Help! Ds wants to do history separately next year!

[klmama]

We have covered SOTW every year as a family, moving slowly, so that dd will start 4th grade and ds will enter 6th grade ready to start SOTW 4. However, ds has read numerous history encyclopedias from cover to cover many times, has read all of Hakim's History of US books on his own several times, has read several books that summarize and highlight the history of the 20th century, and he says he's ready for more detail than he can get from SOTW and the recommended supplemental reading books. He wants me to continue using SOTW 4 with the other dc and let him do his own thing for 6th grade. I'm sure he would also listen in on the SOTW, but he wants a lot more.

 

My thought was that he could use his 6th grade year to develop into a better writer about history (National History Day competition beckons!), and that might work (from his perspective) if he could also delve into details. What books can you recommend, or what approach would you take? He's not big on written output, but it's something he really needs to develop. Would the assignments in Jump In be applicable to history in any way, or is there another writing program that might help? What about actual history texts or materials? I've looked at A Beka, but I'm not sure it's the best fit for us. Other ideas? TIA!!!!!

[SnowWhite]

When I was in sixth grade, this would have described me to a tee. I recommend that you buy a Truthquest guide for whatever era of history you are wanting to address (maybe not the Age of Revolution guides, though, as they're supposed to be more high school level), buy him a "spine" recommended in the list, and let him check out his own library books on the topics from the booklist and complete the "ThinkWrite" writing projects in that curriculum. I'm drooling just thinking about how much fun this study would have been for me at that age had I been given the opportunity to do it. Maybe I'll buy an Age of Revolution guide for *myself* and do just what I'm describing....:lol: (in all my extra time, of course).

[Kathie in VA]

My dd wanted to do her own study for history this past year. She was in 7th grade and not too much of an indepenant worker so I thought this sounded great. It fell apart. Mainly because she wanted to do a different timeperiod also. In retrospect I think if we were at least all on the same time period I could have kept her to task better. So I'd recommend that for you. At least if he changes his mind you can always regroup everyone together!

 

hth

[PeterPan]

Well my dd isn't the age of yours but has that similar history buff personality. I give her quite a bit of freedom (piles of books, TQ guides, etc.), but I make it my task to help her do the things she WOULDN'T do on her own, not the things she would. She'll read historical fiction on her own, so I don't have to schedule that, lol, just pile it and have her keep a log. Writing and synthesis, now THOSE are things she won't do on her own. What I'm doing for this year, and what might work well for you, is creating a checklist for each lesson as driven by the main spine. (We're using Story of the USA by Escher.) Each of those I estimate will take 1-3 weeks, so the checklist gives her the core requirements while having plenty of flexibility. In that checklist, for her age and level I'm putting things like outlining assignments and a required number of notebooking pages. I also hope to pull together a limited number of more synthesis type assignments (dinah zike booklets from her Big Book of US History, Michael Gravois books if I can find any, etc.). I'm talking about things like compare and contrast, cause/effect, etc. The older the dc, the more of these they could do and the more challenging they could be. To me, the difference between upper and lower level history is the amount of thought required, not just the quantity of material covered. If you're of the philosophy, you could get him a book like America's Providential History and have him write essays to go along with his readings for that.

[Carol in Cal.]

I did that a few months ago, and was really impressed with the logic stage history recommendations.

 

These include outlining, summarizing biographies and historical books, making a timeline, and reading and assessing original and slightly less original sources.

 

I am just starting to prepare to teach DD, going into 7th, the material in the recommended "Critical Thinking in US History" books. This is going to complement our focus on US history quite a bit, and I am really impressed with them. I do wish that we had a coop for this, as there are quite a few activities that would benefit from discussion and class participation; but even with just one student, I do recommend that book. It really teaches thinking like a historian.

 

Also, if you are Christian, you might want to consider the Worldview curriculum from Cornerstone (pretty Providential) or TOG (multi-level and outstanding.)