Can you walk me through...

[Nakia]

picking a spine and building a history/literature curriculum around it?

 

This is assuming you do not use a program that has it already done for you. ;)

 

A dear friend of mine (on these boards) is going to walk me through it in person in a couple of weeks, but I'd like to go ahead and start thinking it through myself since it seems to be the direction we'll be going for history for my oldest.

 

You can be as specific or as generic as you like. I love details (hint hint). :D I am being sort of vague on purpose because I want to see what you all do!

 

Thanks!

[Mommyfaithe]

I can try. For a spine, I try to find a narrative for my younger kids ( grades 1-8), or a text book for my older ones.

 

I really enjoyed SOTW, CHOW, Child's Hx of America, Genevieve Forster books, etc.

 

I make myself an outline of what is cover by chapter, then I start to flesh it out with a reader for each child, a read aloud for the family, a project/ craft, a report or written project and usually some kind of recipe.....my kids like food:D

 

Then, I get my books and begin to go through them...I try to write out:

Locations to know ( I include map work here)

People to know

Events

Vocabulary to Learn

Timeline dates

Copy work/ dictation assignments

Memory work (if any)

 

Corresponding pages in Kingsfisher or Usborne World Hx encyclopedia for outlining or summarizing.

 

I do this for each weekly section. If I am using a textbook, much of this is already done for me.

 

I break the readers and read alouds into manageable sections.

 

I find or make up a corresponding writing assignment, essay prompt, or report assignment to solidify learning. I will also make up quizzes and have a list of review work to cover from previous weeks. Just a list like the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, or the 10 plagues or whatever lists I want them to memorize.

I usually will make myself a 4-6 sentence summary of each weeks section, to use as a weekly review...I need to remember what I want them to remember.

 

Anyway, that is my basic layout.

HTH,

Edited March 14, 2012 by Mommyfaithe

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I can tell you what I did. . . .

 

We are just starting year 3 of the cycle - early modern. Dd is 9, and has been liking SOTW for the past two volumes, so we will continue with that as our spine for world history. I start an excel spreadsheet, with SOTW as a column heading, and the section title of each (2 per chapter) down the column. Then, in the next column, I put the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia pages that correspond to each chapter. Not enough American history though. I looked at the Hakim books, but really didn't like them, so I'm going with the other suggestion in WTM, The Making of America. These chapters, lined up with the previous two chronologically, go in the 3rd column. I want a lot of compare/contrast and critical thinking in history, so I'm also including Zinn's A Young People's History of the US - chronologically linked to the previous, in column 4. Next comes a "history supplements" column - this includes biographies - mostly from WTM, or things I've read about here, or authors I like. Next column is literature - that's where I take the lit we want to study this year (again, from WTM and a variety of other sources) and link it chronologically to the spine. Next is an Art History column, then a Music History column.

 

So, I have 8 columns across the top. Every row of the spine (SOTW) is filled, but not every row of the others - only when they have something that is chronologically linked to the spine. Then, we just move down the rows, row by row. Some rows are pretty sparse, and we get through them in a day or two, some rows are full and we may take a couple of weeks.

 

Voila, there is my history/lit plan for the next 2 1/1 years! Clear as mud??;)

[simka2]

I would seriously pay money to attend a course like this at a conference!

[Nakia]

I can try. For a spine, I try to find a narrative for my younger kids ( grades 1-8), or a text book for my older ones.

 

I really enjoyed SOTW, CHOW, Child's Hx of America, Genevieve Forster books, etc.

 

I make myself an outline of what is cover by chapter, then I start to flesh it out with a reader for each child, a read aloud for the family, a project/ craft, a report or written project and usually some kind of recipe.....my kids like food:D

 

Then, I get my books and begin to go through them...I try to write out:

Locations to know ( I include map work here)

People to know

Events

Vocabulary to Learn

Timeline dates

Copy work/ dictation assignments

Memory work (if any)

 

Corresponding pages in Kingsfisher or Usborne World Hx encyclopedia for outlining or summarizing.

 

I do this for each weekly section. If I am using a textbook, much of this is already done for me.

 

I break the readers and read alouds into manageable sections.

 

I find or make up a corresponding writing assignment, essay prompt, or report assignment to solidify learning. I will also make up quizzes and have a list of review work to cover from previous weeks. Just a list like the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, or the 10 plagues or whatever lists I want them to memorize.

I usually will make myself a 4-6 sentence summary of each weeks section, to use as a weekly review...I need to remember what I want them to remember.

 

Anyway, that is my basic layout.

HTH,

 

Well, I can tell you what I did. . . .

 

We are just starting year 3 of the cycle - early modern. Dd is 9, and has been liking SOTW for the past two volumes, so we will continue with that as our spine for world history. I start an excel spreadsheet, with SOTW as a column heading, and the section title of each (2 per chapter) down the column. Then, in the next column, I put the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia pages that correspond to each chapter. Not enough American history though. I looked at the Hakim books, but really didn't like them, so I'm going with the other suggestion in WTM, The Making of America. These chapters, lined up with the previous two chronologically, go in the 3rd column. I want a lot of compare/contrast and critical thinking in history, so I'm also including Zinn's A Young People's History of the US - chronologically linked to the previous, in column 4. Next comes a "history supplements" column - this includes biographies - mostly from WTM, or things I've read about here, or authors I like. Next column is literature - that's where I take the lit we want to study this year (again, from WTM and a variety of other sources) and link it chronologically to the spine. Next is an Art History column, then a Music History column.

 

So, I have 8 columns across the top. Every row of the spine (SOTW) is filled, but not every row of the others - only when they have something that is chronologically linked to the spine. Then, we just move down the rows, row by row. Some rows are pretty sparse, and we get through them in a day or two, some rows are full and we may take a couple of weeks.

 

Voila, there is my history/lit plan for the next 2 1/1 years! Clear as mud??;)

 

Thank you both so much!!!

 

I would seriously pay money to attend a course like this at a conference!

 

For real!

[Chris in VA]

Is this for 11yo Anna?

 

I am pretty sure I'm using k12 HO for dd's 7th grade Moderns year (we are off schedule b/c of public school). I pulled lit from VP, Sonlight, WTM, and TOG. I have TOG, but I don't want to use some of the books, so I looked around.

Then I went to the library and checked out what they had on my list (I had read descriptions online and was familiar already with some of the books). I preread about 12 of the books--quite the fun part, actually!

I am still undecided on exactly which to use, but I scheduled/coordinated the list chronologically, so we'll be reading about the time period using historical fiction, "Good" books (like Great Books, but not quite), and nonfiction, alongside the spine. I also chose some of the SOTW AG 4 activities and some websites/games/other activities.

 

I matched up the DK history encyclo that is in the new WTM with SOTW 4 b/c it isn't in the AG like the KFisher/Usborne is. It's just snippets, so I'll have to take a closer look at that.

 

Basically, her week would consist of reading the spine, discussion, then reading by herself in the encyclo and the literature/fiction/nonfiction choice. She'll do a summary or an outline, depending, once a week, and every week or two, again, depending, she'll go into more detail with her own research and write some sort of report/make a poster/something. We'll keep a notebook similar to what we've done before. We'll do cooking/game/activity type projects at least once a week. I'll probably have her do history 4 days a week.

[Colleen in NS]

picking a spine and building a history/literature curriculum around it?

 

This is assuming you do not use a program that has it already done for you. ;)

 

 

 

I would seriously pay money to attend a course like this at a conference!

 

You can also read the WTM history sections to get some ideas. I don't mean getting resource ideas, either; I mean getting ideas on how to build the course. Pick a spine, supplement with library/bought books and primary sources, analyze primary sources, put dates on a timeline, take notes, do a writing assignment, label a map, look at a globe and wall map and draw parallels, draw parallels between events on the timeline, etc.. The principles are all there in TWTM.

[Snoopytwo]

I can try. For a spine, I try to find a narrative for my younger kids ( grades 1-8), or a text book for my older ones.

 

I really enjoyed SOTW, CHOW, Child's Hx of America, Genevieve Forster books, etc.

 

I make myself an outline of what is cover by chapter, then I start to flesh it out with a reader for each child, a read aloud for the family, a project/ craft, a report or written project and usually some kind of recipe.....my kids like food:D

 

Then, I get my books and begin to go through them...I try to write out:

Locations to know ( I include map work here)

People to know

Events

Vocabulary to Learn

Timeline dates

Copy work/ dictation assignments

Memory work (if any)

 

Corresponding pages in Kingsfisher or Usborne World Hx encyclopedia for outlining or summarizing.

 

I do this for each weekly section. If I am using a textbook, much of this is already done for me.

 

I break the readers and read alouds into manageable sections.

 

I find or make up a corresponding writing assignment, essay prompt, or report assignment to solidify learning. I will also make up quizzes and have a list of review work to cover from previous weeks. Just a list like the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, or the 10 plagues or whatever lists I want them to memorize.

I usually will make myself a 4-6 sentence summary of each weeks section, to use as a weekly review...I need to remember what I want them to remember.

 

Anyway, that is my basic layout.

HTH,

 

This is really good; I am printing it out.

[Carol in Cal.]

I open up TWTM, and read it carefully. Then I think about what it says. Then I picture doing that. Then I make a list. Then I go to the library website and see whether I can find all that stuff there. If not, I decide whether to buy it or not.

 

I make sure to assign literature every day, and history 2-3 times per week. I assign copywork every day, and writing every day.

 

I follow the WTM advice on these things. It's good stuff. I use the AG for SOTW, my knowledge of books, and the Sonlight catalogue to give me ideas for what to read. Plus I go to book stores. More than I should.

 

Also, I add resources when they pop up. That means that if an opportunity to see a really good play becomes available, I jump on those tickets and steer toward that play. And I stop and think, every so often, about progress and what is working and not working, and I add in extra materials from time to time. So, for instance, when I read "Teach Like Your Hair is On Fire" I got a lot of ideas for 5th grade, some of which I used. I bought Figuratively Speaking but didn't use it the way it is written, but used it as a resource to teach major literary elements. I bought LLLOTR because LOTR is our entire family's absolutely favorite book. Then I didn't use it, although I think it's really good, because some other stuff popped up that was even better, and because the epics were the first thing that DD was going to study at her BM high school, and because there was so much other good stuff to do.

 

I find this fun. Really, really fun. If I didn't I would probably buy a boxed curriculum. Don't do it if you don't like it.

 

And maybe start small. Pick one historical period or concept that you're really interested in. Maybe the Western Migration and Ante Bellum Reform. Pull together a bunch of books in that period, fiction and non-fiction, read the SOTW sections on that or use an American history book as a spine, and start reading and studying. See how it goes. Then decide whether this is how you want to do things.

 

Maybe organize something around science fiction. Or utopian literature. Or virtues. Or friendship. Or heroism. Or courage. Try it. It is SO FUN!

 

(Note: For ease of writing I wrote that in present tense. I homeschooled through 8th grade, and that is really what I did.)

[Nakia]

This is all super helpful!! Thank you all. I'm printing this out. :D

[Momling]

I start by opening up a Word document (landscape view) and making a table.

 

In the first column, I put the titles of each of the chapters from the spine we are using (currently OUP Age of Voyages 1350-1600). I add titles to four additional columns -- Books... Videos.... Online... Activities...

Then I begin to fill it in.

 

In the books column, I add in primary sources, non-fiction, and historical fiction for each chapter (I use this forum to find good ideas, then check Amazon, and our local library catalog).

 

For videos, I usually find things on Netflix or Youtube.

 

Online activities are games (BBC) or songs (History for music lovers) or online scavenger hunts.

 

Activities are things done in their history portfolios or things like learning a renaissance dance or learning a medieval tune to play or playing the "Renaissance art game" or having a monastic meal or writing a story in middle English in the style of Chaucer or making a poem in Viking runes or going to the theater to see a Shakespearean play or whatever I can come up with.

 

The one thing I don't do is add in dates. I find I can never correctly estimate the amount of days or weeks per chapter.

[missmoe]

 

Here is a blog post I wrote on exactly how I put together our history studies.

[Amber in AUS]

Brilliant thread! I've bookmarked it. I can see myself coming back to this later in the year as i work out our studies for 2013.

[Laura Corin]

You can see what I did in the side bar of my blog. I started with SOTW, then cross-referenced all the other materials that I had lying around chosen. I created it in Excel. I didn't split it by weeks - I just wrote it out, then we studied it for as long as it took.

 

Laura

Edited March 18, 2012 by Laura Corin

[momto2Cs]

I start by opening up a Word document (landscape view) and making a table.

 

In the first column, I put the titles of each of the chapters from the spine we are using (currently OUP Age of Voyages 1350-1600). I add titles to four additional columns -- Books... Videos.... Online... Activities...

Then I begin to fill it in.

 

In the books column, I add in primary sources, non-fiction, and historical fiction for each chapter (I use this forum to find good ideas, then check Amazon, and our local library catalog).

 

For videos, I usually find things on Netflix or Youtube.

 

Online activities are games (BBC) or songs (History for music lovers) or online scavenger hunts.

 

Activities are things done in their history portfolios or things like learning a renaissance dance or learning a medieval tune to play or playing the "Renaissance art game" or having a monastic meal or writing a story in middle English in the style of Chaucer or making a poem in Viking runes or going to the theater to see a Shakespearean play or whatever I can come up with.

 

The one thing I don't do is add in dates. I find I can never correctly estimate the amount of days or weeks per chapter.

 

This sounds very similar to what I do. I love making tables with everything nicely correlated! I don't have an online category though... just the main text, supplemental books/literature, projects, and videos.

 

Right now we're using The Early Human World as a spine (OUP). I added in a few books -

(for lit.)

Boy of the Painted Cave

11,000 Years Lost

Maroo of the Winter Cave

Then some other supplemental NONfiction books, like A Day with Homo Habilis, etc.

 

Videos include Walking with Cavemen, Becoming Human, a documentary on Stonehenge, etc.

 

Projects: I get most of them from a book called 120 Great History Projects. I may add in a couple more that I either create, or find online.

 

Geography: We use our world map and globe a lot, plus I have maps available through Map Trek from Knowledge Quest.

 

Timeline: We have a timeline in our dining room that we refer to a lot. I may have ds10 start a Book of Centuries.

 

That's really about it. Oh, we're going to learn about a habitat/biome that ties in somehow... for this I chose the tundra, since many prehistoric peoples lived around the Ice Age in tundra-like conditions.

[PachiSusan]

OOOOO, I am so totally reading this with gusto!!!!! You ladies are the BEST!!!!!!!

[2_girls_mommy]

I use Well Trained Mind and do it as closely as possible and that has worked really well for us. Of course I have made adjustments to make it work best for us, but in general the WTM plan works easily. I don't do the advanced planning that some people have described either. It is pretty open and go to me as long as we have a regular library day in there where I can spend some time on the catalog and perusing the shelves to get books for the upcoming weeks. In grammar stage the spine was SOTW with the A.G. In logic stage it is the KHE and then I do use CHOLL for lit. selections to go along with it. The only advanced planning I do for CHOLL is to check our library's catalog to make sure they carry everything for the year and make a list of books I will have to purchase. Then I buy them used from Amazon. Now that we have a tablet in the family that will be much cheaper. I will buy digital :) I base art around the history studies as much as possible. I still use the SOTW A.G. for some ideas even for my logic stager, and we use Usborne Art books to read about art history and for art appreciation. I also like the What Your X Grader Needs to Know series art sections. They don't always line up exactly chronologically with what we are studying, but I have my girls read through those over the year too. Then we do some type of art work, working on our skills interspersed w/the art history.

[TraceyS/FL]

I don't need this for history, but thanks for the "direction" for something else I was trying to wrap my brain around this week!!!! :D