Will I mess up my kid if we skip the 1st rotation of History?

[frugalmama]

I'm looking over my lesson plans and goals, and I'm strongly considering skipping the 1st rotation of History. We already are in 1st, and doing no history. 2nd I have study of the Continents planned in depth. 3rd is a follow up of World Geography with a Tour a Country program. 4th will be state history and US history dual taught.

 

I know this isn't what is recommended, but I can't see covering World History at this age {dd is only 5 turning 6 in September, but she is accelerated and will be going into 2nd/3rd in the fall}. I just can't see her retaining much of this or even getting the whole picture for history at this age.

 

Will I mess her up if we don't cover the whole view of history until 5th grade and the second rotation of history?

[Sahamamama]

Will I mess her up if we don't cover the whole view of history until 5th grade and the second rotation of history?

 

No. We are in 1st this year and doing no History, either. Part of my rationale is that we have two younger students (Pre-K twins), so we're adjusting the start of our "history cycle" to get the maximum benefit from it. We have done Around-the-World Geography this year, which has been just right. For 2nd & 3rd, we'll study US History and US Geography/Landmarks.

 

We plan to start Ancients in 4th for the oldest (2nd for the twins). We also plan to take two full years to study Ancient Times (4th/2nd & 5th/3rd). Then one year each for Middle Ages (6th/4th), Exploration Age (7th/5th), and Modern Times (8th/6th).

 

I'm sure this will ruin them. :lol:

[momtoamiracle]

you wont mess her up, IMO. My son enjoys history tho - he loved learning about the continents, types of animals, the climate, types of people, learning how to use the globe. He retains some of it (he's same age as your daughter, not accelerated)but mostly he enjoys it and he uses what he learns in his play. That's what it's all about to me. He even enjoys videos on historical people.

 

 

you can always read stories and watch videos. I like the idea of laying the foundation to enjoy history in the early years. It's informal, yet it's excellent information to present.

 

you know your daughter best and what would be best for her.

[Kathleen in LV]

I'm no expert, but I can't imagine it would mess her up.

 

I just can't see her retaining much of this or even getting the whole picture for history at this age.

 

FWIW, my son is 5, and I was planning on starting Ancients next year. I brought home some books from the library on Ancient Egypt for my own perusal. He stumbled upon them & was really interested. So we sat & read through some of them. (The one on the Egyptian gods was of particular interest, as they all are strange looking. The "day in a life of" stuff was also interesting.) Anyway, my point is that even if it's not something children fully retain at that age (much less get a whole picture), they might really enjoy it & have some general knowledge to carry over when they encounter it again.

 

All that being said, if you decide to follow your proposed approach, which looks like it also covers worthwhile topics, maybe you could just incorporate some books during your fun reading time to introduce her to some of the more basic & interesting historical concepts without making it part of a formal study.

 

Best of luck!

[SunnyDays]

Not at all. This is our first year homeschooling, and I have a 3rd grader. We're doing American this year, to match his interests, and we're obviously missing our first rotation. And there are lots of people who start homeschooling after a few years in school.

 

Keep in mind that *any* history and geography they get in the early years is more than the average child gets in public schools, or even many good private schools. It will work out just fine.

[sagira]

No, not at all. However, ds thinks History is his favorite subject, and the work he does is softened by doing the inspirational subjects such as History and Science.

 

That said, I'm not doing History with dd in first, but waiting until she's in second so she and her brother could be both on Ancients together (he will be in sixth at that time!).

[meggie]

No, I don't think it will mess him up. It's my opinion that geography lays a good foundation upon which to start history. I kept trying to start history only to realize I thought it would be more helpful to know where all these countries were. I know SOTW talks about the globe and where the civilizations were, but I thought it would be helpful to compare the ancient world to what it is like today.

 

If you feel like adding some in, I don't think it would be too hard either. You could do something like check out a bunch of books on a certain place and era and just let them look through as they wish. Or the summer before you start the history cycle, you could quickly read through all four volumes of SOTW as a read aloud. That would give them a quick and fairly thorough account.

 

After reading WTM, I thought the chronological order of history made so much sense and would have saved me a lot of confusion in school. But I think that two cycles of it will be plenty good for it to make sense to your kids.

[Pen]

:iagree: You won't mess him/her/them up.

 

Ahhh. A thread where the replies are unanimous.

 

eta: Looks like she'll be around 9 when you do start your history -- we started hs late and thus started history study then, and it was a very good age to start with excellent interest and retention.

[lorrainejmc]

For me, learning about countries and cultures is preferable for this age group. I plan to use GTG for 2 years and touch on a bit of history as we study each country, but learning about the world around them is the goal.:001_smile:

[alisoncooks]

Here is a similar thread where I asked this question. The consensus seemed to be that it'd be fine. :)

[TheAutumnOak]

My son is in 5th and is doing history for the first time...He is doing ancients, TOG yr 1...He is doing fine with it...

 

IMO, it is better to have reading, math, and writing skills where they should be verses knowing history facts...Not knowing how to read and write well with understanding is the biggest hindrance to upper level work, not a lack of history knowledge...

[mommy5]

I think it is fine ... I started history (ancient Egypt) last year with DS and it went ok (for 1st grade) but I don't know how much he really understood ... and we didn't do a whole lot. This year we will be doing a relaxed study of the history of the US and some geography. I'm not sure what we'll do for next year when we'll have a 3rd grader and 1st grader.

[maizeydaizey]

Our feelings are that your child should have a pretty good understanding of where they are in the world, now before looking at the history of it.

 

This year we are working the states/US Geography. (1st - 6) And doing the Pioneer Sampler too (more recent history she can relate to locally).

 

Next year (2nd- 7) we will do a world studies introduction - what is out there beyond her little scope. What do people look like, where do they live, what are other countries like, geographical stuff, foods from around the world, art & music, clothing, etc.

 

Then (3rd - 8) we'll start World History.

[amyk]

I don't think anything bad will happen, but one of my absolute favorite things that we have done has been Story of the World in these years. The writing and the projects are geared toward these ages. My kids still talk about the "journey" to China (through the back yard) for ice cream, acting out the crowning of Queen Elizabeth, making Greek war ships with ice cream (yes, they definitely remember the ice cream projects!) The second time around, the kids probably retain more, but some of the magic is missing.

A lot of the other things we did were skill building and important, but history was stories and fun. If your dd loves stories, she will enjoy these books.