Which history is your favorite and why? (early elementary)

[mamaneedsanswers]

I have to make a decision soon, and for some reason History is just the toughest choice for me!!  I have decided on everything else for my 2 girls, and I'm confident with my choices, but History!?, well....  I just can't decide!!!  Which one of these is your favorite?  and why?  My girls will be (in the fall) 6 and 8 yo. (1st and 3rd)  They love to be read to and they love crafts (but the craft time doesn't have to come from history).  I would really like an open and go format.  I don't have time or interest in doing a lot of planning.

 

I am open to studying either world or US history at this point.  What would you do?

 

Sonlight Core B - Intro to World History

Winter Promise AS1 - Intro to American History

SOTW Volume 1 w/ activity book - Intro to American History

Trail Guide to Learning - Intro to American History

Mystery of History Volume 1 - Intro to American History

 

or instead of a history focus :

 

FIAR

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett (Download 'n Go series"

 

[craftyerin]

The only two I'm familiar with are SOTW and FIAR, having used both of them. IMO, FIAR will come up short as a core curriculum for a 3rd grader. It is labeled for 4-8yos, but I found it perfect for PK & K and would have felt like I was short changing 2nd and 3rd graders to use it. There are many moms who use FIAR for those age groups and would disagree with me, though. It would be lovely for your 1st grader, but I would not want to do two different core programs for two kids that close in age. So I'd knock FIAR off of your list. 

 

We LOVE SOTW here. We do very little of the activity book, although I do buy it to use as a resource. We listen to the chapters on audio in the car (Jim Weiss narrating is fantastic!) and do some supplemental reading (library books, historical fiction), map work, and a very occasional project or craft at home. 

 

edit to add: SOTW 1 is not going to cover American history, if tat's what you're looking for. It covers ancient civilizations through the fall of Rome. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by craftyerin

[Bluegoat]

Ive used SOTW and CHOW, and I much prefer the latter.  It's a nice sized overview or world history from a fairly western perspective.  It's short enough that I can use it as a spine and have plenty of time to suplement with all kinds of other books or activities.  I think it's well written from a language perspective, and my girls have both loved it as a story.

 

 

[Guest]

I agree with craftyerin. As wonderful as FIAR is for the younger kids and as much as the FIAR groups would have you believe, it is NOT enough as a core curriculum by any means.

 

We like both SOTW and CHOW which is why I am using History Odyssey Level 1 with my crew. HO schedules/lines up both for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 9, 2016 by Paradox5

[Guest]

If I had a redo and kids those ages, I would have saved myself a heck of a lot of money and just bought Tapestry of Grace, which is what we use now and what I have always wanted to use but didn't want to spend the money....ha. Looking back, it would have been cheaper to start with it. Since that isn't on your list, I would use Story of the World; that is our spine of choice with TOG. I do like Sonlight a lot, though, also.

[Bay Lake Mom]

If I had a redo and kids those ages, I would have saved myself a heck of a lot of money and just bought Tapestry of Grace, which is what we use now and what I have always wanted to use but didn't want to spend the money....ha. Looking back, it would have been cheaper to start with it. Since that isn't on your list, I would use Story of the World; that is our spine of choice with TOG. I do like Sonlight a lot, though, also.

I have looked at TOG many times. I've been told not to try it. It's too difficult to make work. I do LOVE the idea of it, but I'd be nervous about the scheduling. I'm not crossing it off my list to consider in the future. We'll be moving 2 times this year, so I think I would do best with something planned for me.

[smarson]

I fell in love with TOG when I first read about it and actually went out and purchased it used.  It sat on my shelf for 2 years.  I was terrified to use it because I had heard it was so hard to schedule and so tough to do.  I don't know what happened but this year when I opened it, I found it super easy to plan each week (however far in advance you want to go!) (did each week in about 5-10 minutes) and use my 'plan' as our guide, all laid out.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I had heard, nor as cumbersome as people say.  I had trouble with the 3-week trial because I still just couldn't wrap my head around it but now I just start at the beginning, choose what books we're going to read each week, what project we may or may not do, what English assignments we're going to do and that's about it!  Granted, I have LG'ers so we don't have to have the whole discussions and such but it's a SOLID and complete program.  

 

If you want something more laid out for you MOH might be a good option, though there are still choices to make with each lesson and I don't feel like the lessons are as complete as TOG.  

 

Or you could take a peek at Wayfarers.  I've looked at it over and over and if I wasn't sold on TOG, I'd absolutely try Wayfarers.  Looks amazing!

 

I also usually check out the booklists from all kinds of other curricula. :)  I like books and curriculum. :)  It's an illness.  Ha! 

[PentecostalMom]

We use Sonlight with MOH. It's easy to combine students and all of my children love all of the books.

[Harriet Vane]

Hands down, SOTW.

 

The stories are engaging, and the books are chock full of nifty facts. 

 

When I was trying to decide what to do with my kids, a side-by-side comparison of SOTW to a few other kids' history programs showed SOTW to have lots more information. And the beauty of it is it's presented in such a friendly tone.

 

The activity book is top notch, with more options than I can hope to do.

 

The supplemental book suggestions are also well chosen. We tried to do a couple per unit. 

 

The curriculum is easy to do. My kids still love it. It's the one curriculum I have not passed on to others. My kids wanted it saved with their special storybooks to treasure for their children someday.

[Classically Minded]

Definitely SOTW!  We used it for all of elementary and the activity guide and loved it!  I will be using it for my son as well and look forward to going through it again.

[Susie in MS]

We use FIAR for grade 3 and it was wonderful. I most certainly >can< be your core, but it all depends on what you do with it. If you just read from the manual and the picture book, then no, it isn't suitable for 3rd grade. What those of us who have used it for olders do is add related books, vids and projects that are more geared for that age level. Many people use FIAR vol 4 for 4th grade before moving to Beyond FIAR. 

[Liza Q]

All of the programs you mentioned are strong. I think that you should consider these things -

 

Do you want a detailed schedule? Will it keep you on track or frustrate you?

How do you feel about being given many, many options and then choosing the best ones each week?

Are you planning on reading everything aloud or are you looking for a lot of books that your children can read on their own?

Do you want maps/worksheets/tests or would you prefer to focus on reading and discussion?

Do you want to use the WTM 4 year history plan or do you want to focus more on American History?

 

My favorite when my children were younger was SOTW, hands down. It wasn't yet published when my older children were little so I did use other things (mostly Veritas, but also Beautiful Feet and Greenleaf Press). When the first SOTW book was published I was all YESYESYES!!! and excited to use it! Over the years, I have had close friends using TOG, Sonlight, Winter Promise, My Father's World, and Mystery of History, I have spent a lot of time looking at those programs, but I always chose to stay with SOTW.

 

I recently gave the following advice to a young woman in my homeschool group. You can substitute Sonlight etc. every time I mention Tapestry of Grace. Maybe it will help you!

 

*************************************

Here are some specific reasons why I preferred SOTW to TOG.
 

1. Schedule. TOG is set up with weekly schedules and it is way more than I need. I also find it stressful to have a schedule that I know I will never keep - it would be week 13, day 3 and I know I would only be up to week 11, day 1 and I would feel behind. SOTW has 42 "lessons" and I could do 1-2 per week, get it done by the end of the year, and never feel behind. I chose to add extra reading and writing and crafts to some lessons but not others so I could get more or less done based on what was going on in lives and how interesting we found the topics. Of course, I could have done the same with TOG, but it seemed like I would be spending way too much $$ on a schedule I would not really use.
 

2. Book selections - TOG is very specific and SOTW is very general. TOG has discussion questions for lots of books while SOTW has discussion questions for the SOTW chapters and then a list of additional books. TOG offers more, but would I really use it? Year 2 of TOG has lots of fun books for the younger grades, but they don't use A Lion to Guard Us or George Washington's Breakfast. I really want my kids to read those, so I would have to modify the schedule and come up with my own discussion questions. I want more control over which books I use and I am fine with discussing them without a list of questions, so TOG is more than I need. TOG has a Christian perspective, which is valuable, but I haven't found that I really need it. When I first started homeschooling I read a lot on "Christian Worldview" and I guess I just informally apply that as we read and discuss.
 

3. Worksheets - I am not sure what TOG offers, but I found the worksheets, maps, and tests that SOTW offers to be just the right amount of written work for 4th-8th grades. I did not use tests in the younger grades as I thought the discussion/narration questions in the TM were plenty. We did use the coloring pages and many of the maps.
 

4. Textbook/spine - I prefer to use textbooks (I would classify SOTW as a textbook, just a really good one!) as the foundation of our history studies. Programs like TOG or Sonlight or My Father's World are too...unfocused for me.

 

Bottom line - TOG wouldn't work for me because I like to choose my own books, set my own pace, and emphasize what I find important. SOTW is more flexible. I want to be in charge, not the curriculum. However, if I was given TOG for free I am sure that I would use parts of it as there are a lot of great books and ideas in the curriculum.

*******************************************

I want to add that I rarely did the crafts in the SOTW guide because we were just too busy. It was easier to do other things not tied to History, but that was just our life.

 

 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

SOTW, but it isn't as scheduled as some.  You can use the suggested schedules from WTM, or read through it and develop your own.  Or you can just sit down and read it and follow trails when you want to and not when you don't.

[ScoutTN]

SOTW and oodles of library books.

It is easy, not expensive and flexible. We love the audiobooks too.

[HS Mom in NC]

SOTW with Activity Books and quiz booklet

 

Complete curriculum, easy to implement and inexpensive.  The Activity Books are really helpful if you're not familiar with doing narrations or if you are but want a list of questions about the reading done for you and they transition a child to outlining then writing from outlines in book 4. The supplemental reading lists have very good choices listed so you can add in plenty of award winning literature and other quality books for assigned reading and or read alouds. Simply divide the number of readings (each chapter has 2-4 readings in it) by 36 weeks and you can put all the printed activities from the activity book  in a hanging file folder or workbox system. Additional sets of printed activities can be purchased at cost from PeaceHill Press for additional children. Copyright allows for as many copies as you need in your homeschool if you want to print them yourself.

[Julie of KY]

I love Sonlight for elementary kids and have used it for all four of my kids.

 

Of your other choices, I'd save MOH until a little older. Everything else looks good.

 

[mamaneedsanswers]

I am so grateful for all of your thoughts so far!  I love this forum.  I think I might be leaning more towards SOTW now.  I've looked closer at the Activity Guide.  I am impressed that it includes narration ideas, additional reading recommendations, comprehension questions, map work, coloring pages and projects for every single chapter!  For those of you that have used SOTW, are there any books (in addition to SOTW volume 1) that are used often enough to justify buying them rather than checking out from the library?

 

It seems like I'd have to choose one of the encyclopedias as well.  Any recommendations on which is best for 6 and 8 yo?

[UCF612]

I'm planning on Wayfarers next year. It uses SOTW.

[u2006kids]

i used http://historyatourhouse.com/

[Guest]

I am so grateful for all of your thoughts so far!  I love this forum.  I think I might be leaning more towards SOTW now.  I've looked closer at the Activity Guide.  I am impressed that it includes narration ideas, additional reading recommendations, comprehension questions, map work, coloring pages and projects for every single chapter!  For those of you that have used SOTW, are there any books (in addition to SOTW volume 1) that are used often enough to justify buying them rather than checking out from the library?

 

It seems like I'd have to choose one of the encyclopedias as well.  Any recommendations on which is best for 6 and 8 yo?

 

I like the Usborne ones for that age. Kingfisher would be too much info.

[Sahamamama]

When my three girls were those ages (6, 6, 8), and also for the following year (7, 7, 9), we enjoyed learning more about US History by doing this:

• Native American History Pockets -- LOVED this, even though we had not originally planned to do it, and I admit it got us "off track," but very well worth doing, and many fond memories of the projects (we still have all of them, LOL, we can't throw them away)
• Lots and lots of books on the History Bookshelf, put in roughly chronological order -- We simply read aloud every week all year. There are so many wonderful books on US History for this age range!
• Read aloud the American Girl books for the historical characters* -- We read through them at the rate of about one girl per month:
  1. September = Kaya (1764)
  2. October = Felicity (1774)
  3. November = Caroline (1812)
  4. December = Josefina (1824)
  5. January = Kirsten (1854)
  6. February = Addy (1864)
  7. March = Samantha (1904)
  8. April = Rebecca (1914)
  9. May = Kit (1934)
  10. June = Molly (1944)

Along the way, my daughters also read the books for Marie-Grace & Cecile (1853, New Orleans). It's a good story, but since we had so many resources for Kirsten's era (pioneers, Westward Expansion), we decided to put our time into those. We also didn't do much beyond Molly's era (WWII), and didn't get into Julie's (1974) story at all, although we have the books and the girls have all read them. But I felt that ending our American History studies with Molly was enough, and I didn't want to get into the topics in the Julie books.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our American History journey, and we all retained so much. The AG historical books provided just enough structure to keep us moving along through the rest of our History Bookshelf. It also allowed me to order those books a month at a time, since I could load up a cart on Amazon, then purchase just before we needed more books.

 

*I should also note that these were the older versions of the books (sets of six books per girl, with the "Looking Back" sections), before the company ruined them with the BeForever re-write (blech). If you can find the older sets (before BeForever), those are much, much better, IMO.

 

We're doing our history cycle now, and I'm glad we waited to get to Ancients.

[HomeAgain]

SOTW is the easiest open-and-go out of what you listed.  To make it easier on you I'd probably order student packs, too, so all the coloring and activity sheets are ready to go and you don't have to make copies.  It also allows you the flexibility of adding in more readings/crafts when time allows, and cutting it to the bare bones when it doesn't, without feeling behind.