Another question about history for young children

[Beppie]

Another question I have! History is in my mind one of the most important subjects, and I'm wrestling over Story of the World or History Odyssey, or both... just a bit of background, we are religious but not to the right (we're not creationists). I want my girls to be as fascinated with history as I am (my dad is a history professor so that might be where i get it from) ... I've read some critical reviews of SOTW and so I am hesitant to buy it. Does it really include lots of factual inaccuracies? Is History Odyssey kind of the same as SOTW? Doesn't History Odyssey refer to SOTW? Can you do one without the other?

Thanks so much for any input!

[limette]

Honestly, I don't think any book is going to be completely historically accurate. That's kinda the nature of history.

We are not religious and are going to be doing a modified version of History Odyssey. Basically I downloaded the free sample lessons and using their course list wrote the rest of the lessons myself. It uses SOTW and the Usborne book as it's main spines. You read the designated sections in each and then do the projects in the lessons. The SOTW lessons are pretty much the same except they don't involve the Usborne book.

SOTW presents some religious stories and Greek mythology as fact so I'll either take those pages out of the lessons or present them as fiction.

Reading the SOTW book is optional with History Odyssey. You wouldn't do the SOTW lessons if you were doing the History Odyssey ones and vice versa.

[LuxPerpetua]

In my former life I was a medieval historian, and I am now homeschooling my dd (4.5). I thought I'd weigh in with another perspective. My thought on the best way to teach history is to not "teach" it per se. What is engaging about history is not the dates and factoids but immersing yourself in how other people lived and thought. This is what I want to do with dd by introducing her to ancient cultures through myths/legends, foods, music, art, etc. I don't particularly care if under the age of 13 she knows WHEN Rome conquered Greece, but I do want her to be familiar with the ins and outs of what it was like to live under the Roman Empire or to be a Greek philosopher. I think with this method you need some sort of "spine" yourself as the parent to know where to start and then the internet and/or library for getting the main "meat" of what you'll be studying. I think it's also less important to cover a wide range of cultures on the surface than it is to cover fewer with more depth. Really, at an elementary age, you aren't really focusing on making them into historians but rather engaging them with the past so that as they grow they will know that history is more than "mere dates to be memorized" but an entirely different way of living and thinking.

[nov05mama]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

In my former life I was a medieval historian, and I am now homeschooling my dd (4.5). I thought I'd weigh in with another perspective. My thought on the best way to teach history is to not "teach" it per se. What is engaging about history is not the dates and factoids but immersing yourself in how other people lived and thought. This is what I want to do with dd by introducing her to ancient cultures through myths/legends, foods, music, art, etc. I don't particularly care if under the age of 13 she knows WHEN Rome conquered Greece, but I do want her to be familiar with the ins and outs of what it was like to live under the Roman Empire or to be a Greek philosopher. I think with this method you need some sort of "spine" yourself as the parent to know where to start and then the internet and/or library for getting the main "meat" of what you'll be studying. I think it's also less important to cover a wide range of cultures on the surface than it is to cover fewer with more depth. Really, at an elementary age, you aren't really focusing on making them into historians but rather engaging them with the past so that as they grow they will know that history is more than "mere dates to be memorized" but an entirely different way of living and thinking.

This is a general overview of how we are handling things as well (or at least how we plan to). We are doing things more in a 'unit study' type setup and just diving into the civilizations, especially during elementary school age. Right now we are having a BLAST with our Ancient Egypt study. We have wrapped mummies, built pyramids and more. The best part is that I am learning right along with him

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

In my former life I was a medieval historian, and I am now homeschooling my dd (4.5). I thought I'd weigh in with another perspective. My thought on the best way to teach history is to not "teach" it per se. What is engaging about history is not the dates and factoids but immersing yourself in how other people lived and thought. This is what I want to do with dd by introducing her to ancient cultures through myths/legends, foods, music, art, etc. I don't particularly care if under the age of 13 she knows WHEN Rome conquered Greece, but I do want her to be familiar with the ins and outs of what it was like to live under the Roman Empire or to be a Greek philosopher. I think with this method you need some sort of "spine" yourself as the parent to know where to start and then the internet and/or library for getting the main "meat" of what you'll be studying. I think it's also less important to cover a wide range of cultures on the surface than it is to cover fewer with more depth. Really, at an elementary age, you aren't really focusing on making them into historians but rather engaging them with the past so that as they grow they will know that history is more than "mere dates to be memorized" but an entirely different way of living and thinking.

*melt* can I be you, when I grow up?

We use History Odyssey (did ancients lvl 1 last year and are on Medieval times..) and really like it. It actually uses SOTW as part of the program, just not teh activity book. Like Lux said, it doesn't focus strongly on dates at all which I like. I'm considering doing a book of centuries type thing (ala charlotte mason) just so they can see the general flow of time & events a little more clearly. We also hit the suggested supplemental reading on each unit and clear out the library shelves hehehe. And add in Horrible Histories where there's a corresponding unit. I don't expect them to remember much, if any names or events... but they read a lot, do map work, and vocabulary. So if they gain nothing from the actual History itself other than growing up as fascinated by history as I am?, they've covered some geography, writing, and reading And I'll be happy with that!