Help with History

[Daisy]

I've tried Beautiful Feet and MFW. MFW is too light in some areas and feels scatter-brained. The assignments are not consistent (narrations for a few weeks and then nothing for months, too many state pages) and well, I'm tweaking it out of it's usefulness. We loved Beautiful Feet but it doesn't have ancients for younger grades.

So I'm planning on doing R&S 4th grade history (geography) and ECC next year (I already have it) and tweaking it to death again. But the year after that I'm wanting to start ancients. I want something that is decidedly Christian. We are also young earth creationists and would like a history with a timeline that lines up with Scripture. It would be for a 5th grader and 2nd grader. I also don't want to have to give up R&S English. I'm looking at MOH, MFW CtG, TOG, Biblioplan.

Any advice?

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

I just finished MOH Volume 1 w/ my 5th grade daughter and have been so pleased with this curriculum. We also have done a timeline using the figures I downloaded from the yahoo group. Those figures really helped keep us on task and stay caught up with our timeline. I blogged about it yesterday if you would like to read more regarding our year w/MOH. :) Given your guidelines I don't think you would be disappointed w/MOH.
HTH!

[Daisy]

LOL! Actually, it was YOUR post that got me thinking about the whole history thing again.

[4pillars]

Daisy,

We are using MOH 2 along with SOTW 2 and LOVE it. We were using MFW RTR, but felt like we were tweaking it to death too. We really did not care for Streams of Civilization at all. It was over my 8yo head, and too fact oriented for my 11&12yo.. they were bored. So, we started using MOH and SOTW. It is a great fit because everyone enjoys it. I have my older two write about each and every topic. Most of the time they will do it in the form of notebooking. My 8yo is required to notebook too. They all love this too... the only downfall is that they can get really into the notebooking and take hours doing it. However, they are searching on the internet for more info... ect.. so it really is not that bad.

I really wanted to enjoy MFW, but it just would not work!! I need to sell it, just to keep it from "haunting" me because I am not using it anymore.

I do have a question for you... I was thinking of having my 8yo do Rod and Staff History and Science next year too. Do you think that R&S 4th along with SOTW 3 would be too much for her? How long is a typical chapter?

Thanks,
Jennifer

[Daisy]

Jennifer, there are 45 lessons and 9 chapters. Each lesson appears to be about 6-10 pages long but with plenty of b&w pictures and larger font (then typical textbooks). A good page and a half to two pages of that is map work and comprehension questions. Hope that helps. Here are the geographical areas covered...

Ch 1 - Climate Zones of the Earth

Unit 2 - Tropical:
Ch 2 - Nigeria, A Warm African Land
Ch 3 - The Philippines

Unit 3 - Temperate
Ch 4 - Australia
Ch 5 - Lands along the Rhine River (Inc. Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands)
Ch 6 - Japan

Unit 4 - Cold, High & Dry Lands
Ch 7 - Cold Lands, Small & Great (Inc. Greenland, Siberia, Iceland, Antarcticia)
Ch 8 - High & Dry Lands (Ecuador and Deserts)

Unit 5 - Neighboring Lands
Ch 9 - North America

[Jackie in AR]

I'm looking at MOH, MFW CtG, TOG, Biblioplan.

Any advice?

If you're considering TOG, what I would do is figure out if it is a program you'll be comfortable with through high school.

I suggest you order the Multi-Media packet they have available here:

http://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TOG&Product_Code=MPacket

And pore over the 3-week samples they have available on their website for years 1 and 2.

Year 1: Go To Egypt

http://www.lampstandpress.com/egypt/index.htm

Year 2: Sail to the New World

http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/newworld/index.htm

Doing those two things will really help you get a feel for the curriculum.

Happy reading, Daisy!

[Chris in VA]

Hi Daisy,
Thanks for the note on my blog!
I just wanted to say, I think MOH would be perfect for you. I do like the second one better than the first, but the first has lots of content and integrates the Bible and History beautifully. I'd think about reading Kingfisher alongside, and maybe even pulling in SOTW, tho' I think SOTW 1 is too young for 5th, and the AG's reading recommendations and most of the activities skew young, too (but we loved them for 1st grade!). MOH does concentrate on people more than events. For 5th grade, I'd be tempted to pull in Guerber's book, also, for the beautiful language and the events focus. If you want some activities, Old Testament Days is fun, but young.
There are lots of fiction books for ancients that are perfect for upper elementary, too.

TOG is another option--you get a lot of bang for your buck, as it covers so many topics, but I think you have to be committed to using it longer than a year. Heard it's great, tho'!!

Anyway, hope you have fun deciding!

[Daisy]

I didn't realize that about TOG (committed to using for more than a year). I would really love to go back to Beautiful Feet for upper grades. Hmmm. Okay, I'm going to ruminate now. Thanks everyone.

[Jackie in AR]

I didn't realize that about TOG (committed to using for more than a year). I would really love to go back to Beautiful Feet for upper grades. Hmmm. Okay, I'm going to ruminate now. Thanks everyone.


You don't have to be committed to using it for more than one year if you purchase it.

I'm saying that if, after you look at it, you don't like what you see for the high school years then I don't think I would use it for the younger grades and then try to find something else for later.

The high school years in TOG are superb and are what the first years of the curriculum are preparing you for.

Of course, you could go ahead and use it for the younger grades, but you'll see how great it is and then you'll want to use it for high school. :D