EmmaNZ Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 WWYD?? My ds is refusing to read almost any history book I offer. If I press him he will read a page or two, but I don't like to force him. We're talking the simple books you get from the library on a single topic, say about vikings or something. He says they give him nightmares. On the one hand I feel like he needs to be reading something history related to top up our SOTW work. On the other hand, he is not lying - he does sometimes get nightmares and if does they are usually about one or other of the wars we have learnt about in history! I would like to use more of the recommended reading in the activity guide, but our library never has any of them at all, and finances won't allow us to buy them in at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 For heavens sake, he is 7 years old! He has his whole life to learn about wars and fighting and ugly stuff. Don't make him read it if it gives him nightmares!!!!! Find something else to fhim to read, non history related for now. Maybe something about world cultures or something easy. Plenty of time for ugly stuff later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Try learning about inventions and such instead. But no, history is not an absolute requirement at 7 years old, so I would not force it upon him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I guess I'm trying to figure out which books are problematic. I can see how some would be scary and nightmare-inducing. But some -- especially picture books -- evoke a time and place without recapping the scarier bits of history. If it's important that he reads extra books from history, can you select ones like that, and read them aloud with him? On the other hand, as others have said, you could just drop the extra reading. He has LOTS of time to learn more about history. The important thing for him at this stage is to be growing his interest in the subject, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 For heavens sake, he is 7 years old! He has his whole life to learn about wars and fighting and ugly stuff. Don't make him read it if it gives him nightmares!!!!! Find something else to fhim to read, non history related for now. Maybe something about world cultures or something easy. Plenty of time for ugly stuff later. :iagree::iagree: At 7..... Keep it to maps, and cooking, and fun stuff. No need to scare the poor kid to death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
---- Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Do a year of geography. Read about children around the world. places, and geographical features. Color maps. Save history for later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Agreeing with the others. Tailor his history (and other studies) to his needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 My daughter won't listen to anything she deems scary, which is most history and classical kids books. We focus on geography, people, culture, religion, science from historical perspectives. She loves biographies and has gone through nearly the entire "Who Was..." series like crazy. It is below her reading level so she zooms through them and we have great chats about a huge variety of people and times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 You might want to try Ambelside for reading lists. They even link to cheap or free sites, if you don't mind ebooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNZ Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Thanks for the thoughts. FWIW I'm not trying to scare him! It's enough for him to read 'the Normans invaded England', for example, and he'll have nightmares. He doesn't need the gory details or any pictures at all. The flip side is, history is one of his favourite subjects. I don't think we'll drop it completely. Might just drop the extra reading I think. He reads a lot of other stuff. I can modify what I read out loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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