Does anyone not follow the 4-year history cycle?

[Lovedtodeath]

I wish we could stick with the OP, rather than defending her mistake. I would appreciate not attacking Karen either; I don't think she meant any harm.

 

This thread has some good secular history info and I don't want that ruined for everyone.

 

I stand by this, though it was in response to a post that was edited into oblivion. I could have done the same and dropped the subject, but I was quoted, the other post was not.

 

Karen, I don't think you initially meant any harm, but I really wish you would knock it off. I know you were initially explaining your views and reasons for teaching the way that you do, but obviously people are offended. Don't you care about that? The general feeling of this board is to respect others beliefs and I feel like you are not doing that by pressing the issue. I understand why the bloodshed was necessary, and it will be again in the near future. My God is holy and all about justice. I feel that continuing to bring up your feelings on the matter is OT and confrontational.

 

To everyone else: Please stop addressing Karen's offensive posts so that she can feel free to drop it. (Definition: if people were offended, then it was an offensive post, intent nonwithstanding.)

Edited April 3, 2009 by Lovedtodeath

[sagira]

Interesting thread. To answer the OP, I will be following the general framework of a four-year cycle, but I'm willing to deviate from it for interests' sake. We're probably going to devote some extra time to British and American History along the way. Take it as it comes. Your children's interests may take you all in another direction for a while.

 

As to Karen, I think she's just a blunt speaker, but means well. I am not offended, but I guess fairly amused and impressed that someone would have the courage to express her views in this quite conservative Christian climate. However, I can see where people who believe there is only one way to think about our God would be.

 

I do agree (as a Christian) that our God used to be very violent and all of a sudden switches gears and gets all lovey dovey in the New Testament through Jesus of Nazareth. I know, I have studied the Bible and you can't sugarcoat the violence and raging temper of God in the Old Testament. He has also been good, of course, but to only those He/She considered worthy and abided by His strict rules. Why make us so weak that we can hardly obey Her commands?

 

I love God, but I don't believe necessarily that the same God of the Old Testament is the Benevolent, Compassionate, All-Knowing God that we know and love. Who knows? Like I read years ago and my mom told me, Maybe God grew up.

 

I don't think it's up to us to decide or pretend to have all the answers. The Old Testament may have been a way for people to explain and understand God when they didn't. A way to explain something they couldn't explain.

 

It is fascinating how Christianity has borrowed many elements of other ancient religions and older myths and legends.

 

Oh, and I'm sorry if this is offensive to anyone in any way. I'm generally not as blunt, but felt I had to write something. I won't write anything else on the matter.

Edited April 3, 2009 by sagira

[Lovedtodeath]

Just wondering what other options there are. I'm having a hard time finding secular resources for history so thought I would start looking outside the classical education box.

 

I am still not sure if you are looking for ancient times or middle ages. I am currently making my own secular program guide for ancients. It does schedule SOTW (which is why I didn't mention it before), but as I get more done I am realizing that the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World history is actually the spine. It might help you because it schedules age-appropriate readers and literature (with commentary and sometimes comprehension questions or narration) and has mapping, timelining and notebooking pages. The websites scheduled from Usborne are great. (Activities and projects as well, but you said you don't want those.) I'll be glad to email you a sample when I get to about week 5. The beginning was slow going because I needed to make a template for my maps and timelines, etc., but it is rolling along nicely now. It is based on TWTM model of one hour 3 days a week for history, and 20-30 minutes for corresponding reading on those days.

Edited April 3, 2009 by Lovedtodeath

[Karen in CO]

I was thinking about this last night when I was reading to my girls. Pause now for long unrelated story. My dd8 was reading book 2 from the Roman Mysteries series which she loves because she loves all things Ancient Rome, and I started to wonder why she loves Rome more than other time periods we have studied. She refused to let me read the chapters in SOTW where Rome falls and refers to Constantinople as "Can't-Stand-inople". She actually started loving ancient Rome when she started reading the Usborne Time Travelers on her own. She loved all of the little, detailed drawings and maps. She also loved making crafts for it, dressing up, and doing projects based on it. She doesn't like Juilius Caesar because she blames him as one of the major causes of the fall of the Republic which led to the eventual fall of the Empire.

 

Now back to the part that made me think of you.

You said your dd likes the Usborne books. Does she also like crafts? Maybe narrative history isn't really what you need right now. I like the narrative history and continue through it because it is convient for me, but my dd has actually learned more from the Usborne books, crafts, and historical fiction than she did from the narrative history.

 

Since neither of you are really excited about history right now, instead of looking for something for the "next" time period, maybe look for a topic that excites at least one of you and dive into it for a while. My dd and I spent a year on Rome, and she is still into it. She continues to study it on her own even after I ran out of steam and books for it.

 

After my epiphany last night, I have decided that I need to rethink my history plans for next year. I am thinking of diving into maybe American history heavy on crafts, maps, fiction, and maybe a timeline and light on narrative history. Maybe I can get them as excited about American history as I did about the Romans.

[Lovedtodeath]

:iagree:We are unschooling history. You can read about how it is working for us in the "Classical Unschooling" social group.