Please share your history lineup for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades...

[Sweet Home Alabama]

 I will have a 6th grader next year. He covered ancient, medieval, and 2 years  of American history (early and later) in grades 2-5.  Do I repeat this lineup again in middle school years?  I could do a year of geography in 8th grade before high school; we use MFW for high school.  But then, what would I do for grades 6 and 7?

 

What would you suggest for these middle grades for history?  What would make it more interesting?  Round history subjects out?  Make it more interesting?  Incorporate writing?  

 

This is my last kiddo to guide through jr. high.  If there is a way to spice up the history line-up, I want to hear about it.

 

ETA... Also, please share HOW you do history.  I'm looking for suggestions that are practical and efficient rather than cute and artsy.

[Reefgazer]

We're kind of history-heavy here, so I'm not sure that's what you would be looking for.  My daughter (now finishing up 6th grade in homeschool) came from public school and I felt I had a lot of holes to fill in, so she works pretty hard at doing that and preparing herself for high school.  So, our history plan is 4 years of world history crammed into 3 years (so roughly, 7 months each of ancient, medieval, early modern, recent modern).  During this time, we also plan to take side trips into major events in American history at the appropriate time in our history cycle.  So finishing up this 6th grade year, we have now moved into medieval history.  We are skimming American in middle school because they buried the kids in early American history in elementary, so she is pretty competent with that.  I also did a separate year of world geography this year, and will do a separate year of American geography next year. 

[Haiku]

Halfway through the second rotation of medieval history, we dumped the history rotation. We felt constrained and like there were always topics we "wanted to get to" but never had time for. We finished up medieval in a fairly relaxed way, mostly just reading from the Suzanne Strauss Art book. The kids disliked it. My son called it "the black book" and my daughter called it "the really dry book."

 

We did continue on to Renaissance and Reformation because the kids thought that Project Passports from Homeschool in the Woods looked fun. I doubt you would like it, though, as it is cute and artsy. The kids are learning tons, though, and I think it covers a lot of very interesting material. We are not hurrying through it. After we finish that, we will be doing a unit on native Americans (one of those "wanted to get to" things), starting with pre-Columbian people and also using the PBS series We Shall Remain, selected readings from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, various craft activities and visits to local (and semi-local) native sites, and historical fiction. After that we will do Homeschool in the Woods' Time Travelers New World Explorers. After that we will do a unit on Buddhist history. After that we will start on American history, which will probably cover 1 1/2 to 2 years. I plan to do a civics unit, as well. By then my dd will be in 9th grade, and we will start following a more traditional sequence of one year of world, one year of American, a semester of government, a year of econ, etc.

 

I doubt we will ever go back to ancients. The kids have learned a lot of that already. And basically I just want to give them time to explore topics they wouldn't otherwise explore if we just followed the WTM history rotations. I dumped the science rotations for the same reason.

 

My kids really like the art projects and multi-media stuff. If you just want an efficient no-muss, no-fuss history text, I'd recommend the Human Odyssey books from K12. 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Thanks, Reefgazer!

 

You made me consider something... ds is kind of looking forward to ancients.  If I did that for 6th, I wonder how I could do american integrated with world for 7th.  I know that would be a lot... would have to maybe hit the high points.  Then spend 8th grade focused on geography.  

 

Wonder how some sort of integrated history would look for middle school?

 

Just chewing on some ideas.  

 

Thoughts anyone????

[stm4him]

I would do modern world history using SOTW 3 and 4 and the CC timeline.

[Crimson Wife]

You could use the first two volumes of K12 Human Odyssey for 6th and 7th and that would get you from ancients through the turn of the 20th century. We did world geography in 5th, the first volume of K12 HO this year in 6th and are planning the 2nd volume for 7th. Haven't decided yet whether we'll do the 3rd volume in 8th or K12 American Odyssey. It'll probably depend on how much DD remembers from the 2 years of U.S. history she did in 3rd and 4th.

[FO4UR]

We are doing SOTW 4 in 6th.  I've got the old The Story of Mankind books on the shelf awaiting for 7th and 8th grades.  I will assign those.  I will probably assign some modern biographies to round things out. I'll let him chase rabbit trails beyond that.  

 

 

To spice things up, if he's going to go through MFW high school, you could let him pick and choose special topics to delve into deeply instead of reading the broad spines.  Ex:  My ds would love to research the evolution of weapons through history.  A 6/7/8 grade kid could go wild with ideas if you let them. I plan on requiring some sort of independent project every semester in 7/8 grades, whether it be writing or building replica's or whatever.

[Lori D.]

Here's a suggestion:

6th = Ancients

7th = cultural/physical geography and comparative world religions part 1 (OR, Eastern Hemisphere)

8th = cultural/physical geography and comparative world religions part 2 (OR, Western Hemisphere -- Europe & Americas)

 

OR:

6th = Ancients

7th = student choice

8th = cultural/physical geography and comparative world religions

 

For the second option, I left out your world history/American history. You just finished 2 years of US history, and you'll get a full year of it again in high school -- do you really NEED to spend a year on it in middle school, too? Or would you prefer to use that time to cover nations that don't normally get covered in high school (i.e. Eastern Hemisphere). (JMO: in an ever-shrinking world, I think it's a shame to NOT spend at least 1 full year on those Eastern Hemisphere nations where 4/5 of the world's population lives -- and several of those nations are becoming quite the economic and political contenders! Esp. helpful to have some familiarity if your student is thinking of going into a career that will include any sort of international contact -- business, science, politics…)

 

You naturally get quite a bit of history in there when you study the culture on a nation or region of the world. And including the religions includes even more history and culture, and makes for a super foundation to understanding WHY nations/peoples make the choices they did throughout history, for when you move onto high school history.

 

A cultural geography/history study ends itself well to looking at the art, music, games, food, customs, and myths of various cultures and history (a humanities focus) -- which are naturally more interesting aspects of history to most students than lists of dates and battles. ;)

 

We were also doing a comparative religions and basic worldview study, so we made a big chart and filled it out as we encountered each new religion. It included things like god/gods; afterlife; founder; key beliefs; sacred texts; etc. Here's a handout and other info that might be helpful in creating your own chart.

 

For incorporating more writing, when we did a similar type of study in late middle school, we made our own "atlas". Each week, DSs had 2-4 nations (one a day) they would look up in the World Book Encyclopedia online, and in the Circling the Globe atlas book we owned, read about the nation, then do a solid paragraph (intro sentence, 3-5 complete sentences of support, and a solid conclusion sentence) of what they found most interesting about that nation. I also had them include a print out of a map of the country (from National Geographic Xpeditions webpages), and include a flag sticker for that nation, plus fill in a short table of data about the nation:

capital _________________

population______________

major religion(s)_________

major language(s)_______

major resource(s)_______

 

 

For writing in the middle school years, you can also have your student do 1 longer paper per semester, having them pick an aspect from what is studied that is most interesting to them; do more research; write a 2-4 page paper (one paragraph a day bites makes it manageable!) on the topic. Maybe also have the student do a power point and present it to the family. For example, if the student is really interested in weapons and warfare, research those aspects of the history time period. Or, if the student is really interested in a key person, or big event, or specific well-known piece of architecture from the time period, such as the Great Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China….

 

 

On your x-post, in case it helps, I listed what we did for history and when for grades 1-12.

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

[Reefgazer]

Thanks, Reefgazer!

 

You made me consider something... ds is kind of looking forward to ancients.  If I did that for 6th, I wonder how I could do american integrated with world for 7th.  I know that would be a lot... would have to maybe hit the high points.  Then spend 8th grade focused on geography.  

 

Wonder how some sort of integrated history would look for middle school?

 

Just chewing on some ideas.  

 

Thoughts anyone????

 

I can see where all sorts of configurations for history would work well, depending on the kid and what they had already done with history.  I am a bit uncomfortable with basically skimming through history and not going very deep, but my kid had no world history and I wanted her to have some background on world affairs from historical beginnings to the end, as well as an internal timeline of history, before she hit high school.  We are taking deeper side trips into certain things (like Greek mythology, Roman culture, and the plague), but mostly, we are in overview mode.

 

The plan for American history is to take side trips at the appropriate time in history, and we are using Hakim's History of the US for that; I have the study guide that accompanies it and it has lots of potential activities to flesh out the reading.  We're still on medieval, so we're just getting to Viking explorers, so I'm not sure how this will look in practice, but we're giving it a try.  I hope it does not become to disjointed and "jumping around" to do this; if it does, we'll have to re-group and look at the early American era in one chunk, rather than as each event occurs, but we'll see.  It means a *lot* of history, but my daughter loves history and she particularly likes reading history, so hopefully this pans out.

[Reefgazer]

You could use the first two volumes of K12 Human Odyssey for 6th and 7th and that would get you from ancients through the turn of the 20th century. We did world geography in 5th, the first volume of K12 HO this year in 6th and are planning the 2nd volume for 7th. Haven't decided yet whether we'll do the 3rd volume in 8th or K12 American Odyssey. It'll probably depend on how much DD remembers from the 2 years of U.S. history she did in 3rd and 4th.

We love this book and are using it as our spine for these time periods.

[In2why]

My son discovered that he LOVES history as long as it revolves around war. The people, battles and inventions keep him enthralled.  So we are going to finish up American History and then when we begin our next history rotation I am going to move through the Ancients to Modern by studying great wars.  There will be some gaps, but he still remembers the big ideas.   I figure between cause and effects we should be able to get into some real depth based on moving across the time periods and the globe.  As for what it will look like?  I am not quite sure yet since I will work on it over the summer.  But I know we will read a lot of good books, use the MANY World History resources we have already on our shelves, use the library extensively and work on more biographies.  If there are gaps there are gaps.  That is why we have Google. <grin>

[Shellydon]

We will be doing Sonlight's Core F on Eastern Hemisphere for my 5th and 7th grader. 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Ladies, thank you so much for all of these responses!  After posting my question, I had to be out until about an hour ago.  I am definitely going to need more time to absorb all of the information here.   :001_smile:

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 9, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Targhee]

6th - medieval

7th - early modern

8th - ??? probably US, state history, and civics

[kolamum]

Well, we're doing:

 

6th: World {ancients upward}

7th: Australian

8th: US

 

Not sure where we'll go after that to be honest.

[Kareni]

I answered in your other thread but will repost my replies here.

 

My daughter started homeschooling in 7th grade.  She covered pre-history to 500AD in seventh, 500AD to 1700AD in eighth, and 1700AD to 2000AD in ninth grade.

 

Her interests in high school also led her to emphasize foreign languages at the expense of history; there were only so many hours in a day! Her high school record looked like this:

9th: World History from 1700 to 2000 (at home, the third year of her chronological sweep through history)
10th: AP US History (out of the home class)
11th: AP Comparative Politics and Government (out of the home class)

You might not classify it as history, but she also did

12th: Art History (quarter long class at the community college)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

 

 

 

I would also be interested in HOW everyone does their history. What is practical and effective.... Not really cute or artsy.

 

 

Here is what I handed to my daughter in 7th grade.  I will list the resources we used in the next post. 

 

 

"History and Reading

 

The plan:

 

To study history chronologically from prehistory to about AD500.

 

The means:

 

We’ll use Hillyer and Huey’s two books Young People’s Story of the Ancient World as well as numerous other books and resources.

 

Typically each week there will be a list of required reading.  There will generally be a novel to be read pertaining to the time period.  There may also be some myths and legends to be read.  There will also be non-fiction books or selections to be read and perhaps a website to visit or a video to view.

 

You will need to locate any places mentioned on the map, in a historical atlas and on the globe (if we obtain one).  Each week you will make two pages for your Book of the Centuries.  These pages should be work you can be proud of!  They should be well planned, edited and neat.  They can be in your best cursive or done on the computer.  All art work should be done with care.  The pages should pertain to the time period being studied.  Each page should be titled.  Pages might cover such topics as:

 

A people

A great man or woman (a ruler, artist, explorer, scientist)

An artifact (tools, buildings, type of writing)

A religion

An event

A discovery or invention

A war or battle

The daily life of a people

A map (route of an explorer, location of a people) 

An imaginary encounter between two historical personae

???

 

You might find information on these topics at home or you may need to do additional research at the library or online. 

 

Maps should include a legend (which may be printed) in addition to the title.

 

In addition to your two pages, you should also note five to ten important dates in your Book of the Centuries."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Kareni]

To continue from the previous post:

 

First a general note about my list, we're quite liberal so some of the videos on the list as well as a few books (i.e., Gonick's the Cartoon History ...) might not suit all families.   I enlisted my husband to watch all of the videos with my daughter.  It gave them something to enjoy together and also involved my husband in homeschooling.

 

Bear in mind that my daughter was a voracious reader; I suspect that one might happily use far fewer books.  We also were homeschooling on a serious budget our first few years of homeschooling, and so I basically used what I could locate at the library and thrift stores.

 

Recall that this list covers the time period from prehistory to 500AD.  

 

My daughter used the following materials in 7th grade:

 

 

Selections from The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World by Charlotte Evans et al.

 

The Young People's Story of Our Heritage: The Ancient World, Pre-history to 500BC by V. M. Hillyer and E. G. Huey

 

The Young People's Story of Our Heritage: The Ancient World, 500BC to 500AD by V. M. Hillyer and E. G. Huey

 

A Bone from a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson

 

Cave of the Moving Shadows by Thomas Milstead

 

Spirit on the Wall by Ann O'Neal Garcia

 

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

 

Pharaoh's Daughter by Julius Lester

 

Video:  David Macaulay's World of Ancient Engineering:   Pyramid

 

Black Ships before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff

 

Dateline: Troy by Paul Fleischman

 

Inside the Walls of Troy by Clemence McClaren 

 

The Curse of King Tut by Patricia Netzley

 

The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum

 

Escape from Egypt by Sonia Levitin

 

Troy by Adele Geras   

 

The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff

 

The Cat of Bubastes by G. A. Henty

 

City of Gold and Other Stories from the Old Testament by Peter Dickinson

 

Gods and Goddesses by John Malam

 

The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin

 

Selections from  Cultural Atlas for Young People:  Ancient Greece by Anton Powell

 

Selections from Then and Now by Stefania and Dominic Perring

 

Selections from Usborne Book of Famous Lives

 

Selections from  Heroines by Rebecca Hazell

 

Selections from A Picturesque Tale of Progress, Volume 2 by Olive Beaupre Miller

 

The Story of the World, History for the Classical Child: Ancient Times by Susan W. Bauer

 

Niko: Sculptor's Apprentice by Isabelle Lawrence

 

How Would You Survive as an Ancient Greek? by Fiona Macdonald

 

Calliope Magazine: Taharqo

 

Calliope Magazine: Ancient Celts

 

Alexander the Great by Peter Chrisp

 

Video: Alexander the Great (The History Makers)

 

Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge

 

Selections from Mathematicians are People, Too by Luetta and Wilbert Reimer

 

Science in Ancient Greece by Kathlyn Gay

 

Selections from A Day in Old Athens by William S. Davis

 

Your Travel Guide to Ancient Greece by Nancy Day

 

The Librarian who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

 

The Emperor's Silent Army by Jane O'Connor

 

Selections from Ancient Japan by J. E. Kidder

 

Hannibal's Elephants by Alfred Powers

 

The Story of the Romans by H. A. Guerber

 

Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome by Marissa Moss

 

Caesar's Gallic War by Olivia Coolidge

 

Selections from Ancient Inventions by Peter James and Nick Thorpe

 

Video:  Anthony and Cleopatra (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1974)

 

Videos:  I, Claudius (Volumes 1-7)

 

Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster

 

City by David Macaulay

 

The Wadjet Eye by Jill Rubalcaba

 

Video:  David Macaulay's World of Ancient Engineering:   Roman City

 

Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff

 

Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield

 

Video:  Ancient Mysteries:  Pompeii, Buried Alive

 

The Capricorn Bracelet by Rosemary Sutcliff

 

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff

 

Selections from Wonders of Ancient Chinese Science by Robert Silverberg

 

The White Stag by Kate Seredy

 

Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges

 

Selections from The Dark Ages by Tony Gregory

 

Lady Ch'iao Kuo:  Warrior of the South by Laurence Yep

 

The Dancing Bear by Peter Dickinson

 

Video:  Africa (Ancient Civilizations for Children)

 

The Cartoon History of the Universe II, From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome by Larry Gonick

 

Regards,
Kareni

[Chrysalis Academy]

Sounds like you haven't done modern world history?  you could do that for 6th, and then Big History for 7th and world geography for 8th.

 

We did Modern this year, and it was great.  We organized the study topically, rather than reading straight through a single textbook, and incorporated a lot of nonfiction and historical fiction.  Every day had something to read, and some of that was used to teach notetaking/outlining skills,  and she did several end-of-unit reports.

 

For 7th, we're doing the Big History project with a lot of supplemental science stuff:

 

https://course.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive

 

8th is up in the air, but right now she's thinking she'll want to do greek & roman history, very literature-heavy with less emphasis on the history part.

[AMJ]

I want to follow this thread and read it in detail later (so much helpful stuff!), but I can't find a follow button on my phone. Replying so it will let me find it again.

 

Sorry to not be of help, but thanks!

[Mandylubug]

Well we found SOTW late so we will continue with that. 6th with be volume 3 and 7th volume 4. Not sure where 8th will find us. History really isn't a priority for us. We consider it appropriate to cover it but it is definitely not our focus at this point. We do utilize Kingfisher Encyclopedia with our volumes and watch YouTube videos and documentaries.

 

Eta: we just don't drill dates and the like. We want it more interesting and read about but not dreaded if that makes sense.

[Lori D.]

Sounds like you haven't done modern world history?  you could do that for 6th, and then Big History for 7th and world geography for 8th.

 

We did Modern this year, and it was great.  We organized the study topically… and incorporated a lot of nonfiction and historical fiction...

 

And you can see what a cool plan and book line-up she had in her planning thread from last summer: "OK guys, help me refine a Modern Era reading list for a 6th grader".  :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

And you can see what a cool plan and book line-up she had in her planning thread from last summer: "OK guys, help me refine a Modern Era reading list for a 6th grader".   :)

 

 

Aww, shucks  :blush:   And it's not too far from what we actually did, miracle of miracles!  :smilielol5:

[Donna A.]

 I will have a 6th grader next year. He covered ancient, medieval, and 2 years  of American history (early and later) in grades 2-5.  Do I repeat this lineup again in middle school years?  I could do a year of geography in 8th grade before high school; we use MFW for high school.  But then, what would I do for grades 6 and 7?

 

What would you suggest for these middle grades for history?  What would make it more interesting?  Round history subjects out?  Make it more interesting?  Incorporate writing?  

 

This is my last kiddo to guide through jr. high.  If there is a way to spice up the history line-up, I want to hear about it.

 

ETA... Also, please share HOW you do history.  I'm looking for suggestions that are practical and efficient rather than cute and artsy.

 

I'm not sure what you used for the first time through history, but since you're going to get a complete cycle again in high school with MFW, my suggestion would be to do MFW Expl-1850 and 1850-Modern for 6th & 7th, then ECC in 8th... OR vice versa.... ECC in 6th, then EX1850 and 1850MOD in 7th & 8th.  MFW uses SOTW 3 and 4 for those two years (plus other resources), and then there's Book Basket for adding as much age-appropriate extra reading as desired.  Doing ECC either now OR right before high school would add a nice break from "history".  

 

So MFW would include Bible and other enrichment subjects that you want to use, and then of course he would do science and the 3 R's at his own level with whatever curriculum you like.  He could do some of the science scheduled in MFW if he wants to, but it's not necessary at this level. 

[Um_2_4]

Following this as we started "late" on the 4 year cycle with DS and DD is not a fan of history so I need to think ahead. This year we are doing middle ages. So I got Human Odyssey vol2 for DS for next year (6th) and then he'll do modern for 7th and American/state history for 8th. Then he'll be ready to do a 4 year cycle for high school.

 

For DD7, I think I am going to look into something like american girl's books but for world history. She likes historical fiction and books like these: http://smile.amazon.com/Welcome-Felicitys-World-1774-American/dp/1562477684/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399561505&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=american+girl%27s+felivity+world

 

[sagira]

6th: Dorothy Mills' History Books: Book of The Ancient World, Book of the Greeks, Book of the Romans as main spines with K12 HO as well as Landmark 

 

7th: DM History Books: Book of The Middle Ages and The Book of Renaissance and Reformation Times

 

8th: K12 HO Modern to Contemporary Times

[Guest]

Sagria, how do you plan to line the books up with K12? Do you use just the text or the whole online thing?

 

I am always in awe of you ladies/guys that can pull a course together out of varied resources. I wish I was like that but I know me and I am not. I need it all tied together and come in a nice box.