History--Ancients and American

[woolybear]

Although we've been hsing for a couple of years, we are just starting on a somewhat more formal approach. So I would like to do Ancient History with dc and have been planning that. However, I know they would really enjoy American history as well at this point. I have WP AS1 which we did part of last year. I would like to continue that as I have some great things lined up for that. Do you all think it would be too much or confusing to do both? And what about scheduling that? Maybe one on one day and the other on another day? Or alternate weeks? Or do you think I should hold off a bit? Any thoughts? Thanks.

[Mama2Three]

We are newbies, so take this with a grain of salt. :)

 

We do American history by focusing on the holidays -- Independence Day, Labor Day, flag day, arbor day, etc. My DC also like the American Girl books, which have been nice discussion starters. We're going to add ancients in a very informal way, mostly listening to the SOTW cds with some minor supplementing. Might not be "enough" of what you are looking for, but perhaps it's a start.

[Free Indeed]

I have never done both at the same time. However, I believe in AO they do cover both American and World history at the same time. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, but I would probably divide it by doing World history Monday and Tuesday and American Thursday and Friday if I were to attempt that!

[kim in ks]

I personally like to keep all writing, reading, & history at the same time period. So I think it would be very confusing to jump back and forth, But Every family is different! I like to do Themes!!

kim

[Another Lynn]

you might take a look at this blog: http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2006/01/our-curriculum.html

 

She uses AO as a guide but she does American and a 4yr world cycle at the same time for grades 1-4 (She does American over three years - grades 1-3 and then the two separate history threads combine in year 4 to be "modern")

 

It might give you an idea of how one person does it. Somewhere in the blog I think she writes about doing American early in the week and World towards the end (or vice versa). Also, I think they do a family wall timeline (no dates) for world events/people, but keep personal notebooks for American (copywork and drawings/pictures). Just some ideas for keeping it separate.

[Carol in Cal.]

we didn't do American history formally until we could integrate it into world history. But then, DD was not all that interested in it. If she had been, I would have focussed on American history first and then gone back to world history.

 

But, as American holidays come up I have always done something seasonal that is separate from our regular history studies. I find that refreshing.

 

So, for instance, last year around Labor Day DD and I studied a book about the anti-child labor photographer, Lewis Hines, and talked about child labor then and now. (It's funny--I never celebrated Labor Day as being about labor issues until I had a child.) This year we will read "The Adventures of Perrine" and "Counting on Grace" around Labor, and review the Lewis Hines information a bit more. (He plays into the Grace book.)

 

Around Presidents' Day we always talk about Lincoln or Washington and read something about one or both of them. We also talk about the office of the presidency.

 

Last year for 4th of July I found a great old book written during the 1940's that basically illustrated the entire Star Spangled Banner (all of the verses, not just the commonly known one) with scenes from World War II. It made a dramatic, but silent parallel that was very, very powerful.

 

 

We celebrate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. We celebrate freedom of religion at Memorial Day. We talk about terrorism on September 11. We have books about early American Christmases and Thanksgivings for those times of the year. We always do a short African American history unit around Martin Luther King day, but in early years we did racism then, starting with "All of the Colors of the Earth" and "The Sneetches". We studied Hitler and what it was like to be an American during WWII for D-Day.

 

We visit history museums, government buildings, and living history sites, and then read about the time periods that they represent.

 

So I would say that DD has learned a ton of American history even though we are only up to about 1870 in our world history studies. And, because we have integrated American history into world history, DD understands American history more deeply than I ever did at her age.

[woolybear]

Doing the bump, to see if anyone else has anything to add. Thanks for all the imput.

[Sahamamama]

How old are your children? What "grades" are they going to be in? Do you HS year round, or will you start in the fall?

[Jenny in Atl]

Although we've been hsing for a couple of years, we are just starting on a somewhat more formal approach. So I would like to do Ancient History with dc and have been planning that. However, I know they would really enjoy American history as well at this point. I have WP AS1 which we did part of last year. I would like to continue that as I have some great things lined up for that. Do you all think it would be too much or confusing to do both? And what about scheduling that? Maybe one on one day and the other on another day? Or alternate weeks? Or do you think I should hold off a bit? Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

Susan Strauss-Art has a couple great bks on American ancient history. Here is the first one, Ancient Times: The Story of the First Americans. It's a middle school level text, but could easily be used with younger students.

[Sahamamama]

What we plan to do is to study each time period chronologically, beginning with Ancients, but to:

 

(A) begin 1-2 years later than recommended by WTM (because I have twins who are younger than my oldest, so I'd rather wait and teach to the youngest in this subject). This would mean we'd begin when my oldest is in 2nd and the youngers are in K, or even the following year. But, in the meantime, I don't want them to know nothing about US history, so we will also...

 

(B) study US history for the first year or so, with all the girls, possibly using some resources outlined in My Father's World's Adventures curriculum. This program explores US history, patriotic symbols and songs, holidays, states, and some geography. I might even combine this with some materials from Exploring Countries and Cultures (more geography) to get an overview of the world, maps, cultures, and missions work.

 

© once we begin to study the time periods chronologically, we still want to do "Social Studies" type stuff one day per week -- map work, geography, memory work, American traditions, songs, holidays, elections, trips, current events, etc. So, we plan to study our time period (Ancients) for 2-3 days per week, and on another day we'll do some work in Soc. St.

 

Hope that helps.

[woolybear]

Well, I haven't actually designated a grade for each of them, because in some areas they are ahead and in some behind. However, I would say older ds, who just turned 8 would be around 3rd or maybe 2nd(though not reading yet) and younger ds is 5 1/2, so K. I'm just thinking from having read another thread....maybe I should consider doing American history with both and ancients just with my older. Though younger ds is loving the myths right now, so I thought including some Greek and Roman history for him might be something he would enjoy and would make sense alongside the myths.....hmmm...now I'm getting all "muddled up", as he would say.

[SnowWhite]

Look on the WinterPromise website FAQ page if you want a different perspective about history. I agree with some of TWTM theories, but on history, we part ways. The WP approach (which can be used to do some Classical studies, but is different in theory) fits my way of thinking better. (So I'd recommend finishing AS1 and then picking what you want to do next).

 

 

http://www.winterpromise.com/faq.html

[VaKim]

We use TruthQuest History and do both American and "world" history every day. I started with ancient history and the beginning of American, and we are currently on the Civil War in American and starting the Middle Ages in world. My girls have never gotten confused at all, perhaps because they are so very different.

 

Since it is a literature-based history, we just read books from each guide every day. No real schedule, except to do the next thing. :)

[Melissa B]

I have always planned to do two history periods at the same time - American/World and Ancient/Classical. We have only just begun formal history, put it has worked fine. I have recently decided to quit looking for curriculum and just put together my own thing. Here is my dual schedule. The dates are approximate as we just keep moving through history. This is more of a broad outline. I also combine my older two children and plan to combine my younger two (but not all for together.) My older two have just started year 5 and my younger two will start K next year. We do each history two days per week, all year. I tried block scheduling (three weeks of one and then three weeks of the other but it didn't work as well for our family.)

 

K Intro to American and Fairy Tales

1 Intro to American and Fairy Tales

2 Intro to Ancient (through Greece) and Folk Tales

3 Intro to Ancient (through middle ages) and Folk Tales

 

(begin formal history)

 

4 1400-1650 and Mythology

5 1650-1800 and Mythology

6 1800-1950 and Prehistory/Creation

7 Modern/Civics and Ancient Near East

8 1100-1400 and Ancient Greece

9 1400-1600 and Ancient Greece

10 1600-1800 and Ancient Rome

11 1800-1900 and Ancient Rome and Early Middle Ages

12 Modern/Civics and Ancient Far East

[ldee]

If you want to do both, how about one semester of each at a more intense level?

[JaneGrey]

My vote: yes, you can do it.

 

Last year, we studied ancients. That was our formal history.

 

However, my kids were so interested in American history (came up in talks about stuff) that we ended up reading lots of books on that period. Posted on the boards earlier this week about specific things we used for that study. Wasn't very formal.

 

Oldest (6yo) also sat in a bi-monthly class going through the explorers period (VP cards). This really wasn't because I'm crazy! Just couldn't pass up this teacher and this free class, which was just being offered as a test this year.

 

Hasn't been a problem. Just made sure to show and discuss the big picture and where things fit. You could have two different history periods in your day or split the week in two (half the days one and half the days the other). I'm not so sure about flipping back and forth from one day to the next.

 

Btw, this wasn't time consuming because I eschew the formal study of certain other things at this level. I make them read a lot and I talk and talk and talk and just don't shut up.... :D

[JeannineW]

This kind of goes along with a question I've had for a while. If I do SOTW for four years does it cover American History enough?

[Rebecca]

Living Books Curriculum schedules both. We loved it. It was not confusing at all. They schedule with a weekly plan rather than daily and you break it down according to your preference...

 

We studied the American Revolution and Ancient Egypt this past year in second grade along with Explorers/colonies and Old Testament History in first grade.

 

It was great.

Rebecca

[woolybear]

This is slightly OT. Rebecca, I have tried to visit the Living Books Curriculum website and can't view most of their pages. Any idea what is up with that? I am curious to check them out.

 

Back to topic. At this point, I am kind of leaning towards doing Ancients 2 days a week and Am. History one or maybe just covering Am. history in a lighter way with both and then doing some of the heavier reading with just my 8 yo. Younger ds seems to have less interest in that at this point anyway. Still undecided..... helpful to hear everyone else's thoughts.