If you do not do history chronologically, what's your plan?

[jkl]

Just thinking....Do you use a timeline to keep things in the correct order?

[Hunter]

I recently--very recently--started following the chronological sequence in the OLDER (not the revised) What Your _ Grader Needs to Know books.

 

There are 3 strands for social studies: Geography, American History, and World History. It takes 6 years/books to cover the cycle, but I'll complete them as quickly or as slowly as I do, and that will be that. At least it's a plan, so I'm not always second guessing myself and hopping.

[...................]

Finish Story of the World....Then bust. Lol

[stm4him]

My kids get history in at least 4 ways.

 

1. CC's World History Timeline every year (starting this year, learned VP's last year).

 

2. History sentences in 3 year cycle that are somewhat chronological but not exactly. Depending on where they jump into the cycle, some may jump in in the middle ages and some at American history

 

3. Independent study for about 4 months of the year starting in 1st grade (with a geo curriculum in K). This is chronological by grade level.

 

 

So all of it is chronological from where they begin but what they study independently in the summer and what they learned during the year could be two totally different topics or periods of history or regions. This year they do happen to line up well for both of my oldest (because they are behind and catching up). Next year we will do Middle Ages/Renaissance/Reformation the first semester of CC, the World Wars/new world history the second semester. My oldest will do middle ages that summer so hers will line up but my second child will do New Testament, Greece and Rome and my 3rd child will do SOTW 1.

 

That being said, I have jumped around a lot with my oldest and it has not hurt her history education (although I often wish I knew more about the time periods we skipped). It looked like this:

 

Age 4: American History (I Love America Vol. 1)

Age 5: Genesis-Deuteronomy and Egypt/Ancient Civs (TOG)

Age 6: Joshua-Psalms and early Greeks (TOG)

Age 7: American History up to Revolutionary War (MFW Adventures) and rest of Old Testament

Age 8: American History and very basic World History (CLP books), Bible doctrine and overview

Age 9: American History from 1800s-1900s (VP cards and read alouds), devotionals and portions of Scripture readings and discussions (no formal curriculum)

 

I know very little about history after the Civil War and very little about the time period from the early Greeks to the pilgrims. But we'll get there next year :-)

[Farrar]

We're going loosely chronologically, but I'm not tied to it nearly as much as SOTW's presentation. I know my kids and I know that they won't remember a thing from anywhere if we don't spend a nice chunk of time on it, so we tend to do a long of grouping civilizations and eras in a single place together and studying them more thoroughly then backing up and doing it somewhere else as we slowly move forward.

[SorrelZG]

Mine are memorizing the CC history timeline. A set of chronological history CDs are planned for future purchase. Beyond that, we are reading mostly according to interest and DS has a very active interest in history across the ages so between school and individual pursuits, we're all over the place. I only feel alright with this due to the timeline memorization because before that history was a cause of anxiety for me, being unable to make a decision and feeling sure I was going to mess up history and as a result, my child's entire education and future life. I loved the CM idea of a book of centuries but I am far too disorganized for such an undertaking so memorization it is.

[Ellie]

We didn't have a plan. We just did history--historical ficton books that looked good, living history days wherever we happened to be, trips to Williamsburg and California missions, eventually KONOS Vol. 2, which begins with the ancient explorers and scientists, through the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth, Colonial America and the American Revolution, and ends with the writing of the U.S. Constitution. I just wanted my dc to love hstory with they were young, so that when they were older and did a chronological survey of world and U.S. history, they would have lots of details to fill in the gaps and make the history interesting.

[justme824]

No plans here to go chronologically. Right now we just read whatever history topics sound interesting. Sometimes it is my interest, others the interest of my kids. We do tend to camp in one period/theme for a bit. Right now we are deep in a study of Native Americans. And I know they have plans to learn about medieval & Lewis and Clark after the holidays.

 

I will say that while we aren't going chronologically in a formal way I did pick up the SOTW audios and we listen to them in the car from time to time. We recently listened to the chapters on Ancient Greece and are now on an audiobook kick of books about this time period.

 

My only goal at this age is exposure and a love of history. I feel confident we are moving in the right direction. Maybe we'll tackle a chronological study in high school.