PeterPan Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 ...using the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. Dd for years has just absorbed facts. Like she was criticizing the samples of TOG2 I showed her, adamant they should have placed Don Quixote during the Inquisition (where it is set??) rather than Jamestown (when it was written). Picky! So anyways, she has all these PIECES in her head and wants them to come into a whole. She wants to make a huge timeline with all the continents (or at least the ones she likes) running parallel. And she likes the Kingfisher red version which I happen to already have lying around. Oh, and she has done VP, which is very euro-centric, not SOTW. So the more diverse historical content will be new to her. Our other option is just to move on to TOG1. I'm actually torn, because I could see going really creative and out of the box with her, or I could see just doing TOG (4 years, leaving her senior year for a brit lit study and senior trip to England, our dream). I'm pretty weary of planning things honestly, so it would need to be an easy, obvious, or kid-motivating option for it to happen. I'm sure there's nothing open and go that fits her *perfectly*. So no, she's not going to read a 2 page spread and outline. I don't even know what I'm looking for, just some OTHER way of interacting with the book. But this would be for one year and move on. Then we'd only have 3 years for a cycle through and we'd be to that senior year. Whew, feels like it's closing in on us! Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Trying to figure out what you're asking for. You don't think she needs more info but an outlet for what she has learned? Sounds like she has learned a ton thus far correct? I love the idea of the timeline. What if she makes her own encyclopedia to go along with the timeline. She could create it in whatever format she chooses. scrapbook, power point presentations, more like a novel or SOTW format. Just a few thoughts. Are these the kind of out of the box ideas you are looking for or am I way off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Thowell, I like your ideas! That's definitely up her alley. I'm thinking maybe what I'll do is go ahead and start working with it now, alongside the american history she's doing. So she'll just start in the middle of the book, finish it, and then go back to the beginning in the fall with our new history. That would make the most sense. I guess what I was torn with was whether I should turn the book into a whole YEAR or just supplement with it. I really don't love creating curriculum for her. She changes too fast and is just hard to plan for or figure out (at least for me). So I'm thinking if I just go ahead and have her start it NOW, while the fire is hot and she's interested, that will be good. My mistake comes when I find something cool that she really likes and tell her she can use it 9 months later. Then it doesn't fit when we get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Thowell, I like your ideas! That's definitely up her alley. I'm thinking maybe what I'll do is go ahead and start working with it now, alongside the american history she's doing. So she'll just start in the middle of the book, finish it, and then go back to the beginning in the fall with our new history. That would make the most sense. I guess what I was torn with was whether I should turn the book into a whole YEAR or just supplement with it. I really don't love creating curriculum for her. She changes too fast and is just hard to plan for or figure out (at least for me). So I'm thinking if I just go ahead and have her start it NOW, while the fire is hot and she's interested, that will be good. My mistake comes when I find something cool that she really likes and tell her she can use it 9 months later. Then it doesn't fit when we get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Thowell, I like your ideas! That's definitely up her alley. I'm thinking maybe what I'll do is go ahead and start working with it now, alongside the american history she's doing. So she'll just start in the middle of the book, finish it, and then go back to the beginning in the fall with our new history. That would make the most sense. I guess what I was torn with was whether I should turn the book into a whole YEAR or just supplement with it. I really don't love creating curriculum for her. She changes too fast and is just hard to plan for or figure out (at least for me). So I'm thinking if I just go ahead and have her start it NOW, while the fire is hot and she's interested, that will be good. My mistake comes when I find something cool that she really likes and tell her she can use it 9 months later. Then it doesn't fit when we get there. Dd11 is just like this. I also have to give her freedom in the creativity department or anything becomes boring. Have you seen the Glogster? dd11 has one and made some wonderful posters for FDR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Wow, that's super cool!!! I had never heard of it!!! Dd would DEFINITELY get into that. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Someone posted last year about a young girl who blogged about her history lessons. I wish I could find it because it was amazing! She had such a quirky style as she gave a narrative of ... I think it was the Saxon invasion. I don't know anything about blogging but maybe she could do something like that? I searched and couldn't find it but I did find this that might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 My kids were making history trading/game cards this year. One side had name and dates and photo. The other had info about the person. It was a lot like a mini notebook page but more fun. They started adding attack or defense modifiers bases on the person's life. For example Ben Franklin and his son could not be in the same hand - one had to be discarded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Interesting ideas!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 My dd loves writing magazine style reports for history. She chooses a topic, researches it, then writes a catchy headline and article complete with fictional eyewitness accounts. It has really enlivened her history writing and polished her research skills. She's required to do one per week, but I give her the freedom to choose a topic. The penalty for not choosing a topic by Tuesday afternoon is having to write about whatever is next in Spielvogel. She is very orderly so has been reporting her way through the dark ages even though I feared she'd just be completely random. The freedom to choose the topic made all the difference in the world for her. Some weeks she starts with one idea of what she wants to write about such as trade in Europe after 1066 then finds there isn't enough or is too much information so she has to change or fine tune her topic. These have no relation whatsoever to the planned philosophy and history of ideas study that is what we're officially doing for history. This was her own idea to fulfill my need for her to "write something." It is our grand compromise this year for English which is roughly "you've got to write something everyday, or I'll buy a program for you to follow." Anyway, maybe something like this could work for your history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 My dds have really enjoyed creating family trees of the monarchies in Europe. It really is quite interesting to see how all those families are related! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Karen, that's very interesting! I'm going to have to chew on how to apply that! Love your idea for how you resolve if she hasn't picked her topic, hehe. :D Miss Moe, that sounds terrific! Great suggestion! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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