Help me use Diana Waring's History Revealed...

[Dianne-TX]

We've only used MOH1 and read lots of library books about history.  We also do AO.  I do like having a separate history spine to go through history chronologically even though we do AO.  I really like MOH, but then found HR and really liked it, too.  So, I recently bought HR for our second year of history.  It's been sitting on my shelf.  We've listened to the cd's and we all like listening to her.  I would, though, like to use the curriculum more.  I don't know how much we will actually be able to do (i.e.. projects, research paper, etc...).  How do you use it?  Did anyone tweak it?  Please share the way you use it so I can wrap my mind around how to use it.  Thanks!  BTW, school-aged dc are 13 and 11 and then the littles are 4 and 1.  :)

[LindaOz]

Ok, this is what I do...

 

Firstly, I'm not strictly sticking to the one week per phase outline that the book gives. I go through the unit and choose what we will do from each section and type up a list that the kids can keep in their folders. So, under 'Listening' I put the 'What in the World' and True Tales cds. Under 'Reading' I list the books that I want them to read. We also use Sonlight so I include age appropriate SL books that match the time period including one that is a general history read eg: SOTW or MOH. The list maybe different for each child with a general read-aloud as well.

 

Under Research and Reporting I list a couple of written assignments for them to do. I actually will be moving towards choosing one myself and having them choose one for themselves based on own interest.

 

They do the mapping, cooking, choose something from music, art etc. I tell them to choose something from the last creative section as well.

 

Then they have a checklist to work from and off they go.

 

HTH.

[Susie in MS]

I don't know which one you have. ACB had way more Bible reading than the other two, for obvious reasons. For that one I divided the Bible reading up over the 20 days. We would go over the discussion questions as we came to them in our reading. 

 

We always broke the article up over 2-3 days. Same for the audios if there were several. We may or may not have moved from Phase 1 in 5 days time. We just always did the next thing next, no matter if it was earlier or later or right on time. It took a lot of pressure off of me. 

 

All the while we are spreading the Bible reading over the 20 days (give or take) I also spread a historical fiction book over the same time span. 

 

Phases 2-4 pretty much went as scheduled in the guide; tweaking only when necessary. They might need more time to research or write. I just let them do this also while we were doing light days of cooking or art and architecture.  I just let each child choose which project they wanted to do. Art and architecture was always easily found on the internet with a search.  

 

Making my non-fiction book collection as easy as possible I made sure to have Cook's Journey Through the Bible for ACB, and From Jerusalem to Irin-Jaya (SP?) for RRR and WWW on hand. These will cover much territory. 

[hollyhock]

This is how I do it:

 

- I use week 1 and 2 to read the article with my kids and listen to all the audios

- week 3 we do a timeline and they each research something that interests them

- week 4 we do the map work and they read extra books, like historical fiction

 

So I'm basically leaving out phase 4, the expression week, but it still gets us through each unit in 4 weeks, which is how the program is designed. I'm also leaving out a lot of the other suggestions, like science and cooking and such, but there is just no way to do it all. There is also a pretty good schedule included in the front of the book if you want to look there.

[Susie in MS]

Erin, made a good point. There is no way to do it all. Diana designed the study so that parents and kiddos could choose what works best for them. One child's interest is sparked by research on guy A and doing a skit of what he learned, while a girl may have interest in person B and want to draw comics about this person.  I love they way it appeals to all types of learners.

 

Diana has also mentioned on the yahoo group that she doesn't expect anyone to hold to the schedule exactly. It is there to help guide you; but take as little or as much time with each unit as you see fit. I have heard of some taking a few months to go thru one unit because they found so much interest there. Do what works for your family. 

 

:)