serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 This is for A., who will be in 3rd grade next year. He is very accelerated in maths and likes science enormously but not history. I've set SOTW aside (twice now) because he is just totally uninterested -- NOT rude, just disliking history and not enjoying at it. We've had enough to keep us busy with other work (I've been focusing on developing writing skills) and his maths. At any rate: I know I'd like to move him onto a 4-yearish history cycle (or three years + 1 year geography) starting in 5th/Logic. And I'd like to add history back in for 3rd and 4th to get our feet wet, perhaps spark an interest, build pegs, and make me feel generally cheerful about the thoroughness of my curriculum plans (I know that last reason is shallow, but there you are ;) ). Here are the two-ish options I've brought it down to: 1. Do history of science. Use Beautiful Feet's program as a spine, enrich it some perhaps with livingmath stuff, and either spread it across 2 years as a history of science & math together or do it in one year and follow with a year of geography (of interest to A.). 2. Do SOTW, and probably CHOLL too, with mapwork. Start where we left off in Ancients (probably starting by this June) and stop at the end of fourth. (ETA the starting in Ancients is a choice; I dropped ancients b/c A. detested mythology and picked up with medieval ages this year, which I paused due to lack of interest and a growing distaste (in A.) for the level of violence implied. He's gotten better about the mythology at least.) thoughts? not sure whether to focus on interest, or just getting a foundation laid ... the child is currently happy, well, and pretty good about his schoolwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 You haven't mummified enough chickens yet ! lol Work in science with SOTW and do more projects. Rome, build roads and aqueducts, Egypt mummies, it's endless. Have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Do you know about the series by Hakim called, "The Story of Science"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Do you know about the series by Hakim called, "The Story of Science"? I do -- have you read them? I thought they'd be a bit much for an 8yo, but perhaps not ... I'll try to get one from the library. I'd been thinking to coordinate our Logic history with them ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I have not read them, but I did look at one from the library. I know some people have I'd them so you could maybe start a new thread about the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Julie -- I am pretty sure they would not be fun for A. next year. I have a gestalt plan to do chemistry, incl. McHenry organic chemistry, next year; then Magic of Reality the year after with the thought that a chemistry background will make the genetics/early evolution more comprehensible; and then start the Story of Science series in 5th. I think Magic of Reality is more accessible than the Story of Science (though it isn't history -- in my mind it coexists with the Hakim books as things that cover science somewhat comprehensively and from a human-interest angle) and we teach empirical science so there's no problem with that end of things. Starr -- I totally see your perspective on this! however this child doesn't really get jazzed up about a topic b/c of activities. He gets happy about the ACTIVITIES but his feelings RE the subject being taught remain remarkably undisturbed. At least that's my take on how things have gone down 'round here ... A. has changed so much this year. He used to be too temperamental and mercurial for me to use a custom-designed history program: it was so much work for so little payoff (and a great deal of struggle). He's much more mature now (on average) and has both an astonishing aptitude for maths and a real interest in math & science. I just keep being drawn to SOTW. I think the mapwork & exposure to histories of other cultures has been valuable, for instance ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I have used the Story of Science. It has been a good fit for my oldest. It is very interesting, but I would wait on it in your shoes. It can be enjoyed young, but fully appreciated older. I would highly recommend Inventing the Future as either a spine for a one year study of the history of science or to weave science in with SOTW (which might make him like history more?). This book is engagingly written and just plain fun. You could correlate experiments and videos fairly easy, just by going through and outlining the chapters. I can imagine this book building a bridge from a love of science to a love of history. ETA: Dazzling Discoveries is an earlier edition of this book. Here you can look inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Alte Veste, thank you for that recommendation -- it looks excellent, and is the style of writing A. likes lately. I'm off to hunt it down at the library, if possible ... I really appreciate the pointer to developing a love of history from his starting-point interests in math & science. Developing his interest in his studies is one of my chief elementary goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I really appreciate the pointer to developing a love of history from his starting-point interests in math & science. Developing his interest in his studies is one of my chief elementary goals. When picking SOTW supplements for oldest DS, I skewed heavily toward math and science. One of the big benefits of using living books is that you can tailor history to personal interests. I will try to put together a list of DS's favorite supplements to SOTW1 later, if you're interested. (DS also used OUP's World in Ancient Times series though, in addition to SOTW, as he does also like history.) There's some pretty manly gore in ancient history. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 When picking SOTW supplements for oldest DS, I skewed heavily toward math and science. One of the big benefits of using living books is that you can tailor history to personal interests. I will try to put together a list of DS's favorite supplements to SOTW1 later, if you're interested. (DS also used OUP's World in Ancient Times series though, in addition to SOTW, as he does also like history. There's some pretty manly gore in ancient history. :tongue_smilie:) Thank you so much for that offer -- let me think on it. I realized that the gore is a major part of the problem -- A. has a strong distaste for violence and unkindness. What I may be looking for is some sort of history for peaceful children, until he's a bit older; either geography/culture studies or maybe the Montessori folks have something I could use. Hmmm ... (OUP is on my screen for middle school. We're getting their books then whether A. likes history or not -- I want to read them!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 When picking SOTW supplements for oldest DS, I skewed heavily toward math and science. One of the big benefits of using living books is that you can tailor history to personal interests. I will try to put together a list of DS's favorite supplements to SOTW1 later, if you're interested. (DS also used OUP's World in Ancient Times series though, in addition to SOTW, as he does also like history.) There's some pretty manly gore in ancient history. :tongue_smilie: Thank you so much for that offer -- let me think on it. I realized that the gore is a major part of the problem -- A. has a strong distaste for violence and unkindness. What I may be looking for is some sort of history for peaceful children, until he's a bit older; either geography/culture studies or maybe the Montessori folks have something I could use. Hmmm ... (OUP is on my screen for middle school. We're getting their books then whether A. likes history or not -- I want to read them!!!) Oops. I mis-parenthesed. :tongue_smilie: I meant gore in reference to gross (to me) science stuff as part of ancient history...my mind just went to one specific thing at the time I was typing. :lol: Most of what we supplemented with wasn't gory at all. My DS did like some of the more gory stuff about ancient history also (Sutcliff's fairly graphic coverage of the Trojan War, stories of the gladiators, etc.), but that was not what I was referencing in the first part of my post. I meant to say all the math and science supplements I added for him. At any rate, with a sensitive child, I would absolutely go with a year of the history of science. Fascinating stuff at any age, and lots of hands-on when you add experiments and maybe a notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Thanks for the clarification! ... and I'm trying to figure out if sensitivity is the problem, or if I've been had: chatting with A. about this, the only disturbing thing he seems to remember about history is that it isn't interesting. sigh. in which case the OUP might be just the thing. I think I may be taking him too seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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