Looking for advice on doing a 1-year overview of World History with 4th grader

[Guest sojournerin]

Hi! I am wanting to do an overview of World History with my son this upcoming school year. He will be in 4th grade and has had U.S. history, but not world history. I would like to give him a beginning framework to build upon in future years when we delve into world history at a slower pace (over 4 years instead of one.) I really like Story of the World, but it seems like a lot to cover all four books in one year, especially if because I'd like him to read from other sources as well. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can just hit "main points" in the four books for this one-year overview? Any other thoughts or advice?

 

Thanks!

[Pingo]

Try A Little History of the World by Gombrich.

[3girls4me]

Not sure if you are ok with Christian materials, but HOD's "Preparing" curriculum is a one year overview of world history from creation to the late 1900's. You have to place into each level by skill but Preparing is roughly a 4th grade level - or at least at my house it is.

[Susie in MS]

I agree with the suggestion of looking into HOD, but if all you want is just a history reader then Child's History of the World is one of two main text used in Preparing. If you want to have the Biblical history with it use Grandpa's Box.

[Bluegoat]

We did a one year world history overview this year.  We used A Child's History of the World.  Generally we read one chapter a day and narrated the chapter, and put events on a timeline divided by continent.

[Flaura]

We did a one year overview of world history in fourth using A Child's History of the World. I believe Calvert School schedules it as their fourth grade history textbook. It was a fun year and I highly recommend it.

[twoxcell]

I'm going to also recommend HOD Preparing Hearts. It is perfect for 4th grade. Even if you don't want to use the program you might want to look at it for book ideas. :)

[SilverMoon]

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Edited May 23, 2023 by SilverMoon

[PeachyDoodle]

We did this with SOTW, but it took us two years. We covered two books per year over third and fourth grades (finishing up now). Obviously, we had to pick and choose our topics carefully. I sat down at the beginning of each year and mapped out which sections we would be covering. We have been heavily focused on western civilization this time around. We will leave off after WWII and circle back to the ancients next year, devoting a full year to each time period for the next two cycles. I can send you our topic lists, if you're interested.

 

I think doing all four in one year would be a stretch, unless you have a student who really loves history and are willing to devote 4-5 days/week to it. We usually do history twice per week (60-90 minutes per session) and include narrating/outlining, map work, and some additional reading or other activities. In order to pull it off in one year, I think you'd have to do a lot of straight reading through the books, without a lot of extra activities. If I did it that way, I'd probably try to incorporate history into other subject areas (have him write on your current history topic as part of his LA work, for example, or use history reading instead of separate literature). And possibly think of keeping a timeline so he can trace the "big picture" across the course of a year, along with a lot of discussion about how things "fit" in order to increase retention.

 

I think it can be done, with some advance planning, but it might be easier just to use one of the other suggestions that are designed as one-year courses. Good luck!

[lolobeth802]

I know Bookshark (secular Sonlight) has a world history one year combo of level 3 and 4, you have to call to ask for it on special order. They've had great customer service thus far.

[SnMomof7]

Have you seen the new Adam to Us samples from Notgrass? I plan to bring DD 2 (rising 4th) along with DD 1 (rising 7th) next year. I think it looks adaptable.

[ondreeuh]

Sonlight/Bookshark uses CHOW in their 1st and 2nd grade levels ... I have a friend who is reading CHOW with the workbook/guide with her 4th grader and loves it. She does tie in additional reading. http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=054770

[ondreeuh]

I know Bookshark (secular Sonlight) has a world history one year combo of level 3 and 4, you have to call to ask for it on special order. They've had great customer service thus far.

 

Grades 3 & 4 are US history. Are you sure you're not thinking of a 1 & 2 combo?

[Hunter]

Homeschool in the Woods' Great Empires

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/greatempires.html

 

$18.95 for the download. Includes a timeline for the empires and a map and short text about each one. There are suggetions for some historical fiction books and I think a recipe. Then there are quite a few projects.

 

If printing is expensive for you, you can choose to just print the timeline, maps, and text.

[Guest]

...

Edited July 14, 2016 by Guest

[Guest sojournerin]

Wow! Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. I'll definitely be looking into several of them.

[Roadrunner]

Try A Little History of the World by Gombrich.

Another vote for Gombrich. It's an excellent text.

[Guest sojournerin]

We did this with SOTW, but it took us two years. We covered two books per year over third and fourth grades (finishing up now). Obviously, we had to pick and choose our topics carefully. I sat down at the beginning of each year and mapped out which sections we would be covering. We have been heavily focused on western civilization this time around. We will leave off after WWII and circle back to the ancients next year, devoting a full year to each time period for the next two cycles. I can send you our topic lists, if you're interested.

 

I think doing all four in one year would be a stretch, unless you have a student who really loves history and are willing to devote 4-5 days/week to it. We usually do history twice per week (60-90 minutes per session) and include narrating/outlining, map work, and some additional reading or other activities. In order to pull it off in one year, I think you'd have to do a lot of straight reading through the books, without a lot of extra activities. If I did it that way, I'd probably try to incorporate history into other subject areas (have him write on your current history topic as part of his LA work, for example, or use history reading instead of separate literature). And possibly think of keeping a timeline so he can trace the "big picture" across the course of a year, along with a lot of discussion about how things "fit" in order to increase retention.

 

I think it can be done, with some advance planning, but it might be easier just to use one of the other suggestions that are designed as one-year courses. Good luck!

 

PeachyDoodle,

 

I would be interested to see your topic lists. Could you send those to me?

[Hunter]

Another vote for Gombrich. It's an excellent text.

 

I think it comes in whispersync so the student can listen while they read along, and learn how to say all those names correctly.