After story of the world?

[Ausmumof3]

What do you do.  Oldest is grade 8.  We have four more years but he will most likely go into an online school scenario for the last two years to help with getting into further education.  So realistically I only have two years - maybe not enough for a full history cycle.  I love the idea of the full SWB history of series but we won’t get through them and they may be a little long winded for him.

for the younger two (8 and 11) I have time for one more cycle and would like to keep them together but I’m not sure what to use this time round.  I have mystery of history but it doesn’t seem that good.  What else is out there?  I’m not really keen to design my own history course - we did one year of that and really I need external motivation of some kind to get us to do enough.

[Lori D.]

World Cultures/Geography + Comparative Religions for 8th grade & the youngers? 😄 -- that was such a fantasy break from History and great prep for high school

Otherwise... perhaps:

K12 Human Odyssey
Three 1-year texts to go through all of World History, which would fit the 3 years you have left to go through all of History again. Geared for older middle school, so probably just for your oldest student. No guide for questions/writing/activities, but you could develop your own ideas of whatever would work best for this student. Examples: make timeline, entries, a weekly narration, a short report (oral or written) on a topic of especial interest to the student from the reading, etc.

A Little History of the World (Gombrich)
Grade 5-9. Covers pre-History through atomic age (mid 20th-century) in 285 pages. So, all of world history in one year, which would give you 9th and 10th grades to pursue other topics...?
 

The World in Ancient Times; Oxford University Press series
Grade 5-9 level. Only goes from Ancients up into Medieval and Early Modern Times, so no Modern era. 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

For the younger students, this would only cover Ancients + Medieval, but it might be a fit for when you re-do those time periods:

Builders of the Old World (Gertrude Hartman)
Grades 5-7 level. Out of print (Amazon has 2 that are available for $20). Covers ancients through medieval in 450 pages. With line drawing illustrations. At the end of each chapter there are some built in extensions -- "talking together" (discussion questions, which could lead to a writing assignment); "interesting things to try" (activity ideas); "let's read" (list of related books that might be of interest); "quiz yourself" (matching & fill-in-blank questions); plus usually another option such as watching a history film, or mapping activity, or writing a summary, or making a bibliography...

Edited August 25, 2020 by Lori D.

[Slache]

Maybe think about what he'll do for the 2 years online and work back from there?

[Melissa in Australia]

for  high school I did different things for different kids

 I did some of Spievogel Western Civilization. I really liked this - I was more enthusiastic about this than my children I have to say

I tried SWB history of the world books, but they didn't work for us

the main thing I did was make a reading list of The Great Books - 8 books a year I think that tied into both the history year that we were up to and their interests sort of. So Oldest DS did science or math great books etc.

By year 10ish, we changed over to either Open University units or TAFE courses 

 

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My plan for after SOTW with a teen is another chronological history text to be read independently, while simultaneously doing some student-selected deep dives with Great Courses and associated reading chosen by me.  At this point, I know I'd like to do a deep dive in China's history and Russia's history with ds, since they are "big players" in current events.  

 

For my younger set, we'll probably just keep cycling SOTW, but I do have a second plan, it just depends on who combines with who, who is ready for deeper dives, etc.  The plan is similar to my plan for teens above, but instead of Great Courses, I'll have to find a middle-school appropriate book or video list- possibly the "World of ..." books by Foster.  

[Ausmumof3]

5 hours ago, Slache said:

Maybe think about what he'll do for the 2 years online and work back from there?

Well it will be up to him.  Most likely we will use open access (distance ed), and I think they have to do one math, one English rich and a research subject then free choice from there.  We may even do some prevoc stuff through tafe.  He’s not keen on uni/college so most likely will be looking at a trade of some description.  Maybe?  Dh is pushing him in that direction.  He tests well enough to study something better but he much prefers spending time making and building than reading and studying.

anyway,  all that aside the last two years won’t be something I have a lot of say in it will depend on career direction so it’s really just making sure we cover off on anything we should be covering before then.  

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

...he much prefers spending time making and building than reading and studying...

That sounds more like heading towards becoming an engineer or machinist or similar. 😄

In that case, I'd give serious thought to taking 8th grade as a break year from History/Social Studies and instead build a course around his making/building, and then maybe do a 2-year sweep through World History in 9th & 10th grades at his own level and pace, while younger siblings group together and work through a 4-year cycle at their own pace. Just a thought!

[happypamama]

We have done History Odyssey with the Human Odyssey books, Notgrass US history, and OUP's series that Lori linked above. 

 

My rising 10th grader is doing medieval using McKay's western civilization books and some other stuff I mashed up. He used all eight of OUP's ancients last year -- fairly easy reading but lots of detail, plus questions to answer. 

 

My rising 6th grader will be doing medieval using Kingfisher and OUP's medieval series, also somewhat mashed up with History Odyssey. 

[73349]

We did SOTW for grades 1-4, then did world geography for a year, and now I'm condensing into a 3-year cycle for grades 6-8.

For a high school student, you might consider other interesting social sciences,--psychology, economics, etc.

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, Lori D. said:

That sounds more like heading towards becoming an engineer or machinist or similar. 😄

In that case, I'd give serious thought to taking 8th grade as a break year from History/Social Studies and instead build a course around his making/building, and then maybe do a 2-year sweep through World History in 9th & 10th grades at his own level and pace, while younger siblings group together and work through a 4-year cycle at their own pace. Just a thought!

Sorry, to clarify he’s currently midway through grade 8 so I’m making plans for grade 9 that starts in jan/feb.  Just thinking ahead a bit.  We should finish story of the world by then.   Two year sweep is what I’m thinking I just don’t know what’s out there.  Working my way through looking at all the resources recommended here now.  So thank you.

I don’t think he’ll be an engineer as he doesn’t like math much (although he’s not too bad at it).  So most likely an electrician or something.  The only other thing he’s interested in is forestry or farm hand work. Dh thinks if he wants to do either of those he should do a trade first as they aren’t super reliable.  I would like to encourage him to do a forestry degree but I think dh has been part of the recruitment for his work and they have had so many four year science degree students applying for a basic apprenticeship that he thinks it’s a waste of time.