WWYD- History or Geography?

[charlotteb]

We started SOTW when ds was in 4th grade, doing volume 1. We will be finished at the end of 7th grade (next school year) with volume 4. I plan on using SWB's History of the Ancient World and the other volumes for high school. But what to do for his 8th grade year? Should I go ahead and start the History of the Ancient world a year early? DS loves history, so he would probably prefer that. But...I've also consided finding a good geography course for that year, as DS is a bit weak in that area. That would give the added benefit of him doing the history cycle once together in high school. So, what would you do?

[Chris in VA]

I would want another year of maturity under dc's belts before tackling the Ancients, because I like pairing literature with history. I'd either do some sort of project-based, "fun" thing, and concentrate more on getting writing skills up to high school level, getting math and science under control, doing logic, etc.--Or, do a year of geography and mix in some missionary studies or other Christian work. ymmv

[Tired_Mama]

I would probably start my history cycle over. I have younger kids, so my plan is once we've cycled through SOTW once we'll switch to Mystery of History which, to me, seems geared for older kids anyway (my young ones don't like it). FWIW, Mystery of History is on a five year cycle, not a four year, so that might be perfect for you (though it is unabashedly Christian, so that may not appeal to everyone).

 

As far as geography, we do a lot of that w/in our history study. Reading about the Arabian peninsula? Define and talk about what a peninsula is. Have a world map handy during every history lesson (my kids have one photocopied in the front of their history binders) and have your kids try to find other examples. At the beginning of each lesson we open to our world map and the kids point to where we live. I then ask them to find the region we'll be learning about. I first tell them which continent its on (they know those well) and then try and find the country. We never skip the map work in the Activity Book. I also have the kids take geography quizzes that I create (basically blank maps filling in continents and countries they should know based on our studies). Both kids are proficient map readers, both feel very comfortable finding more well-known countries on the world map, and both can define and identify basic geographical terms (island, peninsula, canal, river, legend, etc.). I find this works well. You could always take a look at a specific geography curriculum and slide it in w/your history study if you're not comfortable winging it, but I don't think it's necessary to take an entire year of of history to study just geography. Just my opinion, though. :)

[FloridaLisa]

I've never regretted taking a full year from our history cycle to study geography. It was one of the most fun, refreshing studies we've had. I used Mapping the World by Heart, added in the Runkles workbook, some other workbooks, lots of living books and hands-on projects. At the end of our study, my oldest 3 dc spent about 3 weeks creating maps by heart. They are gorgeous, keepsake treasures.

 

A full year of geography will lay an excellent foundation for all future studies in history, comparative government, current events and the like. In fact, I will be doing this geography class again this year with my 7th grader and his co-op colleagues.

 

HTH!

Lisa