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If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. ~ Adlai Stevenson

Monday, May 14, 2012

Monday Musings... Would you...

I am bouncing around a couple of ideas in my head regarding history, and would love some feedback on my craziness!

Idea 1: Start at the beginning with ancient history (looking at Human Odyssey Vol. 1 or World in Ancient Times). Go through history chronologically, then tackle American history (looking at the Concise Editions of A History of US, or American Odyssey)... maybe 4 years total.

Idea 2: Using the same resources as above, and doing American history September through December, world history from January through May/June. Repeat for a few years until we get through it all.

Idea 3: Just read through something shorter, like A Little History of the World this upcoming year, and then decide where to head with studies after that. At least the kids will be familiar with the overall flow of history!

3 comments:

  1. We're starting the cycle again this fall, cribbing greatly from the curriculum that Guest Hollow posted (http://guesthollow.com/homeschool/history/ancient/books.html).

    It uses either SOTW or MOH as the base...we're going with SOTW since we already own it, and I imagine you could throw in one of the books you're looking at as long as you line up the time periods with her other stuff.

    So, after much rambling, I vote for #1 because the planning part would be mostly done for you already. :)

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  2. That is rather similar to what we've done for history over time. From around 1st or 2nd grade through 5th we did ancient history, medieval times, etc and then starting in 6th grade we began US history and we're in our 2nd year of that. Hoping to get up through WWII by end of June or July. My dilemma is that she was so young for the ancient stuff, and it was fun, but it wasn't that in depth and she doesn't remember a lot of it so do I start over again with ancients for 8th grade? No idea. I may focus solely on world geography next year without a huge emphasis on any history except as it may come up around the geography.

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  3. Here's my two cents...history is our favorite subject, and I can't see how we'd ever plan a specific course without getting, (ahem) OFF course.

    It's literally impossible for us to just "study" one period in history at a time. One trip to a museum could through a wrench into things b/c we might be focused on Celts but go to a museum and see WWII stuff and then, we're into WWII.

    I vote: Rabbit Trails.

    Yes, I know that wasn't a choice.

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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Emerson

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