For those doing history the WTM way for Logic stage, I have some questions for you

[Karie]

I'm in a quandry over what to do for history. I like the looks of TOG, but I don't want history to be the center of my universe. I've been reading over SWB's book on logic stage-in particular, history. I'm looking specifically at 5th grade level.

1) Do you follow SWB's suggestions in WTM exactly?

2)Does this get boring for your child? It seems that the work would become tedious after awhile.

3)Do you enjoy doing history this way? Is your child learning a lot?

4) Could you describe what a week in your home looks like with this type of learning? I'm curious how you work your week-how much reading and writing is involved?

I know this is a lot to ask of you, but your insight would really help me out here.

thanks!

[Mama Lynx]

I'll tell you what we do, though I don't know if it will be helpful.

We started out the year using History Odyssey Level 2, which is very much like WTM logic-stage history all planned out for you.

However, history is not engaging my son, and is becoming more and more about checking off the boxes. So, I've turned to TWTM.

We are not outlining the pages, or, at least, not every week. That would be soul-deadening to my son. I am having him read Kingfisher. We are picking certain topics to spend time on, and on those topics I'm choosing several books for him to read, websites to view, projects to do, etc. I'm starting to give him topics to research, and will use those to teach him to turn his research into paragraph, and, eventually, essays.

For the rest of this year (our medieval year) our main topics will be Vikings, the Norman Conquest/Battle of Hastings, Knights/Feudalism, the Magna Carta, The Hundred Years War ... um ... the Tudors, Shakespeare, Explorers ... I'm going from memory, so I may be missing something.

For the other topics, I'm just having him read the Kingfisher pages, mark dates on a timeline, and narrate to me, either orally or on paper.

Also, I'm having him slowly (a chapter a week) read through Famous Men of the Middle Ages, and Our Island Story (British history).

[PixieKris]

We have always kept History at the focus of our studies, going light on other WTM areas in the earlier grades, and slowly adding subjects and depth each year. So, we did SOTW for the grammar stage, and incorporated most of our language arts, fine arts, etc around that, with Real Science for Kids as our science (10 lessons a year.)

Now, to your question about the logic stage. I wanted my daughter to have more say about "what" she was studying in each time period, so we ordered the History Portfolio. We are listening to SOTW in the car, and she uses either books or Kingfisher to supplement this, but focuses on things that interest her, or things I assign that I don't think should be missed. For example, we just spent a couple of weeks on comparing English knights/castles and Japanese Samauri/castles. This was a strong interest for her, because the history portfolio is light on space for "world" history, and so we are adding it in as a comparison as we go. Next we will be doing the Crusades, and talking about the role of religion in wars around the world. We have "God Wills It" to listen to (I think they are college lectures, so we'll see how many we get through.) I think the crusades are very important both as a historical event, and as the basis for comparison for other religious wars.

Because we are "logic stage" now, she does many more subjects.... I'll write about our week so it makes more sense (hopefully.) (She does fiddle each morning before the rest of her subjects.)

M - spelling pretest and one page in spelling workout. Rod and Staff. Read Biology chapter. Geography (trail guide.) Math facts (2 minute practice.) Head to friends house, listen to SOTW in the car. Do biology experiment and math. Come home for art class at 3.
T - Math. Spelling. Grammar. Geography (trail guide.) Math facts (2 minute practice.) Go to Shakespeare class. Come home, and read some history, do a square in history portfolio.
W - our "free" day. Math. Spelling. Grammar. Geography (trail guide.) Math facts (2 minute practice.) Read a biology chapter. Decide on a history or literature project (could be drawing, 3d, cooking, etc). Read, write, etc. Homework for classes she has on Thursdays is done after her assignments for homeschooling are done. School is long and relaxed on Wednesdays.
Th - Math. Spelling. Grammar. Geography (trail guide.) Math facts (2 minute practice.) Homework wrap up for todays classes. 12:30 - Do you know what you think you know - history class. 1:30 - debate/mock trial.
Friday - Catch Up or head out! Anything we are behind in, tests, field trips, wilderness school days....
Weekends are often free, though she always reads, and sometimes has a bit of homework if we weren't meeting goals and Friday ended up being an out of the house day. This weekend I am having her look at a poetry contest, so she'll have some time to have it in the back of her head before writing it.

Last year, we had a different structure and did Fallacy detective and Penny Candy in our co-op, and not nearly as much science.

I hope that helps a little.... It looks so different in everyones house. I don't follow TWTM outlining recommendations, etc, because History is my daughters true love, and reading, doing projects, etc, keeps that love alive. She does have to ocassionally outline as an assignment, but not as a weekly thing.

:) Kris

[Rhondabee]

I don't follow WTM exactly for my 7th grader, although I think that would be easier if he had homeschooled (and had a WTM-ish history) in 1st-4th.

Up to this point, we've been reading SOTW out loud (with my 4th grader) other than the time I used Sonlight (one semester). Then, I've been asking him to outline KF or SOTW, or sometimes just write a summary of SOTW.

Starting this week, both my kids will be reading the Encyclopedia first (7th grader will outline). Then, we'll read SOTW as "extra" reading, and have them write narrations from that. I think this will work better because the KF just doesn't have room for all the details that are in SOTW, and so when you do the SOTW first, it seems like a step backward to do the KF after.

I also request whatever books are at the library pertaining to that week, though sometimes we don't get to them. I have had a really hard time with the "now is the time to go to the library and read on whatever subject interests your dc, and have them write a paragraph (or a short essay) on that topic" part of the WTM history rec's. That is another reason I'm going to start using SOTW as "extra" reading.

I don't like that my dc isn't going to the library and finding the books, and reading in several books on ONE related topic and writing about that one topic. But, although we have a great library *system*, the books are scattered between 20 different local libraries, and I have to request them about a week before we need them, and with a 2yo in tow ..... I really do think this has been the weakest link in our history program. I have been throwing around in my head something similar to what MamaLynx posted - not writing about something for *every* week, but only those topics that are the "biggies", and spreading that assignment out over 2 or 3 weeks.

However, my ds has learned and retained *so* much, and he's enjoyed it. (well, as much as he's going to enjoy school - LOL!)

We have also not had huge success with primary sources. I tend to find them about two weeks after they're needed. Or, I find them months in advance, and then forget them. Or, we just run out of time.

The other thing we've all enjoyed is doing history-related Read-Alouds.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, I did it this way with my older son, but I don't know if I can now remember enough about it to break it down for you in that much detail.

I think I generally allowed about 90 minutes to two hours for history, at least 3 days per week.

On the first day of the week, he would generally read from Kingfisher, usually one topic, but sometimes two. He would then outline what he'd read. There would still be some time left over for him to begin reading from the library books I'd collected.

The rest of the week, history time would generally be taken up with him reading from other books pertaining to this topic. We would discuss what he was reading. He would often write a report about some aspect of what he was reading.

In fifth grade, I also still did some read alouds with him, but by sixth grade, this diminished to the point that he was reading almost everything on his own.

I begin fifth grade with my younger son next year, and he will take more of my time to get him proficient in doing outlining, writing reports, etc., as he is not the writer that my older son was. I expect to also still be doing more read alouds with him in order to keep him on track. That said, he is a speed reader, so he may end up doing more reading on his own than even my older, more reading resistant, son did.....

Regena

[PollyOR]

bumping....anyone else?

[Alana in Canada]

My son is 11 and in Grade five.

For history we are doing two streams simultaneously. That's a recent decision, so right now we're catching up on Canadian History until we're "in-line" with The Story of the World, Volume 3. I do history with both my children together. My daughter is eight, in grade three.

Right now, I give my son assigned reading from resources available on the web. I give him whatever is relevant from the Famous Men of Modern Tmes, something by M.B. Synge, and James Baldwin and (not on-line, but on my shelf) The Child'sHistory of the World by Hillyer. He's been reading this for about three years now and recently told me it's "baby history."
H also has to read something from The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.

I could have him outline from any one of these resources (and in fact that had been my plan) but I don't have him do it--not consistently. (He does outline a narrative every week for writing, though).

When we do SoTW, I read the review questions from the Activity Guide befoe we listen to the chapter, then we listen to it (usually while eating lunch) and then answer the questions orally. The kids are supposed to do narrations at this point: but usually we're *done.* If we do do narrations, he does themon his own. That's something we have worked up too. At the start of the year, I was still taking themdown and dictating the first couple of sentences back to him. It was an excellent, if time consuming method. (I do this wih two children!) We should go back to that. We do all the map pages in the Activity guide--and the chapter tests as a review. We also use Homeschool in the Woods figures for our Timeline. The kids take turns writing one sentence about the person or event in question.

As for the supplemental reading, I haven't liked the suggestions in the Activity guide for 3 as much as I absolutely loved the one in 2. There seem to be more novels and longer works--and that takes more time than we want to spend on any particular event, right now. Maybe that will change. We're only to 1666!

When we do Canadian History I have him do home-made worksheets, map work, or written narrations. He has a bit of assigned pre-reading but not nearly enough. (I'm making up our course as we go along!)

hth