jwoodbri Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 We just completed studying the Middle Ages using SOTW 2 with my younger two and VP online for my older two. Next year I'll have kids 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th. I'm debating pausing SOTW and doing a year of U.S. History before continuing on, but I'm not sure if it would make more sense after vol 3 or even after vol 4 before beginning the cycle again. (For some reason I like the idea of switching things up next year before moving on.) I think it would drive me nuts, but I've even contemplated just stretching SOTW 3 and 4 over 3 years to add in more US History. Anyone have experience going more in depth with American history while using SOTW? Wouldn't mind suggestions of what to use for US History too. I can't seem to decide, but currently favoring Notgrass (new one for the youngers and American the Beautiful for the 6th; 8th will be doing VP OmnibusIII) or possibly SCM even though I know it alternates between US and world history. Thanks for any suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 We actually are doing just the same this year. Though, were not pausing. We're just using SOTW 3 as a read-aloud. My oldest is using Notgrass's America the Beautiful and my littles are using VP's explorers self-paced. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 (edited) Certainly for the K-6 crowd, stopping after SOTW 2 can be a good point to "break out" for American History, as the time frame is similar (i.e. Early Modern time frame ~ Colonial/Revolutionary/Early US History, and Modern time frame ~ US Civil War to present). Or, as you suggest, stretching SOTW 3 & 4 over 3 years to follow bunny trails into American History would also be a great idea. Doing American History with a middle schooler can be a little bit tricky, due to the possibility of wanting/needing to complete a set of "college prep" credits in high school. ("College prep" credits refers to the fact that colleges require a certain number and type of credits be completed in high school for the student to be eligible for college admission.) One credit (one year) of American History as part of the the 3-4 required Social Studies is a very frequent requirement. And while it may be possibly to do a high school level course in 8th grade and "bring up" the credit onto the high school transcript, some colleges only accept credits completed in the 4 years prior to starting college as meeting admission requirements, so that for those colleges, an American History credit completed in 8th grade may not be accepted as meeting the college's admission requirements. One option would be to decide that 8th grade is the year that the older student starts to have their own Social Studies path, and does a separate History (for example, continue with Omnibus). But that would still allow you to keep the 3 elementary students together for an American History year. There are a TON of great books and resources for American History for grades 2-5 esp., so it would be a great time to focus on American History. A few ideas for American History programs: - Winter Promise -- American Story 1 (gr. K-7); American Culture (gr. 5-8) - Truthquest -- American History for Young Students, parts 1 and 2 (gr. 1-5) - Sonlight -- core D+E (gr. 3-4) and core 100 (gr. 7-9) - Beautiful Feet -- Early American History (gr. K-3) - Christian Cottage unit studies -- vol. 3 & 4 = American History (gr. 1-12) - Guest Hollow -- FREE American History part 1 (gr. 2-6); part 2 (gr. 2-8) -- target age for both = gr. 3 Edited July 31, 2018 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 We are not pausing SOTW. Our plan this year is to read SOTW3, removing the chapters about American history (brings it down to about 34 instead of 42). We'll do the maps and narration, but scaling wayyyy back from last year. For the rest of the week, we'll be doing Homeschool In The Woods' Time Travelers series: Colonial, Revolution, and Early 19th Century. We'll pick up the others next year with SOTW 4. We're doing a weekly read aloud/reader to go with it from titles that I've collected at the library and book sales. By the time my kid gets to middle school we plan on relying more on Reading Like A Historian, Jackdaws, and doing an approach similar to Teaching What Really Happened, using Howard Zinn's A Young People's History Of The United States as a spine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffy Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 We did a heavy emphasis on US History during SOTW 3. When US History began part way through SOTW 3, I paused and spent about 9-10 weeks on US History. Then, we resumed SOTW 3 and our world travels. When SOTW 3 would occasionally bring us back to the US, we would pause for a week or more to explore those topics. In order to fit everything into the school year, there were some SOTW 3 chapters for which we only read aloud and did the mapping. For those chapters, it was more of a "sit back, relax, and enjoy the SOTW story for today" -- no questions, no summarizing, no activities. I'll sound like a slacker when I reveal that my "spine" for US History during that 9-10 week period of US History was the Liberty Kids video series (and I think a few episodes were sprinkled into later parts of SOTW 3). I bought the LK video series that included access to a set of PDF worksheets. My kids would watch the videos and then complete the worksheets. Those worksheets helped us to distill related areas of interest; which would launch us into internet and library research on those topics. Being that I knew the episode line up in advance, I also had books on those topics at-the-ready; so the kids could immediately do some reading (and I would not feel as guilty about using a cartoon series to teach US History). The LK videos were a hit; and we actually learned quite a bit - from both the videos themselves and from the research that we were compelled to do after watching the videos. We also use the Veritas Press history cards. I integrated the cards with SOTW and Liberty Kids. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwoodbri Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 That you so much ladies! Not entirely sure of my path for history next year yet but I won't throw out SOTW. ? We may just do it as a read aloud. I might be crazy but I ordered the new Notgrass elementary program Our Star Spangled Banner and might see if I can weave the two together adding in living history books and lots of field trips. (We are close to lots of early American historical sites. Thank you for the great resources you mentioned Lori D and HomeAgain! I enjoyed checking those out. I'll definitely be using some books for there and I might try out a Time Traveler's series unit to see how the kids like it. I love history so if it takes us 3 years to get through SOTW 3&4 adding in lots of extra US History, oh well. Still open to more ideas. Love hearing them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 (edited) We finished SOTW 1-4 last year. We recently moved to the northeast so, this year, my younger is doing US history with an emphasis on the concepts of 'freedom and captivity'. It makes sense based on where we are and what he's also covering with science and literature (the One and Only Ivan, Chronicles of Narnia, Tuck Everlasting, etc.). My older kiddo is doing US history also, with Hakim as a spine, but adding in lots of document-based questions and work with original texts. Her emphasis for the year is human behavior which will include social science readings on Pavlov, Maslow, etc. Edited August 2, 2018 by Sneezyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Just now, jwoodbri said: We are close to lots of early American historical sites. Definitely make heavy use of your location to visit those history sites, whether you are currently studying US history or not! (:D 4 minutes ago, jwoodbri said: ... so if it takes us 3 years to get through SOTW 3&4 adding in lots of extra US History, oh well. We end up taking 6 years to do a 4-year chronological history cycle when DSs were in elementary/middle school grades, which allowed us time for an extended study of American history, a state history unit, and lots of bunny trails of interest. It was great! As a side note, by taking that extra time for extended History study, that gave us the ability to take the following year "off" from history for a fantastic World Cultures/Geography and Comparative Religions with an Eastern Hemisphere focus (which naturally ended up including a bit of history anyways as part of the cultural and religious studies). That was so fantastic, I dearly wish we had had the time to take a second year to complete a "tour of the world". Also, just an FYI: middle school grades are about your last "window of opportunity" to do studies of high interest or importance to you, as once you are into high school years, you find you start getting "squeezed" by having to accomplish certain amounts of certain kinds of credits, which can make it difficult to do another 4-year chronological history. Also, student interests often start coming into play in high school, and you find you may not be able to pull off a full 4-year chronological history, as it might complete for time with the credits the student really needs to prep for their field of interest for college. All that to say, if you want to take that extra time now for History, go for it, as it may get increasingly difficult to do so later. : ) Have a fantastic History study this year! Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Following, and thinking of so many things I could have done differently! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohop Posted August 9, 2018 Share Posted August 9, 2018 I think SOTW gives a good general overview of american history. We just complete our first 4-year cycle with my oldest (starting 5th grade), and the kids got companion books along the way and did some of their own reading as we went along that has given them a good U.S. history baseline. U.S. history is taught in 4th and 5th grade in my state, so we've decided that this year, I will start SOTW over again (ancients) with my rising 2nd grader and her 5th grade sister will listen to the read alouds but will have her own US history readings and will do her writing assignments/narrations based on that. I just ordered the condensed 4-part Joy Hakim History of US books online, and we will use those. So I guess to answer your question: my preference is to complete SOTW and then do a U.S. history focus after the cycle is over. But I like the feeling of "completing" things more than I like "switching things up," so that is what worked for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted August 9, 2018 Share Posted August 9, 2018 (edited) With my 5th grader, I am subbing Modern US History into year 4 of the cycle. I am using a secular classroom text as the spine and supplementing with Hakim’s US History books, documentaries, history pockets, and biographies. DD will maintain the WTM history notebook. Prior to 5th grade, she completed two years of VP online. https://www.amazon.com/Harcourt-Horizons-United-States-History/dp/0153423978/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533818593&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=harcourt+horizons+us+history+grade+5+2005 Edited August 9, 2018 by Heathermomster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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