Mrs Twain's History Approach

[birchbark]

I learned about her approach on the Willingham book thread and have been thinking about it a bit since then. Basically it involves doing overviews of history every year, then choosing three areas to study in depth. Here are her descriptions from the other thread:
 

I will continue to do world history and American history overview books every year as my main spines, along with studying three specific history subjects in depth. Alternatively I could see a 4-year history cycle working for families if they could think of a way to do review of the three years of the cycle they were not currently covering.

Here is what I do for history. First I read a world history overview book for the first half of the school year. Examples are CHOW and Builders of the Old World. Then I read an American History overview book for the second half of the year. Examples are A First Book in American History, The Rainbow Book of American History, or maybe next year I will use Calvert's choice of "Build Our Nation: American History and Geography" textbook. That way we are covering the same history content year after year after year after year, though using different texts. The repetition is what I am aiming for since students need a lot of practice in learning information in order for it to be retained long-term. In addition, I plan three history subjects for in-depth study. For example, one year I did Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, and New World Explorers as our three in-depth subjects. The kids did lapbooks and reports as well as listened to supplemental books on these subjects. In this way I can get depth on major subjects which is not possible just by reading the overview books. Does that make any sense? I generally do not like the 4-year cycle idea because I don't believe that there is adequate review with that method. It is hard for me to believe that my kids would remember information that I only teach them every four years. Maybe I am wrong, but I am sticking with my current plan, especially after reading the research in Willingham's book.

This is a bit different from the WTM four-year-cycle approach. We just finished year three of the cycle ourselves, and I've been feeling dissatisfied with it. First of all, it felt like it was taking so long to get through the cycle. Secondly, I was having grave doubts as to how much of all this info was being retained. And thirdly, I was concerned that we were not getting enough American history. It seems to me that Mrs Twain's style of history would solve all of these issues. Plus it also jibes with Willingham's findings on how children learn.

Is there anyone else who has done history in a similar fashion? I would be interested in hearing some input. What are the pros and cons? What books have you used? Would it work to alternate World History and American History years? Doing two overviews as well as three in-depth subjects sounds like a lot to cover in a year.

I'm hoping Mrs Twain will weigh in here as well. :)

[Chelli]

I'm trying this approach next year based on that thread and all of your feelings that you stated above. We will be reading through CHOW over the course of the year and focusing on Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. We will also read through Stories of Great Americans by Eggleston and focus on the American Revolution.

 

I've been planning it out and getting all of my plans together and I'm really looking forward to it. I think this will be a wonderful way to approach history. I can't wait!

[momto2Cs]

I've done something similar in the past, but am changing things up for the upcoming year. We're going to simply rotate Landmark/World Landmark books (other good ones are the American Heritage Junior Library and Horizon Caravel) every three weeks, along with biographies. The kids and I will take turns choosing the history books, and they are each responsible for their own choice of biographies/autobiographies (we like these a lot, and dd likes these as well). They will be keeping a timeline book/Book of Centuries, and will be doing some notebooking to go along with it. If they get really interested in one period/person, we can go more in-depth.

 

Here's a link to a fantastic pdf of all the Landmark books in chronological order.

 

We did try, quite hard, to make the four year cycle work for us. But as mentioned above, it seemed to take SO long! The kids were eager to learn about things that were not on the agenda for some time to come, and they are interested in a lot of American history as well, which didn't seem to figure in as much. I do have other resources on hand for more expansion, among them the K12 Human Odyssey series and their American Odyssey, as well as Builders of the Old World and Makers of the Americas, the Rainbow Book of American History, etc.

 

I think our new approach will work well, interest led, but within certain parameters. I think Mrs. Twain's approach works quite well too, and I may end up borrowing from it (again)!

[rachelpants]

I'm lurking. There are great ideas here :) We are starting Core Knowledge history for 1st this fall.

[SorrelZG]

I'm doing something similar except that I'm reading from a world history overview and an American history overview side by side rather than in different semesters. Ancient Egypt is a specific focus (the one I specifically prepared for) and other focuses less .. er .. focused (more self directed on DS's part) are British history, especially the period of knights and castles, and Vikings.

[mama25angels]

I'm doing something similar except that I'm reading from a world history overview and an American history overview side by side rather than in different semesters. Ancient Egypt is a specific focus (the one I specifically prepared for) and other focuses less .. er .. focused (more self directed on DS's part) are British history, especially the period of knights and castles, and Vikings.

 

 

I was actually thinking of doing this, doing World history two days a week and American history two days a week. Our main focus would be on British history and our less..er focus would be on Egypt.

[Chelli]

 

 

I was actually thinking of doing this, doing World history two days a week and American history two days a week. Our main focus would be on British history and our less..er focus would be on Egypt.

 

 

That's what I'm doing world history: three days a week and American history two days a week.

[TracyP]

OK, you asked for cons, too, so I will go there. :) We had completed through Year 3 and part of Year 4 with TOG, then switched to Bigger mid way through the year last year. It wasn't purposeful, but we ended up doing a US history overview for 2 consecutive years. My dd would completely revolt if I subjected her to a 3rd year of American History. So I just don't see this working as kids get older. Even if I could get her cooperation, I can't imagine any book that could be read in one semester that would add to her understanding - maybe I am being arrogant. But what about the year after? and the year after? This seems like an incredibly shallow approach to history for older kids. As my kids get older, I see them craving more and more depth.

 

Overall, I like this idea for K-3/4 grade or so. (I'm hesitant to post exact ages because I see little point in studying history at all in K and possibly 1st. And I think that my con could apply before 5th grade. Anyway...) I am seriously considering following Mrs. Twain's approach with my younger kids. Also, for an older child without much exposure to history, this could be a great way to set some "pegs". But I am really curious to know how long Mrs. Twain plans to continue this approach. I see this evolving into nothing more than ps style history - snippets of info with little depth.

 

p.s. I'm really tired and hope I'm not coming across as judgmental. If this is what works for a family, YAY. This is just a thought I had during the Willingham thread, but I didn't want to derail that thread. I hope Mrs. Twain stops in with her thoughts. :)

[momto2Cs]

OK, you asked for cons, too, so I will go there. :) We had completed through Year 3 and part of Year 4 with TOG, then switched to Bigger mid way through the year last year. It wasn't purposeful, but we ended up doing a US history overview for 2 consecutive years. My dd would completely revolt if I subjected her to a 3rd year of American History. So I just don't see this working as kids get older. Even if I could get her cooperation, I can't imagine any book that could be read in one semester that would add to her understanding - maybe I am being arrogant. But what about the year after? and the year after? This seems like an incredibly shallow approach to history for older kids. As my kids get older, I see them craving more and more depth.

 

Overall, I like this idea for K-3/4 grade or so. (I'm hesitant to post exact ages because I see little point in studying history at all in K and possibly 1st. And I think that my con could apply before 5th grade. Anyway...) I am seriously considering following Mrs. Twain's approach with my younger kids. Also, for an older child without much exposure to history, this could be a great way to set some "pegs". But I am really curious to know how long Mrs. Twain plans to continue this approach. I see this evolving into nothing more than ps style history - snippets of info with little depth.

 

p.s. I'm really tired and hope I'm not coming across as judgmental. If this is what works for a family, YAY. This is just a thought I had during the Willingham thread, but I didn't want to derail that thread. I hope Mrs. Twain stops in with her thoughts. :)

 

 

This is exactly why I have shifted my approach a bit (see my post above). My kids now want more details, more focus. Still, when they were a bit younger, it saved us the frustration of waiting to get to "the good stuff".

[Seeker of Schole]

I am very interested in this as well. Can we start a list of books that could be used as overviews for K thru 4th grade?

[abrightmom]

Listening in as I have always liked Mrs. Twain's approach and agree with birchbark that it solves many "issues" with the 4year cycle.

[Alte Veste Academy]

...I can't imagine any book that could be read in one semester that would add to her understanding...

 

This seems like an incredibly shallow approach to history for older kids. As my kids get older, I see them craving more and more depth.

 

...I see this evolving into nothing more than ps style history - snippets of info with little depth.

 

I find myself intrigued with this whole conversation. Your points are worth consideration. However, Mrs. Twain did say she plans in-depth studies to allow the kids to dig deeper. I am sure these in depth studies differ each year. In the end, perhaps the time spent on these studies will equal the total amount of time a student might have spent covering each era the WTM way? Maybe it will even out in the end? I don't know. I could apply some brain power to this and figure it out but I'm feeling pretty lazy right now. :tongue_smilie:

 

The attraction I see to the approach is that the frequent review would most likely be quite effective at getting kids to remember the flow of history. If you read about ancients for a year, but then not again for another 4 years...then medieval times, but then not again for another 4 years...and so on and so on and so on... Well, that's a lot of time in which to forget all but the most memorable aspects of those periods. On the other hand, by reviewing the full scope year after year, it would be drilled into the memory pretty effectively. And, yeah, that could be kind of boring except that the reading of that history would probably be a small part of the day while the forays into in-depth studies would be a larger part of the day. In my imagination, anyway.

 

On another positive note, as kids get older, there are some incredibly interesting and well done books about world history that center around food, art, music, science... You name it, there is a history book written from that niche perspective.

 

Anyway, I'm listening. Very interesting. :)

[mama25angels]

I find myself intrigued with this whole conversation. Your points are worth consideration. However, Mrs. Twain did say she plans in-depth studies to allow the kids to dig deeper. I am sure these in depth studies differ each year.

 

 

 

This was my reasoning as well, she mentioned that she did focus on a certain time period, while still going over the other eras. I also assumed that she did this with different books and different ways, maybe doing biographies of certain people from the time period one year and battles of the time period the next year, I don't know. Anyway, I hope she chimes in.

[Chelli]

I'm not Mrs. Twain, but here are my ideas and progressions for the next couple of years with my two dds. We do not combine for subjects but they will combine for the overview books which I will read at lunch or breakfast.

 

4th Grade and 1st Grade:

• World History overview book: A Child's History of the World (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

4th Grader studies Ancient Egypt the first semester in depth and Ancient Greece the second semester in depth

1st Grader studies the Ancient World from beginning to Rome all year

• American History overview book: Stories of Great Americans by Eggleston (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

4th Grader studies colonial time and Revolution all year

1st Grader studies famous Americans and famous American landmarks very informally (aka picture books)

 

5th Grade and 2nd Grade:

• World HIstory Overview book: Builders of the Old World (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

5th Grader studies Ancient Rome in depth all year

2nd Grader studies Middle Ages and Renaissance in depth all year

• American History Overview book: A First Book in American History by Eggleston (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

5th Grader studies Civil War to 1900 in depth

2nd Grader studies Native Americans, explorers, and Colonial times in depth

 

6th Grade and 3rd Grade:

• A Little History of the World by Gombrich (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

6th Grader studies Eastern Ancient world and the Middle Ages in depth

3rd Grader studies Early Modern world history in depth

• Mara Pratt's 4-volume American history series (read over the course of the year to both girls)
  

6th Grader studies 1900 to Present in-depth

3rd Grader studies Revolutionary War to the Civil War in depth

 

This is as far as I've planned because my youngest would be in 1st grade the next year so he'd be added into the rotation. I haven't decided how to continue with the overview reading. Do I want to go back to what I used before so that my 1st grader could follow along? Do I want to keep increasing the difficulty of those books to keep up with my oldest? I've not decided that part yet. Still mulling it over.

 

HTH.

[abrightmom]

Thinking out loud....

 

How are the in depth studies fleshed out? The "usual" way with additional reading, narrations, map work, etc or perhaps this is where the fun begins. One student is cut and dry and so uses a Memoria Press Famous Men text and study guide of choice while another student is a lap booker and goes in depth with a book basket/lapbook. I really lack the skills to put ideas into actionable plans so hearing specifics would help tremendously. I'd better search out Mrs. twain's posts to see if there is something there.

 

I like this yearly overview a lot for the grammar stage crew and think that reviewing the flow of history numerous times is more effective than the cycles. Honestly, most families experience "life" along the way and miss a year, get behind, or want to study Narnia or the Hobbit or Earth science or World Cultures instead of history. Doesn't Sonlight do this in a way with their Cores? Hitting each time period multiple times and in a more condensed way? Memoria Press too with reading SOTW in summer and then going in depth with a FM text during the school year? Well, those plans are different than Mrs. T's but the review, American history focus, and the in depth study are there.

 

Hmmmmmm. I think it gets more difficult to do this with older logic stage and high school/adult students. Most spines are monstrous and one couldn't get thru the whole of history in a semester.

 

SOTW is engaging enough that one could listen through it entirely every summer for that review/overview and then still do a history cycle of sorts with a particular emphasis during the school year (whether that is more focused on a few topics or generally studying a specific time period or a combination of both). There are many ways to review history with CDs, documentaries, reading voraciously, etc.

 

My mind is churning and I am going to map it out on paper if I can find some. Everything is in piles or packed in a box!

 

 

 

 

[abrightmom]

Is there a list of possible spines somewhere? I am working on one now and would include Veritas' new set called Pages of History (Lots of Bible in this one) for older elementary.

[Kfamily]

On another positive note, as kids get older, there are some incredibly interesting and well done books about world history that center around food, art, music, science...

 

 

I just wanted to share some book suggestions which would address this part of your post. My older dd will be reading The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. He also wrote The Creators and The Seekers. Each of these cover world history but with a different perspective. The Discoverers is a survey of the scientific study of humanity (history of science, discovery and invention), The Creators covers world history though art and The Seekers through philosophy. I've just started reading The Discoverers and I'm really enjoying it. I've also started Book Notes to go along with it. There are several other books that we have that look at large segments of world history but with a different perspective and I will be including these for my older dd to read along with her humanities study in high school.

[SorrelZG]

Regarding the cons mentioned by Tracy (which I didn't take as snooty, btw), in my own case the very reason I ended up doing history this way started with me not being inclined to put much emphasis on history with my lower elementary children. I'm just not inclined to spend the energy and time on things my 7yo is not going to remember and I feel no need for him to remember at 7. I do want a familiarity with the storyline of history, however, and I expect that to take more than just a pass through every four years. I also entirely bought into the idea that my child was more likely to remember things he chose to pursue himself so I gave myself permission to quit trying to rein him in to a specific period for a whole year. I just didn't want to battle a young child over something I wasn't even persuaded was important. He did want to take some of the books off to read though, so I let him. I knew I did want that general familiarity so I added the CC timeline cards and song as a brief history core but haven't been consistent with that. What did happen was that I ended up just reading CHOW to him and letting him get into whatever caught his interest to inspire further study (for which I would try to supply books and documentaries.

 

After completing CHOW this year he has told me he misses it but wishes it had more information. This child has grown into a history fiend and declares history as his favorite part of school (even though he learns more during his own reading which he will often interject into our school reading to fill in details or gaps). Our focus areas are not highly planned out by me because I'm not that kind of mom. I read books to him and feed books to him and we talk (mostly he talks). My younger ones are just learning to read and sit and listen to reading and talk about what was read with exposure being my only goal for them and they are only required to sit in on core reading.

 

 

[TracyP]

I have heard Mrs. T mention that they do a lapbook on each in depth topic if that helps anyone. I hope she pops in here to share more about what that in-depth study looks like in her home. And what both the in-depth and overview look like for a 5th grader or older.

 

I think one big difference here might just be philosophy. I am not worried about details in history slipping out of their mind. I feel the need to link to JennW in SoCal's About Those Dreaded Gaps blog post here. I don't want to get so caught up in worrying about some forgotten piece of information that I suck the fun out of history. Not saying that anyone is doing so, just that *I* would be. Which means this may be a lesson in Know Thine Own Children and Know When to Bow Out of a Thread. :D

[momto2Cs]

I have heard Mrs. T mention that they do a lapbook on each in depth topic if that helps anyone. I hope she pops in here to share more about what that in-depth study looks like in her home. And what both the in-depth and overview look like for a 5th grader or older.

 

I think one big difference here might just be philosophy. I am not worried about details in history slipping out of their mind. I feel the need to link to JennW in SoCal's About Those Dreaded Gaps blog post here. I don't want to get so caught up in worrying about some forgotten piece of information that I suck the fun out of history. Not saying that anyone is doing so, just that *I* would be. Which means this may be a lesson in Know Thine Own Children and Know When to Bow Out of a Thread. :D

 

Yes, yes, yes.

 

And I love that blog post!

[SorrelZG]

.... Still awaiting Mrs Twain and just chatting in the meantime ....

 

Tracy, I'm curious about your last post - are you saying you think your philosophy contradicts this approach to history? In general? In the younger years? You said you were interested in the approach for your littler ones. I am also interested in hearing Mrs T's long range plans as I personally haven't thought so far ahead in detail but in the back of my mind I am expecting to have a 4-6 year in depth history (and related subjects) pass through, depending on the curriculum I end up following for those middle-high school years. In these early years the children, well mostly just DS so far, are interested in all the stories of the world both in themselves (their own time and place) and their connectedness to whole big picture of humanity. So if history is a street parade (excuse the shallow analogy), he wants to be both down in the middle closely examining each detail of floats and costumes that catch his eye AND up on ther balcony appreciating the wide, sweeping view. We have also found that being concerned about details slipping out of the mind is a sure way (for us) to suck the fun out of the whole experience. I'm still attached to my children knowing the timeline in a general way .. Like periods and orders of events if not all the specific names and dates .. But my goal is that they have a good grasp of that by the end of sixth grade so there is no stress in first.

 

I can imagine revolting against American history after two years devoted to it. I can imagine feeling that way after one year and perhaps that is another thing that inclined me towards more than one strand of history. In the overview approach you don't actually (have to ) spend a lot of time on it in a given year unless it is also a focus area (although after two solid years of any topic I'd probably not initiate the subject again for a bit). But that age I'd be wanting a lot more than what is delightfully perfect for my 7yo yet it is still very flexible in that there is plenty of history only being over viewed while also plenty of it going much deeper. DS got captivated with the industrial revolution which inspired a number of deep conversations and a lot of thought and he still brings it up but if he was older he could have taken that so much further so easily .. and yet he wouldn't have happened upon this point of interest if we were focused wholly on ancients this past year. The early years are just an awesome time to take the liberty to scatter seed far and wide and just see where spouts pop up.

 

But like I said .. Just chatting .. I'd like someone to chat back but I wasn't really going anywhere specific with any of this.

[TracyP]

The early years are just an awesome time to take the liberty to scatter seed far and wide and just see where spouts pop up.

 

Totally agree. I started with the 4 year cycle but wish I had done this instead. I think I will follow this approach until 3rd grade or so with my youngers, then just fold them into wherever the others are in the 4 year cycle.

[SorrelZG]

 

 

Totally agree. I started with the 4 year cycle but wish I had done this instead. I think I will follow this approach until 3rd grade or so with my youngers, then just fold them into wherever the others are in the 4 year cycle.

 

 

That's a good idea. Do you have any specific ideas for your youngers yet? I was really hoping others would come in or come back to help compose a list of books or more ideas as previous posters had mentioned because my initial plans for this coming year weren't so great and DS is wanting us to read CHOW again while I am still hoping to find something else. I'm not feeling great about the Am. History options I've been reading, either. I may have to jump ship from my original history plan just for want of fitting resources. :-/

[mama25angels]

That's a good idea. Do you have any specific ideas for your youngers yet? I was really hoping others would come in or come back to help compose a list of books or more ideas as precios posters had mentioned because my initial plans for this coming year weren't so great and DS is wanting us to read CHOW again while I am still hoping to find something else. I'm not feeling great about the Am. History options I've been reading, either. I may have to jump ship from my original history plan just for want of fitting resources. :-/

 

 

I think everyone is waiting and hoping that Mrs. Twain will pop in and give us more insight into how she does it. A few posts up a few posters did post some of the book they were going to be using, maybe those will give you some ideas. I've only sketched out next year so I was hesitant to post my plan. Check out OakTreeMenagerieMom's posts as well as Mom2twoC's, they both have some suggested spines.

[SorrelZG]

 

 

 

I think everyone is waiting and hoping that Mrs. Twain will pop in and give us more insight into how she does it. A few posts up a few posters did post some of the book they were going to be using, maybe those will give you some ideas. I've only sketched out next year so I was hesitant to post my plan. Check out OakTreeMenagerieMom's posts as well as Mom2twoC's, they both have some suggested spines.

 

Yeah, I did. I was hoping for others. :)

[Chelli]

Yeah, I did. I was hoping for others. :)

 

 

 

I emailed Mrs. Twain asking about her history approach. Here is the email Mrs. Twain sent me about spines she has used or is planning on using:

 

"I am no history major, so keep it in mind that I am just making this up as we go along. For the world history overview, one year I used CHOW with my eldest, the next year I used Builders of the Old World, and the next year I repeated CHOW again with two of my kids because I like that book so much and because it is pretty fun for a history book.

 

One option that I considered for next year was to repeat Builders of the Old Word because that was very good, too, and the kids tend to enjoy a repeat as long as it has been long enough since the last time they heard it.

 

Another option (which I haven't read but some people use) is A Little History of the World (Gombrich).

 

For next year I am actually leaning toward using the "Famous Men of" series if it may work out with scheduling, such as Famous Men of Greece, plus Famous Men of Rome, plus Famous Men of the Middle Ages. If I do that, I would like to find something to read (on the short side) just to fill in some of the gaps that those three books don't cover. I have the old Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World, and I could see working for that purpose.

 

Then there is Our Island Story which covers British history. That is not exactly a world history overview, but it covers most of the important things from a Western Civ point of view (which is what our kids really need to know in order to end up being well educated, but that is point for a different discussion).

 

As far as American history, one year we read A First Book in American History, plus Stories of Famous Americans for Little Americans, both by Eggleston. Those only go up to about 1900, but that is fine for little kids.

 

One year we read the Mara Pratt four volume American History Stories. Those were my kids’ favorite American history books. I thought they were excellent, too, except for the problem that they need to be pre-edited before one can read them out loud to the kids. There were some words, particularly in the Civil War volume, that are no longer considered acceptable That was a little time consuming, but I found them worth the time. These books only go up to about 1900.

 

Another year I read through The Rainbow Book of American history. That is a good book, but it is not a thorough as others. However, it had various chapters on subjects we had not ever discussed before, such as the history of baseball, the history of football, and the great Chicago fire. So I think it was a good addition to the above.

 

Another one is This Country of Ours. This one is rather long and could be difficult to fit into half of a school year unless you continue reading history over the summer (which is not a bad idea anyway). Some people love this book, and others think it is horrid. I think the reason the latter hate it is because they consider it outdated. I haven’t read it myself, but I would probably like it. We are used to reading old books, and I regularly explain to the kids that some views have changed over time. I think if you explain things as you go along, the kids will end up being fine, even if you read things from an 18^th century point of view. That is just my two cents, though.

 

For older elementary, I am looking at the book Calvert uses for 5^th grade which is called Build Our Nation—History and Geography. This is a textbook, but it may work well.

 

Guerber’s American History is a book MP uses and looks good, but I think it is mainly aimed at middle school level. MP also has 200 Questions About American History to accompany this.

 

I have heard mixed reviews of All American History, and this could be an option"

 

HTH.

[Murphy101]

I think it's a grand idea.

 

Very Charlotte mason-ish.

 

You can see what Mater Amabilis and Ambleside Online use for world and national spines for that/this style on their website. Several are already listed in Mrs. Twain's email.

 

It's not well known, but the Builders of the Old World is the best of a iirc a 4 book set. I have Builders of the Old World and it's excellent. I didn't know Calvert uses it. I may have to relook at their catalog bc I don't think they used to a few years ago.

 

I can't think of any cons to it really. Especially in elementary school. They become familiar with the periods covered and each year become more familiar by going deeper into 3 specific eras. I suppose you could make it 4 instead of 3. One a quarter instead of trimester. I think it would be grand to give them a chance to explore sections they personally felt were more interesting, but often can't spend much time on in more common suggested sequences.

 

 

 

[tjlcc]

Link to the recent thread, What books overview all of history ...

 

Just for my own future reference as this thread is very intriguing.

[SorrelZG]

Thank-you for the link (I had missed that thread it seems) and to Chelli for going to the trouble of emailing Mrs T. and sharing her response. I think my problem isn't that I don't know what is out there but that I'm being very particular and I'm going to need to adjust either that or my plans.

[Mrs Twain]

I have been out of town for the last three days, and I just noticed this thread. What an interesting discussion!

 

It sounds like the main dilemma is how to do the in-depth part, studying three or four topics in more detail over the year. I actually do four topics, three from history and one from civics (for example American government, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, state history/knowledge study).

 

The main project we do is a lapbook. I also try to read books that go along with the lapbook, usually at least one basic elementary fact-type of book, but the most interesting ones are always the historical fiction if we can find something relevant that our library has. Along with these, I have my kids do a research report. We check out books from the library, and they take notes, write an outline, and then write the report IEW style. I put copies of the report in their writing binders as well as in their lapbooks.

 

Besides the lapbook, I have my kids do a fair amount of memory work. I pick the most important things from either our reading or from their lapbooks to add to our memory binder (usually lists). So far I have mainly had them memorize civics facts and excerpts, but one of the best things was having them memorize the list of major wars of the US. This has given them a solid outline of US history to have in their heads, which helps them file new information as we read it. Next year, we plan to add to that list the dates of the wars, the basic reasons for the wars, and the presidents during each. Eventually, I hope to have them learn or memorize other important events that happened during those presidents’ terms, to expand past just remembering the wars. Of course we don’t focus only on learning about wars, but that is a simple and logical place to start with memory work.

 

This year I think we are going to do Classical Conversations (did I just hear myself say we are going to do CC?), and part of that is memorizing the world history timeline EVERY YEAR in Foundations. Brilliant! I have wanted to get that into my routine for the last couple of years, but I haven’t been able to pull it off so far.

 

So basically, our in-depth study consists of lapbooks, reading, reports, and memory work.

 

The larger philosophical question is whether one should focus on details, or else punt a lot of the details and just pound in the big picture outline of world history year after year. As you know, I favor the latter approach, and my thinking on this was mostly formed through reading E.D. Hirsch’s Knowledge Deficit.

 

I haven’t read Hirsch’s book in a while (so please forgive me if I don’t paraphrase this perfectly), but one of his main goals is for kids to become well educated. A major component of being well educated involves acquiring the relevant, assumed background knowledge of one’s culture. For us in the western world (and Willingham touches on this, too), it includes knowing the big overview outline of world history, focusing on Western Civilization. Since this is what my kids will be expected to know, this is the main focus of my history study. I know that doesn’t sound PC, but I think it is the way to end up well educated. If we were living in China, we would be expected to know Chinese history in detail. As it is I want my kids to know basic information about China, but if they can’t recite a detailed history of China, I don’t care. They are not expected to know that. The same goes for Ancient Egypt. I want my kids to know the main points about Ancient Egypt, but if they can’t recite a list of every Pharaoh that every was, I don’t care because no one expects them to know that. The same is true for Africa, India, and South America. I want them to know basic information about these histories, but I am not making them the main part of my studies. If my kids want to study any of these other subjects in depth, that is great, but that will not be a requirement.

 

So my history method comes from Hirsch’s material about background knowledge (i.e. “Core Knowledgeâ€) as well as from Willingham’s book, particularly that we need to practice and review information often for it to become long-term memory.

 

As for getting bored, I haven’t yet encountered that issue. One reason is that we use different and interesting books every year. Another reason is that I do world history in the fall and American history in the spring. When we start ancient history again this August, it will seem like an awful long time since we talked about it last.

 

As for middle school, we are just embarking on that stage. Like I said in the email quoted above, I am flying by the seat of my pants. I don’t have my whole plan mapped out. Neither do I have any grown children to prove that my method works. Follow me at your own risk! For the moment, though, I am planning to continue the overviews through middle school. But like I said, I don’t have that figured out yet.

 

I will not do the yearly overviews for high school. I plan to go the more traditional route at that point. However, by the time my kids reach 9^th grade, I hope the big picture outline of world and American history will be set in concrete in their brains. That way when they take AP World History or AP American History, they won’t spend all of their working memory just trying to understand the basic storyline. Since they will already know the basic storyline, they can spend their time thinking about and soaking in the details. This is where I think the details really fit in and will be remembered and appreciated. That is my theory, anyway.

 

Thanks to those who have contributed book titles. There are some I have not heard of. I will try to put together a short list of my favorites (tomorrow).

 

One last thing—

 

I seem to change my mind once per week, but this is my plan for next year concerning overview books:

World History—The first four of the five volume M.B. Synge series (On the Shores of the Great Sea, etc.)

American History—Makers of the Americas (Lansing and Chase), plus a 20^th Century study lapbook/extra readings.

[mama25angels]

Mrs Twain, thank you so much for posting. I love your plans for next year!!

[Mrs Twain]

One more thing we do for the in-depth study is write a research report to go with each lapbook. I edited my post above to include that. For example, this past year my kids did a lapbook on the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies. Their report was to compare and contrast the two colonies.. Their papers did not end up being very long, and they were in no way exhaustive or even thorough. However, it was a good exercise in that it made them think about the subject. The more thinking one does about something, the more likely it will be to get into long-term memory.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I really like the idea of a yearly overview, but I also think the "cons" raised by Tracy are legitimate ones. Here are some possible solutions that I see, so that one can have the repetition, but more depth spread out over more years. You can note by the age of my kids, I am no expert, this is just me thinking aloud.

 

Use an overview book like CHOW, A Little History of the World, Builders, etc as a summer read-aloud, taking 8 weeks to read through it and fill out your timeline book.

Then, attack one period in depth, WTM style, which could easily include 3 extension projects of the child's choice.

Read a new, or re-read an old, overview book each summer. My kids probably would not mind this during elementary- they love re-reading books or hearing the same stories in slightly different forms. If you manage to do this for the four summers of grammar stage, you'd be pretty set in terms of a solid mental timeline.

 

Additionally, one could use a set of timeline cards- there are free ones on Hannah's Homeschool Helps, there are some in the back of the SOTW AGs, veritas press makes them, and Classical Catholic Memory makes some. You could work on memorizing the set, while carrying on with whatever WTM 4-year cycle period you are in.

 

Just some thoughts to try to get the best of both worlds!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Also, I think maintaining a timeline book is probably crucial to retention, if you have the habit of opening it every week and saying, "Now what else was going on just then?"

[abrightmom]

This is a very inspiring thread :coolgleamA: .

 

Mrs. Twain,

 

What is your "lapbook source"? What would you recommend if your kids didn't love lap booking?

 

How do you teach your kids to "write a report"? Is this based on IEW methods as taught in the TWSS?

 

How do you organize the reading schedule for your spines?

[abrightmom]

I really like the idea of a yearly overview, but I also think the "cons" raised by Tracy are legitimate ones. Here are some possible solutions that I see, so that one can have the repetition, but more depth spread out over more years. You can note by the age of my kids, I am no expert, this is just me thinking aloud.

 

Use an overview book like CHOW, A Little History of the World, Builders, etc as a summer read-aloud, taking 8 weeks to read through it and fill out your timeline book.

Then, attack one period in depth, WTM style, which could easily include 3 extension projects of the child's choice.

Read a new, or re-read an old, overview book each summer. My kids probably would not mind this during elementary- they love re-reading books or hearing the same stories in slightly different forms. If you manage to do this for the four summers of grammar stage, you'd be pretty set in terms of a solid mental timeline.

 

Additionally, one could use a set of timeline cards- there are free ones on Hannah's Homeschool Helps, there are some in the back of the SOTW AGs, veritas press makes them, and Classical Catholic Memory makes some. You could work on memorizing the set, while carrying on with whatever WTM 4-year cycle period you are in.

 

Just some thoughts to try to get the best of both worlds!

 

Monica,

 

I like your approach with the main reading done in summer and the depth happening the rest of the year. What would you do when you get to logic stage? WTM style 4-year-cycle I presume? :)

[Mrs Twain]

This is a very inspiring thread :coolgleamA: .

 

Mrs. Twain,

 

What is your "lapbook source"? What would you recommend if your kids didn't love lap booking?

 

How do you teach your kids to "write a report"? Is this based on IEW methods as taught in the TWSS?

 

How do you organize the reading schedule for your spines?

 

 

I mostly use Hands of a Child (HOAC) for lapbooks because they are generally pretty good and they come with a research guide. Typically I add a few things to them or change some of the assignments to make them better. Sometimes I combine two lapbooks into one. I did that for Ancient Greece, and I did that for the Jamestown + Plymouth lapbook.

 

My kids don’t like doing lapbooks much at all, but they are used to them. I have them do one activity per day, every day. However, my kids do enjoy the finished products, and they are very proud to show them off to dh, to their grandparents, and to any other relatives visiting our house. Every time they show someone a lapbook and explain it to them, they are reviewing the material. So I do lapbooks not because my kids or I are crafty types, but because it is one of the best ways I have found to help them retain information. Something about writing, cutting, pasting, organizing the pieces, and showing them to multiple people makes the information stick.

 

I have them do reports the same way IEW teaches them, as in the TWSS or SWI. Here is one example. I checked out a stack of books from the library on our general subject (i.e. New World Explorers). My kids read or looked through the books and decided what they wanted to write their papers about (i.e. Magellan was my 3^rd grader’s pick). Then I had aforesaid 3^rd grader decide how many topics about Magellan he wanted to include (I think it was 3), which meant he would write 3 paragraphs. Then he took notes IEW style for the first paragraph, he wrote the outline, he wrote the messy copy, we edited it together, and then he typed the neat copy of the first paragraph. He repeated the process for the other two paragraphs. This year with my son who was finishing 4^th grade, I additionally had him write introductory and conclusion paragraphs for his report.

 

Concerning reading schedule for my spines I typically read one chapter per school day, though with Builders of the Old World and Makers of the Americas, it was/will be two chapters per day because they are short chapters. I add up how many chapters are in the world history book and how many chapters are in the American history book. Then I count how many school days we have available for history reading which is about 180. If I have more chapters than days, I start reading the world history book in the summer. If we read one chapter every day, we will finish by the end of the school year. That is how I schedule almost all of my subjects by the way.

 

HTH

[abrightmom]

Mrs. Twain,

 

Thank-you for all of those details. :) I am seriously considering trying this for the upcoming school year. We are also joining CC this year (our first time) and I have been toying with a lot of different options. I found a website/blog with CC Lapbooks intended to interact with and review the memory work for the current Cycle. I have considered trying one of those. I also like some of Shaina's ideas (stm4him) for using CC as her Core for history and science studies.

 

I like how you use lapbooks even though your kids don't LOVE them. You see the learning value in them and make it an important part of your studies. You are a great example to me in that area. I also like how you implemented the reports and used the IEW skills you are learning. Way to go!!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

 

Monica,

 

I like your approach with the main reading done in summer and the depth happening the rest of the year. What would you do when you get to logic stage? WTM style 4-year-cycle I presume? :)

 

Yes, probably. Although it would depend on the kid. There are a lot of free or near-free college style courses available, like Coursera, and taking an overview course using one of these resources might bring more than I could do the history lesson, although any given child might not be ready until rhetoric stage. I'm guessing that, yes, I would follow the WTM 4 year cycle, switch the kids from a family timeline book to individual timeline books for them to fill out and keep, and possibly keep going with more advanced overview books during summers. We could do 3 world history overviews, and 1 US overview in the four year time period.

[Snoopytwo]

Use an overview book like CHOW, A Little History of the World, Builders, etc as a summer read-aloud, taking 8 weeks to read through it and fill out your timeline book.

Then, attack one period in depth, WTM style, which could easily include 3 extension projects of the child's choice.

Read a new, or re-read an old, overview book each summer. My kids probably would not mind this during elementary- they love re-reading books or hearing the same stories in slightly different forms. If you manage to do this for the four summers of grammar stage, you'd be pretty set in terms of a solid mental timeline.

 

 

This is what I am doing, although we are doing it for the logic stage because my youngest is a late bloomer and we spent the grammar stage focusing on reading, spelling, and math. We will use:

 

CHOW between 4th and 5th

Gombrich between 5th and 6th

Van Loon between 6th and 7th

???? between 7th and 8th.

 

During the school year we will use TOG.

[abrightmom]

This has been such a great thread and I've taken away a few thoughts and ideas that hold promise ....

 

I love the idea of regular, sweeping overviews and I think I like the Summer Overview option the best while reserving depth of study for the "school year" (whatever that is, LOL!). A combination of audiobook and spine reading in summer seems best. In fact, I am going to start this right now because I want it to happen before the fall.

 

I want my kids to have their own timeline books by 5th grade.

 

I do want them to have the opportunity to study particular topics in depth via lapbooks, reports, or some other means and I don't know if that will be assigned or free choice or both.

 

I am uncertain about studying world and American every year.

 

I am certain that choosing a civics topic each year is very wise and I'm going to fold that in. Thank-you Mrs. Twain for the admonishment to include this.

 

I am convinced that memorizing a timeline to the point of automaticity and with long term retention is worthwhile. I wish we'd started CC years ago ....

[Mrs Twain]

This has been such a great thread and I've taken away a few thoughts and ideas that hold promise ....

 

I love the idea of regular, sweeping overviews and I think I like the Summer Overview option the best while reserving depth of study for the "school year" (whatever that is, LOL!). A combination of audiobook and spine reading in summer seems best. In fact, I am going to start this right now because I want it to happen before the fall.

 

I want my kids to have their own timeline books by 5th grade.

 

I do want them to have the opportunity to study particular topics in depth via lapbooks, reports, or some other means and I don't know if that will be assigned or free choice or both.

 

I am uncertain about studying world and American every year.

 

I am certain that choosing a civics topic each year is very wise and I'm going to fold that in. Thank-you Mrs. Twain for the admonishment to include this.

 

I am convinced that memorizing a timeline to the point of automaticity and with long term retention is worthwhile. I wish we'd started CC years ago ....

 

Katrina, your plans sound great. I think you will enjoy the overview books.

[birchbark]

I am certain that choosing a civics topic each year is very wise and I'm going to fold that in. Thank-you Mrs. Twain for the admonishment to include this.

 

Yes! Another area I was worried about getting in!

 

I'm thinking I will go this route with 2nd DS, with the possible exception of alternating World and American, vs. covering both every year.

 

I would be interested in any thoughts on High School history. But perhaps that is for another thread. :)

[Mrs Twain]

I would be interested in any thoughts on High School history. But perhaps that is for another thread. :)

I don't know what we are going to do about high school.

Nevertheless, I am very interested in looking at the history and civics courses (besides other subjects) from Patrick Henry College (PHC Prep Academy) and HSLDA:

 

AP U.S. History

AP World History

AP U.S. Government and Politics

AP Macroeconomics

Constitutional Law--I definitely want to encourage all of my kids to take this one.