Frustrated regarding Secular History/Social Studies

[Shelsi]

I'm starting to get really really frustrated. Why is it so hard to find a secular social studies curriculum? I know a lot of people use SOTW and I did buy it but frankly it's not very secular IMO and it's soooo dry. My ds and I are bored to tears over it. Also at some point in time, when we move away from this city and it's terrible schools, he'll be going back to public school so I'd rather keep him on more of a "regular" social studies time line, kwim?

I know I can buy a social studies text for school students but that doesn't seem all that interesting either.

I'm getting really frustrated that every time I think I find something that sounds really awesome I find out that it's bible based. Ds is so very interested in geography right now (thankfully I was a geography major!) and I thought I found this awesome curriculum talking about plate tectonics, continents, etc and then I read the reviews and I find out it's "young Earth" based, etc, etc.

I understand that something like 85% of Americans are christian and therefore the bulk of HSers are christian as well but geez, there MUST be something for the rest of us? Sometimes I feel like I'm failing him because I can't find a curriculum and I don't have the organizational skills to be able to put one together for him.

[Geerbabe]

We didn't like SOTW initially, but we've been listening to the CDs recently, and that has been a fun way to approach it. Jim Weiss does an excellent job of the narration, making us enjoy the history as a "story" instead of getting bogged down in too many details.

On another note, I just finished "Lies My Teacher Told Me" which highlights the problems with traditional history text books and gives ideas for making history more engaging for students. It's probably more applicable to older students (at least middle school aged), but I still enjoyed reading it even though my oldest is only in grade 2.

[PGTlatte]

This might help:

http://www.hsfreethinkers.com/curricula/history

For our 6 yo, I bought this: The Complete Book of World History by School Specialty Publishing, and their US History one as well. I am planning to use them as spines, and explore deeper for the chapters he is most interested in.

You can see the table of contents for it at Amazon. The ISBN is 1561890898.

[yllek]

I'm so right there with you.

I'm so frustrated by the whole thing that I've decided to do "pre-history" next year and let myself research and lesson plan for another year.

It looks like your kid is almost 6. Depending on where you are at, you may not need to do "real history" for a while, especially since you sound like you want to stay on a public school standards-based scope and sequence. In CA, kids don't really get into a lot of history until third or fourth grade. They do a lot with community, some geography, some national holidays, etc.

Right now, we are going to do prehistory. This is mostly going to be science studies, but since the topic sequence is roughly chronological — matter/energy/Big Bang to space and earth science to early life and evolution — I'm going to call it history too. Heck, I'll even use a timeline!

After that I'm debating whether to do American history or ancient civilizations. If I do the ancients, I'll be using a lot of Usborne texts and supplementing with picture books, movies and crafts. At this age, I think that will be more than enough.

[Lillian J]

You might take a look at Joy Hakim's books - they're secular and very entertaining as you learn. One of the two series combines science and history - fascinating! Her "The History of US" books are so popular that our state homeschooling organization got her as a featured speaker some years back, and people were really excited that she was going to be there.

Joy Hakim's website

Also take a look at Social Studies School Services, The Teaching Company, Learning Through History magazine, A Book in Time reading list, and do a search on Amazon.com for "Usborne history books."

Edited to add: I hadn't noticed you child's age at first - I really wouldn't worry about history at all for a few years. It can all be so much more meaningful for him later.

Lillian

[BusyBee]

I've been lurking, but have to say thanks for the great resources. This is where I get most of my leads for curricula!

[CariOfOz]

I feel your pain! Finding secular history/social studies (either) is not easy. You may not find a 'complete' curriculum, but you can find lots of great bits & peices to fill your year with!

Evan Moore Has some social studies 'take it to your seat' centres (grouped by grade/age) that might be fun and would be similar to what public school kids their age are doing. And history pockets are fun, my boys like them.

World book has 'typical course of study' pages for each grade, and those might give you direction as to what to look for

BCP lesson info is pretty cool too!


Hope these help a bit

[kittie313]

I have the same pains. We use k12 for history, and it IS a secular program (has to be, its from our virtual academy lol) but there is soooooo much biblical reference in the history 1 program. I actually complained to my dh about all the bible stories at one point, and he made a great point to me (for the record, I'm a bible-believing, God loving Christian and he is agnostic LOL so we have interesting debates on things at times) There is a LOT of history in religious texts like the Old Testament. I had to really think about that one before realizing that he's right about it, then I looked at HOW k12 presents the material. They approach it from a historical standpoint, and also teach about other faiths in a non-biased manner (very difficult to do IMO especially if you believe one thing and want others to believe it as well)

Now, I read *somewhere* online that k12 history in the lower grades was written with the help of the people that did Story Of The World. And I will admit, I have the first 2 volumes and k12 history 1 has a LOT of the same content that SOTW vol 1 does. I have been known to grab my copy of SOTW and read a section of it in addition to our history lesson for my 1st grader if she appears to be struggling with the material or she wants more because it is approached differently in SOTW from how it is in k12.

Secular history programs are hard to find though, especially if you want to do world history. Almost every program for world history will likely have biblical references, along with learning about some of the mythology of other cultures.

[Momma Aimee]

one thing to keep in mind: if you are looking to send him back to public school sooner rather than later....most schools don't actually do history at all in the younger grades ... the do social studies .....

rural vs town vs city
dessert vs rainforst vs plains

and also "histroy" around holidays --- studying MLKjr in Jan and so on ..

that might give you an idea to approach things differently and not worry about hiroy per se.

[tbone]

I've agonized over this very topic. So far I've decided to use the Usborne Internet Linked World History and the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as my spines. I'm going to check out books from the library and purchase from Amazon and the like to supplement.

I've considered getting the SOTW Activity Guide to use along as it is supposed to be a good resource for books recommendations and for the coloring activities, but I haven't ordered it yet so can't comment on how that will go.

Unfortunately, I just have not come across anything that is open and go and secular and thorough enough.

[One_Girl]

I use the curricullum strands from our local school district and pull together material from on-line and the library to hit on that information. It isn't all that in-depth, but it keeps her interest.

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

BCP lesson info is pretty cool too!

yes, hand's down we'd use BCP if i wanted a secular history program. they also have free lessons that correspond with that scope & sequence: http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/BCPIntro2.htm

they are excellent & superior to public school history/geography lessons imho. just scroll to the grade you'd like (all of the subjects are excellent!). if you want a book, pearson learning is very good too (but pricey!)

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.c...bProgramId=828

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Joy Hakim's website

yes! this is good too!!! We have book 1 & it's great!

[Shelsi]

Thank you all so much! I feel sooo much better about this today. I really like those BCP history/social studies lessons. The other stuff looks great too.

The Joy Hakim books? Are they appropriate (interesting) for a 6 yr old? They looked interesting to me but I'm 29 lol.

[dotnetdiva]

I've got some Joy Hakim books, but I don't think they're written for 5-6 year olds. Please tell me if there are some that are!

We blazed our own path with prehistory, starting from the Big Bang, early life, all the periods (Cambrian, Silurian, etc...), evolution, Darwin, dinosaurs, Ice Age, you name it. Evolution made everything fall into place for so many things, and I'm so glad we started this way.

For history we're doing a mix of History Odyssey/SOTW. We don't mind the few bible stories, at least not now anyway. At first I thought it would really bug me. We're adding in tons of other stories and mythology to balance it out. Anyway, I've now realized that learning the Bible stories is very helpful for literature. Even reading Matilda last night, a biblical reference came into play and my daughter exclaimed "We're learning so much about everything!!!"

Here's a secular history program that looks very interesting and unique. He's got the word secular written in several places on his front page, that's a good sign. I've heard so many great things about it from people who use it. It says you can start in 2nd grade, which for us, we could probably enjoy it this year even, we love history...
http://www.historyatourhouse.com/

[Shelsi]

Hmmm, that does look interesting! It says 2nd grade but then it says kids 6-8 and ds is doing 1st grade math and 2nd grade LA so I don't think this would be over his head. I'll have to look at it closer tonight and see if I can find a free sample.

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by elizawill

yes, hand's down we'd use BCP if i wanted a secular history program. they also have free lessons that correspond with that scope & sequence: http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/BCPIntro2.htm

they are excellent & superior to public school history/geography lessons imho. just scroll to the grade you'd like (all of the subjects are excellent!). if you want a book, pearson learning is very good too (but pricey!)

Bummer, I don't think the Aussie pearson site has those particular books! I think you linked the BCP sites ages ago on here, and that's where I snagged em from

[Marsupialmom]

I think you should remember that religions (not just Christianity) is an important part of history! It helps explain the motives and feelings behind so many things.

The trick is don't be Christian/Jewish centric, learn about all the religions. How they interact and how the beliefs caused issues.

We have talked and researched about all religions - the good, the bad, and the ugly. This openness and studying IMO helps my kids understand other people's culture and differences.

[Shelsi]

Originally Posted by Marsupialmom

I think you should remember that religions (not just Christianity) is an important part of history! It helps explain the motives and feelings behind so many things.

The trick is don't be Christian/Jewish centric, learn about all the religions. How they interact and how the beliefs caused issues.

We have talked and researched about all religions - the good, the bad, and the ugly. This openness and studying IMO helps my kids understand other people's culture and differences.

Yes of course and as I stated in my OP, I understand you can't teach history without religion but you don't have to teach it as your religion, kwim? That's the issue I take. I don't want to have to strip every chapter of history out of a curriculum of it's "we are christian, these are our stories, and this is exactly what happened." In fact I imagine one might get a broader view of the religions of the world in a secular history text, imo.

[Teensy]

I think the SOTW activity book is a great resource. Not for the activities, we did very little of them, but for the book recommendations for each chapter. We read hundreds of library books - both fiction and non-fiction - that were listed in the activity book. Some were dry, but others were very interesting.