I'm making myself crazy with history

[~Amanda~]

I think, after spending most of the day looking for a compilation of human odyssey with history odyssey, I've decided NOT to use the history odyssey this year for history. I don't really like TSOM, and really, they are going to get enough writing with WWS without confusing them and making them spend a lot of time on history. 

 

I would like to use human odyssey, american odyssey, SOTW with my younger middle schooler, and books.  If this was what you were using for history, how would you go about your day? make a list of books to read throughout the year, pick a few to do discussions on, have them read certain exerpts from the text, outline/summarize... discuss?? anything else??

[Ali in OR]

We use Biblioplan which might be like what you're looking at. Actually this year (Modern, 1850-2000) I'm using Biblioplan's schedule for History of US, Kingfisher, and SOTW, but I think I chose most of the readers and read-alouds based on what I wanted to cover. I'm usually giving my dds two weeks to finish a reader on their own unless it's short or I have more books that I want them to get to. They usually have their own age-appropriate books to read. 5th grader is reading what her sister read 4 years ago, 8th grader is reading harder stuff. I also have a lot of classics that I want to do as read-alouds, usually allowing 4 weeks per book. I also read aloud from History of US, Kingfisher, and SOTW. It takes more time to do all of the reading aloud, but it allows us to discuss what we're reading on the fly. I can check for understanding and explain things more. I haven't done much in the way of written work--probably should do more of that. They do sometimes write about what we're studying in history in their writing assignments (English class type stuff).

[~Amanda~]

Thank you; I'll look into it, but we try to stick with secular curriculum :)

[Ali in OR]

I didn't mean you should use Biblioplan; just giving an idea of how we use a similar approach of scheduled readings. And Biblioplan means "book plan" rather than "Bible plan". It does schedule Bible readings in the first year (when it fits the historical timeline) and readings on church history and missionaries, but it is primarily a schedule of many sources of reading and you can pick and choose what you want to use. I think it can be used secularly. I use an old version of it (going into our 8th year of Biblioplan), so I don't know how much the new owners have tweaked it, but I think the basic set-up is still the same.

[~Amanda~]

I checked it out last night. It looks amazing, but I can't spend 100$ on a new program; I already bought the history odyssey and am not going to use it :(  and I tried to download a sample, but they only had 3 samples? and the one labeled "sample 3" was actually year 4, and I need year 3.  Thank you for the recommendation.

[Luckymama]

I don't stress about history :) I choose a good spine (American Odyssey this year, Human Odyssey 1-3 the previous years) and add in quality nonfiction (dd doesn't like historical fiction) and documentaries.

 

We read, we discuss, she writes.

 

This year she will be taking notes from the main text (and perhaps from some of the documentaries---it depends on the writing

assignment). She can do so in whatever form she wishes; strict outlining is not necessary.

[redsquirrel]

I just want to say that all of those resources together sounds like a whole lot. American odyssey is a late middle school/high school book and might be a bit dense for younger kids. Plus, you might want to hold onto it for high school, lol.

 

I don't know what 'year' of history you are planning, but I can tell you what I did the year History Odyssey (Pandia press) didn't work for us. It was the second year, medieval history, and my son was a 6th grader.

 

I used the TOC of SOTW 2, but I didn't use it as a resource. I had already used SOTW 2 when he was a second grader. I found (who knows where) a schedule that aligned SOTW 2 with Pandia Press 2. Then maybe I found something that scheduled K12 Human Odyssey with SOTW and I tried to put them together. Mostly what I remembered is that it was a HUGE pain.

 

It turned into history TWTM way and that was much better. Following the TOC in SOTW 2, I had him read Kingfisher (pages are given in the SOTW AG) and make a list of three facts and find places on a map and a globe. That was history day one of three days a week. Then on history day 2 I would have him do a corresponding reading in K12 History Odyssey and write a narration of what he read. I might have him do a slightly longer reading and ask for a three sentence narration of just a particular section. I kept writing very focused. Then on day three I would have him read more if needed, but also have him to a two point outline of a particular section. I didn't have him outline the same section he narrated. I chose a section of approx 250 words. In 5th and 6th grade outlining when MUCH better if we did the outlining together orally. I would write it down. I would have him read a paragraph and ask "what is the main idea of that paragraph' and he would tell me. I would write it down. Then I would ask him to tell me one idea in the paragraph that shows or proves the main idea and I would write that down in proper outline form.

 

I did end up using Pandia Press for the lit suggestions and I remember we did the Viking unit and maybe a couple others that looked pretty good. We also did some of the worksheets (I remember a feudalism worksheet etc), oh and the mapwork. I also had him do lit readings and watch a couple videos etc, so assume that stuff happened.

 

I made it work.

 

If you have access to the most recent edition of TWTM (3rd edition) SWB has a very nice explanation. If you like I can give you the page numbers. I did history that way for a couple years, and might be doing it this year, 8th grade. Except for all the looking stuff up and finding corresponding readings it is actually pretty easy.  The one thing I did differently is I don't do the library trip. I substituted our 'K12 Human Odyssey' or some other book I have in the house. My son has ballet lessons 6 days a week so we just don't have time for a weekly library trip with him. I had to figure out another way to make it work. And we don't do a timeline because I suck.

 

 

[~Amanda~]

We're in 7th and 8th.  I'm not planning on making it all the way through the American Odyssey; just lining up the parts of the book that go with early modern (year 3).  I've been scouring my WTM for ideas, which is how I came to the conclusion to ditch the history odyssey lol.  I'm just looking for ... maybe someone who has been there done that as far as the scheduling.  I'm still so gun-shy about doing my own scheduling; I feel like it takes me FOREVER, and I don't know what I'm doing (so I'm trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak) I feel like maybe there is an easier way to line stuff up, and someone who has already done it can give me some tips. 

 

I've made a list of literature ala WTM, so I don't even think I'm going to follow HO for their literature selections.  We'll be using CHOLL though.  I like the idea of using SOTW for the TOC as a starting point; and I already had the schedules for SOTW with human odyssey so that's very helpful.  I just can't find much on the American Odyssey book, and I'm not looking to do strictly american history this year; I'm just looking to add in a bit MORE american history to what is in their world history text for this year. :)

[KrissiK]

History is hard after SOTW. We're doing a majorly tweaked version of History Odessey and I am not pleased. Well, let me put it this way, I would be more pleased if I did it like SOTW and read and discussed the material with DS, but I just can't. He does need to be more independent, but also, I'm schooling 3 younger kids as well as my 5th grader, so practically speaking there's not a lot of me to go around. I do try to give him some attention and direction with history, but I can't. It's driving me crazy, because he likes ( or used to like) history and I love it, but now..... Ugh!

[foxbridgeacademy]

We use Human Odyssey, CTT UL history(for writing ideas), Oxford's WIAT/early modern(fill in the blanks left by the other two), and lots of Documentaries from Netflix and YouTube. No real extra reading, but we do daily discussion over our texts. Actual real discussion like you would get in a college study group. I don't really plan it all out.... maybe a week or two at a time. In the past I over scheduled and left no room for "rabbit trails" so we kind of wing it now. I will probably start adding in fiction at a later date but at this moment I like how it's working. This probably isn't the info you were looking for, sorry. I guess my best advice is for you to not stress over it too much. Relax a little and try to have fun with History. My DS loves it so much now (used to hate history)that he want to be a history prof. (It's the BBC Documentaries that did it!).

[~Amanda~]

the more I'm working on it, the crazier I'm becoming....

[SunnyDays]

I was making myself crazy with history. I researched, planned, and researched more. Then I called a halt to it, realizing that for us, fewer resources were the way to go. Human Odyssey, note booking of each chapter, and some good literature, probably some papers later on. That's all we're doing now. A couple chapters per week, with literature tied to time period. That may or may not work for you, but it saved my sanity. :)

[~Amanda~]

That's where I'm leaning towards.  Only SOTW with my 7th and Human Odyssey with my 8th.  I still wanted to beef up the american history, but honestly? its making me insane.