Canadian homeschoolers - I have a SOTW question....

[Above The Rowan]

So, I'm trying to decide on next year's history. 

We used SOTW 1 last year, and are working through SOTW 2 this year. I would, ideally, like to keep using it for now as both my kids seem to like it so far. My concern is, do you find the reading/activities/extra reading suggestions become heavier in American history as the books progress into Early Modern and Modern? I am fine to talk about American history in much the same way that SOTW has approached every other region - but I don't want to end up delving so far into something that isn't relevant at their particular ages right now. 

 

I was reading through TWTM yesterday evening, and a lot of the ideas in there seem to get pretty US-heavy. For instance, the ideas for what kids should/could be memorizing by certain ages. My original plan was to just replace with more Canadian-relevant activities or topics. But, if I'm going to end up tweaking more than half the book, I'd like to know that now so I can just not buy it at all haha. 

 

It was just a curious question, and I thought someone on here must have BTDT. Thanks!

[Tawlas]

Well, I haven't BTDT yet, but I've been thinking about it for a long time now. We're in the middle of SOTW 2 and I'm following that without anything more than (very, very) minor tweaking. Next year I plan on using SOTW 3, but taking about a year and a half to do it, supplementing with a lot of early Canadian History. After that, I think we'll focus mostly on provincial history, supplementing with SOTW 4 to place it in the context of what's going on around the world at that time.

 

We live on a ranch in rural BC. We can see the Fraser River right out out our school room window. It's such an important part of our province's history! Pretty neat to think about James Fraser paddling by our back yard in a canoe or paddle wheelers of gold rush minors chugging north :) We also have a famous, restored goldrush town only a few hours drive away. I want to take advantage of these things and grade 3, 5 and 6 seems like a great age to do it.

 

Also, I have a few years to decide, but right now I feel like my kids (especially my boys) wouldn't really understand the horrific nature of world war. They'd be like "Wow! Things are blowing up! They're shooting people! Ships sank! They're using tanks and guns! It's all so awesome!" and that's just not the way I want learning about the world wars approached, you know? So I thought maybe covering the world wars from the context of a more intimate, provincial history would suit us better. How it affected the people living here, Japanese internment, that kind of thing.

 

I plan on taking advantage of Donna Ward's curriculum (we've done Natives of Long Ago and are currently doing the Canadian geography for primary aged kids) as well as bits (or maybe these will be my spine (s) ?) from The Story of Canada and BC history book "Far West" (I think that's what it's called?". I own one of these books and have access to them in our library as well. I've printed out the table of contents to SOTW 3 and 4 and wrote major events from Canadian history right on those pages so I have a general idea of where I'm headed and what I want to include. Then I guess I need to peice together more details over this summer.

 

I don't know how long the provincial history would take though. Haven't decided. Either the last 1/2 a year after SOTW 3, or a full year, or a year and a half, starting us in the next history rotation a year late? I could skip SOTW 4 altogether and use it in middle school? It's a ways a way and I"d like to see how things unfold over the next year or two :)

 

HTH!

[Above The Rowan]

Well, I haven't BTDT yet, but I've been thinking about it for a long time now. We're in the middle of SOTW 2 and I'm following that without anything more than (very, very) minor tweaking. Next year I plan on using SOTW 3, but taking about a year and a half to do it, supplementing with a lot of early Canadian History. After that, I think we'll focus mostly on provincial history, supplementing with SOTW 4 to place it in the context of what's going on around the world at that time.

 

We live on a ranch in rural BC. We can see the Fraser River right out out our school room window. It's such an important part of our province's history! Pretty neat to think about James Fraser paddling by our back yard in a canoe or paddle wheelers of gold rush minors chugging north :) We also have a famous, restored goldrush town only a few hours drive away. I want to take advantage of these things and grade 3, 5 and 6 seems like a great age to do it.

 

Also, I have a few years to decide, but right now I feel like my kids (especially my boys) wouldn't really understand the horrific nature of world war. They'd be like "Wow! Things are blowing up! They're shooting people! Ships sank! They're using tanks and guns! It's all so awesome!" and that's just not the way I want learning about the world wars approached, you know? So I thought maybe covering the world wars from the context of a more intimate, provincial history would suit us better. How it affected the people living here, Japanese internment, that kind of thing.

 

I plan on taking advantage of Donna Ward's curriculum (we've done Natives of Long Ago and are currently doing the Canadian geography for primary aged kids) as well as bits (or maybe these will be my spine (s) ?) from The Story of Canada and BC history book "Far West" (I think that's what it's called?". I own one of these books and have access to them in our library as well. I've printed out the table of contents to SOTW 3 and 4 and wrote major events from Canadian history right on those pages so I have a general idea of where I'm headed and what I want to include. Then I guess I need to peice together more details over this summer.

 

I don't know how long the provincial history would take though. Haven't decided. Either the last 1/2 a year after SOTW 3, or a full year, or a year and a half, starting us in the next history rotation a year late? I could skip SOTW 4 altogether and use it in middle school? It's a ways a way and I"d like to see how things unfold over the next year or two :)

 

HTH!

Thanks! And that is really amazing that you literally have such history in your own backyard :) 

 

I think I'm just feeling apprehensive about the kids not knowing as much about our own history as we do about the rest of the world - but I do like the idea of going through SOTW 3 and then maybe focusing on provincial history and early Cdn history. 

 

I've gone through the Donna Ward site so many times I almost had it memorized haha. I'm so picky about Canadian history that I end up just not doing...anything. I really value an accurate telling of history, particularly when it comes to First Nations history. I don't want to just tell the usual "Brave Explorers vs. Savages" kind of history (which is what I clearly remember from my own elementary education, and when I learned the more truthful version I felt cheated and lied to). I like hearing that someone else has used her products alongside SOTW. 

 

ANyway...I'm totally rambling. I need to give this slightly-longer-term history plan of ours a bit closer look. 

[Tawlas]

I'm Canadian, and we had no problem with the book.

 

Canada isn't mentioned often, but then again on the world stage we just aren't that important. We did always comment happily whenever we were mentioned.

I understand. Over the years I've heard a lot of people worry about Canada and the US-centric approach of SOTW4 but when I looked at the table of contents, I didn't think it was all that bad. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd like to approach the world wars differently and the fact that we have a lot of really awesome modern history all around us, I probably wouldn't mind using it either.

 

The memory work suggested in TWTM is not something I'd require of my kids in Canada, but on the other hand, I'm not sure I'd get them to memorize the list of Canadian Prime Ministers either? I dunno . . .

[Above The Rowan]

I understand. Over the years I've heard a lot of people worry about Canada and the US-centric approach of SOTW4 but when I looked at the table of contents, I didn't think it was all that bad. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd like to approach the world wars differently and the fact that we have a lot of really awesome modern history all around us, I probably wouldn't mind using it either.

 

The memory work suggested in TWTM is not something I'd require of my kids in Canada, but on the other hand, I'm not sure I'd get them to memorize the list of Canadian Prime Ministers either? I dunno . . .

I haven't had the kids memorize any lists or any such thing yet, either, as far as history goes. It just got me thinking about all this. 

 

Maybe later we can do that, but in 1st and 3rd grades, it's not something I expect of them yet. Heck, *I* don't even have all our PM's memorized. Shamefully, I have to admit that I don't know a lot of the details of Canadian history myself, which is what I'm trying to avoid in my own kids. 

 

Canadian history actually seems daunting to me to teach, honestly. 

[ShellLou]

I'm not in Canada, but we aren't in the US either - lol.  We are far, far away in Australia.  We have been using SOTW 1 & 2 & this year going into 3.  It does increase in US history, but still appears to have quite a bit of English & other world history scattered through it.  We add in a little Australian history when I feel it is needed & our plan is to do a year of Australian history after we finish SOTW 4, allowing us to explore our own history, some of the explorers and other things that occured.  We will also cover the wars from the Australian point of view at that time.  We will (hopefully) coincide our Australian year with a visit to our nation's capital and visit federal parliament, war memorial etc  The reason I thought of doing this, is I see SOTW as an overview - it covers alot of area and we would need to delve more deeply into our own history and placing that in world context (having covered this with the overview provided by SOTW) will put it in perspective.  (Australia wasn't settled by the British until 1788 with the arrival of convicts, so our Western history is fairly recent in the context of world history - obviously there is our Indigenous history which we also cover aspects of each year)

We do cover the main "events" as we usually have public holidays (Australia Day; ANZAC Day) for those - lol.

 

Anyway, that may not be of assistance, but thought I would my 2c worth in from someone who is not based in the US & is using SOTW.

 

Best Wishes

[hollyhock]

One other suggestion would be to get the book Modern History Through Canadian Eyes. The author pulls together from many sources to create a chronological history of Canada, and one of the sources she uses is SOTW 3 and 4. So you would be able to see where Canadian events fit into the SOTW timeline. I use it as a base for my Canadian history stuff.

[Above The Rowan]

One other suggestion would be to get the book Modern History Through Canadian Eyes. The author pulls together from many sources to create a chronological history of Canada, and one of the sources she uses is SOTW 3 and 4. So you would be able to see where Canadian events fit into the SOTW timeline. I use it as a base for my Canadian history stuff.

Holy moly! I had never heard of this before, but just did a quick google and it actually looks pretty good. What a good resource - thanks!

[Dory]

We have done about a months worth of Canadian History every year here. I feel a child should be familiar with the country they are living in, not just with the over all knowledge of the world they are living in. We have used a lot of Donna Ward products and CBC's DVD series called Canada: A People's History. My oldest two are reading through the textbook from our umbrella school right now but are just about done it. This is the longest they have ever spent on Canadian History in a year. We also hit museums wherever we can to help them connect with the area.

 

 I can't see us not finishing SOTW (youngest hasn't heard them all), but I think it needs a little extra for a persons own country.

[IsabelC]

Not Canadian, but we have the same issue with SOTW barely mentioning Australia. As somebody else mentioned, we simply add in supplementary Australian history as needed, plus of course they learn some of the history behind Australia Day and Anzac Day each year. And I also dream of taking the kids to Canberra, but the funding the government grants for that only covers a small portion of the cost so I don't know when we'll be able to do it.

 

 

Tbh though, I find the religious bias more of a hassle to tweak than the US bias.

[Above The Rowan]

Not Canadian, but we have the same issue with SOTW barely mentioning Australia. As somebody else mentioned, we simply add in supplementary Australian history as needed, plus of course they learn some of the history behind Australia Day and Anzac Day each year. And I also dream of taking the kids to Canberra, but the funding the government grants for that only covers a small portion of the cost so I don't know when we'll be able to do it.

 

 

Tbh though, I find the religious bias more of a hassle to tweak than the US bias.

Yes. The religious bias is hard to maneuver around but at this stage in my life I don't have the time or energy to put my own history together. Some chapters of SOTW just take longer to get through because we have to stop and explain things.

 

For now, SOTW is the best product for the least hassle for me lol. The kids love it so far.

[AmyontheFarm]

I'm in Ontario.

 

We use SOTW but I also added CBC's DVD series called Canada: A People's History.  There are 4 sets of DVD's in this series, so we having been watching one set per year as we go through each of the four SOTW books.  There is a teacher's manual which goes with the series that I was able to borrow from our local library. 

 

The other thing that was helpful was actually a video series called "Liberty's Kids"  on the surface it looks American, but the two main characters look at what is happening from different points of view, the one character a boy, looks at things from the American side and the other character, a girl, looks from a British point of view.

 

Reading the SOTW 2 book and watching the Canada videos and Liberty Kids each week gave us a great overlap and the kids were able to tie events from each of the three sources together. 

 

 

[Perogi]

One other suggestion would be to get the book Modern History Through Canadian Eyes. The author pulls together from many sources to create a chronological history of Canada, and one of the sources she uses is SOTW 3 and 4. So you would be able to see where Canadian events fit into the SOTW timeline. I use it as a base for my Canadian history stuff.

 

This is also the resource I use for Canadian history.  I have my kids do Canadian history in grades 4 and 5 and we do SOTW alongside as schedule in Modern History Through Canadian Eyes.  It's an excellent resource, imo.