Easy Ancient History non history kid?

[fourcatmom]

My 12 yo dd who will be in 7th grade next year is suppose to be moving into Ancients. I am really dreading this. We have spent two years on American History and it's been a struggle all the way. She just doesn't like History and it's like pulling teeth. We have found a few things that have worked well for us, like she enjoys reading living books and combined with art and history pockets we have gotten through it. I have a feeling that Ancients is going to be so much harder and she is going to be overwhelmed. My oldest uses TOG but I just don't know if that is the right fit. I was going to do a combined history of World History with both of them but I am still not sure about that since she should be moving on to Ancients.

 

Is there any "easy" history program for Ancients? I don't want something dry but I really can't take another year of this intense history time we have been having. Something that would allow her more independence would be great without a lot of writing or a big boring textbook.

 

Does that exist?

 

 

[Momling]

You might take a look at "history portfolio" at homeschooljourney.com. It can be as light or as rigorous as you want it to be. The author provides the notebook and card stock and ideas for each area and you can adapt it as you wish... Perhaps adding in videos or historical fiction or focusing on different areas. It has a Christian perspective (particularly the ancients) but can be made secular without much trouble.

[fourcatmom]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it. Movies have hard with her, she has a tendency to fall asleep very easily these days. I have tried making her sit up and take notes but it hasn't gone well either. I actually prefer History with the Christian spin on it.

[Jamee]

Has she done Story of the World? At her age, it would be easy, but still pretty in depth.

[fourcatmom]

She has not done STOW but we have all the reading books just not the guides. I use STOW with TOG for my older and she likes them. I hadn't thought about it as a separate curriculum but that's a good idea too.

 

I like the History Portfolios but what other books would I have to buy. It talks about a history spine and living books but I am still a bit confused. Has anyone used this that has done a review or a blog post about it?

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Jamee]

She has not done STOW but we have all the reading books just not the guides. I use STOW with TOG for my older and she likes them. I hadn't thought about it as a separate curriculum but that's a good idea too.

 

I like the History Portfolios but what other books would I have to buy. It talks about a history spine and living books but I am still a bit confused. Has anyone used this that has done a review or a blog post about it?

 

I think the guides would be too easy/elementary.  Reading and outline should be a start.  The test books are pretty good to see if she's actually getting something from it.

[Chris in VA]

I would use SOTW as a very light spine, but have her choose a topic every 2 weeks (and that is lighter than recommended for logic stage) and do further research on it, even if it's just a couple of paragraphs (written output). Have some choices of topics available to her to get her started, but mostly just have her pose a question or two to answer. I imagine something like, What sorts of foods were eaten in Israel (so she could research the 7 Species and make a recipe), or What did women in Greece do for makeup (and she could research cosmetics and make beeswax balm or something) .Add in historical fiction or writings from the time period.