, though, I will surely list her according to her age as it correlates with public school grades. That totally makes sense.

 

We may end up studying cultures and geography next year. Still researching it all. I ordered an Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World book this morning so I can read up and better understand what studying Ancients really entails. For the first cycle of Ancients, I was really thinking it more of an ancient culture/geographic study anyway. Honestly, age 6 still seems too young to me to dive into those specific details that I originally posted about. I figure DD would have two more cycles to learn about those things.

 

PS - I pretty much just throw "first grade" out there when looking for materials because if I don't, people look at DD's age and recommend fluffy stuff. I've found first grade is more her level, but it's tricky because she doesn't have the stamina for a lot of writing. So, I have to track down a lot of cut and paste/worksheet/paper activity kind of stuff that teaches at a little bit more advanced level.

 

I get needing materials with more substance. I have the same issue myself. As far as grade level, however, I wasn't referring to reporting, buying materials, or even teaching. I was referring to what your DD herself is told about her grade level. I personally prefer to have my kids know and refer to their age-grade level, even when they are working ahead. It gives us wiggle room if it's needed later (whether due to academics, maturity, illness, etc.).

 

When I said I never told DD her grade, I meant that I didn't tell her she was in the first grade when she was K age simply because she was doing first grade work. And she's in first grade this year even though she's doing 2nd-4th grade work. My kids are oblivious to the grade level of their current work in each subject. They simply work at their own skill level. I don't even want to imagine what the discussion would be like with my DD (AKA "the firecracker") at 10 or 13 or 17 if I felt the need to adjust her grade back by one year. I choose the easy path. :tongue_smilie:

[Annie Laurie]

If you're concerned, you could hold off on ancients and do something like MFW 1st grade, Galloping the Globe (my kids loved this!), or Winter Promise Animal Worlds. Sonlight K has a nice overview of world cultures + some history, but it's a gentle, general overview. And the read alouds are wonderful, my kids still reread them now, as 5th, 4th, and 2nd graders.

[pitterpatter]

Ah, ok. I totally flaked. I wasn't planning on assigning DD a grade...not sure it would mean much to her, at least right now. But, I guess I do need to have something in mind to tell people when they ask. Yeah, you're right, I'll have to train my brain because right now I consider her to be finishing up kindergarten since that's the level of HWOT, HOP and SM we're using. I constantly have to stop myself from comparing her to the neighbor girl who is in PS kindergarten...she 1.5 years older!

 

 

I get needing materials with more substance. I have the same issue myself. As far as grade level, however, I wasn't referring to reporting, buying materials, or even teaching. I was referring to what your DD herself is told about her grade level. I personally prefer to have my kids know and refer to their age-grade level, even when they are working ahead. It gives us wiggle room if it's needed later (whether due to academics, maturity, illness, etc.).

 

When I said I never told DD her grade, I meant that I didn't tell her she was in the first grade when she was K age simply because she was doing first grade work. And she's in first grade this year even though she's doing 2nd-4th grade work. My kids are oblivious to the grade level of their current work in each subject. They simply work at their own skill level. I don't even want to imagine what the discussion would be like with my DD (AKA "the firecracker") at 10 or 13 or 17 if I felt the need to adjust her grade back by one year. I choose the easy path. :tongue_smilie:

[DawnM]

I may not be the best person to ask because I just took my 7 year old to see the Mummies of the World exhibit with real mummies and the tales of their deaths.

 

Dawn

[pitterpatter]

Well, we did take DD with us to see Body Worlds and the Brain, but we didn't explain to her that they were real people. :tongue_smilie: We didn't tell her they weren't, but luckily she didn't come out and straight up ask. I would have had to tell her truth...I don't lie. We just said stuff like this is what your heart looks like, etc. She would have started crying, if she would have known those were real babies.

 

 

I may not be the best person to ask because I just took my 7 year old to see the Mummies of the World exhibit with real mummies and the tales of their deaths.

 

Dawn

[FairProspects]

I may not be the best person to ask because I just took my 7 year old to see the Mummies of the World exhibit with real mummies and the tales of their deaths.

 

Dawn

 

:lol: My 7 y.o. boy would love that! We saw something similar at a local museum and he was so bummed that the mummies were copies and not real!

[Allearia]

We didn't go through the Usborne book that much at that age, and mostly did Story of the World and library picture books and videos aimed at children. The only thing my son found disturbing was the description of Egyptian mummies, and you could probably skip that. I also found this was a gentler introduction to war etc. than more recent history because it is so long ago it doesn't seem as real as more recent or American history. Just pre-read and leave anything out that dicusses death too much, though you can't avoid it altogether in history.

[Sahamamama]

I'm not having my 5 year old do history yet (except Bible, which has plenty of death and gore!). He's not ready, mainly because he's still figuring out what's real and what's not. SOTW1 would be too confusing for him.

 

My oldest, OTOH, is more mature and did great with it in 1st grade (6 years old). I don't think he would have gotten much out of it at 5, but now at 7 he can handle all four volumes.

 

If she's not ready, set it aside until she is. Just get some easy reader picture books from the library for her K year. It's not a big deal.

 

:iagree:You could read through these for Kindergarten, or these, or these, or these, or these. :grouphug: Five is so tender and precious. When I look back at my oldest girl's Kindergarten year, what stands out in my memory is how snuggly and soft and sweet it was. :Angel_anim: :001_wub: I think that the entire purpose of Kindergarten is for the Mom to reach a whole new level of adoring her young child. :D

 

We're starting again with the twins this summer. Hopefully, it'll be another sweet and tender K-year. Your daughter needs this time to make memories with her Daddy. Do whatever makes your K-year sweet. :grouphug:

 

IMO, there is no need to tackle anything hard or harsh or heartbreaking or dreary with a five year old, especially this particular five year old. :grouphug:

[DawnM]

It was pretty cool. There was an audio tour and he wanted to listen to ALL of it as he walked through. They talked about sucking out the brain through the nose, yanking out the insides and one mummy even had a hole where they yanked out his insides and filled it with some sort of cloth.

 

There were babies and children and animals. There was even a visual display of how things decompose and you could play with it to speed it up or slow it down. My kids played it backwards to see things come back to life! :lol:

 

Dawn

 

:lol: My 7 y.o. boy would love that! We saw something similar at a local museum and he was so bummed that the mummies were copies and not real!

[pitterpatter]

Thanks for the post.

 

Is there not a sample for Hideaways in History? Maybe I'm just not seeing it. :confused:

 

:iagree:You could read through these for Kindergarten, or these, or these, or these, or these. :grouphug: Five is so tender and precious. When I look back at my oldest girl's Kindergarten year, what stands out in my memory is how snuggly and soft and sweet it was. :Angel_anim: :001_wub: I think that the entire purpose of Kindergarten is for the Mom to reach a whole new level of adoring her young child. :D

 

We're starting again with the twins this summer. Hopefully, it'll be another sweet and tender K-year. Your daughter needs this time to make memories with her Daddy. Do whatever makes your K-year sweet. :grouphug:

 

IMO, there is no need to tackle anything hard or harsh or heartbreaking or dreary with a five year old, especially this particular five year old. :grouphug:

[Lovedtodeath]

We ended up skipping the spine texts. We used picture books and focused on other things for the most part, here are quite a few of them. I admit that there are some that will have to be avoided. Usborne's Alexander the Great has most of his army dying and him killing a friend. Any book on Cleopatra, any book on mummies, even some about Ancient China... wow, that would be difficult.

 

I seem to remember a book with children in different historical cultures. It is on the tip of my tongue. I know there is a series called Growing up in Ancient... check those out.

Okay, I took a look at Adventures from Ancient China and it is fine...

 

the You Wouldn't Want to Be a... series is the one I remember having more gory things.

 

The book I remembered is called How Children Lived.

[boscopup]

I think that the entire purpose of Kindergarten is for the Mom to reach a whole new level of adoring her young child. :D

 

Love this! :001_wub:

 

IMO, there is no need to tackle anything hard or harsh or heartbreaking or dreary with a five year old, especially this particular five year old. :grouphug:

:iagree:

 

Just do the typical K thing - 3Rs plus some fun library books or maybe some geography or something, and have those 3Rs be at her level. My kids are accelerated too, but I keep their age in mind all the time. Their attention span isn't as long as an older child. They don't have the output abilities of an older child. They don't have the emotional maturity of an older child. My middle son is doing what I call "K4" this year (when he asks). He'll be doing Singapore 1A next school year when he's "K", and he'll even be an older K'er (Nov birthday), but I'm still calling it K, and I'm still requiring output appropriate to a K'er. He won't be officially doing history and science. He'll just focus on the 3Rs, particularly reading. If they're reading well, other subjects fall into place easily. If they're not reading well, I would rather focus on that until they are (of course, if a child struggles, sometimes adding in other subjects like history and science can make things more fun for the child - you just have to play it by ear on that one).

 

I must say, it is hardest with your oldest, because you see everything YOU want to learn or re-learn, and you just want to get them there quick so you can learn it! :D I have to constantly remind myself that we'll get there eventually (and I'll be going through it 3 times!). And if I want to re-learn it now, I can do so on my own! :tongue_smilie:This came into play in my history choices last year for first grade. I wanted to do SOTW and mix it with Biblical history, so we could get a good idea of where everything fit together. Well, it turned out that that was a bit much for my (advanced) first grader. We had so many Bible readings, we couldn't keep up! I felt frantic and strained. So finally it dawned on me that my son would get this two more times, and logic stage might be a better time to see where everything correlates anyway. So we dropped the curriculum we were using to mix the two, and I went with straight SOTW. In the meantime, we were reading straight through Egermeier's Bible Storybook, one story per day (so much slower pace than SOTW timeline). Guess what happened? Not only did our homeschool feel much more relaxed, but my son started to learn more, retain more, AND even make connections with the Biblical history!!! Less really is more! :D

[cbollin]

This is sticking out to me in all of this

"

PS - I pretty much just throw "first grade" out there when looking for materials because if I don't, people look at DD's age and recommend fluffy stuff. I've found first grade is more her level, but it's tricky because she doesn't have the stamina for a lot of writing. So, I have to track down a lot of cut and paste/worksheet/paper activity kind of stuff that teaches at a little bit more advanced level."

 

 

Trying to say this as gently as possible.

 

With all that you have said, she is not ready for the content. She is not ready for the writing. She is not advanced for a 4.5. Go back now and get those writing and fine motor skills with stuff that is interesting to her even if you think she has "outgrown" that. It's going to pay off down the road to get all of those writing and stamina skills balanced. (edit to add: just saw the post above mine... go adore your child so more this year! less is more!)

 

I don't think random people are suggesting "fluffy", but helping you to look at age appropriate content so that you can work on those skills, so it will be easier down the road. She's not fully ready for the content in chronological history. Very sweetly here... if Bubble Guppies and Mulan are "problems"... she's not advanced for her age so don't do Ancients yet. She's a delightful child.

 

Consider something like FIAR. And do the history that is most important to her -- her family history. Tell me a story from when you were a little girl, mommy.... Do the geography that is most important - how to get around your own city.

 

Like others have said, I"m also in the crowd of not rushing into every aspect of ancients, middle ages, modern history with a youngest learner - especially my older. We did Bible stories - nothing wrong with that. We did family history. We did FIAR stories.

 

wait a few more years in her life to start chronological history academically.

 

on the other hand, if you want first grade materials that don't have a lot of that death... I think one lady on here mentioned HOD. I'll toss in MFW - you'll have to work on the writing skills though.

 

:grouphug:

-crystal

Edited January 27, 2012 by cbollin

[Sahamamama]

Thanks for the post.

 

Is there not a sample for Hideaways in History? Maybe I'm just not seeing it. :confused:

 

Yes, if you scroll down halfway to the drawing of the sheep and the barn. ;) Under that picture, there is a "Click here to see a sample of this program guide." That should be your link. HTH.