History Lessons by Topic or Theme

[Based on Faith Academy]

Good evening ladies and gents!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms 

Next year, I want to teach my dd history by topic. I want to cover one event  within one lesson plan. I'm currently using Abeka , but I feel there is too much information on so many different topics without allowing my dd to grasp each event or person. Any books or ideas you can throw my way to make this change next year? Anyone btdt?

Thank you in advance!

[Lori D.]

1. What about Crash Course History videos?
World History 42 videos, each about 12-15 min. long
U.S. History -- 48 videos, each about 12-15 min. long)

Watch the short video as your overview for the week, and spend the rest of the week digging into a few of the key people and events discussed in the video with additional resources -- websites, kid/teen magazines, historical fiction, excerpts from other. Watch documentaries and feature films to help visualize the people/events. Make a timeline that stretches down the hall to keep everything straight with a big visual. Have her make her own history notebook of what she is studying, where she can write down the connections she is making; sketch maps or images of items or people; jot down questions to research further. Or whatever best helps her learn/retain information.

2. Or, unit study-based materials allow you to immersively study one topic for a length of time. Konos is the "queen mother" (lol) of unit studies.

3. Or, it might just be a matter of wrestling the steering wheel away from the curricula so that YOU are driving the learning bus (and schedule), rather than your materials (and the printed schedule) driving the learning bus. What that would look like is continuing with your current materials, but slow down how many pages you cover, and do FAR fewer pages in a week than what is assigned so that you can take time to dig into all of the people and events with additional resources, along the lines of suggestion 1.
 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Lori D.

[....]

Yeah, this is what I was going to do this year.  It was going to look kinda like history unit studies.  I had a hard time putting my ideas into a plan, so I ended up buying Beautiful Feet in a panic.  I'm glad I bought BF, because now our library has been closed since March, so I guess, in hindsight, my panic worked in my favor.  lol.  But, normally, putting things together myself would've been fine.  I did that for years.

So, my thought was....say we wanted to study the American Revolution....I could choose some non-fiction books about the American Revolution (Landmark books or DK books or anything that looked interesting) and then choose a literature book that was either written during that time period or took place during the time period.  I could add Drive Thru History and maybe some documentaries or movies.  Then, I would have history + literature.  And it would be simple.  

I've done this before, so I know it works out great.  I just was weird about it this year and ended up buying BF.  I have one kid that just started college, 4 kids who are still homeschooling and a 5 year-old who is extremely needy.  So, I probably caved in and bought BF because I was overwhelmed.

But, yes, I agree with the fewer topics/spend more time versus the "cover as many topics as possible".  My kids don't remember anything when we do a sweeping study of 3 gazillion topics, either.  It feels like a waste of time.

 

[Based on Faith Academy]

These are great ideas. I love the Crash Course videos but wow he goes fast even for me.

I love the Beautiful Feet books, but I would prefer not to spend that amount on one subject. You are right though, it is a great idea that you did because of where we are with Covid-19 and how we can't even visit a library. I like the idea of integrating multiple subjects into one topic.

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Based on Faith Academy

[Lori D.]

23 minutes ago, Based on Faith Academy said:

These are great ideas. I love the Crash Course videos but wow he goes fast even for me.

You can slow down (or speed up) YouTube videos. And you can add subtitles so you can read the text of what's said while it's being said.

Click on the little white gear-shaped icon that is at the bottom right of the youTube video window, (along with a few other icons) which brings up a menu of options for changing your setting. Try changing the "playback" setting from "normal" to 0.75 -- so it plays 25% slower than normal speed. Also, try clicking on the "subtitles/CC" setting, and select your language of choice. So now you can see the text of what is being said at the same time you play it at a slower speed. 😉 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Lori D.

[Based on Faith Academy]

3 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

You can slow down YouTube videos, and you can add subtitles.

Click on the little white gear-shaped icon that is at the bottom right of the youTube video window, (along with a few other icons) which brings up a menu of options for changing your setting. Try changing the "playback" setting from "normal" to 0.75 -- so it plays 25% slower than normal speed. Also, try clicking on the "subtitles/CC" setting, and select your language of choice. So now you can see the text of what is being said at the same time you play it at a slower speed. 😉 

 

Obviously I am not tech savy. lol

Thank you so much! My brain actually had time to catch up with my ears.

[73349]

What about a big theme every month or quarter, and smaller units based on each?

• migration
• innovation
• freedom
• organization
• turmoil

etc.

[Lori D.]

On 5/11/2020 at 4:55 PM, Servant4Christ said:

You just taught me something I had no idea could be done. Slowing down the playback will help me a ton. Thank you!

Everything I know of technology, I learned from my DSs... 😉 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Lori D.

[....]

28 minutes ago, OKBud said:

Layers of Learning

https://layers-of-learning.com/

 

You're going to make me look at that again, aren't you?  😂  Like I needed another curriculum....