caedmyn Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 I'm having trouble planning history for next year because I don't have a plan for the next few years. My rising 8th grader does history on her own. I'm planning on having her do interest-led history next year (she can choose a topic or major historical figure and we'll find a book or two on it, narrate, repeat). I'm tentatively planning on using Truthquest for her for high school. She may do one year of ancients and then the three Age of Revolution guides for early to modern American & world history, with some government and economics thrown in there somewhere. My younger school-age kids do history together. They will be in 1st, 3rd, & 5th next year. The last three years we've done 2/3 of CHOW and then a year of state history. I'd like to finish CHOW this year but I don't know what to do after that. I could do a couple more years of early to modern American/world history with them, maybe using a couple of the younger-aged Truthquest guides, but then what for the oldest for 8th grade? I just don't know what to plan. Any suggestions? I do not like the SOTW books and I don't care whether we follow a 4 year cycle...I just need a plan of some sort! Ideally I'd keep all of them on the same topic(s) each year but it seems like that might be too complicated with a large age range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock2 Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 If your oldest is going to be independent, then it really doesn't matter if she is in the same time period as everyone else. I used to try to keep mine all in the same time period, but I quickly realized it was of no value, because my independent workers were, well, independent, and it just didn't matter! So plan something for her, and it sounds like you already have an idea of what to do there, and then plan your littles separately. If you finish CHOW, I think I'd just go back to ancients and start the cycle over, but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 I don't know. I find it easier to keep them all together. I will have a 12th grader, a 10th grader, and a Ker next year. We will be in American/State history here. Currently for my Ker, I will just throw in picture books and introduce her to people throughout the year with Dover coloring books and picture books and whatever I come across for American. Then we will start back over with Ancients the following year with the 11th grader and 1st grader (SOTW for 1st grader, SWB's Ancient World high school book for the 11th grader.) The following year will be 12th grade and 2nd grade using SOTW vol. 2 and SWBs Middle Ages high school book.) This way I can keep them together for some artsy projects from SOTW or for field trips and museum exhibits. My oldest started 1st with ancients and we have rolled through the 4 year cycle 3 complete times after next year. I just start each one coming in wherever we are and go through it all again. It didn't hurt my now 14 year to start history with the early moderns in 1st vs. ancients, but we kept rolling through chronologically. If Truthquest has versions for everyone, I would still try to keep them all together. But that is because I can't imagine doing it any other way. 🙂 Have you looked at Wayfarer's? I love the look of their plans, but haven't used them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 (edited) I use the Genevieve Foster books with similar aged kiddos. We all love them. I supplement with extra reading and writing assignments for my 8th & 6th graders. I really like those OUP Age Of... books too. Basically I read a section, my K & 3rd graders oral narrate and I scribe. My 8th and 6th need to list the facts in their history notebooks and add to their timeline. For example, we're about halfway through George Washington's World at the moment, my 8th grader is also reading through & outlining Royal Fireworks Press' book Jefferson's Truths. Once she's finished we'll add selections from Common Sense and the Federalist Papers. Next she'll do an Aus history unit. My 6th grader is reading through SOTW independently and learning to outline using it, I picked sotw because I have it, he likes it and because it is straightforward for learning outlining! Eta, I am pretty relaxed with history. We haven't yet finished a whole cycle because we meander our way through and just enjoy it. I don't want to just rush through. I've also used Simply Charlotte Mason's history and quite liked their selections. Edited April 23, 2019 by LMD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Notgrass? They have three middle school options--America the Beautiful, Uncle Sam and You (civics), and From Adam to Us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Have you considered kicking it old school and just following the original WTM plan for history? I have an older edition of the book but I assume it's still in the newer editions, can anyone verify? iirc, you use a history encyclopedia as a spine and you have a reading list for each age group. They fill in a history notebook according to their ability. I always tweaked it a bit but it's a good base and it's easy to have a wide age range on the same time frame. I only had 2 but I liked them on the same time frame so the fun stuff would be more fun, ie having a Roman feast, making an ice cream ship, lol. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 14 hours ago, katilac said: Have you considered kicking it old school and just following the original WTM plan for history? I have an older edition of the book but I assume it's still in the newer editions, can anyone verify? iirc, you use a history encyclopedia as a spine and you have a reading list for each age group. They fill in a history notebook according to their ability. I always tweaked it a bit but it's a good base and it's easy to have a wide age range on the same time frame. I only had 2 but I liked them on the same time frame so the fun stuff would be more fun, ie having a Roman feast, making an ice cream ship, lol. We did WTM history this way all the way through. Works great. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 On 4/26/2019 at 3:18 PM, katilac said: Have you considered kicking it old school and just following the original WTM plan for history? I have an older edition of the book but I assume it's still in the newer editions, can anyone verify? iirc, you use a history encyclopedia as a spine and you have a reading list for each age group. They fill in a history notebook according to their ability. I always tweaked it a bit but it's a good base and it's easy to have a wide age range on the same time frame. I only had 2 but I liked them on the same time frame so the fun stuff would be more fun, ie having a Roman feast, making an ice cream ship, lol. This would be easy, even without SoTW. If you want more structure you can use the SoTW activity guide (for, say, Early Modern or Modern) and just use the schedules there for encyclopedia readings + supplementary readings (in other words, skipping SoTW itself). I like having the guides around to help plan library requests (though this requires either a good local library or a good inter-library loan system) and I like having readings scheduled for me for when it all hits the fan. Another option would be an American History year using the Joy Hakim History of US books. There is a year-long schedule from Sonlight/Bookshark, and Build Your Library schedules them over two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 On 4/27/2019 at 8:18 AM, katilac said: Have you considered kicking it old school and just following the original WTM plan for history? I have an older edition of the book but I assume it's still in the newer editions, can anyone verify? iirc, you use a history encyclopedia as a spine and you have a reading list for each age group. They fill in a history notebook according to their ability. I always tweaked it a bit but it's a good base and it's easy to have a wide age range on the same time frame. I only had 2 but I liked them on the same time frame so the fun stuff would be more fun, ie having a Roman feast, making an ice cream ship, lol. this exactly is basically what I did with my children after year 7. When they got to year 10 up I added in Spievogel .It has some great in depth discussion questions that I would assign one or two of and get a half page answer back from my children. It was recommended in the second TWTM book. My DS 15 is currently working his way through Usborne Internet linked Hstory Encyclopeadia - he really enjoys the internet linked bits. He has gone thorough all the SOTW twice and Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. We all do the same time period on the 4 year rotation though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 I was going to say story of the world but you don’t like that. I wonder if you could use just the activity book from story of the world and use the reading lists from each section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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