Using SOTW 2 and Human Odyssey vol. 1

[happynurse]

Next year I will have a 6th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader homeschooling. I am planning to do SOTW 2 with everyone together, but have been looking for a way to "beef up" the material for my oldest. (Is this even necessary? He's very bright, but still quite immature and doesn't love school.) I found a cheap used copy of Human Odyssey vol. 1 and wondered if anyone has found a successful way to merge the two curricula for an older student? Thanks!

[Miss Tick]

I had a couple spreadsheets that rearranged the K12HO readings so that they roughly matched the SoTW chapters. That kept everyone in the same era and geographical location. It also helped pace history and highlighted some HO gaps. Most of the middle grade reading was done independently, but every three chapters or so we would all get together to populate timelines and discuss what everyone had read. Mostly this was me reminding them of the key points of different events.

I didn't do a lot of "beefing up" of history at any point because I enjoy the discussions and it was important to our home school to thoroughly cover history, but none of my dc were really enthusiastic. If I'm going to cheerlead people along in a subject day in and day out it is going to be math.

 

[happynurse]

55 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

I had a couple spreadsheets that rearranged the K12HO readings so that they roughly matched the SoTW chapters. That kept everyone in the same era and geographical location. It also helped pace history and highlighted some HO gaps. 

 

Thank you! You don't happen to have those spreadsheets anymore, by chance? 😅

[Miss Tick]

I do. If you pm me your email I'd be happy to send them to you.

[EKS]

I honestly think that SOTW is completely inappropriate for kids over age 10.  If the sixth grader wants to listen in, I'd certainly let him, but I'd definitely focus on HO with him (HO is thoroughly excellent, btw!).  And I wouldn't really try to align anything, especially if he has already gone through one history rotation.

Edited May 8, 2023 by EKS

[Not_a_Number]

12 minutes ago, EKS said:

I honestly think that SOTW is completely inappropriate for kids over age 10.  If the sixth grader wants to listen in, I'd certainly let him, but I'd definitely focus on HO with him (HO is thoroughly excellent, btw!).  And I wouldn't really try to align anything, especially if he has already gone through one history rotation.

I only have a sample with gifted kids, but my gifted 6-year-old found SOTW too simple. So I wouldn't be surprised if you were right. 

[EKS]

Just now, Not_a_Number said:

I only have a sample with gifted kids, but my gifted 6-year-old found SOTW too simple. So I wouldn't be surprised if you were right. 

It stuns me that there are people who use SOTW with high schoolers.

[Momto6inIN]

Who else is a college educated adult who learned a crap ton about history from listening to SoTW cds with their kids?

*sheepishly raises hand*

Disclaimer: I wouldn't consider it appropriate to use it for a high schooler either. But I'd bet money that the majority of people in the US could learn a lot from Story of the World.

Anyway, OP - I would just give your 6th grader Human Odyssey and not worry about lining it up with the younger kids. Although I do really, reall like Miss Tick's idea of doing timelines and discussion together.

[HomeAgain]

18 hours ago, EKS said:

It stuns me that there are people who use SOTW with high schoolers.

Right. So....I took a college level history class. To complete my work, I used SOTW and HO.  They were a rather well done introduction to the material and broke down more complicated stories so I could then make connections with the primary sources I brought in and work more with the intended topic.  My college textbook was poorly done.  It was very wordy without saying anything of substance. 

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with using SOTW with high schoolers.  I think how it's done, what accompanies it, makes all the difference.

 

That aside...if I was trying to beef up a middle schooler's work, I would use Creek Edge Press task cards.  They do not match up completely with SOTW, but enough so that both books could be used as source material to complete the assignments more independently. Plus, we found the assignments were easily tailored.  My kid hated to do collages (one thing that came up a few times).  Instead, he created Powerpoint presentations or digital posters.

[EKS]

8 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Right. So....I took a college level history class. To complete my work, I used SOTW and HO.  They were a rather well done introduction to the material and broke down more complicated stories so I could then make connections with the primary sources I brought in and work more with the intended topic.  My college textbook was poorly done.  It was very wordy without saying anything of substance. 

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with using SOTW with high schoolers.  I think how it's done, what accompanies it, makes all the difference.

I stand by my statement.  SOTW is a work for children.  I would not use it as a spine for high school unless there were special needs involved.  K12 actually has a high school version of the Human Odyssey that I would use with a high schooler if Ways of the World weren't appropriate for that particular student.

As for a college textbook being poorly done, I'd argue that most textbooks are poorly done, college or otherwise.  It's as though they don't think that they're actually trying to communicate with anyone.  

[Not_a_Number]

I mean, my history is AWFUL -- I'm not at all a history buff -- so I'm sure that if I retained the information in SOTW, I'd know more history. But I had the same problem as my kids, which was that I founded it overly simplistic, which made it very hard for me to engage with it. I imagine an older kid might have the same problem.