Help me plan history for next year; will have 1st grader and 4th grader-SOTW4?

[Momof3littles]

I know this topic has come up before, but I keep going in circles about what to do.

 

My DS1 is currently a 3rd grader, is an advanced reader, enjoys SOTW. He is sensitive, but his tolerance for various topics has really increased over the last year. He is almost 9. We are doing SOTW3 this year.

 

DD is Kindy aged and recently turned 6. I am not doing any formal history study with her, but as part of our HSing co-op the kids are using the American Girl series to study US history informally. The US Presidents from each time period are also discussed, and sometimes corresponding biographies are worked in there. So she has some grasp of US history, but in a fairly informal way. DS1 has never done a formal study of US history but is a voracious reader, so he's picked up a lot from various biographies, historical fiction, our co-op, etc.

 

So, to my question. Do I want to tackle SOTW 4 next year? Have your children handled the Haulocaust, etc. at that age? I distinctly remember reading The Diary of Ann Frank in 4th grade on my own, and to this day I remember how powerful it was.

 

WWYD? Study US history? Start back with the ancients? I don't know how much DS1 recalls from SOTW1 at this point. Split them up and have DD do SOTW1 and DS1 do SOTW4? Combine them for a study of US history, and do SOTW4 the following year? I don't really love any of my options. I am tempted to do US history, but that still leaves me dividing them up the following year and DD doing SOTW1 and DS1 doing SOTW4.

 

I also have a 2.5 yo who will be 3 during next school year. Keep that in mind as handling history separately would be a bit of a beast, although DS1 would be independent enough to read selections on his own I suppose.

[Heidi]

I would have DS read SOTW 4 on his own and do either SOTW 1 together as a family or do US History together as a family.

[Melenie]

My kids are the same ages as yours and I plan to do SOTW4 with both next year. I wish there was an easy way to do them separately and start my 1st grader on ancients, but there is no way I could manage it. I plan to start it and see how it goes, then take it from there. We do a lot of family discussions about everything in life and if something that may upset a child comes up, I will make sure to include it in our family discussion at night time. That is if they do not ask themselves. My youngest loves these discussions and look forward to them, so it makes it a bit easier for me.