Need History Ideas

[joannqn]

This is the first year, I've actually used a history curriculum. Prior to this year, I deluded myself into thinking I could teach history on my own. Big mistake for many reasons.

 

So, I picked SOTW volume 1. It looked good. It looked like what I wanted. Chronological and with an AG that included lots of projects to make it interesting.

 

My kids don't like history and I feel like they aren't retaining any of it...even 30 minutes after they read it. Our history currently consists of reading the chapter, answering the narration questions verbally, coloring the coloring page, and doing the map page. My kids don't enjoy the reading and hate coloring anything, I have a hard time finding the AG's suggested reading at our library; they don't have most of the books listed. We don't currently have the money to spend on supplies for the activities, even minimal supplies.

 

What do I do? How can I make it more interesting and help them retain the information?

 

I do have some funds available through our virtual school that would allow me to purchase nonreligious items that are sold through an online vendor who accepts school purchase orders. I'm not sure if I can order from amazon as the school has had problems with them. I know for sure that I can't order from third party vendors at amazon. I have about $400 maximum available.

[Michelle My Bell]

I do use a lot of living books & easy non-fiction books for history. We keep it light at the start of a topic to get the interest going. Then we add in some living-movies (my own term) to help bring a deeper understanding. For instance, we have been studying the civil rights movement and we have watched these movies: Ruby Bridges, Selma Lord Selma & The Rosa Parks story. They LOVED these films.

 

Then we proceeded to read more indepth books now that their interests were raised. As we read we do mini-projects. For instance my daughter wrote a page on Ruby Bridges, printed out pictures for the Internet and we pasted them on her project board. We also started the project board with a timeline across the bottom of all the topics I wanted to cover in this unit.

 

My older daughter is studying the 1930's, so she made a pretend radio out of carboard to look like a tombstone radio from the 30's and she checked out radio broadcast tapes of the 30's from the library to be played by a real radio inside the fake radio during our presentation night.

 

They work on projects like this and present them at their Unit Celebration.

 

Michelle

 

PS I ended up posting on my blog about this with pictures if you want a more thorough explaination. Just click the link below.

Edited January 27, 2009 by Michelle My Bell

[PeterPan]

Go to http://www.veritaspress.com and select $400 in books and kits. Yup, you could blow that in no time flat. Or correlate their lists and buy from Sonlight and Rainbow Resource. My dd LOVES history but hates coloring. She especially likes reading historical fiction, which you'll find a lot of in the VP listings.

[joannqn]

I've visited the Veritas Press website a few times and can't figure out what you are suppose to buy. It looks like everything is cut into chunks. Which chunks would I include if I was trying to cover the equivalent of SOTW Volume 1? It also seems if all of the ancient history resources are listed as second grade. Would these be suitable for an advanced 4th grader too?

 

And, I hate to ask this, how Christian is the material? The school cannot purchase religious curriculum.

[PeterPan]

If you request a catalog from VP, it will make a lot more sense. Also, do you have catalogs from Sonlight and Rainbow Resource?

 

Now as far as VP, they put all the resources for the OT/Ancient Egypt time period under the 2nd gr listings, all the resources for NT/Greece and Rome under the 3, the Middle Ages under the 4th, etc. However the materials listed range from easy (below that grade) to upper level (junior high). When you click on them, you'll see symbols indicating this, and those symbols are more clear in the printed catalog. They have spine/information books, historical fiction, and projects and kits (coloring books, kits, etc.). The stuff is well-selected and tends to be the best of the best. You'd be happy with anything you bought from them.

[sted]

Joanna,

 

Do you mind if I ask you if you are a Christian? Why are you accepting funds for books from the government when you can't purchase Christian content? I'm not trying to judge you but just something to consider. Why do homeschoolers "sell out" to the gov't for money? Isn't it the same reason that we pulled our kids from the public system - you couldn't talk about your faith?

 

Just my two cents,

Shannon

[PeterPan]

Joanna,

 

Do you mind if I ask you if you are a Christian? Why are you accepting funds for books from the government when you can't purchase Christian content? I'm not trying to judge you but just something to consider. Why do homeschoolers "sell out" to the gov't for money? Isn't it the same reason that we pulled our kids from the public system - you couldn't talk about your faith?

 

Just my two cents,

Shannon

 

Here in Ohio we have a significant cyber and charter school movement. The state gives the company the money per student, and the student enrolls, which is legally considered public school, not homeschool. The parent gets curriculum, often a computer, internet access, teacher supervisor, andsometimes cash to chose things they want (non-religious). As you say, there is controversy involved and people have opinions. I just point all this out in case Shannon isn't familiar with it. I'm not saying it's what I want to do, but it's what some people are doing.

[Carrie12345]

Joanna,

 

Do you mind if I ask you if you are a Christian? Why are you accepting funds for books from the government when you can't purchase Christian content? I'm not trying to judge you but just something to consider. Why do homeschoolers "sell out" to the gov't for money? Isn't it the same reason that we pulled our kids from the public system - you couldn't talk about your faith?

 

Just my two cents,

Shannon

 

I don't understand where the assumption that all Christians who homeschool do so b/c of the separation of church and state.

Which is totally off topic, so I shouldn't have said anything.

 

On topic, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry SOTW doesn't seem to be working out for you, Joanna. My kids ADORE it, and I'm so glad they do. I have absolutely no idea what I would do otherwise!:confused:

[joannqn]

This virtual school is the best of both worlds and worth being a part of.

 

I can teach anything I want, using curriculum I want, using the methods I want, etc. They do not dictate what I can and cannot do. I provide them with a student learning plan of my choice. The kids write a couple of sentences to their teacher each week telling her what they learned in one subject. I write a monthly progress report. The school provides our annual testing requirement. I'd have to test annually anyway; I just don't have to pay for it anymore. As long as my children test above the 25th percentile and we complete our check ins, they leave us alone.

 

In return, they provide us with $1200 per student to spend on curriculum, supplies, classes, and field trips related to our learning plan. They are quite lenient on how we spend it but they cannot, by law, buy religious curriculum. They don't stop me from using religious curriculum but they can't pay for it. We are free to buy any curriculum we want out of pocket and can count the non-religious portions towards our official school time. The religious portions would be done "on our own time." I use a religious science curriculum. The reality is that when we are learning about primates we can count the anatomy, behavior, location, etc as official school time. The few minutes that it takes to read the "creation confirmation" sections don't count. However, the school doesn't ask for a minute-by-minute counting of our time so it really doesn't affect anything at all. We simply report that we learned about primates.

 

The problem I have now is that I don't have the money to buy ANYTHING out of pocket right now. However, I do have $400 available to buy through the school. It's better than nothing.

 

Why did I sell out? Because without the school's help, I'd have no curriculum. There'd be no language arts, math, SOTW, health, or logic. Without the school's help, my son would have no taekwondo as the school pays for his lessons and testing fees. The school gives my children opportunities (in the form of classes and field trips) that they'd never have otherwise because we simply can't afford them.

 

My husband made $2330 the month before last and $1440 last month. Our mortgage is $1282, our electric is $155, our heat is $230, etc. How do you suppose I pay for curriculum, paper, pens, coloring pencils, taekwondo, field trips, etc.?

 

ETA: While our finances have always been tight, they've only recently become this bad. It's a temporary problem but a problem nevertheless. I simply cannot buy anything right now and am grateful I have at least some options from the school. Even with everything else on hold, at least my children's schooling doesn't have to be on hold too.

Edited January 28, 2009 by joannqn

[joannqn]

I don't understand where the assumption that all Christians who homeschool do so b/c of the separation of church and state.

Which is totally off topic, so I shouldn't have said anything.

 

On topic, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry SOTW doesn't seem to be working out for you, Joanna. My kids ADORE it, and I'm so glad they do. I have absolutely no idea what I would do otherwise!:confused:

 

Thank you Carrie.

 

We do not homeschool because of separation of church and state. I would have no problem with my kids attending school IF they tailored the curriculum and teaching methods to each child's needs, could assure the children's physical safety, provided adequate discipline, and quit teaching moral relativity.

[sted]

Joanne,

I don't mean to pick a fight. I definately know some people don't homeschool for religious reasons but it sounds like you do (at least as one of your reasons). I live in Alberta, Canada and this is a big issue here.

 

I'm just curious, if you are using the WTM method, how do you sync that up with a state-approved curriculum from a virtual school? It seems to me the classical method is quite different than the public school curriculum. I was just curious. Does this cause you alot of hassle? Do you just use a virtual school for certain subjects, not history? We find people who use blended homeschooling here tend to feel such pressure to keep up with the public school kids, it causes them to give up and send their kids back to school. Are you free to choose the curriculum and methods that you feel are best for you kids?

 

Thanks for your reply,

Shannon

[iamrachelle]

We do not homeschool because of separation of church and state. I would have no problem with my kids attending school IF they tailored the curriculum and teaching methods to each child's needs, could assure the children's physical safety, provided adequate discipline, and quit teaching moral relativity.

 

Well said.

[Lovedtodeath]

JoAnn, do you have an encyclopedia with plenty of pictures? I know I would get nothing out of SOTW without that.

 

The virtual school sounds great! I want in on it.

[SherryTX]

I thumbed through The Story of The World at a local education/book store. While there is a lot of good information there, I don't think it covers what I want to cover with my 9 year old daughter.

 

However, I really love the classical method - what we are doing is using Asimov's Chronology of The World, starting at the beginning (15 Billion years back!) and going through each section, supplementing with other books and sources. This is a work in progress, but with using that as a guide, some education videos (NOVA, Discovery/Planet Earth, etc.) as well as articles, we are putting together what I think my daughter will be interested in.

 

It is a lot of work. However, I have found that a lot of the home schooling texts for history and science don't have what we want to cover. Also, my daughter has Asperger's so we have to keep in mind her learning style as we prepare each week's lessons.

 

Hopefully this will work out for her - we have just started, I think we have a good plan for the next few months. We expect to have her up to 500 BC by March or April or so, if not sooner. Right now, this means integrated history/science, so we are covering cosmology, astronomy and basic plant/life sciences during these time periods. Of course, since she is only 9 years old, it is more of a basic over view at this point. We are aligning her art lessons with this as well, which means we will get to cave drawings pretty soon, hahah!

 

I feel for you - not all curriculum's are right for all kids (which is something I really appreciate the author of TWTM pointing out in the beginning of the book). I realize that you may not be interested in going back in history as we are, but please be assured that you can get some great information from your library, as well as online and used book stores.

[mamaof2andtwins]

I am curious why your children dislike the reading. When we began SOTW my son the oldest was in 4th grade. All of a sudden my kids started to love history. We didn't actually use a history program before then. Now they are going back through their second cycle of history, and I am finding they are remembering a lot of what we read about back when they were younger.

 

I am also curious about what you are expecting them to retain. Are you looking for them to remember dates and people or just general ideas? When my children finished there first round of history they really came away with the big picture of how greed leads to the development of empires. They learned that empires don't last. Eventually, they all weaken and crumble. I have been very please with SOTW. I know that not every curriculum is for everyone, but I was just wondering about your expectations.

 

Have a good day.

Jennie

[joannqn]

I'm just curious, if you are using the WTM method, how do you sync that up with a state-approved curriculum from a virtual school? It seems to me the classical method is quite different than the public school curriculum. I was just curious. Does this cause you alot of hassle? Do you just use a virtual school for certain subjects, not history? We find people who use blended homeschooling here tend to feel such pressure to keep up with the public school kids, it causes them to give up and send their kids back to school. Are you free to choose the curriculum and methods that you feel are best for you kids?

 

Thanks for your reply,

Shannon

 

 

Yes, we are free to choose any curriculum and methods we wish. We are not required to follow any sequence either. At the beginning of the school year, I write each child's learning plan for the year. That tells the school what we will be covering for the year. Each week, my children email their teacher a few sentences about what we've done that week. Usually the teacher will ask them a question such as "what have you learned in science this week". They reply something along the lines of "In science, we learned about primates. I also read a book about Jane Goodall." We are free to answer her question or write about something else entirely which we will usually do if we took an interesting field trip they want to share. Each month, I write a few sentences telling the teacher what we covered in each subject. We are also required to do school (very loosely defined) a certain number of hours each week. Reporting that time is as simple as telling them that yes, we did do school that many hours. They do not ask for a log of hours, just a yes or no is fine. As long as the weekly emails and monthly reports show that we are making progress towards the learning plan I wrote, they are happy. I am also free to make changes to our learning plan at any time.

 

As far as curriculum choices goes, I am free to use any curriculum I choose. However, the school is limited as to what they can buy. If the curriculum I wish to use is religious, the school cannot buy it for me but I am free to purchase it myself. Whether you can use the curriculum for your required hours confuses some people. In speaking with several people at the school, including the principal, I understand the rules can be applied in the most liberal sense. Any portion of a curriculum that is not specifically religious can be counted. Any portion of the curriculum that specifically teaches religious concepts cannot be counted. Bible study cannot be counted in any way but can be done "on our own time". For example, we learned about primates. Any time we spent learning about the anatomy, behavior, habitat, etc. of primates can be counted. Any time we spent discussing God's purpose for creating primates or how their design confirms a creationists viewpoint cannot be counted. So, for each hour of science, we may only be able to count 50 minutes of it. Practically, it is much simpler than that as the school doesn't ask for a log of minutes. We report that we learned about primates. We do not report that we used a religious curriculum to learn that the genetics found in primates confirms that the world was created by God. See the difference? Again, I confirmed that this was acceptable to the school. In fact, last year I used Konos (an unapproved curriculum). In my learning plan, I used the curriculum name in several places. Their only request was that I removed the name of the curriculum from the learning plan; they did not ask me to change what we were learning or what curriculum we were using.

 

As far as those required hours are concerned, they are just as easy to meet requirements. The most you'll be required to do is 25 hours a week. What is counted as school is very flexible, making it very easy to meet that time. I can count any school subject (except Bible), chores, cooking, taking care of little brother, field trips, riding bikes outside, playing at the park, taekwondo, coloring, watching videos, independent reading, computer games, constructing with Legos, playing on the Wii, crafts, etc. I even wrote socializing with people of all ages into my kids' learning plan. It all counts as school. Again, I don't have to give a log of how we spent each minute.

 

Things do become a pain if your child becomes flagged for not making progress. Your child will be flagged if they miss too many weekly contacts, you don't submit your monthly progress report, you are clearly not progressing towards your goals, or your child scores below the 25th percentile on assessment testing. If your child is flagged, you need to provide a log of your time and explain how you are going to bring them back up to speed. Personally, if my child were to become flagged, I'd just dis-enroll them. However, both my children are at least one grade level ahead and score very well on assessments so I have no concerns.

 

I'm sure you'll see that this particular school is very easy to work with. I am not strictly a classical homeschooler, I'm more eclectic to better fit my kids' needs. However, a strictly classical homeschooler would find our virtual academy very easy to work with.

 

There is another virtual academy in our state that I would never use as they provide you with K-12 curriculum which you must use and are very strict on other reporting requirements (ie. a field trip day is an absent day because you didn't do your assigned lessons in the curriculum). That school is what most people think of when they think of a virtual school.

[joannqn]

I am curious why your children dislike the reading. When we began SOTW my son the oldest was in 4th grade. All of a sudden my kids started to love history. We didn't actually use a history program before then. Now they are going back through their second cycle of history, and I am finding they are remembering a lot of what we read about back when they were younger.

 

I am also curious about what you are expecting them to retain. Are you looking for them to remember dates and people or just general ideas? When my children finished there first round of history they really came away with the big picture of how greed leads to the development of empires. They learned that empires don't last. Eventually, they all weaken and crumble. I have been very please with SOTW. I know that not every curriculum is for everyone, but I was just wondering about your expectations.

 

Have a good day.

Jennie

 

They just find the reading boring.

 

My expectations are pretty low when I compare them to what I see from many on this board. I don't expect dates at all. However, I would like to see them able to answer the narration questions in the AG immediately after they read the selection. I know that they aren't seeing the big picture as your described. I don't tend to see the big picture like that unless it is pointed out to me.

 

I think SOTW works ok but is lacking for us. It would be great IF I did the reading aloud, knew history enough to be able to add explanation to what is written when they had a question, and we had the money to do some of the activities. However, my own history knowledge for anything before the 1920s is nonexistent and we haven't been able to do an activity in several months. I just don't have the money for the necessary supplies. It would be lovely if there was a kit available with the supplies needed for each chapter that I could purchase online. If the vendor selling that kit accepted purchase orders, the school would buy it and have it shipped to me. As it stands now, we read the selection, color the coloring page (they hate coloring), and fill in the map. There is nothing added to make it fun or memorable.

[Lovedtodeath]

Isn't there anyone out there that has had to find a solution to this for their own children?

 

Joanne, have you looked at VP?

 

I would probably look into some schools that are more traditional and see what they offer for history. Maybe a cut and dry "just the facts" would work better for your DC. I can list some secular schools for you if you think it would help.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Lovedtodeath

[mamaof2andtwins]

They just find the reading boring.

 

My expectations are pretty low when I compare them to what I see from many on this board. I don't expect dates at all. However, I would like to see them able to answer the narration questions in the AG immediately after they read the selection. I know that they aren't seeing the big picture as your described. I don't tend to see the big picture like that unless it is pointed out to me.

 

I think SOTW works ok but is lacking for us. It would be great IF I did the reading aloud, knew history enough to be able to add explanation to what is written when they had a question, and we had the money to do some of the activities. However, my own history knowledge for anything before the 1920s is nonexistent and we haven't been able to do an activity in several months. I just don't have the money for the necessary supplies. It would be lovely if there was a kit available with the supplies needed for each chapter that I could purchase online. If the vendor selling that kit accepted purchase orders, the school would buy it and have it shipped to me. As it stands now, we read the selection, color the coloring page (they hate coloring), and fill in the map. There is nothing added to make it fun or memorable.

 

Ah, perhaps this is the difference. I have read SOTW aloud to my children from the beginning. I will also make a confession. I am a certified social studies teacher, and I learned a lot from SOTW because the emphasis is so strong on American history in our schools. I think my kids were most amused by me trying to pronounce names especially in ancient history. For them this was a pleasant cuddly time, and they really enjoyed it. I am thinking that this is what made it memorable for my kids.

 

I did not use many of the activities at all. I did get books out of the library. I would sometimes read the books to the kids, but often I put them on the table and they picked them up on their own. If they didn't I would tell them to all pick one book and read it. My goal in the grammar stage was merely exposure. Now we need more. My kids didn't mind the coloring until they got older and then found it to be a waste of time. My son really likes maps, so that was fun for him. The girls don't seem to get the same thrill out of them.

 

I also gave points for each question that my kids got right when we reviewed, and then I gave them a penny per point. It was a bit of a competition. No one felt bad. Some times I helped the little ones out A LOT just so they had some points. I used the question in the AG

 

I hope you can find a way to make this work for your family.

 

Jennie

[usetoschool]

So what kinds of things do your kids enjoy? What is memorable for them? Is it the text of SOTW or reading out loud in general? Do they like pictures, words, workbooks, hearing it, seeing it? What gets them totally jazzed (or as jazzed as kids get about school sometimes)? Maybe telling us what they would love and working backwards might bring up some ideas of curriculum or methods we have used that they might like?