Welcome to day 4 of my Homeschool Curriculum Forum/Discussions! Today we’re talking all about the subject of history. Now I have to say that historically speaking history has been a large part of most homeschooling families.
I on the other hand haven’t been quite so enthusiastic regarding the topic! While I have done my own Road Trip USA which includes a basic history of the United States of America for younger learners, I haven’t been too out of the box for this subject yet. So I’m sure you all have some great ideas and opinions on this topic to share!
This current year I was really overwhelmed with so many things going on that we decided to simplify wherever we could. History and Science, which we’ll discuss later, were two areas that we tried to make my life a little easier and less stressful.
So this year, and most likely next year we’re going to be doing Abeka’s History curriculum. Since Turbo and Strawberry Shortcake are only one grade level apart, they do the same level. Tinker Bell listens in on the lessons, but I don’t require her to take any tests or complete worksheets at their level.
Instead we take our own time together to do history on her level which is mainly just reading right now.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Thorough review of historical topics
- Minimal pre-planning required (if any)
- Lesson reading is appropriate for each grade level
- Lessons don’t take very long
- Children seem to remember what they’ve learned
- Includes quizzes, tests, and mapping skills worksheets
Cons:
- Not super “exciting”
- Not very hands-on
Another thing I like to add in to Abeka just to make it a little more hands-on are the Time Traveler’s Units and the Evan Moor History Pockets.
Both are fun hands-on activities that correlate with various events in history and make the more traditional style of the Abeka history a little more interesting and fun for our family. And since the Abeka is pretty easy to do, i.e. almost zero pre-planning on my part, it’s a little easier to have time to add in these other fun activities to supplement what we are learning.
Pros:
- Hands-on and fun addition!
Cons:
- A lot of pre-planning and priting required to get this curriculum ready, even as a supplement.
Another history curriculum that I’ve looked into and actually purchased, but haven’t used yet is the Mystery of History series. I purchased volume 1 last year and planned to use it before our decision to “simplify”. I do like this curriculum, and think that it looks like a lot of fun, we just haven’t used it yet, but I wanted to mention it as it does look like fun.
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite History curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards History, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
–> Click here to see all of the Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
I have just started using the Evan Moor History Pockets to go along with our study of Colonial life for my soon to be six year old. He loves loves history. And, even though he is young I have been able to incorporate the Evan Moor History Pockets in with our studies very nicely. We add them to our lapbook along with any other items we have. If you have a visual, hands-on learner these are a great way to add fun to your history lessons.
I have purchased the Time Traveler’s Units to use next year. They have lots of great printables and activities. I purchased them from Homeschool In The Woods. Their website is full of wonderful information and resources.
As Erica indicated both these require planning, printing and such. I don’t mind doing this as I know that without hands-on, visual items my son would be bored with history and his love for it would quickly disappear. So, for me the extra work it’s a small price to pay in order fuel his love for the subject.
We use My Father’s World, which is open-and-go with pretty much everything included. HOWEVER, I have been reading this “forum” & it is giving me curriculum wanderlust lol! There are so many amazing resources out there that I want to try- it makes me consider pulling my own curriculum sources together (YIKES!!)
I also use My Father’s World. I love that it can be used for many kids together. It is a reasonable amount of work, and I feel it is balanced between independent and teacher-led. I have considered Story of the World in the past, but read somewhere by Ken Ham (from Answers in Genesis) that there are some inaccuracies in the books. I’m not a history buff to know what is right and not, especially if the inaccurate info is subtle, but I do trust Ken Ham and his evaluation of it.
What a wonderful post. I have three children ages 5, 6 and 7 and this is the one subject area that I have struggled to find the “right” fit for our family. I look forward to reading more about this from other comments. Thank you.
We will be using Story of the World next year along with history pockets. We didn’t really do history this year. We did a bit as we studied different countries but nothing too intense.
For the past several years, we have being using the Calvert curriculum and I have been “Canadian-izing” the history program – fun but time consuming. So this year we introduced Northwoods Press’ “Canada My Country” by Donna Ward (www.donnaward.ca ). We have been really pleased. For the start of Grade 3 we are expanding to include British History and we are working using the Usborne Books ( http://www.usborne.ca ). We will be using it in conjunction with watching Time Team on YouTube – this is a British archaeological show which does 3-day digs and provides superb snap shots of British history. Also for those with kids in high grades, please note that Veterans Affairs in Ottawa has complete teaching binders about the role of the Canadian armed forces in WWI, WWII and Korea.
Sorry the link for Northwoods Press is http://www.donnaward.net
Hi Lake Lili,
We are also followers of CC & a few years ago, created The Canadian History Tunes Cd to compliment the CC history curriculum. There are 25 fun songs that will have your kids learning a full Canadian history timeline in no time! :0). We can be found at: http://www.HomeschoolBeaver.com
Next year will be our first year homeschooling (9YO, 7YO, 5 YO) and I am considering using Veritas Press History for my older two. Has anyone used this? I would love to know your experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I am looking at teaching it myself, instead of using their self-paced online class.
I have not, but I have friends who use it. They love it with a caution. Some material can be in their opinion inappropriate and they highly recommend pre-reading.
We started using Veritas Press this year and really like it. You can use as many or as little resources as you want each week which takes some of the pressure off. The first year history and bible overlap considerably since the Bible is the source for early history.
We have done Veritas History for 2 years(grades 2 & 3) now and we love it. We have combined it with the Story of the World and it is really fun. We do not do all of the worksheets that Veritas recommends. Pretty much we just read the cards, ask questions about what we read, and do a few activities to reinforce what they learned on the cards. We take a test after going through 3 cards We keep all of our projects in a notebook to look at and that has been really fun. History is one of my kids favorite subjects!
I use the VP cards and love them!!! You can find some great you tube videos for motions as well. I do not have the CD so I do not know what is on there. I was thinking of the Omnibus 1 Volume for middle school but when I read about all the vulgar things in the book they expected a 7th grader to read it has turned us off a bit. They do say you can avoid reading that one all together but why even suggest it if it is so bad?? So we are sticking with Tapestry of Grace, our VP Cards and a little bit of CC (Classical Conversations)
Kelly
Veritas press only covers Western History in a 6year cycle. It DOES NOT cover Eastern History such has China, Japan,…
In the past I have tried Story of the World. I found it to be a great curriculum but my kids found it extremely boring & wouldn’t retain anything. We used the History Pockets & Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler Units. My boys both really enjoyed them. The time traveler units are thorough, lots of hands on activities & much more, but there was a lot of prep work. And the kids said it was a bit much with all the activities & the fact file cards that I printed with each unit.
This year we went with something different. We are using Oak Meadow for History. My oldest (15 yrs. old) is doing World History, using the Glencoe World History book & the Oak Meadow World History syllabus. He seems to be enjoying it and hasn’t said it was too much work.
My youngest (11 yrs. old) is using Oak Meadow 6th grade Ancient Civilizations & English. It is a bit of a challenge for him, as he has never written any reports, research papers, etc. He didn’t read until he was 9 yrs. old, which put his writing a bit behind. But, so far this year he has really taken a shine to the new curriculum and has worked through it. But he enjoys the minimal reading, the project choices and even doing the writing assignments each week.
We’ve used Story of the World, and enjoyed it. The activity book makes for tons of fun. This year I pieced together U.S. History using living books and loved it. Next year I’m planning on using The Mystery of History along with some living books.
What living books did you use?
I am planning to use Story of the World and Erica’s Expedition Earth this year…but I am concerned that it will be too much to do both of these indepth/hands on curriculums in one school year. Has anyone done them both?
PS I realize that EE is Geography and I’m not trying to stear the conversation elsewhere, just wondering if adding Story of the World this comimg year will be too much or will they go nicely together?
Any thoughts?
I use Story of the World. And plan on combining it with Erica’s EE and Road Trip next year. Story of the world is so fun and planned out so well that kids really grasp the lesson well – so adding something else really won’t be too much of an overload. We did Story of the World twice a week and will be finished at the end of the school year. So there are three other days that we’ll be able to fit in EE and Road Trip. 🙂
This year I have used Story of the World with my 4 and 6 year old along with Roadtrip USA. Basically we cover one state a week. And one chapter of SOTW a week. We school year round so no pressure!! Next year we see planning to use SOTW along with Classical Conversations.
Biblioplan is the best if the best. You choose your spine ( we love mystery of history), then choose the wonderful suggested literature for each grade level, then do the maps and hands on activities to go with them. I love history and quality literature and have researched this for years. Look it up! Designed by some very highly educated qualified homeschool moms.
Thank you so much for recommending Biblioplan; I had never heard of this curriculum. I just looked at the website and it looks like a really good fit for us. I have three littles (ages 4, 3, and 9 mos.) that I plan to homeschool and loved the methods/recommendations presented in The Well-Trained Mind (The chronological time periods covered with Biblioplan were inspired by the history-study guidelines in The Well-Trained Mind.) I’ll definitely be looking further into this choice!
Thanks for this! We will have a huge age range here, k to 9th, and wanted to do early American history. I have looked at heart of Dakota, beautiful feet books, truth quest, not grass, Sonlight, but for all ages, American history, well planned out, activities, time line, maps and good literature, this is the best I have seen! Could I possibly ask you a couple of questions?
Are there discussion questions for the literature?
Is there a vocabulary list?
Thanks again!