# History recommendations?



## Still Learning (Dec 5, 2006)

Hi everyone!

Well, I've got math & language arts down with my soon-to-be 9 year old. Since this week was our first week homeschooling, we took it easy and just focused on those 2 subjects along with various reading assignments and some puzzles. I didn't want to scare him too soon. lol 

Now I'd like to add in some history & science. I have science covered I think. I don't have a lot of money to buy an expensive packaged history curriculum --> I know I wouldn't need to anyways but I'm just having a hard time coming up with something off the top of my head. And our laptop pretty much died... so I'm using our ancient 10 year old computer that is s-l-o-w but working.  So I'm not able to get too much info from the internet but I could get some (it just takes awhile for each page to upload).

Here's what I'm thinking I'd like to do. I'd like to assign a specific American person (ex: George Washington) for him to research. I don't want to overwhelm him... but he loves reading and learning about everything under the sun so I'd better use that to my advantage. 

Or does anyone know of a cheap(er) curriculum that would maybe help me in this area until I'm more comfortable putting it all together? Or maybe a website that has ideas I could use to come up with enough to keep his little brain busy?  

Any help would be *greatly* appreciated. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense -- it's been one of those days! 

Thanks!
Ashley


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## RockyGlen (Jan 19, 2007)

if you want to do famous people, maybe you could make a timeline of American History and do influential people in the order they came in history. By making a large timeline on the wall it will help him picture history in order. By hanging a large map of the US and putting pushpins and small markers in at various parts, it will help with geography. (we color coded the pins - red for battles, blue for birth places, etc.)


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## Ashtina98 (Aug 10, 2007)

My dd's are 9 and very interested in Little House on the Prairie and Pioneer life so we are studying the pioneers. We are actually going to have a pioneer day where we use no electricity whatsoever and are sewing period clothing for the day (the dresses are ones that they can use around home). I would find a topic that interests him and build on that. There is lots of information at the library and online (if yours is too slow use the one at the library for a while).

Dee


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Knowing your "world view" would be helpful. I have a list of secular resources here:
http://intothesunrise.blogspot.com/2006/03/secular-curriculum-suppliers.html

I agree with the timeline suggestion, it can be a welcome and fun addition to any history program.


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## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

I had a "plan" last year for my then 9 year old! HA! But he came up with a great "plan" on his own: from our public library he checked out every history tape he could find (some did prove to be too advanced for him but most were at least partly OK). Many were about people in history but some were "event" topics. Take a look at your library and see what they have. Good luck - history can be fun.


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## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

We like Story of the World. You can usually find it used and you can get an activity guide to go with it. Then just add books from the library that go along. I use & love Biblioplan but for one child you don't really need that. The other option is to check out notebooking or do it with SOTW.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

I recently bought Kingfishers's History Encyclopedia from Amazon. It looks like it will be a nice resource for my 9yo dd. It goes from The Ancient World through present day and was last updated in 2004. Not only does it cover European/US history, but also includes good information about Africa, Asia, and South America. The Well Trained Mind curriculum guide recommends dividing a book like this one up into a 4 year study, and then coming back around and studying the same time period again when the child is 4 years older and able to use their previous knowledge to help them delve more deeply into the subject. You could also check with your public library to get supplemental books for each time period, particularly on subjects of great interest to your son. And with a little planning, you can incorporate the history of science, math, music, and art into your basic history studies so that he has a strong basis for understanding how those disciplines developed into what they are today.

I also got the Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and am planning to do a similar study of it. The WTM suggestion is for biology, earth science, chemistry and physics to be repeated on the 4 year schedule. So we are currently finishing the physics and next year will be focusing on the biology again. Dd will use the encyclopedia as a guide and reference and will do much of the actual work through direct observation, animal care, zoo visits, etc. She will consult the encyclopedia as a source for the various drawings and reports she will put together on cells, habitats, or whatever. Amazon had a deal and I got both books for around $36.


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## myhorsejack (Sep 30, 2007)

Meanwhile,
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Christina


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## halfpint (Jan 24, 2005)

I like to study history from a chronological standpoint, and usually divide history into 6 years, therefore each child covers each period twice during their schooling (more for those that did a little in preschool). I use Greenleaf for early history, and Story of the World for more modern history as a guideline, but I don't use their activities.

Once you pick a period of history, you should be able to find many books on it, people, inventions and such at your local library. You can get suggested reading books to look for from Veritas press, Sonlight, the Story of the World book, and several websites.

Dawn


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## Cara (May 9, 2002)

I really like the curriculum from Geography Matters. I have used their books for history/geography for the last three years and the kids seem to enjoy and retain it. They are also a very helpful company.


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## billy (Nov 21, 2005)

http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Lots of history there.


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

get individual biographies of the presidents of the united states at your local library(free) should give a general progression of us history while being more readable as it is biographical form.


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## Still Learning (Dec 5, 2006)

Wow everyone! Thank you for such great responses -- tons of good resources shared too. I really appreciate it! 

~Ashley


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## Blessed Mommy (May 7, 2007)

Here's History Alive Site
http://tutorial.teachtci.com/


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## Lindafisk (Nov 17, 2004)

If you are interested in the Charlotte Mason method, you may want to check out http://www.amblesideonline.org/ it is a free online curriculum....

Donna Young's site uses A Childs History of the World and Streams of Civilization for history, I think Apologia for science, but it also has lots of printable forms and TONS of ideas... http://donnayoung.org/index.htm


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