Jump to content

Menu

What do you use for Middle School History?


lovetobehome
 Share

Recommended Posts

My plan is under attack! I am not sure I will be doing what I had planned, and suddenly I have no idea what is out there. What I was using is now starting to have more and more conflicts with our faith. Up until now, it was not too difficult to discuss the differences, but in looking at their upcoming guide, I am seeing a huge focus on Protestant missionaries, which is just not where we want to go as a big focus.

I am looking for history for my 12yo and 10yo children. I would love for them to do something together. I would love for it to include literature and mapping/geography. We are finishing up the Reformation time period.

What is out there?

Is SOTW too simple for middle school? We haven't used it before. I know TOG is out there, but it seems like too much, at least it was when we did it years ago.

What else? Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sonlight Core G & Core H use SOTW but go through 2 books a year. We have used it for the last two years while my kids were 11/13 & 12/14 and really enjoyed it. Ds also did SL Core 100 (American History) in 7th grade. We all loved the Hakim Story of US books that are the spine for that core. Be sure to preview them though, people either love or hate them. They are available in many libraries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm planning on using the textbook used by K12. This is the first one:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Odyssey-Vol-Prehistory-Through/dp/1931728534

 

I will follow that with vol. 2 and 3. That's how K12 schedules them for grades 7/8/9. I have heard of these being used starting in grade 5 though.

 

There are some great literature units here I also intend to make use of:

 

http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/

 

We won't be doing all of them since I do plan to cover world history in no more than three years.

 

ETA: The texts are secular, but I mention them as they seem to be a popular next step up from Story of the World for bigger kids.

Edited by darlasowders
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, good ideas...

Human Odyssey, could I begin the second book without doing the first? Because we have never done early modern/modern times. We have spent years and years on ancients and middle ages.

Sonlight....I have tried it and dropped it more times than imaginable. But I will give it another look!

SOTW---these are too light for middle school, aren't they? They would be perfect for my 10yo, she would love them. Maybe I could use vol 3 and add to it for my son?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, good ideas...

Human Odyssey, could I begin the second book without doing the first? Because we have never done early modern/modern times. We have spent years and years on ancients and middle ages.

Sonlight....I have tried it and dropped it more times than imaginable. But I will give it another look!

SOTW---these are too light for middle school, aren't they? They would be perfect for my 10yo, she would love them. Maybe I could use vol 3 and add to it for my son?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be using Diana Waring's history. We are starting over with Ancients. I have looked and looked and then found this on the for sale board and decided to take the plunge. I love it! The way it is laid out is great. I am thinking about taking 2 years for each volume (there are 3) and really adding in a lot of lit sources (which she recommends in the book) videos, and giving us more time to do more of the suggested projects. Not sure yet, but I know dd11 is going to enjoy these. They are right up her alley.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, good ideas...

Human Odyssey, could I begin the second book without doing the first? Because we have never done early modern/modern times. We have spent years and years on ancients and middle ages.

Sonlight....I have tried it and dropped it more times than imaginable. But I will give it another look!

SOTW---these are too light for middle school, aren't they? They would be perfect for my 10yo, she would love them. Maybe I could use vol 3 and add to it for my son?

 

Christianbook.com has a good excerpt of these. Here is vol. 2:

 

http://www.christianbook.com/the-human-odyssey-volume-2/9781931728560/pd/172856?item_code=WW&netp_id=881454&event=ESRCG&view=details#curr

 

Looks very do-able! I don't think the writing level is much (if any) above Story of the World vol. 3. (But the price sure is! :tongue_smilie:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I pulled up the HO sample, I had purchased it before but didn't end up using it. Now it seems it might fit the bill, except that it looks independent and I was hoping to be a little involved and have the kids work together. But, still an option, I guess I could help even if it is supposed to be independent!

Wish I could get my hands on the Human Odyssey book.

Diana Waring, I have the What in the World cds because HOD uses them. I'll have to look into the rest of her program. Sigh...I thought I had it all figured out, but now I am back to square one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there more that goes along with the Human Odyssey text? Like worksheets, activities, etc?

 

They can be had for the first two volumes. I haven't seen them for the third volume. I think because it's part of a K12 high school course, it's not offered.

 

Student pages book 2:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-World-History-Student-Semesters/dp/B0019CGADE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331831834&sr=1-1

 

Teacher guide to the above:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-World-History-Teacher-Semesters/dp/B004Y1N3UU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331831834&sr=1-2

 

I have the set for the first book, but don't really plan to use them (I honestly have not taken a good lok, but what I did see, kept pointing me to online activities and was a very fill-in-the blank style.). Instead I was going to use the lit guides from the website I posted earlier and probably some of the themed IEW books (Ancient & Medieval).

 

Unfortunately, unless you know someone who uses K12, there's no way to get a look inside the workbooks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're using the Creek Edge Press task cards. I beef them up if I feel it's not enough but I really like how he's able to use any resource we want and not feel hemmed in. The spines we chose were the Kingfisher history encyclopedia and Oxford University Press' Medieval and Modern age books. We go to the library weekly and he check outs just about everything they have regarding the current task card and then does more research on the computer. They are mostly independent tasks so he does work M-Thur and then presents a full file on Fridays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kids loved The Human Odyssey so much that when I was passing along outgrown books they made me keep ours for when they have kids. That's a positive review if ever I heard one.

 

Mine are history buffs, we always had lots of projects and read historical fiction out the wazoo, so we basically used the books as starting points and I made up my own tests based on what I thought they might be overlooking in their tendency to focus on what they love.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We use and really like the series by Dorothy Mills. You can buy them at Amazon, and Memoria Press is in the process of republishing them too.

 

I have Book of the Ancient World (at MP), Book of the Ancient Greeks (MP), Book of the Ancient Romans (soon to be at MP), The Middle Ages (planned by MP) and Renaissance and Reformation Times (also planned tentatively by MP). I love the emphasis on primary sources. These are quoted and included in each book. This makes it that much easier for me to include primary sources, which I think is important for this age. We are using Renassiance and Reformation Times now and I added The Viking Portable Reader-Renaissance for additional primary sources. We add literature and history supplements.

I believe there are two more books, but I don't own those. I think one is on Israel and the other I've forgotten...

I don't know if these would conflict with your religion of not...they seem to be fairly secular, but I can't claim this for certain. We are Catholic, although not really practicing...we are Christians. I'm not sure if this helps...:001_smile:

 

I should add that while I think the series could be begun in middle school, I think they would also work well for high school. I know we are going to be using the books for 9th and 10th as well. I have seen The Middle Ages recommended for a 10th grade Curriculum (the one found in Norms and Nobility by David Hick, which is the same book referenced on Ambleside Online).

Edited by Kfamily
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Emily, how did you like HO?

Lily_Grace, I can't find samples of those, are there some? It is an intriguing idea! How's it going?

 

We really like HO. Easy to follow, easy to implement. We use it with the timeline from pandia. I like that the lessons are all laid out for us, so there is minimal prep time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Emily, how did you like HO?

Lily_Grace, I can't find samples of those, are there some? It is an intriguing idea! How's it going?

 

Here's the link to their sample gallery. We have a hard time sometimes getting books shipped to us on time (and our library is small) so the flexibility really means a LOT to us! We used HO level 2 for Ancients but the literature never felt part of the work. It would either disrupt the flow of the lessons or feel thrown in. Each week now I pick a lit book that we or our library has and he reads that to go along with the lesson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We use Truthquest history all the way through and love it. There is plenty of freedom because you don't have to use all the topics she offers and you can pick and choose what books you use with it. It works well for me and I appreciate her overall perspective on history. There are samples at the truthquest history site.

Jennifer in PA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are going to be using Human Odyssey. I bought the Student and Teacher Pages A. They are a lot of busy work but good at cementing the information. The teacher pages help give ideas and have links, answers to student pages, etc. and the student pages have fill in the blanks, assessments at the end of each unit, other resource recommendations, etc. If you have any more questions about these products, feel free to pm me. I have them sitting right here and am trying to schedule them into Homeschool Tracker Online. We have found some ideas for filling in what they say is "online" through their program. It just has been a lot of work to schedule and figure out what is too much and what is not enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm planning on using the textbook used by K12. This is the first one:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Odyssey-Vol-Prehistory-Through/dp/1931728534

 

I will follow that with vol. 2 and 3. That's how K12 schedules them for grades 7/8/9. I have heard of these being used starting in grade 5 though.

 

There are some great literature units here I also intend to make use of:

 

http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/

 

We won't be doing all of them since I do plan to cover world history in no more than three years.

 

ETA: The texts are secular, but I mention them as they seem to be a popular next step up from Story of the World for bigger kids.

 

:iagree: that is our exact plan, LOL. I'm going to use SOTW for my 6th grader to read on his own too. He likes history more than any other subject though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we have used Time Traveler's for the last 2 years :)

 

They are coming out with a new project this summer/fall also. I forgot the name but it will be for world history. The first one coming out will be for the middle ages. We've loved Time Travelers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...