History Dilemma

[Cake and Pi]

Help! I can't make up my mind! I can't decide if I want to teach my two middle kids ancient world history (or maybe ancient and middle ages combined) OR early American history next year. 

 

Doing early American history would be terribly *convenient* because my oldest will be doing early American history through online public school and I just downloaded the updated BYL grade 5 (early American history), which looks amazing. Like, seriously, I wish we could have used this version the first time we went through BLY 5 two years ago.

 

However, DS#2 *wants* to study ancient history next year. He was in PS until winter break, where they didn't really do much in the way of history or science. DS#3 did American history (the old version of BYL 5 and 6) last year and the year before. This year he did some random topic studies on ancient Greeks and Romans and now WWII. His last thorough pass through ancient history was when he was in preschool, so he doesn't remember much of it at all. I'm also a little tired of American history at this point.

 

BUT! I can't find a good literature-based, secular world history written at the middle school level. I have The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, SOTW vol.1-4, and The Human Odyssey vol.1, so I could pick one or more of those as a spine and hunt down tasty historical fictions and whatnot to flesh it out... but that sounds *hard* and I am still adjusting to having four homeschoolers instead of two (because one was in PS until Jan and the final one made it home in Mar because of covid19... and it's looking more and more likely that they'll all continue HSing in the fall).

 

Can someone talk some sense into me? Help me decide what to do!

[Lori D.]

So, do I have this right?

you = want to 1.) combine 10yo and 8yo, 2.) do Amer. History for convenience, 3.) BUT you're tired of it, and, 4.) can't find secular Ancients/World History
DS 12 = own thing/not a factor here
DS 10 = wants to do Ancients; you want to combine him with DS 8
DS 8 = last year did Amer. Hist.; previous did some random Ancients; you want to combine him with DS 10
DS 6 = own thing/not a factor here

Reason to do American History:
- the right grade level to combine 10yo and 8yo
- you own it
- it has amazing booklists

Reasons to NOT do American History
- neither DS wants to
- 8yo just did it

Reasons to do Ancients/World History:
- 10yo wants to
- it's been long enough that 8yo could re-do Ancients

If I have all of that correct, it seems like all the weight goes towards doing Ancients/World History next year, and the only thing holding you up is needing a secular program or spine textbook... Ideas:

Pandia Press: History Odyssey level 2
4 year cycle, for multiple age/grades, with Ancients "sweet spot" for gr. 5, Medieval "sweet spot" for gr. 6; etc.

K12 Human Odyssey
3 years of texts to go through all of World History; geared for older middle school, but it looks like a strong 5th grade can handle it (I believe it is secular, but I linked via Christian Book Distributors because that was the only place I could get you a "look inside" option 😉 

The World in Ancient Times; Oxford University Press series
2 years -- Ancients; Medieval/Early Modern; gr. 5-9 level; need about 5-6 books per year; each book is around 170-190 pages and focuses on a specific area of the world;. There is also a teacher guide to go with each, so you can add "output" of discussion, writing, or activities.

Ancients:
The Early Human World (pre-history)
The Ancient Near Eastern World (Mesopotamia, Sumer, Assyria)
The Ancient South Asian World (India)
The Ancient Chinese World
The Ancient American World
The Ancient Egyptian World
The Ancient Greek World
The Ancient Roman World

Medieval & Early Modern World:
The European World, 400-1450
The African and Middle Eastern World, 600-1500
An Age of Voyages, 1350-1600
An Age of Empires, 1200-1750
An Age of Science and Revolutions, 1600-1800

[Momto6inIN]

I found Human Odyssey Vol 1 + a book list to be great for my 5th grader and easy for me to implement! She read and wrote a one paragraph summary once a week on something of interest to her from her reading. Some were read alouds and some were on her own. If you're interested in my book list, let me know 🙂

[Cake and Pi]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

So, do I have this right?
...

If I have all of that correct, it seems like all the weight goes towards doing Ancients/World History next year, and the only thing holding you up is needing a secular program or spine textbook... Ideas:

Yep, you pretty much summed it up, with the one additional reason to do American history being that DS 12 will be doing it. -- my thought here is that he'll be subjected to DS 10's and DS 8's read-alouds and audiobooks regardless, so it would indirectly benefit DS 12 for DS 10 and DS 8 to do American history...?

But I think you're right. I just need to figure out world history. Thank you for the resource list!

1 hour ago, Momto6inIN said:

I found Human Odyssey Vol 1 + a book list to be great for my 5th grader and easy for me to implement! She read and wrote a one paragraph summary once a week on something of interest to her from her reading. Some were read alouds and some were on her own. If you're interested in my book list, let me know 🙂

Yes, please! I'd love it if you'd share your book list.

[SereneHome]

I know totally off topic but it's so interesting to me that people are ditching Hakim's The Story of US. We are doing level 5 BYL and I really like Hakim's book.

[Momto6inIN]

10 hours ago, SereneHome said:

I know totally off topic but it's so interesting to me that people are ditching Hakim's The Story of US. We are doing level 5 BYL and I really like Hakim's book.

I love Hakim for middle school US History too! I use that for 8th grade though and do all 4 concise volumes in 1 year.

[Momto6inIN]

11 hours ago, Cake and Pi said:

Yes, please! I'd love it if you'd share your book list.

Lots of fairy tales and myths from around the world, some historical fiction, a few biographies. It looks like a long list but with reading 45 min/day she had no problem getting through it. Some were harder for her at 5th grade and I don't know if she caught all the details, but I like throwing in a challenge here and there. Some were super easy and she read them in a few minutes, but were still fun. I did not even attempt to correlate them with the Human Odyssey reading, just gave her the list and told her to cross them off as she read them.

Tales of Ancient Egypt
Casting the Gods Adrift
D'Aulaire's Greek Myths
Black Ships Before Troy
The Wanderings of Odysseus
In Search of a Homeland
Famous Men of Greece
Percy Jackson
Hittite Warrior
Tales from Africa
Twenty Jataka Tales
Magical Monkey King
Herodotus and the Road to History
Archimedes and the Door to Science
The Bronze Bow
Famous Men of Rome
Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
Tales of King Arthur and His Knights
Anna of Byzantium
1001 Arabian Nights
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
The Single Shard
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
A Samurai's Tale
Heart of a Samurai
Call It Courage
Nordic Gods and Heroes
Celtic Fairy Tales
Girl in a Cage
Castle
Crispin, Cross of Lead
A Door in the Wall
Adam of the Road
If All the Swords in England
Robin Hood
The Magna Charta
The Trumpeter of Krakow
Joan of Arc
Midnight Magic
Adventure of Don Quixote
Famous Men of the Middle Ages

Edited April 13, 2020 by Momto6inIN
Eta forgot these: Gilgamesh the Hero, Just So Stories, Aesop's Fables, I Am the Great Horse

[smarson]

I think Bookshark Level G is also Ancients?

https://www.bookshark.com/level-6/reading-with-history/reading-with-history-6/

 

Wow, that booklist for Human Odyssey Vol 1 booklist looks fantastic!

[Janeway]

I definitely think you need to do Ancients next year. Since older child is doing it online, there is little benefit to lining them up. And since they both want to do ancients, there is a ton of benefit to doing ancients.