"5 Year +1 History Cycle"

[Sahamamama]

Oh, I am dying here with the flu, but since my children are all nicely sleeping :) and I am too sick to lie down, I thought I would get this question in to you all.

Here's the scoop:

We have three girls, ages 3, 1, and 1 (twins). I know it's ridiculous to be thinking about this NOW, but I want to plan out how to do history with them when the time comes.

:iagree:I agree with Mrs. Bauer about teaching history chronologically. I have vivid memories of Sunday School lessons whipping us all over the place, with no explanations for the timeframes -- King David one week, the triumphal entry the next (it was Palm Sunday), then Easter, back to the United Kingdom, then on to Pentecost, etc., etc., etc. I was in my THIRTIES before I had any sense of the order of things, and this with Bible, which I knew backwards and forwards, but not in a straight line.

So...

First, we want to start the oldest (Tigger) a year later (2nd grade) than WTM starts history. That way, the littles (Puppy and Monkey) will be in K, and better able to keep up. For the first year or so before this we will probably work on time concepts (getting a sense of time) and My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures OR My Father's World Adventures (US History/Symbols). Not sure about that yet, but I don't want Tigger to be in 5th or 6th grade before she gets to the Boston Tea Party.

Secondly, we think it would be best (more realistic) for us to stretch it out over 5 years, and THAT's the question:

Do any of you s-t-r-e-t-c-h history out over 5 years, and if so, how do you divide it up? Most of the cycles are for 4 years, but we want to incorporate a lot more Bible into our history study than SOTW does for the first two years, then move that out to be a separate subject.

I can see my way through for a bit, then I'm at a loss::confused:

Year 1 -- Prehistory/Creation, Old Testament, Ancient N.E., Ancient Egypt
Year 2 -- Greeks, Romans, New Testament, Early Church
Year 3 -- Middle Ages -- not sure about this?
Year 4 -- Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration? -- not sure about this
Year 5 -- Modern Times? -- not sure about this

Finally, the +1 part refers to something my husband (at this point) wants to put in the plan. For Year 6 (Tigger in 7th, Puppy & Monkey in 5th), we would take a "World Tour" -- place more of the focus on geography and cultures, study the non-Western world more closely, probably using Sonlight's Level 5 Eastern Hemisphere materials that cover Asia and Africa. We are missionaries, so we have an "all nations" perspective, and don't want our girls to be Westocentric.

In the years after the World Tour, we would repeat the history cycle once more (taking less time? 3 or 4 years?), and if we are still homeschooling the girls in senior high school, they would take a Government/Economics course somehow.

So... does anyone have a nice breakdown for a 5 year plan (with dates;)) for this history-challenged mama? Thanks in advance!

Sahamamama

P.S. Sorry to drag on with the details. Usually I'm not this long-winded, but my editor got flushed down the toilet.

[Wendy in ME]

Take a look at veritas press. They use a 5 year cycle that starts in 2nd grade.

[Cadam]

You need to look at My Father's World (mfwbooks.com). It is a classical unit study that does one year of Geography and culture study and then a 4 year history cycle. I think it will be just the thing for you. We love it, and they are multi age unit studies so once everyone is reading well and at least in 2nd. grade everyone is doing the same work. Think of MFW 1st and Adventures as a mini-cycle Then you can do ECC when your kids are in 1st and 3rd. You will repeat it more in depth when they are in Jr. High. I think you could stretch out CtoG and R2R to take 3 years all together.

[Strawberry Queen]

I'm kind of doing a 5 years ish plan. My reason for doing so is that I want to do a year of Canadian history, or at least part of a year. (it depends on if we get bored and want to move on) So, I did sotw 1 and 2 pretty much straight through. Then I'm either going to do Canadian history, then sotw 3 and 4. Or else, I will mix large units of Canadian hostory into sotw 3 and 4.

Another mother I know did this and she was quite happy. She said it let her kids mature a bit before covering some of the mature topics related to WW2 etc. SHe then went on to do SL 6 and 7, which covers world history in 2 years.

Realistically, don't worry about it too much for the moment. Once you get into things you'll probably end up changing your mind about some of it. Sometimes a curriculum that looks really good for the future doesn't actually work out when it comes time to buy it.

What might be helpful is to start doing some history reading on your own, so you have an idea where you're going. See if your library has sotw and check it out to read to yourself. It gives a wonderful overview, and I made some connections that I hadn't in reading more advanced texts. (I'm not sure what that says about me though. lol:D)

HTH

[Plaid Dad]

We are doing this. My plan is:

2nd: Ancient Israel/Egypt
3rd: Greece
4th: Rome
5th: Middle Ages
6th-7th: Early Modern/American
8th: Civics and Economics

We do Latin-centered classical, so it's important to me to linger over those civilizations for longer than many do. We integrate Christian history with Religion (as a subject) as well.

[AudreyTN]

The Mystery of History (http://www.themysteryofhistory.com/) will have 5 volumes when complete. They should all be ready in time for when you need them.

[FloridaLisa]

We used Veritas Press in the early years and took 5 years to cycle through history. We covered lots of American history in years 4 and 5. We've also taken a year off history completely to study geography, but this was when my children were in middle school. It was refreshing to study geography after so much history and, truly, one of our most fun years! I plan on doing that again when my next two (now 3rd and 5th) hit 6th and 8th.

So, absolutely it can work and work well. Not only is there a great deal of history to get through in 5 years, but I also found that delving into science slowed down my history rotation. There is only so much you can do in a given day or week! So, for us, rotating through history in 5 years helped us fit in lots of science.

HTH,
Lisa

[Sahamamama]

Especially FloridaLisa's last post, it's helpful to know that someone else not only thought of doing a 5 + 1 rotation, but has DONE it, and made it work well. Thank you.