Convince me which history curriculum Biblical worldview & late elementary

[freemanfamilyof6]

Realizing that we need to shift to a new History Curriulum next year for my 3 older girls.  They will be 4th, 5th, and 6th next school year.  I want to continue to do history together with them.  I also have a younger one who will be 1st grade.  Biblical worldview is important.  I like if we can do history 2-3 times a week, but could swing every school day if it is less time.  We are using Beautiful Feet and like it but I want them to be more independent in history next year.  Any suggestions?  It would be a great bonus if my younger could follow along at her level, but this year in Kinder she can't follow the Beautiful Feet intermediate level at all with us.  We do like unit study approach very much.  I am open to other options. 

[Tess in the Burbs]

Not unit study, but could be...Biblioplan.  The middle ages level has a new lower level spine next year coming out.  (other levels in the future).  The schedule is easy.  My dd is doing this completely independent.  We discuss on Friday and look over her map and discussion questions.  But the stuff is organized into 9 week main topics, so you could easily make it more unit study.  They offer a craft ebook.  Again, my dd makes what she wants...very doable alone for a lot of projects.  The reading lists are great.  The family read loud list had good choices for all ages.  We just switched this year for one of my kids and I really like it.  DD asked to do the next year.  The ancients is very Biblical(all Bible history so far), can be very independent.  Has lots of add ons like questions, maps, timeline, crafts, etc.  Book lists are super good.  And since it's grouped by 9 week topics you could easily make it more like a unit study.  

[dsbrack]

Have you looked at Tapestry of Grace?  It has a Biblical worldview and resources broken down by lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.  I would think that you could use the upper grammar level with your 4th, 5th, and 6th grader and move your 6th grader up to dialectic after you get familiar with the program.  The book offerings for the lower grammar level are pretty quick reads for the most part so you could read those aloud to your youngest and then plan activities for them altogether.  They offer a free 3 week trial that I would highly recommend before purchasing to see how it fits with your family. 

[Freedom]

I second Biblioplan and they have free samples on their website that are substantial. If you prefer using more of a spine, Mystery of History by Linda Hobar. With the text use the companion guide that offers projects, timeline, map work, and additional optional reading lists broken down by age.

[PineFarmMom]

I second Tapestry. We are on our 5th year using it and we love it!! It was created as a unit study. It comes in four 9-week units per year. You can opt to buy all the books and do all the reading each week or sub out things. A lot of people use SOTW as an option for the core readings at the LG/UG levels. A biblical worldview is woven throughout. It is flexible in that you can use different options from different levels if you have them (or that is how we do things).

Edited February 2, 2016 by Texas T

[solascriptura]

If you want independent, Veritas Press Self- Paced classes are the way to go.  It saved my sanity!

[freemanfamilyof6]

If you want independent, Veritas Press Self- Paced classes are the way to go.  It saved my sanity!

The only concern I have about using Veritas Self Paced is that my 3 older girls will be on different histories.  They will be 4th, 5th, 6th next year.  Is that how it works?  How long does it take them daily to complete the Veritas Self Paced history.

[freemanfamilyof6]

Anymore ideas?  I'm looking into Veritas self paced, but I don't think we would like Tapestry or Biblioplan because we didn't like Sonlight.  They both seem very similar to Sonlight.  Looking for more independent reading for my kids with maybe some discussion time, but not teacher intense. 

[kbutton]

Notgrass middle school units--they are designed for 5th-8th graders, but my son started in 4th. The workload is customizable, and some of the parts and pieces are as well. You can do the literature and writing with it or not. They offer America the Beautiful, Uncle Sam and You (civics), and (in April maybe) From Adam to Us (world history). From Adam to Us was offered as an e-version first, but now you can't buy it until it comes out in hardcopy form shortly. The layout and expectations are crystal clear for the student (I think at least one comes with daily checklists as well as what's printed in the text), suggestions for doing it with several ages or at different ages, some fun projects, etc. My son LOVES this series and loves that he can do it completely without me. Some people feel that it's on the younger side (particularly the lit), but you really can't get much better for independent work and combining ages. I do think they recommend doing world history last if you are doing the whole sequence, and from what I've browsed my e-version, it looks like it's more involved than the other levels, though not drastically so (my son will do it next year in 7th).

 

They have very good samples online.

[Staceyshoe]

Truthquest is extremely flexible.  It's all based on living books (which I get from the library).  You can do the crafts or not, do notebooking or not, do mapwork and timeline or not, do lapbooking or not.  It's all there but not as part of the basic guide.  You just choose the pieces you want.  There is no schedule.  You can spend as much time as you want on a topic or skip over a topic.  All the basic pieces are provided, and you can make it what you want.  I've learned quite a bit from the Biblically-based commentary.  If you want a lot of structure and a rigid schedule, Truthquest isn't what you want.  If you want flexibility and everyone doing the same history work in whatever way (or with whatever books) work for each child, it might be just what you want.

[Chelli]

I am using Beautiful Feet independently with my oldest this year. I give her the print out from the teacher book of what she needs to read and activities to complete during the week, then we meet back up to discuss the readings. 

 

I think BF can be pretty independent if you make it that way.

[gratitude]

Diana Waring. She really has a Biblical worldview! Her CDs are fascinating to listen to regarding archeology. I highly recommend her.

[Mom2Five]

The only concern I have about using Veritas Self Paced is that my 3 older girls will be on different histories.  They will be 4th, 5th, 6th next year.  Is that how it works?  How long does it take them daily to complete the Veritas Self Paced history.

 

We love the Veritas Self Paced history. It saved my sanity as well. I just wasn't getting to history even though it was my favorite subject. I was busy doing the 3R's and chasing after the younger siblings. Veritas' history for 2nd-6th could actually be used for any of those years. For example, you could use 3rd grade with a 5th grader. It all depends on what year you want to study. You could order it and do it on your own.

If you would rather have them all do it online and wanted them all studying the middle ages just have them all doing grade 4. There is a level 1 reader list and a level 2 reader list for each grade.

The online program is expensive but worth it. It goes on sale for $100 off a couple times a year. Last year it was in March. My dd and ds share the comp and watch it together although each child is supposed to have their own. We don't have to report grades, so it doesn't really matter if I don't have separate grades for both.

It takes no longer than around 30 minutes to do a lesson.

[mschickie]

Check out Mystery of History.  It has a Biblical world view and is set up for 3 lessons a week.  There are plenty of activities if you want to do them but you do not have to do any of the activities if you do not want to.  It is a solid history program, well laid out and not a dry read.  You could even do the book with all of your kids at one time, just choose different activities for the older ones or get the folderbooks or notebooking pages for them.  There are even coloring sheets you could get for the younger child.  

[Chris in VA]

Would they be all doing different years? If not, which time period would you want to do?

I love SOTW, but I wouldn't do the last two books with a first grader, and I wouldn't do the first book with 5th grade and above.

[smarson]

I would think Tapestry would work beautifully for your family!  I've used Sonlight as well as TOG and I don't think they're at all alike.  You could always download their (TOG's) free three-week sample and give it a run for a few weeks to see if it works for you?  It takes a little bit of getting used to since it doesn't exactly tell you what to do every day but for me, that's the beauty of it.  And all of the girls could be doing the same period of history, just at their own levels.  

[freemanfamilyof6]

I would think Tapestry would work beautifully for your family!  I've used Sonlight as well as TOG and I don't think they're at all alike.  You could always download their (TOG's) free three-week sample and give it a run for a few weeks to see if it works for you?  It takes a little bit of getting used to since it doesn't exactly tell you what to do every day but for me, that's the beauty of it.  And all of the girls could be doing the same period of history, just at their own levels.  

Tell me what are some differences between Sonlight and TOG?  I have only used Sonlight.  I know you use a bunch of library books with TOG and my tiny town library is very lacking.

[ByGrace3]

I have my older two using VP self paced-- the same year so we are all on the same time period and reading the same books. I need the independence of VP self paced right now, but if we weren't using it we would be using Biblioplan-- I really enjoyed our time with BP.

[smarson]

Tell me what are some differences between Sonlight and TOG?  I have only used Sonlight.  I know you use a bunch of library books with TOG and my tiny town library is very lacking.

 

Keep in mind that I only have used SL Core A for Kinder and perhaps it gets more intense as the kids get older... but my experience was

1.  SL provides you daily assignments as to what chapters to read. 

2.  SL seems to use more historical fiction rather than nonfiction

3.  For me, I honestly didn't feel like my kiddo was really 'getting' any of it.

 

As far as TOG goes, the week starts with

Threads: these are the teaching objectives for each subject for the week.  These help me know how to steer any conversations and know what exactly they're supposed to be getting out of the information we read during the week.  The Weekly Overview also provides more detail about what they're supposed to be learning and you can pick and choose how much or how little to do.

 

Then a booklist is provided.  Depending on the age/level of each child you can assign as much or as little reading as necessary.  For the LG and UG ages there are usually only a couple of books/week, then perhaps a read aloud and an activity if you want to do it.  You can add supplemental reading if you're interested but don't have to.  One of the beautiful things about TOG is that you truly can do as much or as little as you want to make the week work for you and your children.

 

There is a weekly overview  that I mentioned above also lists out some important people introduced during the week, vocabulary, activity ideas, geography ideas, etc.  Again, I usually read this, pick a few things to make sure we know, I often skip the vocab because we're just not there yet, pick an activity and decide what to do for geography.  For me, all this 'planning' takes about 10 minutes of me reading through these pages and deciding what to do for the week.

 

A good local library is helpful but if it's an option, purchasing the books you want to use is great too.  I only purchase those books we will use for more than 3 weeks.  And often times the library doesn't have exactly the book recommended in the guide, but if I find something that seems similar, I just use that one.  Keep in mind, you'll get to reuse any books you purchase with the next kids coming up the next time around the cycle.  

 

She includes writing assignments that are roughly grade-level.  There's a supplement called Writing Aids which actually explains what the assignments are.  We haven't gotten. too deeply into this since we're just doing 1st grade right now.  Seems like people are mixed on how much they like this resource or not.  

 

There's way more to TOG than what I've gone through here, but it gets you through the planning.  There are pages and pages of teacher's notes which brings us moms more up to speed on the history we're teaching our children.  I'm sure these are helpful for the older grades so you can speak to things with some previous knowledge of the material, but for the younger grades, I usually skip these, as I learn whatever I need from the books with my littles.  

 

Overall, I just feel like TOG is way more flexible than Sonlight.  The schedule with SL really freaked me out and if we got behind, I always felt 'behind'.  With TOG I can decide how much we're going to do each week.  One bonus I like about TOG as the kids get older (for sure your older kids can do this) is letting them be responsible for their own schedule for the week.  You can give them the student pages, reading lists, weekly overview and writing assignments each week and let them know what their assignments are.  They are responsible for planning their time accordingly and just need to know that they need to be ready to discuss the week with you on, say Friday afternoon.  Just an idea.  

 

One other thing, depending on how much time you have, you can do TOG just a few days a week for the younger kids.  Perhaps read the books Monday, do a writing activity Wednesday and maybe some map work, and on Friday do a craft.  

 

I hope this is what you're looking for and not too much information!! :)

[smarson]

I would really recommend downloading the the Egypt sample.  Yes, it's an overwhelming amount of information and at first seems impossible to weed through.  You're welcome to PM me with any questions.  I have no idea how it happened but one day after being totally afraid of TOG but in love with it at the same time, it all just made sense to me and I was able to plan our weeks in no time at all!  I can plan an entire quarter (but keep in mind my kids are younger) in about 30 minutes.   I can PM you with what a week of TOG may look like in our house if you'd like too. :)

[FloridaLisa]

We've used Veritas Press for years. Used the workbooks for my older kids but we are loving the self-paced history. You can very easily add in read alouds, independent reading (they have suggestions) and art projects if you'd like it to be more unit studyish. 

[LMD]

I second Diana waring. Great if you like unit studies!

We're enjoying the Romans level with my 5th/6th grader.

[Supergirl9801]

I'm new to the forums but not HS.  I'll add my tidbit since I came across this while searching about Veritas Press.  History is my favorite subject and I love the Unit Study approach and I've tried everything from just unit studies to TOG, to SOTW, to researching Biblioplan and now we're signed up with VP.  I went with VP for this coming year b/c it's picking up pretty well from leaving off from SOTW this past year.  I really really really wanted to love TOG.  After all my mom had used it when she homeschooled my kid sister and had ALL of it (if you've ever priced it out you can only wonder why I felt like I hit the jackpot)...unfortunately, I found it sorely overwhelming for the elementary/lower middle school age kids.  (Mine are 8/11).  Considering how expensive it is, I felt it should've been much more laid out for you instead of just giving random suggestions every week.  It's also rather difficult to find most of the books in your local library (and my library searches all the libraries in my whole state!!).  Also, people who do TOG tend to hand onto the books (which who can blame them) so everything really does seem to hold it's value pretty well (aka EXPENSIVE...did I mention that it's EXPENSIVE).  Now some may say...well, you don't have to stick to their book list...well that depends.  In the lower levels, you have question sheets that go along with the suggested reads...so if you can't find the book then you have to buy it.  Now if you have kids in different levels, reading different books that pertain to these different sheets then you're really spending the $$.  Now lets say you skip the sheets and just go with other books suggested...then what's the point??  Seriously, grab a book list from Son-light or a unit study and plan it all out yourself.  Now I will say this....when it gets to older grades (upper middle/high school) then I may give it a shot again b/c I do like the re-caps they give parents so that students can be assigned a particular book and instead of the parent having to read the book too, they are given specific details about the book to understand what their kid is reading and able to have conversations about it.  But that's not until the upper levels.  IMHO TOG is a complete waste of money for younger kids.  

 

I would be continuing with SOTW again if I didn't have some family issues coming up that needed me to really free up my time from schooling a bit and require them to be more independant (I'm really going to miss reading to them :()  SOTW has been around for quite a while and you'll find that unless you're studying the ancients you're not going to find too much "bible" that gets incorporated with any of the other curriculums talked about (TOG, Biblioplan for example focus on the book Trial and Triumph and stories about missionaries during Y2/Y3/Y4 etc).  You can easily incorporate that yourself.  Or pick out a nice devotional to do or a different bible curriculum.  I actually did luck out last year with SOTW and found someone who had written out lesson plans and she did incorporate bible with SOTW Y2 and had it all laid out over the course of 3x/week.  It's been around long enough that you can google and find lots of resources to go along with it.  I found free lapbooks, video links, etc.  I was researching Biblioplan last year and almost went with them after giving up on TOG before discovering SOTW.  I found it ironic though that SOTW was listed as a spine book for BP (it is for TOG too).  So I'm thinking...if all these curriculums are listing SOTW as their spine, what's the deal with it.  Really the only thing missing from it is the bible aspect.  Which I already mentioned about the relevance of that.  I liked that it had TONS of suggested History/literature read alongs for each week and MOST of them I was able to find in my library.  I liked that the main book actually was SOTW (no hunting down/buying additional books just to answer questions).  I liked the follow up questions that pertained to what you read.  I loved the activity book with all the coloring sheets and suggested projects.  Hands down, awesome sauce curriculum and it's CHEAP!!  Did I mention, it's CHEAP!!!  Anyway...there's my $.02 from a mama who changes it up practically every stinking year!!!

[Verity]

Wayfarers could also work, since noone else has mentioned it. You keep the kids together in what they are learning, combine them all for read alouds, bible, geography, history and science but she suggests different options for the spread of ages for their solo work/reading. It's been my best year of combining kids so far.

[Peaceful Isle]

You could buy the 5th grade BJU distance learning heritage studies, and use it for all your girls. History is history. It is pricey though.

[hands-on-mama]

Here is a second vote for Wayfarers!

 

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I'm new to the forums but not HS. I'll add my tidbit since I came across this while searching about Veritas Press. History is my favorite subject and I love the Unit Study approach and I've tried everything from just unit studies to TOG, to SOTW, to researching Biblioplan and now we're signed up with VP. I went with VP for this coming year b/c it's picking up pretty well from leaving off from SOTW this past year. I really really really wanted to love TOG. After all my mom had used it when she homeschooled my kid sister and had ALL of it (if you've ever priced it out you can only wonder why I felt like I hit the jackpot)...unfortunately, I found it sorely overwhelming for the elementary/lower middle school age kids. (Mine are 8/11). Considering how expensive it is, I felt it should've been much more laid out for you instead of just giving random suggestions every week. It's also rather difficult to find most of the books in your local library (and my library searches all the libraries in my whole state!!). Also, people who do TOG tend to hand onto the books (which who can blame them) so everything really does seem to hold it's value pretty well (aka EXPENSIVE...did I mention that it's EXPENSIVE). Now some may say...well, you don't have to stick to their book list...well that depends. In the lower levels, you have question sheets that go along with the suggested reads...so if you can't find the book then you have to buy it. Now if you have kids in different levels, reading different books that pertain to these different sheets then you're really spending the $$. Now lets say you skip the sheets and just go with other books suggested...then what's the point?? Seriously, grab a book list from Son-light or a unit study and plan it all out yourself. Now I will say this....when it gets to older grades (upper middle/high school) then I may give it a shot again b/c I do like the re-caps they give parents so that students can be assigned a particular book and instead of the parent having to read the book too, they are given specific details about the book to understand what their kid is reading and able to have conversations about it. But that's not until the upper levels. IMHO TOG is a complete waste of money for younger kids.

 

I would be continuing with SOTW again if I didn't have some family issues coming up that needed me to really free up my time from schooling a bit and require them to be more independant (I'm really going to miss reading to them :() SOTW has been around for quite a while and you'll find that unless you're studying the ancients you're not going to find too much "bible" that gets incorporated with any of the other curriculums talked about (TOG, Biblioplan for example focus on the book Trial and Triumph and stories about missionaries during Y2/Y3/Y4 etc). You can easily incorporate that yourself. Or pick out a nice devotional to do or a different bible curriculum. I actually did luck out last year with SOTW and found someone who had written out lesson plans and she did incorporate bible with SOTW Y2 and had it all laid out over the course of 3x/week. It's been around long enough that you can google and find lots of resources to go along with it. I found free lapbooks, video links, etc. I was researching Biblioplan last year and almost went with them after giving up on TOG before discovering SOTW. I found it ironic though that SOTW was listed as a spine book for BP (it is for TOG too). So I'm thinking...if all these curriculums are listing SOTW as their spine, what's the deal with it. Really the only thing missing from it is the bible aspect. Which I already mentioned about the relevance of that. I liked that it had TONS of suggested History/literature read alongs for each week and MOST of them I was able to find in my library. I liked that the main book actually was SOTW (no hunting down/buying additional books just to answer questions). I liked the follow up questions that pertained to what you read. I loved the activity book with all the coloring sheets and suggested projects. Hands down, awesome sauce curriculum and it's CHEAP!! Did I mention, it's CHEAP!!! Anyway...there's my $.02 from a mama who changes it up practically every stinking year!!!

We are planning to move to TOG after SOTW next year. I wonder if some of your frustration comes from using an older print copy. If you buy the digital version, they will keep it updated for you so that you can easily change when a book gies out of print and a replacement is made.

 

For science, look at elemental science as it's easy to Do multiple grades. Their biology covers plants and the human body along with animals. And the logic stage one can align with the elementary when your older kids need something meatier. Same thing with RS4K.

[Guest]

Notgrass or Biblioplan