Middle School History Options

[Nm.]

What have you done and liked for middle school history. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Lovinglife123

[Nm.]

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Edited January 11, 2023 by Lovinglife123

[ScoutTN]

K12 Human Odyssey was a hit here. A good step up from SOTW, but still has a nice narrative text. Inexpensive hardbacks available used. We added library books, both lit and non-fiction. Dd did a written narration or some sort of history based writing once a week. 
 

We used a combo of Veritas and SOTW for younger years. 

[wendyroo]

We have used the Oxford University Press books for Ancient and Medieval & Early Modern World. I read them aloud to all my kids (K - 6th).

At the same time, my 6th grade did Choose Your Own Adventure history.

Each week DS read a page or two of Kingfisher as the spine (I just decided how much I want to cover over the year and divided it by the number of weeks).  He also completed a MapTrek map if there was an applicable one.

Then, he was expected to spend an hour, split up however he wanted, reading/watching associated supplementary materials.  I pulled together a wide variety of choices: SOTW, A History of the World in 100 Objects, TedEd videos, Letters of Note, Mapping World History, Timeline of Everything, Great Courses lectures, Mammoth book of How it Happened, Visual History of the World, and Human Odyssey.

This put the onus of finding related materials on him; he had to figure out how the books were organized, use the index, think about what terms to search for, etc.  It also gave him a lot of freedom to learn more about his particular areas of interest...be it warfare, art, technology, etc.

At the end of the week, he added events and people he read about to his timeline, and made Anki flashcards of all the main ideas he learned (this growing deck of cards gets continually reviews along with all his other Anki cards on a daily basis).

Every few weeks we paused and he completed a Reading Like a Historian Lesson.

[Sneezyone]

We used Hakim and supplemental resources. I made my own tests. I bought a set of recommended activities/tests to match the books but found that they were ideologically incompatible with my teaching emphases. 
 

We read and discussed each chapter, did some map/timeline work, then tested. It’s still youngest’s favorite subject.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Sneezyone

[Guest]

We put together history courses using books from the Lucent World HIstory series (or similar history series). It's a series you can find at your local library. Each book is ~ 80-100 pages, focused on one topic like "The Italian Renaissance," or the "French Revolution." We do 5-6 of those books per year. Some of the books we wanted were not carried by our library. I purchased those very inexpensively through abebooks.com.

During our ancients year, we are doing books on Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient China, Africa, and the Persian Empire.  During our early modern year, we did books on the Renaissance, Reformation, Elizabethan England, French Revolution, Scientific Revolution, Napoleonic Era. During our modern year, we did books on WW1, The Communist revolution in Russia, WW2, the communist revolution in China + cultural revolution, and Cold War. I also added primary sources (where possible) and literature related to the topic/time.

One kid reads and outlines the chapter, then writes from the outline. The other kid read and made info graphics for each chapter.

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by WTM

[LauraClark]

We're using SOTW and adding in kingfisher. I also read The Story of the World by MB Synge, which, I feel like, is a little bit of a deeper read.

[HomeAgain]

My oldest enjoyed Learning Adventures with a side of Jackdaws.  LA is an all-in-one program for 4-8th, so it's a little light for a middle schooler.  He really liked the books, though, and we pulled assignments for each unit from a corresponding Jackdaw.

My youngest used K12's Human Odyssey with MarionBrady's World HIstory program (one year) and Reading Like A Historian (one year).  I built him a program incorporating these, Hakim's Story of Science, Math Stories From Long Ago, Outrageous Women of ____ Times (Leon), and literature books.

[EKS]

K12's Human Odyssey is truly excellent.  We just read it aloud and my kids wrote about what was interesting and/or important.

[Helpdesk]

This article from our FAQ tells you how you can "level-up" SOTW for middle-school students.  

 

[Miss Tick]

We did K12 Human Odyssey and I shuffled the pages and sections to match it up with SoTW which my youngest was going through. That way other reading, activities, and timeline work matched up.

[SilverMoon]

We really liked Oh Freedom for US history, Build Your Library level 7 for world geography, and Build Your Library level 8 for history of science. 

My current 6th grader is doing a diy prehistory/evolution course this year that he's really, really enjoyed. We are planning on BYL 7 next year, unless he gets another sudden, strong interest. 

[Green Bean]

We used the Mill’s book studies from Memoria Press.

 

[cintinative]

17 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

K12 Human Odyssey was a hit here. A good step up from SOTW, but still has a nice narrative text. Inexpensive hardbacks available used. We added library books, both lit and non-fiction. Dd did a written narration or some sort of history based writing once a week. 

We used these in combination with OUP's World in Ancient Times, and Medieval and Early Modern World series, but the K12 books really are good on their own  https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/w/the-world-in-ancient-times-wat/?cc=us&lang=en&

https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/m/medieval-and-early-modern-world-memw/?cc=us&lang=en&

ETA: we did them as read alouds

 

ETA2: I created a high school US history course using K12 Human Odyssey Vol 3 plus some other OUP Pages in History books and part of K12 American Odyssey for my oldest

Edited January 11, 2023 by cintinative

[Momto6inIN]

Another vote for K12 Human Odyssey

[goldenecho]

For middle school because were were taking part in a district program we actually used their textbook (which wasn't bad...and I wish I could remember the name.)  

To supplement  we used Science In the Ancient World and The Story of Science.  I only had the textbooks for each of those (didn't even realize SOS had a workbook with activities and such).   I would usually select passages from SOS to read because they did such a great job talking about the stories of the scientists and how their lives and discoveries fit into and changed their times. Then I would do an experiment from SITAW and read their explanation of the science related to that experiment (which was usually better than the SOS explanations...they did better talking about the impacts than what actually makes the science work).

Neither book is cheep, but since I have a science loving boy it was well worth it for me.

We also did some levels in The Science of Ancient Egypt by Dr. Daves Science on Teachers Pay Teachers, which is another one I recommend if you want to combine science and history.

Similarly, when did to the middle ages, we loved Experimenting With the Vikings (free unit study combining science with study of Viking history).
http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/res00001940/experiment-with-the-vikings?cmpid=CMP00006331

[lulalu]

We are using k12 Human Odyssey. I really like it, and DS likes it too! 

[Green Bean]

8 hours ago, lulalu said:

We are using k12 Human Odyssey. I really like it, and DS likes it too! 

How are you using this? Anyone made outline maps? Fill in outline? Questions?

Edited January 15, 2023 by Green Bean

[lulalu]

2 hours ago, Green Bean said:

How are you using this? Anyone made outline maps? Fill in outline? Questions?

We are just reading and doing an oral or written narration. And lots of field trips added in. 

[cintinative]

21 hours ago, Green Bean said:

How are you using this? Anyone made outline maps? Fill in outline? Questions?

Answered this on the other thread.  😃

[Momto6inIN]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:23 AM, Green Bean said:

How are you using this? Anyone made outline maps? Fill in outline? Questions?

I have the readings separated out into sections and after their reading each day they are supposed to : (1) find the location on a map or a globe, (2) enter any relevant dates into their timeline book, and (3) write down several important facts from their reading in a notebook.

In addition, for volume 1, which we use in 5th grade, once every couple weeks they write a simple outline of a section of their choice. For voume 2 in 6th, they write a more detailed outline of a section of their choice. For volume 3 in 7th, they write a summary with a clear topic statement and supporting details of a section of their choice.

In 7th they also write a simple informational report on nationalism in the early 1900s, a simple cause/effect report on the resolutions of WWI and WWII, and a simple compare/contrast report on colonialism, imperialism, totalitarianism, and fascism. My kids aren't typically ready for real analysis and essay writing in 7th, but these simple imformational reports on the big themes of the 1900s are within their abilities.