Social Studies or history for K-2?

[Meadowlark]

I want to preface this by saying that I am a former Kindergarten teacher. We taught subjects such as community helpers, neighborhood, etc. in "social studies". So as a new homeschooler, I am perplexed when I see world history taught in grades K-2. And by history, I mean curriculum such as "Story of the World" which is enormously popular it seems. I also see in HOD that really advanced history content is taught very early on.

 

I'm not here to criticize anyone's decisions, just understand so I can form our plan for the next few years. If I'm being honest. most of the subjects I see in SOTW, I've never learned myself! I sometimes have never even heard of these people or lands! I kind of feel like it's WAY over their heads, and why should they be worrying about things like this when they are so young? I kind of feel like I should be teaching things that are closer to home. Yes, there will be a time and a place to learn all of history (I am actually a huge history fan) but am curious that so many people are choosing to teach their kids ancient civs, for example, so young.

 

I have not used SOTW, but have previewed it. Whenever I see a curriculum that is so widely popular, I wonder if it's MY thinking that is in the minority, which I really am wondering. I think "Geez, if so many other people love it and think it's wonderful", why not me? Then I try to get over it, but end up being frustrated because it's like wearing shoes that are too tight-uncomfortable.

 

I'm curious what you have to say if you have an opinion on this one way or another. Again, NOT criticizing anyone's choices, just trying to understand. Thanks!

[momma2three]

Well, the Well-Trained Mind curriculum is built on the idea that there are basically three stages of childhood between 1st and 12th grade, and they break down nicely into three different groups of 4 years each.  So you do all of world history in 4 years, three times.

 

The first time through, for grades 1-4, you concentrate on stories and all the fun stuff.  It's all about building familiarity with foreign places and religions and ideas.  Then in grades 5-8, you do it again... this time you build in details, and kids start to make connections.  So by the time you're studying it at a high school level (which is basically an adult level, IMO), they already have a pretty solid background in all sorts of stories and ideals, and can concentrate on learning the complex details, and on analyzing and making connections.

 

I don't think anything in SOTW is supposed to make kids worried.  I admit we've only done the first chapter (we're just starting it this year) but it's all supposed to be interesting stories about times past.  It's supposed to make history fun and interesting.  IMO, it's more interesting than "community helpers."  We visit the fire station and stuff like that through Girl Scouts.

 

If you haven't, I definitely recommend reading The Well-Trained Mind.  It's a really interesting perspective on a comprehensive history education.  I'm a huge history buff, and I was sold.

[lorisuewho]

I think HOD starts with simple American history in the early grades.

Also Veritas Press just came out with a K/1 curriculum that is built around the idea of a timeline. . .Timeline of Me and then the Timeline of the US.  It looks simple and fun, and builds on the idea that there are other "times" and people than just the present.

I'm pretty certain that other curriculum companies also start with the local/neighborhood idea and work their way out into the rest of the world.

 

However, I would imagine many people who come to The Well-Trained Mind Forums are following the Well-Trained Mind recommendations, which is why Story of the World looks "wildly popular" here.

[Meadowlark]

I do more of a social studies for my kids. We have touched a bit on history here and there, but it was never a focus.

 

This year we are beginning American History with my 2nd and 3rd graders. We will still focus some on "social studies" topics. I think they are just as important and often overlooked by homeschoolers.

 

ETA: It's YOUR homeschool, set YOUR goals for your kids and go with it! If you prefer social studies in the early years, then go for it :)

 

Would you mind sharing what you use for SS? it's not that I don't want to teach history per se, but do want it to be on their level. That is what I struggle with in a lot of history curriculums. I just looked at veritas press, and it looks like what I'm looking for. I wish I could see a bit more of it though. A combination probably would fit us best.

[lorisuewho]

It looks like A Beka has a community focus for K and a citizenship focus for 1st grade.  I haven't used it, but it might be what you are looking for.  Here is the link.

[4peanuts]

I felt the exact way you did about being reluctant to start a formal history cycle in 1st, and wondered if I was the only one! After some aimless google searching, I came across this article by Memoria Press. Although I did not go on to use their program, it was a relief to hear someone else outlining a different approach that was more in line with what felt right for me and my kids. http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/history-not-chronological

 

With my oldest two, we focused in K on decoding, math & spelling plus Five in a Row type literature based activities. Starting in 1st/2nd, I added in geography because I felt that would lay a great foundation for history studies to come. In 2nd/3rd we continued with a geography focus plus a lot of fun stuff relating to colonial/pioneer life. For 3rd/4th this year we'll do more formal US history (explorers through Gold Rush), and then I'm looking at starting a 4 year chronological cycle next school year for 4th/5th.

 

I think in the end it comes down to your kids (personality, ages, number of, and grade range), your circumstances (time, logistics), and what you feel comfortable with. The same scope and sequence isn't going to be the right fit for every family. I feel so blessed to have been able to work through all this without being locked into a one-size-fits-all plan....and to have gotten so many opinions to consider from all sides on this wonderful forum!

[Ellie]

We didn't do "social studies." We did history, although not very structured until the dc were high school-age. Learning about community helpers and whatnot I suppose is "social studies," but the problem is that many people use the same word when they're talking about actual history, and it just muddies the waters.

 

If I had to put a label on learning that kind of thing, I might include it under "citizenship," separate from "history," which for my littles would have included field trips to a living history day somewhere, or reading the Little House books, or watching something on TV that might lead us to discuss a specific time period.

 

FTR, I don't do "language arts," either. :D

[twoxcell]

I don't see why you need to teach things like community helpers as a formal topic I think kids learn that pretty much just by being part of the community. For young kids I like presenting history instead through living books. Even if young children might not fully grasp the scope of history they can relate to stories of people throughout history. HOD starts out with Bible stories and US history in the first several guides. My kids have all enjoyed learning history at the K-2 age. ;)

[pitterpatter]

You could do social studies/geography for K and then start the four-year cycle for first.

 

I had my reservations about starting with Ancients too, but I went with it (a year early even...DD was five when we started) and oh my gosh, it was a HUGE hit. We are studying Medieval Times this year and she it beyond excited. You should see her when she sees things in museums, etc. that she recognizes. And, she wants to see the pyramids and Pompeii so bad. I was amazed how she fell in love with the Greek gods. And, Ancient Egypt...that's her favorite.

 

Anyway, I think most of us are public schooled and teaching world history so young seems a little weird at first. Once you formulate a plan and get rolling, I think you'll change you're mind and wonder why on earth it isn't taught in public school.

 

We use History Odyssey instead of SOTW. If you would like to see what we did all of last year, check out our blog. It tells you exactly what we did each day. You'll also be able to read how my DD felt about certain subjects along the way. I was blown away! So glad we did it.

 

http://bluehouseschool.blogspot.com/search/label/Ancient%20History - Scroll back to the beginning and read forward.

 

PS - Be sure to sprinkle in some Annie and Jack ("The Magic Tree House") as you go. DD can't get enough of them. I have her listen to the audiobooks that we download from our public library's online media site.

 

PPS - Picture books is the key...lots and lots of quality picture books...and videos. Field trips when you can.

[Snow]

I think you just have to go more off the cuff to add things in alongside SOTW. In talking about a harsh dictator in ancient Assyria, we then talk about types of government and laws. When talking about trading goods in the ancient market, we talk about what currency we use today and discuss basic supply and demand. We talk about types of jobs people had, necessary skills, and family life and compare them then vs now. If you can use it as a jumping off point, I think it's actually a much richer experience for the kid.

 

Eta: I didn't start until mid first grade. I agree, it can it until they are a little older. For k we just did geography and took field trips to police and fire depts.

[SereneHome]

I am just starting HSing.  I've decided to start with American History for my 5 yr old.  First of all, I wasn't born in US, so I don't even get what SS is all about.  I got some books about different people do in a community, but his interest lasted for about 5 seconds and that included a project of building a whole city in our living room. 

 

I wanted to start with US, bc I think it will be easier for him to understand something he can kind of see.  For example, I think it's much easier to talk about Thomas Jefferson if you can go and visit his house vs trying to explain about Egyptian mummies. 

 

I  might or might not do SOTW next year, depending how well he does this year.   For now, I am trying to do things that are not just book-learned bc I think 1) it will keep his interest better and 2) they will be easier to understand and remember.

 

Time will tell if my approach works :)

[sagira]

When my ds9 was 6, we did SOTW 1 and that sparked an interest in History right away. In fact, it's his favorite subject. It whetted his appetite for more. Dh is into Egyptian stuff, so we have Egyptian symbols, papyrus scrolls, knock-off artifacts lol. Ds9 LOVED it. Now that he's older and a rising fifth grader we're entering the Modern Times. He has a good idea of the flow of history. This is all that's needed at this stage. In sixth, we're doing Ancients again, and I can guarantee it will be like visiting old friends. I also have him review his History cards and read the volumes every year to refresh his memory. He likes the Usborne Quicklinks through the Encyclopedia as well, which has taken us on many interesting online adventures. 

 

The way I understand TWTM is this:

 

First cycle of history (Ancients through Modern Age): Exposure and spark of interest

Second cycle of history: Deeper comprehension, seeing connections and themes, biographies

Third cycle of history: Even deeper connections, synthesizing, biographies, critiquing, essays 

 

I may be off on the third, as it's still blissfully far away, but I know that those are my goals and overarching themes in my study of history. It's also fun!

[Meadowlark]

So, my next question is: what is the ideal age to do SOTW 1? I hear a lot about 1, but not much after that. Why is that? Do most of you do all 4 volumes in elementary school, and if not. what do you use for history?

 

Does SOTW take 1 school year? Are the lessons scheduled or do you just pick what you want to study when you want to study it? I'm looking for open and go,and FUN! We have the academic things down, but are missing the spark. My kids see school as something to get done, and it saddens me. They're very young (1st and K) but I really want to see them inquisitive and interested. I'm not sure if I should bring in more history or science...Anyway, random thoughts. I appreciate everyone's feedback!

[kiwik]

The book has 42 chapters each with 1 to 3 sections. If you have the activity guide it is pretty open and go but you need to make regular trips to the library.

 

The reason for teaching world history rather than "our community" and such topics is that by starting with the child, then their family, community, country, world you encourage the child to reference everything to him/her self. The WTM makes the same arguement for keeping US history in proportion to the segment of world history it occupies but a lot of people on this board add significant amounts of US history on top of the world history.

 

Do what works for you. I always thought social studies had more to do with social indoctrination than study.

[sagira]

In our little school, history and science are the fun subjects to get to, and I intersperse skill lessons with content/idea lessons. I got this idea from reading Charlotte Mason's works. In practice, this looks something like this:

 

Math

Poetry

English Grammar

Science

Penmanship

History

Spanish

Literature

 

This way the child is not going from skill to skill to skill.

 

I have decided to have my dd6 do SOTW 1 in 2nd rather than 1st grade as ds9 will be beginning in Ancients again. This way both children are in the same time period. This is important to me, and ds is studying Modern Age this year, which I feel is too challenging and potentially scary for one so young. SOTW is not designed for her age group, but for grades 4-8.

 

For first grade, I'm having dd6 learn about the passage of time and timelines (for a week, a month, a year, family timeline of events up to now), and we'll be reading books on early American history to illustrate the early timeline of our part of the world. I'm using LBC (Living Books Curriculum) Grade One to make it easier on me. I am tweaking it, though. I'm substituting with some resources I already have, including Jennifer Armstrong's The American Story.

[boscopup]

I want to preface this by saying that I am a former Kindergarten teacher. We taught subjects such as community helpers, neighborhood, etc. in "social studies".

 

My oldest went to private school for K and half of 1st. They taught the typical "community helpers", "neighborhood", etc. in those classes. My DS was incredibly bored during social studies. Why? Because that was stuff he had learned when he was 3 years old or so, just living life with Mom. He was ready to learn history. I pulled him out of school halfway through 1st grade and started with SOTW1. HE LOVED IT. To give an idea of how much he loves SOTW, he read all 4 books 2-3 times by time he was done with 2nd grade, and I gave him the ebook versions on his Kindle for his birthday this summer (he's in 4th grade now). He walked through the living room saying, "I'm going to read my favorite chapters again - the war chapters!" :lol:

 

Anyway, he had no problem learning actual history at that age. After all, he learns Biblical history in his Bible classes (and at private school too - they spent more time on Bible history than social studies, which I think is a good thing). I think they even learned the tent peg through the head story (Jael killing Sisera) in 1st grade at school. Nothing in SOTW1 was worse than that. :tongue_smilie:

 

So, my next question is: what is the ideal age to do SOTW 1? I hear a lot about 1, but not much after that. Why is that? Do most of you do all 4 volumes in elementary school, and if not. what do you use for history?

 

Does SOTW take 1 school year? Are the lessons scheduled or do you just pick what you want to study when you want to study it? I'm looking for open and go,and FUN! We have the academic things down, but are missing the spark. My kids see school as something to get done, and it saddens me. They're very young (1st and K) but I really want to see them inquisitive and interested. I'm not sure if I should bring in more history or science...Anyway, random thoughts. I appreciate everyone's feedback!

 

SOTW1 is designed for grades 1-4. That means you can use it any time in there. Some people even use it in middle school and just beef it up a LOT. You typically use one volume per year (it's a 4-year cycle), though in your own homeschool, if you want to stretch it out or make it go faster, that's fine! I scheduled SOTW by doing 1 section per day, 3 days per week. There are usually anywhere from 1 to 3 sections in a chapter (there might be one or two with 4, IIRC). But you can get the whole book done in less than 36 weeks if you do one section per day like that. If you do the chapter per week thing, you have to either combine some shorter chapters or skip something or go over 36 weeks, as there are 42 chapters.

 

My oldest did SOTW1 in 1st grade, SOTW2 in 2nd grade. At that point, he had read SOTW3 and 4 on his own, so I took a detour from the 4-year cycle and did 2 years of US History via Sonlight cores D and E. I'm so sick of historical fiction at this point that I'm really looking forward to getting back to the 4-year cycle with more non-fiction books! I enjoyed core D, but towards the end, I was just getting burned out on historical fiction. I've actually been taking US history book recs from the TOG Y3 and Y4 Lower Grammar book lists to add books for my 1st grader that loosely correlate with what my 4th grader is doing. The 1st grader is still learning to read, so that's our focus. Last year, he wasn't really ready for history, but this year he seems like he is. I think SOTW1 will work fine for him next year in 2nd grade.

 

Next year, I'll have 5th, 2nd, and K. I plan to give TOG Y1 a try. That will give my 5th grader books at his level (he's an advanced reader and LOVES history), and my 2nd and K can read SOTW1 (it's an alternate resource) and have some good books to go along with that. I don't normally do history in K, but my 4 year old is reading and writing almost as well as my 1st grader, so he'll have more time to spend on "fun stuff". Though if he's not interested in the history, he can go off and play. I'm ok with that. Many 5 year olds aren't interested in SOTW1, but then a year or two later, they are. So keep that in mind.

 

Some curriculum companies like HOD do a gentle US history for that age, and that's perfectly fine! Really, it does not matter what you do. Just do what works for your kids. Some kids aren't ready to do much history in 1st grade. Some do better starting SOTW1 in 3rd. No problem. I'm sort of following WTM ideas, and I like the 4-year cycle that goes deeper and deeper each time. I do not expect my 1st graders to actually remember what they learned in 1st grade. I just expect that when they get to 5th grade and start reading about Ancients, it will seem more familiar than it would if they had never read about Ancients. Who knows, maybe they'll even remember that mummified chicken that's been sitting on top of my fridge in salt the last 2.5 years. :lol:

[Kathryn]

The reason for teaching world history rather than "our community" and such topics is that by starting with the child, then their family, community, country, world you encourage the child to reference everything to him/her self. The WTM makes the same arguement for keeping US history in proportion to the segment of world history it occupies but a lot of people on this board add significant amounts of US history on top of the world history.

 

Do what works for you. I always thought social studies had more to do with social indoctrination than study.

I agree. The idea of spending formal schooling time on community helpers or social studies seems wasteful to me. The kind of things children learn in those subjects are things my children are exposed to as part of every day life. They aren't things that need a formal curriculum or school time.

 

We did Sonlight Core A for kindergarten. The first semester was a quick overview of world history. He begged for more information and I heavily supplemented from the library. The second semester was more "social studies" and he was bored to tears. This year and last year, we've done SOTW, TOG, and lots of extras. The chronological and world approach has been so rewarding. I have a seven-year-old child who truly appreciates where and when he was born and can verbalize why. We've had amazing conversations about history, humanity, religion, etc. He's made excellent connections and realizations about patterns of human behavior and their outcomes. He's been exposed to wonderful literature and folklore of the times and places we've studied. The chronological approach to history is building a wonderful framework in his mind to which I, who had a public school education full of American history, state history, and completely haphazard world history, did not have access until I was an adult. I missed so much of how interrelated many events were/are because of the way I was taught history.

[zenjenn]

My mother was an elementary teacher for 20 years and had a concern about the 'social studies' aspect that we were leaving out.

 

Here's the thing; in public school, you get a segment of the student population that comes into school very ignorant about very basic things. It is imperative to get them up to speed on very basic things before you can even begin to tackle World History, even at a simple level.

 

Just about anyone who is making the choices and sacrifices necessary to homeschool does not (assuming developmental normalcy) have a child that does not know about community helpers and such by the time they start formal schooling. Seriously, anyone THAT involved in their child's education has probably visited The Busy World of Richard Scarry with their child innumerable times during the preschool years. That being the case, do they really need a formal lesson about police officers and fire fighters?

 

That said, at the early grades, part of what you are doing is introducing "social studies" in the context of the history narrative. So, with a 1st grader starting with ancient history (which I have done), you are often stopping and and doing social studies in the context of history. With my youngest I remember going over the continents over and over again as part of our study. And some of the more contemporary social studies stuff comes up outside of formal schooling. A police officer visits the Girl Scout troop. We go to the library regularly. We go to the Veterans Day parade and wave to the soldiers.Etc.

 

I have a child that as a 3rd grader, is only just now really starting to follow some of the gritty details of world history. We just started Volume 3. But, I am also surprised at how much she retained from 1st and 2nd grade. Not the gritty details, but enough of the narrative that there is actually some context for what she is learning now - it is a continuation of what she learned before.

 

Contrast to the public school here - they are *supposed* to do a fairly intensive state history study in 4th grade. *I* remember learning about state history in 4th grade, and frankly, I remember it being very random. My takeaway of it (it was California) was that "there were Missions and there was a gold rush." That's it. I look at my kids now and think "Wow, if I taught them about California Missions, they would understand a HECK of a lot more than I did in 4th grade, because they would understand the whole story arc of Christianity that came before it." I am not a Christian, so I had never heard of missions or missionaries and in 4th grade, it was like "oh, some people came and built these old buildings and stuff." I think I vaguely knew it was a religious thing, but of course, being a California public school, no one was going to explain anything about what that religion believed or why they built missions. It was really horribly vague and useless. My kids, on the other hand, have learned how Christianity began in Ancient history. They learned how it spread in the Middle Ages. They have learned about people coming from Europe to the New World. I had learned *NONE* of that when I was taught about California Missions in 4th grade. I knew none of that. None. I'm sure they taught me about police officers and fire fighters and how to find north on a map ad nauseam, though.

[KarenNC]

For K, we did a more "social studies" approach--major American symbols, figures, holidays and worked through "A Child Like Me" for world cultures. I used a social studies book from Abeka as a spine because I found it cheaply used (since I was reading aloud, I skipped the providential parts). I believe it was a second grade text. Community helpers, etc came through daily exposure and field trips with our homeschool group. We then went on to do two 4 year history cycles (finishing the second one in a week or so). She's always done well on the social studies portion of her yearly testing. We did introductory world geography and cultures alongside history in the 4th grade and we're doing more geography this year (Mapping the World with Art, probably more cultural geo next summer).

 

 

I'm not sure what we'll do in high school.

[blondeviolin]

This is a good blog post by SWB that touches on why she recommends studying history chronologially: http://www.susanwisebauer.com/publicity/todays-soapbox-whats-wrong-with-history/

[Lori D.]

For us, it wasn't a matter of either social studies OR chronological history, but both! We did a more formal chronological History study -- AND other social studies topics.

 

We covered the community-type social studies topics through informal book reading, field trips, or as additional little units. Even in the toddler and pre-school ages, we'd read loads of books and watched library videos on community-type jobs (farm, emergency workers, etc.)

 

Up through 6th grade, we started our day with the Pledge, followed by a "together time" where we could cover all kinds of things: we first did our family Bible time, and then do a few "circle time" activities -- a critical thinking/logic puzzle warm-up, weather and calendar activities, etc. We also might read a little out of a book on manners/etiquette, or read out of one of the Core Knowledge. See post #7 of this thread on Missing out on things? for lots of those "odds and ends" topics and how to cover them.

 

We always scheduled time for geography during the week, and included things like national landmarks and sites of historical and cultural importance.

 

We scheduled time for units on holidays, safety, health, civics, voting, state history/culture, etc. Sometimes it was just a matter of taking one day out of the schedule and making everything about the up-coming holiday

 

We added 2 years to expand our 4-year History cycle to 6 years to include time for a year of focused study on U.S. History and Geography.

 

 

 Lots of ways to include both:

- expand the time you take for chronological world history study from 4 to 6 years to include other social studies topics

- do some units over the summers

- do year-round schooling

- reduce/cut some of the formal history and substitute some of the other social studies topics

 

 

Welcome to homeschooling! And BEST of luck in finding the path that works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

PS --

In answer to your question about age/grade suitability of SOTW -- when the books first were coming out, SWB says she gently increased the reading level/content for the volumes to very generally be suitable for:

 

SOTW 1 (ancients) = grades 1-4

SOTW 2 (medieval) = grades 2-5

SOTW 3 (explorers) = grades 3-6

SOTW 4 (modern) = grades 4-8

 

Those are just the author's original very general guidelines. Of course, you can read SOTW 4 with younger students, although likely the content is going to be above the heads of most 1st graders -- Boscopup clearly has an exception! :) But there are always exceptions. We used the sections of SOTW4 on WW1 in high school because she made the complicated connections so clear and easy to grasp. However, no way we could have used SOTW1 with our DSs when they were in grade 6 (which is what Sonlight curriculum does) as it was far too simplistic in the writing style. So a lot will really depend on your own students' needs, interests, and level.

[Mandy in TN]

We have not followed TWTM history cycles. I understand that here I am probably in the minority, so take this with a grain of salt. For me, content subjects are not a priority in K-3. The 3R's and taking a child from learning to read to reading to learn are the priorities. Content can be fabulous, but it is definitely a secondary consideration. I think that learning about what people do, continents and oceans, the nation's capital, national holidays, famous people, and famous landmarks is fine. You know the basic things that are covered in social studies at this grade level in public school.

In 4-8 I do want to get in an overview of world cultures, world history, and US history. I sort of feel like this is my time to cover what I want to cover before high school when our umbrella school and colleges get a bigger vote and so that my boys can/ could have a stronger opinion (based on their middle school overview) about what they would like to study in high school. With my little guy I am currently planning to do a 3-year cycle of world history in 5th-7th followed by US history in 8th, but who knows how it will pan out.

In high school there are many options that are not based on a four year cycle including AP and dual enrollment options. I let my big boys help decide what they did in high school and I plan to do the same with my little guy. In high school, I let my boys have more say as to what they wanted to study, but I, of course, had them incorporate what their umbrella school required and most importantly what the colleges they were looking at wanted to see. Both of my older boys chose to take US history through dual enrollment and knocked out both their high school requirement and a college general studies requirement.

In addition to US History, both big boys completed a standard world geography and a semester each of economics and government. My big boys were with an umbrella that also required a semester of Southern history through the umbrella. My oldest did 2 years of world history in high school. He also did an extended research project on ancient Meso-America focusing on Mayan civilization. My second did a year of world history and a year of European history. My second also did two semesters of humanities through dual enrollment and a semester of Renaissance art history using 2 Teaching Company courses as his spine. There are lots of options for social studies/ history/ geography and in high school I let my boys explore these.

 

Really, do whatever works for you and your kiddos. But, in K-3, I certainly wouldn’t let this content subject take up time needed to cover the 3Rs. If it comes down to having time to do the 3Rs or time to do social studies/ history, then ditch the history lesson without hesitation.

 

YMMV-

Mandy

[craftyerin]

So, my next question is: what is the ideal age to do SOTW 1? I hear a lot about 1, but not much after that. Why is that? Do most of you do all 4 volumes in elementary school, and if not. what do you use for history?

 

Does SOTW take 1 school year? Are the lessons scheduled or do you just pick what you want to study when you want to study it? I'm looking for open and go,and FUN! We have the academic things down, but are missing the spark. My kids see school as something to get done, and it saddens me. They're very young (1st and K) but I really want to see them inquisitive and interested. I'm not sure if I should bring in more history or science...Anyway, random thoughts. I appreciate everyone's feedback!

I have kids the same ages (K and 1st).  We use Five in a Row for that spark.  I *love* it.  FIAR takes children's picture books (really wonderful high quality ones) and has you cover one subject each day over 5 days using the story as the jumping off point.  This week, we are "rowing" The Giraffe that Walked to Paris.  Today we had a social studies lesson that was mostly geography and a little bit of "what it's like to live in Egypt (where the giraffe came from) and France (where the giraffe went)."  We read the book, used the illustrations as examples to guide our discussion of what the landscape is like in each of those places, what sorts of clothes the people wore, what sorts of transportation they used, etc.  Then each of my kids colored Egypt and France on a printed map and drew the path that the giraffe took across the Mediterranean Sea and then up through France to Paris.  I love that we cover some history, geography, and social studies in a way that is relevant to my kids (through the books we read) and is fun for all of us.  FIAR covers art, science, some math, and some language arts on the other days.  

 

We used FIAR last year, and we plan to do it this year and next.  After that, I plan to start a proper WTM trip through history chronologically, but I absolutely do not feel the need to do SOTW with 1st graders and Kers.  I taught at a classical private school for several years before I got married, and they had the 4 year cycle through history in 2-5th grades and did more typical social studies and early American history in K-1st.    I thought that was PERFECT and plan to do the same.  

[Meadowlark]

Wow, this is a ton of valuable information for me to take in. I would love to comment on everyone's post, but since I need to get my crew ready for a 3 day camping trip, this will have to suffice.:-)

 

First, clearly, I need to do some reading up on the history cycles that the WTM recommends. I always thought of myself more of a Charlotte Mason type, but I have never really looked into classical education much. I came here because I heard it was a GREAT board for bounching ideas off of, and it is! I will be doing my homework when I get back for sure. I can see the value in exposure and then returning to it later.

 

Next, I agree with the poster who said that she focuses mostly on academics in K-2. If you look at my siggy, I have a houseful of littles and it's difficult to get just the 3 R's done most days. I don't feel the need to get TOO into history at this point, but I do want to open their world up a little bit. I think a combination of some basic geography, American "civic" history, landmarks, etc. might fit the bill for this/next year. The other problem I have is that I'm combining my 1st and K for everything (besides reading, math, etc), so whatever I do will have to *fit* both of them.

 

The other thing that really struck a chord with me, was when someone mentioned that something was too violent. YES! This is really the meat of my problem with teaching history too early. Whether right or wrong (and everyone is different here), I have a deep desire to protect their little hearts from all of the darkness of the world. Will they learn it someday? Yes of course, but I'm not sure I want to be teaching about killing, etc now while they are so darn young. Is anyone with me here? Even some of the stories of the old testament bother me.

 

I want to thank all of you who took the time to post, in between all of the great history projects you are doing with your sweet kiddos. I hope someday I'll be doing that stuff too. :-)

[KathyJo]

I remember reading years back, I think on Greenleaf's site, that barring any serious learning issues, any child of 7 probably knows all about people in the community without being explicitly taught. This has certainly been our experience. As for history, it is a series of stories. We tell the stories to the children, gentled down as they are in children's history books. These stories have never been over the heads of my children, and they've always enjoyed them.

 

I used to feel like you re: stories of death, killing, and war. At some point, I stopped feeling that way. None of the books we read are graphic, and I would still have issues with that. But for just the mention of them, I consider the children's history books the same way I consider fairy tales and other fiction: They are a safe place for children to learn about these things, a place where they can find out about the evil in the world while being removed from it. They get the emotional impact, but from a place of emotional safety. For this alone, I consider the study of history invaluable. We don't live in a pretty world. If you even discuss world events while they're awake, they already hear more about death and sadness in the world than they'll get from Story of the World (which we love).

[zenjenn]

 

 

The other thing that really struck a chord with me, was when someone mentioned that something was too violent. YES! This is really the meat of my problem with teaching history too early. Whether right or wrong (and everyone is different here), I have a deep desire to protect their little hearts from all of the darkness of the world. Will they learn it someday? Yes of course, but I'm not sure I want to be teaching about killing, etc now while they are so darn young. Is anyone with me here? Even some of the stories of the old testament bother me.

 

This is why all of elementary history is, for us, read-aloud time. Everything study for history is done together, so I can filter and explain.

 

I do think SWB does a good job of filtering, though you can filter more as you see fit. With a 5th grader and somewhat stoic 3rd grader, I feel there's not much I need to filter anymore. But regardless, you can certainly tell the basic narrative. For example, with SotW 1, the biggest takeaway is basically "This is history. This is why we study it. Here is the basic narrative of how humans went from random hunters and gatherers to robust civilization, here is how/what civilizations did it. Let's find those places on a map/globe. Let's look at the evidence of their civilization that they left behind. Let's learn about how language and technology developed. Let's tell the myths and stories they left behind." There is MORE than enough history to cover without getting into any of the violent and gory stuff.

[Lori D.]

 

The other thing that really struck a chord with me, was when someone mentioned that something was too violent. YES! This is really the meat of my problem with teaching history too early. Whether right or wrong (and everyone is different here), I have a deep desire to protect their little hearts from all of the darkness of the world. Will they learn it someday? Yes of course, but I'm not sure I want to be teaching about killing, etc now while they are so darn young. Is anyone with me here? Even some of the stories of the old testament bother me.

 

I want to thank all of you who took the time to post, in between all of the great history projects you are doing with your sweet kiddos. I hope someday I'll be doing that stuff too. :-)

 

 

Of course! As parent and teacher, it is your responsibility to introduce material at the right time for each child. :)

 

I just wanted to encourage you that it does not automatically mean NOT doing world history at a young age. Equally, it doesn't mean you have to only do one or the other (chronological world history & classical education, OR early elementary focus on traditional school Social Studies topics). Really, you can do both, with gentle exposure, at these ages -- OR, do Social Studies now and start formal history later -- It's about what *you'd* like to do, and feel is best for your family, and fits best with your homeschooling vision. :) Room for all the many and sundry visions on how/when to cover topics at the homeschooling banquet table! ;)

 

 

SOTW series came out after my DSs were already past the elementary grades age, but from what I've seen of volume 1, it's very gentle and focuses on stories, cultures, and the positives -- not on who killed who or how they killed one another. The SOTW activity guide has loads of really fun things to make and do, plus mapping activities and coloring pages.

 

Since we didn't have SOTW, we made our own curriculum -- the things we used were all about the cultural aspects, folktales, achievements, how ancient people lived and worked, and exposure to key historic people and events. And we largely used books at a K-2nd grade level, with picture-books, "stepped" readers, and the wonderful early elementary non-fiction books out there.

 

For example, studying the ancients looked like this for our grade 1 and grade 2 DSs:

 

First, learn about *how* we learn about history:

- Archeologists Dig for Clues

- made our own dig site just like in the book; I buried a variety of items: toys, kitchen implements, tools, etc. out of a variety of materials: wood, plastic, fabric, etc. so they could make deductions about the "society"

- How The Bible Came to Us

- Ice Mummy: Discovery of a 5000-Year-Old Man

- Tut's Mummy: Lost and Found

- Motel of the Mysteries -- just for fun ;)

 

 

Then, learned about different civilizations:

- Usborne Book of World History -- DSs LOVED this book and pored over the illustrations!

 

- Mesopotamia in Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors

- read Gilgamesh the King

- made about a dozen mud & dried grass bricks, let them dry, and then stacked them up 

- made Lego ziggaruts

- made cylinder seals (I think we used Sculpty clay, but Play-Dough or salt-dough works too!)

 

- Usborne Time Traveler -- Ancient Egypt section

- Growing Up in Ancient Egypt

- Science in Ancient Egypt -- at a 4th/5th grade level, but DSs were really into how things are made

- Mummies Made in Egypt

- Temple Cat -- historical fiction

- Tales of Ancient Egypt -- read aloud the last 8 stories at the end of the book

- made sugar cube pyramids -- and one DS innovated how to make a matching Sphinx!

- watched David Macauley's Pyramid

 

- Growing Up in Ancient China

- read folktales from Chi'lin Purse

- learned about Chinese New Year -- (can't find exactly what we used, but here are activities)

- learned what year each of us was born in (Chinese Zodiac)

- coloring pages

 

- Ancient African Town -- at a 4th/5th grade level, but it's what was available to us back then

- Tales from the African Plains

- folktale: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

- used some very simple African design stencils

- Color and Learn: Africa

 

- Growing Up in Ancient Greece

- The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War

- The Librarian Who Measured the Earth

- read some Greek myths

- read Aesops Fables (our version had no CD)

- watched Jason and the Argonauts

 

 

It was SO much fun! We just did a little at a time, along with the 3Rs, with other social studies topics, with a little art thrown in there, and getting together once a week with about 4-5 other families with young elementary ages for field trips, presentations (show and tell at that age), park days, and other fun group activities.

 

ENJOY the start of your homeschooling journey as a family -- and at the pace, and with the materials -- that work for YOUR family! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[HS Mom in NC]

I'll read the other replies later and respond now while I have some time.

What you call "social studies" and Community Helpers is not considered by most Trivium Model Classical Educators to be developmentally appropriate for the 6 and up crowd of children with no learning or developmental challenges.  That would be considered preschool material to be covered around the 3-5 age group.  Most of it is covered in real life when a child hears  a siren and asks about it.  We would usually explain and check out lovely children's books at the library covering those topics.  We might do an activity or two to reinforce it and then tour the police station and fire station with our homeschool play group friends.  Most of the time we cover great children's literature with the best books available training a child's ear for excellent grammar and vocabulary (no vocabulary words on worksheets-that's too slow and out of context)  and training their eyes to prefer and appreciate high quality illustrations. We usually read very widely to broaden a child's understanding of the world around them. Classical Trivium Education continues to broaden a child's understanding of the world in 3 distinct stages. Some of us prefer to use Living books like Charlotte Mason recommends (another form of Classical Education) over textbooks and workbooks whenever possible.

 

Classical Education is a rejection of Modern Education content and methods at least in part.  Read Dorothy Sayer's Lost Tools of Learning and C.S. Lewis' Abolition of Man along with The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer for increasingly detailed explanations of why people choose Classical Education in its many forms over what has been going on in America for the last 150+ years. The artificial segregation of subjects and the erratic skipping and jumping around from concept to concept and era to era which is the norm in most schools and some homeschooling curriculum is something we consciously choose to avoid.  Instead, we prefer to use a chronological study of history as a spine and link geography, science, literature, economics, civics, religion and art based on the period of time and the location as much as possible.  We think it's a more systematic, in depth  approach and less erratic and scatterbrained. 

 

Narrations (recommended in both Trivium and Living Books/Charlotte Mason classical approaches) are so helpful early on because they teach children to pay attention, filter information to it's most important elements, and then articulate those thoughts into complete sentences.  A child who has been doing that can write so much better than a child with no background in narration.  Often, in most school settings, actual formal writing assignments are forcing children to do all those things for the first time at the same time.  No wonder the quality overall is lower for those kids with no foundation in narrating.

Most of us eventually want to get to the greatest books of all time (not just in literature but in all areas of thought) by high school so without the background in world history and understanding its effect on the sciences, civics, religion and such, very little can be done well.  The ps high school I went to had kids who couldn't just jump into Cry, The Beloved Country by Allan Paton because the kids never studied enough history to be able to follow the book.  There was a week of research on apartheid and a rudimentary drive through of S. African history so everyone wouldn't be totally clueless. How sad.  My high schoolers were studying the Industrial Revolution for the second time at a deeper level when we got to it A Tale of Two Cities.  No need to catch them up-they already had a solid understanding of the science and culture at the time.  

 

Remember that The Trivium has 3 stages. Being very simplistic here, Grammar is about facts, Logic is about cause and effect, and Rhetoric is about application and persuasion.  If a person starts Classical Trivium Education when their kids are older, they might have to combine 2, maybe even 3 stages, when covering new content, depending on each child's development.

 

Grammar

What are the most important facts a child should now about about the event, person, development, discovery, idea, being studied? Does the child grasp, who, what, when, where, why this event, person, development, discovery, idea happened? 

 

Logic

Was this event, person, development, discovery, idea, the cause of something significant? Was this event, person, development, discovery, idea the effect of something significant? How did the world (or region) change because of it?

 

Rhetoric

Why is it that people bother reading about it today?  What does it teach us about what we should do, be, or think? Is it a cautionary tale in some way warning us to avoid certain problems or mistakes?  Is it instructive as to how and why we should do or think something? What important conclusions should we draw from this information being studied? Can my child make a reasonable, rational, persuasive argument backing up those conclusions?  

 

Obviously skipping a stage makes the following stage anemic at best.  How can someone understand cause and effect having no foundation in the relevant facts?  How can someone make conclusions about anything without understanding facts and cause and effect?  For those that have come to the party late, don't panic.  When they're older and developmentally able to understand cause and effect, they can still learn the facts and cause and effect in the same unit without it being burdensome.

[abba12]

I haven't read the other replies, but just wanted to say, you need to remember this isn't a general homeschooling forum, this is a classical education forum, which is based around concepts which bring high level history to young students.

 

If you went to a forum of unschoolers, or unit studiers, on the other hand, you'd probably find more social studies and less history. I don't know many people on my aussie homeschool forum who cover full history in elementary school.

 

I intend to cover history in a single 4 year cycle from grades 7-10 (the way our system works in Australia, we don't think we will be homeschooling 11 and 12) and doing a more standard social studies and discovery/interest led history before that. So there are definitely other perspectives.