What would you do - kids find history BORING.....

[hmsch4me]

I thought it would be so easy this year - just use SOTW IV w/AG for history. Both my kids (7th & 8th) grumble everytime they come across a reading about the Ottoman Empire - they both say they just don't care. My younger one is especially bored with history this year. They just want to know more about American History and I feel like we are moving over Am. history without any depth.

We only do history 2x/wk, which I like - we alternate with science. What would you do? I've considered changing to History of Us series - they are certainly more detailed and interesting or something else. Or, would you just make them finish SOTW IV this year and leave it at that?

[cbb_momof3]

One of the reasons I hs is to encourage my children to have a love for learning. In some areas I stick to my guns... like basic math building skills, reading etc. but with history and science I really don't mind veering off course a bit to get them interested in the subject itself. Not every child will graduate an expert in world history, but if they can understand how "learning from our history" is important I have done my job.
I'm sure some history buffs would disagree. Bottom line is you know your children best, and if this is causing them to dread history you might want to change course a bit.

[Mama Lynx]

I would rather switch than have my kids hate history. And going in-depth into American history is not a bad thing. They can catch up in world history in high school.

[Ali in OR]

You can also look at Biblioplan for year 4. I haven't used that one yet, but it would add to what you get with SOTW. It schedules SOTW and History of Us as well as many other readers and family read alouds. Though you are definitely adding to the total reading load, it might liven things up a bit to use sources other than SOTW (and yet still finish that if you want to).

[Colleen in NS]

I thought it would be so easy this year - just use SOTW IV w/AG for history. Both my kids (7th & 8th) grumble everytime they come across a reading about the Ottoman Empire - they both say they just don't care. My younger one is especially bored with history this year. They just want to know more about American History and I feel like we are moving over Am. history without any depth.

We only do history 2x/wk, which I like - we alternate with science. What would you do? I've considered changing to History of Us series - they are certainly more detailed and interesting or something else. Or, would you just make them finish SOTW IV this year and leave it at that?

My kids are younger than yours, but we are also using SOTW 4. I do find this volume a little harder to get through because it's war and conflict galore, and so much is going on. My kids don't find it as interesting as the other volumes, but I just tell them it's because there is so much war going on. And when they do their narrations, and they tell me it was too boring to narrate, I go back through the chapter and zero in on *something* that I think has caught some of their interest. Then I help them find three things to write about that, and then we're done (and have had a good conversation about the previously boring section). And I just let them read freely from the library books I've found that go along with the chapter. I don't try to make them learn something in the chapter that *I* find interesting, I let them choose.

Perhaps you could skip over any chapter or section they find exceptionally boring? Or hand them a stack of library books of information or biographies for them to peruse through at their leisure? I find if I can just extract three things from the SOTW 4 chapter that my kids did find interesting, that's good enough - and then they can just pick through the library books. They learn a lot that way. And it's the material that they find interesting that is easier for them to write about. As long as I stick with my overall plan of SOTW one chapter a week.

As for American history (and Canadian history here - we are dual citizens), I just keep getting library books out that pertain to either what we have read in SOTW 4 (only one chapter in there about Canada, but that's OK, cuz we have the library), or are on CDN/AMER. subjects/people I think my kids would enjoy reading about.

My key here is: stick with my overall SOTW reading plan, write once a week on what the kids found interesting, and keep the librarians busy with my book reservations. :)

[5knights3maidens]

My dd thinks it is boring (SOTW) so she is reading history books to her liking. she reads alot about WWII and the Holocaust. fiction/non-fiction

[ABQmom]

I finally stopped reading SOTW for awhile, and I started reading good historical fiction or biographies to my dd. She is now in 6th grade, and we follow much the same format. We read good books, and I assign good books for her to read. She, along with my other dc, now say that history is their favorite subject.

This year we are using Biblioplan. We read the chapters suggested in SOTW and I read a book out loud to the kids that Biblioplan recommends. They also read some of the recommended books on their own.

I think the key to getting children interested in history is to read good books about the lives of historical people--a book that will capture their interest in the person or people of the times. Then they will want to know all the boring details later as it relates to the wonderful historical people they now know and love.

Just my experience--I hope it helps.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We switched to Truthquest history this year because history was not a favorite around here either. The book lists are great, and we are enjoying history a lot more.

[angela in ohio]

I would think SOTW would be boring for 7th and 8th graders. I would look for a junior high level program, which would be more challenging for them. SOTW is designed for grammar stage, which would not include the critical thinking that older students would need. Maybe TOG or Sonlight would be better?

[Alana in Canada]

What about the Gueber/Miller books, if you still want to follow a spine?

But I agree with some of the other posters--historical biographies with a report--to keep them accountable--may be the way to go.

And capture that interest in American History! Perhaps do that 2x a week and the World History once.

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

I never learned *anything* about history when I was in jr high or high school. It was SO boring! Sure, I went through the motions, took the tests to pass and then moved on. :(

NOW that I can read from books that I find interesting...I have learned more history in the past year that I did my entire 13 years in school. :eek:

Just a thought....

[Stacy in NJ]

I'd invest in and casually listen to the SOTW audio book, then just let them read non-fiction books related to any 20th century history topic that interested them. I really recommend the Landmark books and almost anything written by Albert Marrin. These are really well written and interesting non-fiction. They're perfect for 6th, 7th, 8th grade.

We're studying American History this year with The Story of US. We really enjoy it, but in addition we listen to all the SOTW cds we own, just for review and fun.

[Lenora in MD]

I would suggest maybe checking out Truthquest to go along with sotw 4. It can give you more american history, but still let them finish out the history timeline.

[Beth in TN]

I thought it would be so easy this year - just use SOTW IV w/AG for history. Both my kids (7th & 8th) grumble everytime they come across a reading about the Ottoman Empire - they both say they just don't care. My younger one is especially bored with history this year.

I definitely feel your pain. My dd has enjoyed all 3 volumes of SOTW until vol. 4. I don't understand why, but she hates it. I'm even using SL core 7 literature books with it, but she'd rather just read them instead. She has asked me to purchase the audio CDs but I just can't bring myself to do that since I purchased the AG to go with SOTW in late December. Still she is not interested. I'm to the point that I'm either going to dump SOTW all together and just use SL literature book along with videos from the library, or give in and purchase the audio CDs. Not sure just yet.

[expat91]

SOTW is geared for younger kids. I use Biblio plan. My children love history and Biblio-plan has been one of the reasons we have loved it so much. Mystery of History is included in BP but only just recently. It is one of their spines. I like what one of the mom's above suggested when she said fill in with great historical fiction books suggested in BP and from the library. There are a lot of great books out there.
You can find them in listings from catalogs like Veritas Press, Rainbow Resources, CBD, Timberdoodle, Greenleaf Press, Beautiful Feet and Sonlight. You don't necessarily have to use their curriculum. Just peruse their book lists and then shop and compare the best prices as well! Get some of the ones you don't love but would like to read from your local library. Buy the ones you love!

Hope this helps.
Michele B
Worldwide Learning Academy
S 12th
D 9th
D 7th
D 4th

[Critterfixer]

SOTW is boring for me when I'm preparing for the lesson with first graders; I would not plan on using it past fourth grade. I think that perhaps focusing less on the facts and more on the people involved might be more interesting for that age group. I believe the Well-Trained Mind recommends Jackdaw portfolios, and those did look interesting.
I am reading a book called The Ancient Greek World by Jennifer T.Roberts and Tracy Barrett which is more in depth that SOTW that has been a good read, and it is less dry that Guerber. It is by Oxford University Press from 2004 and is part of The World In Ancient Times. I'm almost positive they have a similar series from Medieval Times, but I don't know if they have a Modern Series.

[crazyforlatin]

What about the Horrible History books? It might spark an interest because it's written in an irreverent but informative manner. You could listen to the author read from excerpts from his books on this website, http://www.horriblebooks.com/, and see if his style is something that might interest your kids. His humor is not understandable to DD5 but I will be using these books in the next cycle.

[Trish]

I thought it would be so easy this year - just use SOTW IV w/AG for history. Both my kids (7th & 8th) grumble everytime they come across a reading about the Ottoman Empire - they both say they just don't care. My younger one is especially bored with history this year. They just want to know more about American History and I feel like we are moving over Am. history without any depth.

We only do history 2x/wk, which I like - we alternate with science. What would you do? I've considered changing to History of Us series - they are certainly more detailed and interesting or something else. Or, would you just make them finish SOTW IV this year and leave it at that?

If you are a member of Homeschool Buyers Co-Op (free to join) this month they are offering an interactive American History curriculum for high school and advanced middle schoolers. Normally 39.95 per student, they have it for $7.95 for the year.

The Idea of America (https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1528)

It seems like it has a lot more than dry bookwork -- videos, interactive activities, interviews, original source documents, assignments. I'm sure it can be used as a whole curriculum, but I'm planning to use it as a supplement. Might want to check it out. The $7.95 is the set-up charge, so they are essentially advertising it as "free" to the first 1,000 who sign up. (there were 700+ when I signed up)

PS The "year' starts 5 days after you sign up, so you'd start it next week!

[EKS]

I moved away from SOTW this year in the middle of SOTW 3. We switched to K12's History 4 and it is MUCH better. Next year we are going to use The Drama of American History series because I've been through the Hakim books and really don't want to do it again *and* because my son requested to do more American History.

[Alessandra]

I would meet dc where they are -- maybe start with movies about a historical period, audio (like Jim Weiss), irreverent books (You Wouldn't Want to Be... or Horrible Histories), historical novels. hands-on projects, timelines (paper or computer-based), biographies, music or art of a period/place. My dc used to be a bit bored at history, so I just exposed them to it in a lot of ways. For them, there was no one way that turned out to be magic, but a movie or a novel would spark interest and then they would want to learn more (well, most of the time). Oh, and I do a lot of read alouds, even when dc are perfectly capable of reading the material.

This way was easier for me too. I'd rather have dc begging me not to stop reading that try to force them to do something they hate.