american history separate or as part of chronological world?

[windmillmarie]

I am confused and not sure what terms I should be using to search. I was introduced to SOTW last year which is how I found this forum. I am drawn to the classical 4 year approach to history. I am using SOTW 1 and 3 with my children for afterschooling and am really liking the idea of history being taught in an all-encompassing chronological sense.

 

My kids in public school cover history in weird chunks with each year focusing on one chunk. My 6th grader is covering Ancient history in school and will be mummifying an apple after Thanksgiving Break. My 3rd grader is doing colonial times now and doesn't even cover history in the spring; she will learn things about each state. Today at school their classroom will transform into something like Little House on the Praire with 'slates' and only benches and the lights off and learn from Mcgruffy readers. My first grader is holding up a mayflower in a school play- that's all I've seen her do with "history" at school. American history was taught in 5th grade but was only touched upon. They did do many hands-on activities.

 

 

Knowing all that, and knowing I am afterschooling with SOTW right now (and hoping my husband will come around to homeschooling in the future), would you continue the every-four-year approach and finish SOTW (and move onto something else the next 4 year cycle) or would you take out a chunk of time and present American history?

 

I was thinking I might do things like a whole-family unit study for American history and start out at the beginning of June next year. It could go into fall and be continued whether they are still in school or if I am given the opportunity to homeschool. I could taylor it to their level and add in timelines or main record book. Then I could pick up again in where they left off in the 4 year cycle.

 

Is this confusing? I feel like they have fun with history in their public school if they cover it at all, but from what I've seen, they don't take it seriously until they start covering civics in 8th grade. (their school is K-8 self contained, no separate middle school.)

[UrbanSue]

I'm amazed at how you after schoolers find the time! So I'm not sure if our approach would work, but we just do history every day and add in US topics where they fit, roughly chronologically, along with SOTW 3 (and probably with SOTW 4 next year as well). I am using picture-book read alouds for the most part. Most of them are written at a similar level as SOTW. But if that would be too time-consuming for fitting in after school, then a summertime approach seems ideal. You also might have time to add in applicable field trips in the summer depending on your schedule and where you live?

[Walking-Iris]

I have been reading Am History with my kiddos along with SOTW. I'm not comfortable leaving Am History glossed over and started until later. I want my Kinder familiar with it now! I've just been reading the Am History selections from Core Knowledge. There are also free lesson plans on their site. I read books about Am History as we find them and do geography along with SOTW. Next year I am going to try to start History of US. Right now we have been following a Native American rabbit trail at my ds's request. Maybe you could use a timeline like the one History Odyssey recommends and put up all 4 time periods and then as you do SOTW and Am Hist readings and as they do work in ps just plug all those various chunks into the time line so they start to see how it's laid out? I don't see any real valid reason to marry oneself to the chronological approach. That's just my opinion. I use it more as a tool rather than a rigid method.

[Mrs Twain]

I cover world history for the first half of the school year and American history for the second half.

I want my children to have a good grasp of the big picture of world history including major events and people, but I consider American history even more important.

Personally, I don't think adding in a little American history here or there or only beginning to study this subject in earnest in 8th grade is a good plan.

[Laura Corin]

I just expanded the chapters that referred to our own countries' histories, so when, for example, Queen Elizabeth was mentioned in SOTW, we paused and caught up on British history. If you want to see how this looked, I have some spreadsheets in the side bar of my blog (in siggy). We expanded both British and American history, as the boys have two passports each.

 

Laura

[Aurelia]

We did a year of US history and then started world history from the beginning. I wanted DD to have an understanding of why we celebrate holidays like 4th of July and Thanksgiving (not "the 4th of July happens because people like fireworks"), since they come around every year, and when we get to the topics we covered last year, I hope she will be able to see how the US fits into the whole scope of world history.

[UrbanSue]

I cover world history for the first half of the school year and American history for the second half.

I want my children to have a good grasp of the big picture of world history including major events and people, but I consider American history even more important.

Personally, I don't think adding in a little American history here or there or only beginning to study this subject in earnest in 8th grade is a good plan.

 

I definitely agree with this. Just to clarify: when we pause SOTW to do American History our year ends up as about 1/3 World History, 2/3 US History. And I don't think this would work if you wanted to be really intensive about history in the early grades. We do history very much as a purposeful read aloud time.

[windmillmarie]

Thank you for all your thoughts. I have much to consider! I am not going to make any changes until January. That will give me some time to work things out.

[Farrar]

For me, personally, if I was afterschooling, I don't know if I would do as much with American history. Most kids get a LOT more of it in school than any other kind of history. It's in bits and pieces often, but if you do SOTW, then you'll fit it into the larger framework and they'll make those connections.

 

We homeschool so we did take a year off from the history cycle to do American history specifically. I thought it was important enough to do that. But if my kids had been getting it elsewhere, I would have just expanded my coverage of it as we went through.