What to use instead of MOH vol 4

[SeeSchells]

I love Mystery of History. We are (not so patiently waiting for Vol. 4 to be released. This year I decided to put my own American history study together. I discovered that I am not the best at putting together or implementing my own studies ;) I really need something to use next fall to replace MOH vol 4 if it is not out yet (which I am reading conflicting reports on...). Suggestions?

[ChicoryChick]

MOH4 is due out Spring 2014 (worked a shift at the MOH booth this weekend so heard it straight from Linda). So yes you will need something this coming school year. I know Linda recommends doing an American History course which it looks you have done. Would you want to do another year of American using maybe America the Beautiful by Notgrass? Or maybe SOTW 4 beefed up (you may need to use part of 3 as well). Just some suggestions.

[kiwi mum]

For questions like this it is helpful to know what ages you are talking about. I had a look at your other posts and it looks like they will be 5th, 2nd and K next year - did I get it right? What we did when we were in a similar situation in 5th was to use SOTW (1/2 of vol3 and all of vol4) with some other stuff thrown in. It was nowhere near as good as MOH but it got the job done.

 

Since you said you didn't like piecing your own thing together, another option would be to just cycle back to MOH1. Some people find Modern Times too dark for younger students and you have kind of covered the time period with American history anyway. Your oldest would be a good age to move up to the next level of activities and the younger activities would allow the other two kids to tag along.

[Donna A.]

Not sure how much of American history you did this year? If you mostly got through the first half and are just looking for the second half, perhaps you could do My Father's World 1850-Modern. It schedule SOTW 4 and then adds other resources for biblical worldview and varying ages who are participating. There's a younger student supplement package recommended for, well, they call it the "2nd/3rd Grade Supplement", but the books are appropriate as read-alouds for any age. There are activities included for all ages, as well.

 

http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/40/30/0/1

 

If you like the MFW package overall but don't want to do the science they have scheduled, you could skip that. Price-wise, the whole package price is discounted, so it might be better to go ahead and buy the whole package, and then sell the science books that come with it. You'd have to do the math, though.

[Donna A.]

Oh, but if you did an "overview" of American history this year and just don't feel like you did it well, and want to do another full year of American (vs. just half of it), then I agree with the Notgrass suggestion. It's very nice. :)

[SeeSchells]

Thank you for the suggestions! Our overview of American was very light so another year wouldn't hurt! I was lookinh at MFW last night. I like what I see. Is there a way to purchase just the history portion? I will check out Notgrass too. I have used there stuff before I liked it. I never even thought of cycling back to the beginning of creation either! I guess I was very focused on completing the cycle for my son. But he loved the ancients and could go more in depth this time. Hmmm...lots of food for thought! Thx for the ideas!

[mommyagain]

Maybe Biblioplan volume 4 would work for you. It's basically just history and lit.

[Donna A.]

Thank you for the suggestions! Our overview of American was very light so another year wouldn't hurt! I was lookinh at MFW last night. I like what I see. Is there a way to purchase just the history portion?

 

Oh yes! That's what I was saying about skipping the science in my last post. You can buy all the items individually, but if you want to save money, you should either buy used, OR do the math to determine whether it would be cheaper to buy (new) individual items, or just buy the discounted package and then sell the items you don't want to use.

 

Look at page 6 of the pdf sample to see which books are used for which subjects: http://www.mfwbooks....f/modsample.pdf

 

Also, there is "review" of EX1850 at the beginning of 1850MOD, so that'll be good if you feel like you didn't do it well enough the first time.

 

But he loved the ancients and could go more in depth this time. Hmmm...lots of food for thought! Thx for the ideas!

 

 

Although if he's following a chronological cycle, he'll get Ancients more in-depth when he comes back to it chronologically, anyway. And if you're on year 4 of history (1850MOD), then Ancients would be next. So only another year off. ;)

[SeeSchells]

Thanks for the help! After reading all your suggestions and talking it over with my hubby (who is typically very hands off with curriculum choices...he knows I research things to death!) we decided to finish American history over the summer, digging deeper than we have been. And then starting back with MOH vol 1 in the fall. Sometimes I just need to "talk" (or in this case type) it out! So glad I found this forum!