History for girls age 10, 7, 5

[lovemywhirlygirls]

I'm a first year homeschooler with 3 little girls. Currently using MFW ECC, which overall has been good for me to get me started. Looking forward, I'm trying to determine what to do next. History was NOT my strong suit in school. I prepped for tests and went on my way. My husband is very gifted in history, which is a bit intimidating to me. I'm needing something that I can use and impart to my girls while learning the info for the first time myself! I feel ill equipped to compare curriculums and can't tell if one is more historically accurate than another. I'd like to narrow it down to 1-3 options that I can bring to my husband to get his input. I hope to involve him a lot in our history since he is a wealth of knowledge.

I admit some hesitance doing MFW CTG because ECC has seemed somewhat disjointed to me....though I really love the idea of MFW and the recommended reading have been good.

Those of you who know history...which curricula are most historically accurate and still presented in a fashion that elementary children will be able to process and hopefully retain and ENJOY the info?

Thank you in advance for you input.

[Laura K (NC)]

I think girls would enjoy TWTM method just as much as boys. SWB's Story of the World series might work if you're more comfortable in the "textbook" and activity book world.

"Dangerous" might be a strong word, but I do think it's dangerous to consider a separate history program for girls than boys. If your girls like arts and crafts, they are no different than my boys were at that age. My boys didn't so much like the Bellerophon coloring book recommendations, but a girl might.

I didn't know much at all about general history before homeschooling my oldest when he was 7. I know a lot more now, and part of it was the great storybooks written for younger children on each phase of history, for all different ages.

(I'm not getting a commission, btw.) :)

[LindaOz]

and they love it. The activity guide has a variety of activities in it from which you can choose what is suitable for your own family. My girls love to cook so any of the food/recipe based activities were a hit here. I have found that the girls have retained so much of the history we have covered, and they will often refer back to it when they come across something that connects with what they have already learned. We also used the coloring pics and did notebooking pages which are a great record of things learned. We would also find pictures etc on the internet to go along with what we read about, and further research can be done if you like.

HTH

[periwinklemommy]

And History was the same for me as for you - pass the test and forget it. So I'm learning a lot as we go through SOTW. I haven't seen anything that would make it gender specific at all and I really like the activity pages (so does my son:))
Lisa

[Excelsior! Academy]

My girls are close to your girls ages. I have an 11yo, 8yo, 6yo, and 4yo. We are using Veritas Press. The 6 yo listens in sometimes, while the 4 yo basically goes off to play. Our 6 yo has just asked to be included everyday.

Next year we are going to add in SOTW through MFW, but will still be using VP. Someone had a link on the old board with a list where they matched up. I have no clue how to tell you to search it, though. SOTW is especially easy if you get the CDs. They can listen while playing or in the car. You can do the activity guide daily or even weekly to fit in with your schedule.

[Cadam]

Keep in mind that in ECC we switch countries every 2 weeks but in the history years of MFW the chronological history is continuous. We used SOTW for a few years and we liked it but I needed something more. I am glad that MFW uses SOTW because I like it so much. Next year we will be doing R2R. Any major history program will be basically accurate and all.

[Sue G in PA]

Mystery of History if you want a more unabashed Christian point-of-view. While SOTW is religion-neutral, MOH has much more Christian/Bible content. My kids enjoyed SOTW's "story" format but I wanted more Bible integrated and an unabashed Christian point-of-view. So, we chose MOH as our main "spine" but use Diana Waring's History Alive CD's as well as some of the stories from SOTW. MOH has fun activities like SOTW and small "bite-size" lessons that work well w/ younger children's attention spans. Diana's curriculum is very good but IMHO much better suited to middle school/high school.

[lovemywhirlygirls]

Thanks to all of you who posted. I appreciate the process of all that there is to consider. To clarify...I wasn't looking for "history for girls", I only meant to let you know who it is that is learning at home. Sorry to confuse. I guess at this point I'm looking at SOTW in combo with the history portion of MFW CTG. I've got lots to learn. My girls thing it's hilarious that I'll be learning with them!!