In need of a curriculum that is rich in quality literature and follows

[A home for their hearts]

a 4 year history cycle.

 

I fill like I'm trying to reinvent the wheel. I want a curriculum that has a 4 year history cycle using real books instead of textbooks and encyclopedia, plus additional literature added in. I want to use real books to learn about history but I also don't want to miss other great books just because they aren't part of the topic being covered. Does that make sense?

[Kfamily]

Hmmm, well, at first I was thinking about a CM style booklist, but you also mentioned a 4 year cycle.

 

Are you looking for something that has literature only partially tied to history, or do you want literature to completely follow the history timeline(like the WTM)?

 

 

Are you looking for a completely planned curriculum? (or planned for history, literature, science, etc. but not skill subjects like math and English?)

 

I see MOH in your signiture, so does this mean you are not happy with this?

[A home for their hearts]

Hmmm, well, at first I was thinking about a CM style booklist, but you also mentioned a 4 year cycle.

 

Are you looking for something that has literature only partially tied to history, or do you want literature to completely follow the history timeline(like the WTM)?

 

 

Are you looking for a completely planned curriculum? (or planned for history, literature, science, etc. but not skill subjects like math and English?)

 

I see MOH in your signiture, so does this mean you are not happy with this?

 

I want something that has literature tied to history but also offers other literature suggestions that may or may not be on the history topic being studied. Something planned would be nice for history and literature, I wouldn't need the skill subjects.

 

MOH is ok. It seems a little light and I've been dissapointed so far in the literature suggestions. Most of them my library doesn't have and so far even if my library did have them I haven't seen any of what I'm looking for.

[Kfamily]

Well, Vertias Press has curricula that has literature which is partially tied to history but also offers other selections but does not follow the 4 year cycle. Memoria Press is the same way. (Beautiful Feet is like this too, and I think the literature is tied to the history...although they do have good selections and you could add a couple of books to this.)

 

How important is the 4 year cycle to you? I'm having trouble remembering a curriculum for history and literature that follows the 4 year cycle but that does not use textbooks or encyclopedia style books and that offers literature outside of the history focus.

 

I think History Odyssey uses the Story of Mankind and an encyclopedia style book, if I remember correctly. I actually don't like the writing style of SOM, but I know others do.

 

We didn't like MOH at all...but I did keep it as a resource for me for keeping the early ancient history and Bible history timeline organized.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Kfamily

[Zoo Keeper]

Maybe something like CHOLL would be helpful...

[miracleone]

How about HOD?

[JeneralMom]

Maybe something like CHOLL would be helpful...

 

 

And she is one of our own WTM moms.

[Juliegmom]

You may want to take a look at My Father's World.

[delaney]

TOG does a 4 year and has tons of great lit in it!:)

[nansk]

CHOLL is the first thing I thought of, too.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Tapestry of Grace springs to mind. I loved it but it got to be a bit much for me.

[edeemarie]

Have you checked out the files in the MOH yahoo group? Several people have scheduled in selections for additional literature. We are starting MOH in January and I used All Through the Ages to add in some more literature. The books are listed in chronologial order and are labeled according to which age they are most appropriate for.

[A home for their hearts]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've look at TOG but it just feels too overwhelming for me. I might try it next year, but it in the spring so I have a few months to settle into it.

 

Beautiful feet looks interesting but there didn't seem to be a lot of literature for a whole year. I've looke a CHOLL but decided not to use it. Maybe I just neet to seperate history and literature. Can anyone recommend a good quality literature curriculum?

[Shellydon]

Biblioplan does a 4 year history cycle and combines history and literature.

[Carol in Cal.]

Does it have to be a curriculum?

When the first WTM came out, most of these curricula did not exist. Sonlight was out, and maybe TOG, but that was pretty much it for this category. And WTM said how to do this yourself, and that's pretty much what I did, and it was SO FUN. For ME.

Because, see, I got to pick books to read. I used SOTW, and picked some books from the AG (which is very good) that coordinated with the history lessons, and then I dug up other really great books that I had read as a kid or that someone had told me about or that looked interesting, and we read and read and read and read. And it was SO good, and SO fun, and we were not tied to someone else's lists or schedules.

 

If you read early homeschooling books, they talk about being able to go on field trips in the middle of the school year, and following rabbit trails, and doing serious nature study, and lots of things like that that you can't possibly do in school. Let's not miss out on that by overreliance on a curriculum. It is so much more satisfying, and you can teach with far more conviction, if you do this yourself and enjoy it.

[MicheleinMN]

TOG does a 4 year and has tons of great lit in it!:)

 

:iagree:

[PentecostalMom]

We use Sonlight. While it was not created to cover a 4-year cycle, it is easily adaptable to do so. We are using Core B this year which is the first 1/2 of ancient history them moving on. If you visit their website, you can look at each core and see the time frame it covers. I was using SL before there was a WTM. I do add in SOTW with the earlier cores, and they are actually scheduled into later cores.

[speedmom4]

How about HOD?

 

Heart of Dakota has been a great fit for us. It combines chronological history, quality literature, and simple but interesting projects. I highly recommend them. I have used Sonlight, TOG, MFW, WP, and Beautiful Feet (I was a bit of a curriculum hopper in my early years).

 

Good luck,

Elise in NC

[daybreaking]

I agree with the others who recommended Heart of Dakota. It starts with a one year overview of history in Preparing and then proceeds to a chronological four-year cycle. They use great spines and also add in a lot of other literature.

[Mommamia]

Does it have to be a curriculum?

When the first WTM came out, most of these curricula did not exist. Sonlight was out, and maybe TOG, but that was pretty much it for this category. And WTM said how to do this yourself, and that's pretty much what I did, and it was SO FUN. For ME.

Because, see, I got to pick books to read. I used SOTW, and picked some books from the AG (which is very good) that coordinated with the history lessons, and then I dug up other really great books that I had read as a kid or that someone had told me about or that looked interesting, and we read and read and read and read. And it was SO good, and SO fun, and we were not tied to someone else's lists or schedules.

 

If you read early homeschooling books, they talk about being able to go on field trips in the middle of the school year, and following rabbit trails, and doing serious nature study, and lots of things like that that you can't possibly do in school. Let's not miss out on that by overreliance on a curriculum. It is so much more satisfying, and you can teach with far more conviction, if you do this yourself and enjoy it.

 

thanks for sharing this!

[A home for their hearts]

Does it have to be a curriculum?

When the first WTM came out, most of these curricula did not exist. Sonlight was out, and maybe TOG, but that was pretty much it for this category. And WTM said how to do this yourself, and that's pretty much what I did, and it was SO FUN. For ME.

Because, see, I got to pick books to read. I used SOTW, and picked some books from the AG (which is very good) that coordinated with the history lessons, and then I dug up other really great books that I had read as a kid or that someone had told me about or that looked interesting, and we read and read and read and read. And it was SO good, and SO fun, and we were not tied to someone else's lists or schedules.

 

If you read early homeschooling books, they talk about being able to go on field trips in the middle of the school year, and following rabbit trails, and doing serious nature study, and lots of things like that that you can't possibly do in school. Let's not miss out on that by overreliance on a curriculum. It is so much more satisfying, and you can teach with far more conviction, if you do this yourself and enjoy it.

 

Thanks for this, it is very inspiring. If only I could get over my anxiety of putting things together myself and actually making it work. I feel I do better if I have something that tells me when and how to do it. I haven't grown in confidence enough to let myself guide us. Especially since I know little about these two subjects myself.

 

I agree with the others who recommended Heart of Dakota. It starts with a one year overview of history in Preparing and then proceeds to a chronological four-year cycle. They use great spines and also add in a lot of other literature.

 

Where would I place my older dc is HOD? I'll have to look into it.

[my2boysteacher]

History Odyssey?

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=History+odyssey&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1

[~*Beatrix*~]

HOD sounds like it would be a great fit for this. I recommend you get their catalog. I think finding information in it is easier than on the website.

[daybreaking]

Where would I place my older dc is HOD? I'll have to look into it.

 

Here is HOD's placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

 

There is also a wonderful HOD board, moderated by Carrie (the author), that could be very helpful for you in determining placement: http://www.heartofdakota.com/board3/

[Ohmomjacquie]

You may want to take a look at My Father's World.

 

:iagree:

 

W use and love mfw!

[MerryAtHope]

We use Sonlight. While it was not created to cover a 4-year cycle, it is easily adaptable to do so.

 

I agree, Sonlight schedules some wonderful, history-related literature, and also some just great books. Even if you take their booklist and reorganize it (Which I think has been done on www.paulasarchives.com actually), you'll still have a great program. I've done it both ways--following their IG's and following a 4-year cycle, and their are pros and cons either way. Their US history cores are really good, and for me they were worth giving up a 4-year cycle at times. We still get through all of world history at least twice, and get to focus on US history, and have a geography year too.

[Hedgehogs4]

Yes. TOG was going to be my recommendation but I see someone beat me to it.

[redsquirrel]

Sounds to me like you want SOTW with the activity guide and a library card. In the activity guide there are great literature suggestions for every week. It has activities and lots of fun stuff. It is very literature heavy, if you want it to be. There is no need to use the encyclopedia etc if you don't want to. I am on my second trip through SOTW and never used the encylopedia in the grammar stage.