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.
We will be using Simply Charlotte Mason for our history for our second year. 1st grade and up use the same program which helps with larger families. I don’t want to teach multiple history levels. We previously used My Father’s World (which had the same multi-grade concept), but felt that it was a lot of work and had little retention. We are now using notebooking as a means of improving retention. We did omit some of the recommended reading for Simply Charlotte Mason this year, because I thought it was a little over my 4th grader’s head. But I enjoyed doing that and adding in more things on my own to supplement the program. It helped me to not feel stuck, locked in or confined. I like to be fluid in teaching to allow room for adding in fun things that spark our interest. I’m not brave enough to fully piece together things/making my own curriculum. I need more structure than that. Simply Charlotte Mason seems to be that perfect balance for me. Reading to my children, having all the kids learning the same thing (some ages have additional reading), keeping structure, not overwhelming, leaves enough room to add fun projects.
Mystery of History can be used for multiple grade levels. I know Vol I has an audio cd that reads the lessons to you. I used that when we did Vol. I.
The coming year will be a challenge as I will have a senior, 1st, 2nd, and 4th grader, a 2 year old underfoot, and my one graduating will still be home. With six children, very diverse ages, and grades that take more time than most, I am taking the plunge to simplify planning and my prep time by doing some BJU dvd classes and the full grade package for my 4th grader. Hopefully, with having the lessons already done, I can “manage” the instruction and help each child rather than having to plan and prepare for each one. I like to plan and prepare and I have an education degree, but after 14 years of homeschooling, being 46, and having 6 children, I need a little support! 🙂
Kay
I love History Odyssey, it is harder for my son, but it is set up much like what he will be doing in college, as he completes each set he is learning basic but necessary skills such as taking notes and outlining, things that he struggles with but that he will need to know how to do well if he is to continue his education past high school. We picked up in the middle of the set at level 2, but I think if he had started at level 1 he would not be having as many issues with it as he is, they build on each other, and his prior PS education was not set up for something of this level…
We use this program, too and love it. We started with Level 1 and I can’t wait to use through out the years. It is also secular (it doesn’t ignore religion, it keeps it in context of the people being studied).
We have been using the Time Traveler’s Series this year. As much as I like it, I also dislike it. There is a lot of prep work in putting the binders together and I found that we didn’t do many of the activities. I would read the section and then my kids would do copy work or add to their time lines. I had good intentions of doing the most of the activities, but they just fell by the way side. I love the info presented, but it is a lot of work. It has been interesting to read others comments and reviews. I thought I was just going to carry on with TTS next year, but now I’m thinking otherwise. I love the support system that homeschool has to offer on sites like this. Thanks!
We use sonlight core b, I love it! We use it for kindergarten and 2nd grade so it can be used for multiple levels. I love the approach of reading literature to grasp history concepts. It’s so much more fun than basic textbook memorization. We may try out TOG when our little ones get a little older and I have more grade levels to teach.
I use Intellego Unit Studies with my kids and supplement with children’s books and history craft books like the “Fun and Simple State Crafts” series and “The Children’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Ancient World”. When it comes to US history, we do many field trips as well.
We used Story of the World Ancients this year and both boys (6th grade and 2nd) grade loved it. They retained what they learned and really enjoyed the many hands on activities. I did find that this curriculum was WAY to easy for my older son, but I allowed him to continue on with us because he was enjoying the time we all spent together going through the chapters. Next year I will be switching my older son to History Odyssey as it is much more suited to his academic needs, I thought I would switch my younger over too, but have found at the elementary level the curriculum was a bit too intensive. We will stay with Story of the World for our younger son, most likely until he hits middle school.
We have always used Abeka History, and my daughter does ok with it, but it bores my son to tears, literally. So I started using Abeka as a guide and making Unit Studies out of the chapters. He loves this! Next year I am considering using Greenleaf Press. Anyone out there have any opionoins on this curriculum???
I tend to be quite eclectic when it comes to curriculum and History is no exception. LOL When my children were younger we used SOTW and we all really enjoyed Vol 1. We used the activity book with it, too. Great fun! Last year my 6th & 8th graders used Notgrass America the Beautiful. They both really enjoyed it! It incorporated Bible and Literature, too. We read some great books along the way. This year my oldest is using the Notgrass High School level World History and will continue next year with their High School Exploring America. We’ve also used Erica’s Expedition Earth for our World History/Geography this year. I like to add some fun stories from various countries and stories of missionaries along the way as well. Next year my younger kiddos will do Notgrass Uncle Sam and we’ll use Erica’s Roap Trip USA, too. (I guess I just can’t do anything simple! LOL)
We LOVE Notgrass and Erica’s curriculum!!! So we use them BOTH! 🙂
We love Sonlight’s Core B for our current history studies — but are going to do Classical Conversations next year, and are trying to figure out how to supplement the memory work with some “fun” history reading as well.
Has anyone else tried Sonlight? What are the pros and cons you’ve had with it? Looking at trying it next year and want to make the best (and spend my money the wisest) for my family. Thank you!
We use Sonlight and love it! We cherish our “couch time” with Mom – curled up on the couch and reading and reading. We are finishing Core C (2nd half of world history). And we’ll be doing Core D (1st half of American history) next year. It’s a gentle approach to history. One of our favorite activities is to place our timeline figure in the time line book, after a block of reading.
We also use SOTW for supplement – twice a week. We’ve completed Vol. 1 & 2. I really like the story telling approach. It hasn’t exactly lined up with our Sonlight reading, but I’ve found that they reinforce each other. We’ll use Vol. 3 next year to see what’s happening in the world, while the US is still young in our Sonlight reading.
We did Sonlight for 2 years. It was great, a lot of great reading, but after adding in a 3rd kid, there was just too much to do each day. We weren’t finishing school until almost 4pm! Also, I feel like some of the books are inappropriate for the younger grades, especially in the History section. I do still read many of the chapter books from their reading lists.