CTC - ease my concerns about history content?

[Aimee]

School doesn't start officially here until next week, but we have been easing into subjects, starting with math and reading over the past few weeks, and doing our first day of HOD's Creation to Christ today (we have appointments with next week and decided to try to squeeze in a full week doing it this way).

I have been SO excited about starting this curriculum, but as I've been browsing through the upcoming weeks/months and the books, and as we worked through today, it seems like everything taught is Biblical history. Coming from a background of teaching with SOTW, Biblioplan and Sonlight, I was looking for a change, but I am wondering, where is the other history? Is this awfully "light"? Are we going to cover the Egyptians and their civilizations, or is everything told through Biblical history, at least until the Greeks? I like a Biblical perspective and this is all fascinating, but is there more depth I'm not seeing yet?

I know many people rave about this curriculum and have high standards for education and their materials, so I'd appreciate input from those who've had experience with this.

Thanks!

[water2wine]

I would take a deeper look at is. It is really not light. In fact what I saw when CTC came out is people putting their kids in that level who had not done HOD before and did not have the written narration skills struggling to keep up with the amount of work. It is the perfect program after Preparing and perfect if your child fits the skill sets on the placement chart. HOD uses Charlotte Mason techniques for learning. You will find that your children will learn very deep and wide. And beyond that they will retain what they have learned and be able to apply the biblical truths from it to other aspects of their lives. You really have to do the program for a few weeks to see just how much they are learning. Many people are using CTC for the high school level with just a few changes and find it is plenty for even high school credit.

I think you are going to find if you have looked at the placement chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php and have the right fit skill wise and the proper extension packs I think you are going to find it will be more than enough. It is a different way of learning. They retain more and learn deeper. It is not the overload and see what sticks mentality. I want to encourage you to just give it a try. It's hard never having done HOD to see how much it really is without experiencing it. My kids just did CTC for 6ht grade and it was wonderful. We did it before with our dd on the 7th grade level and she also learned so much and excelled with it. I really believe hands down CTC is the absolute best program out there for the ancient time period for learning deep and in a biblical way.I think you will love it when you actually do it and give it a bit of time to see how it really works by actually doing the program.

[Aimee]

Thank you, I do appreciate your encouraging reply. I believe the kids are placed appropriately according to the placement charts; I have two 5th graders using the program, and have decided the fairly advanced 8th grader really needs his own program, so he is doing the same time period with different materials, and we'll do Bible and What in the World together. Littlest is doing his own program with me, so he's not in the picture for this. The kids are used to CM-style learning; even with the different materials we've used, we've spent the past few years shifting into a more heavily CM model, with oral and written narrations, slowing down the material and perhaps covering less but going deeper and living with the books for a little longer. I so appreciate the increases in learning and retention I've seen doing it this way, not to mention that it's positively therapuetic for littlest to do narration regularly - amazing increases in speech development.

I do know I've been influenced by the years we've used classical materials and the incredible depth they go to - I think I still look for that depth, though it's far more than my kids ever retained. I just want to make sure that more than Biblical history is covered this year, while recognizing that it won't be as all inclusive as some other curriculums might schedule for the time period.

Thanks for your encouragement.

[countrymom]

I think I still look for that depth, though it's far more than my kids ever retained.

I think you answered your question/concern in your post. It is one thing to down tons of material with only bits here and there actually being retained (my education), compared to deep study using the highest levels of thinking (critical, analyzing,etc) and knowing the material when finished. My son is only in Beyond, but he is SO FAR ahead of where I ever was in history until I just started reading on my own. Based on what I have seen so far with my son (who is only in Beyond, but does other church studies too), linking history with the Bible seems to help it stick more. I agree with the other poster, hang in there and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[LynnH]

There is a lot of biblical history especially in the beginning since it starts with Creation, but there is a lot of other history also. As you go on in the Story of the Ancient World it ties biblical history in with what else is going on in the world. Look at page 67 and on in The story of the Ancient World and see how it sets the stage for who the Egyptians were and then ties that in to the story of Moses. You also see where all the different civilizations came from and also why there were the rivalry's that there were. You see how cruel the Assyrians were and you realize why Jonah didn't want to go to Ninevah. The other thing that brings a large portion of the history is the Diane Waring CD's. My husband is listening to them now in the car and is amazed at what all he is learning. She covers a lot about the Egyptians, going into great detail about the Pharaohs and how difficult it is to truly figure out when some of them reigned etc. Also you need to realize that the storytime books also cover the history as well. The book "The Boy of the Pyramids" really helped my ds to understand what Egyptian life was like as well as "God King" and of course Cleopatra. I think the other posters have covered how the depth is achieved in CTC. The way the dc are asked to think about what they have read and to do written and oral narrations instead of just fill in the blank worksheets is very challenging.

[tollhousemom]

Agreeing with Lynn...there is a heavy emphasis on biblical history (much of that due to the time period), but not to the exclusion of other history including Egypt, Assyria, other civilizations, etc. All the history is viewed through a biblical lens, but not all of the history is directly from the Scriptures. I would definitely not consider it "light". My older children have used a mix of traditional textbooks and literature-based curriculum, and CTC has excellent breadth and depth. I think after a few weeks you will be able to appreciate both the biblical focus and the depth of interaction with the material. My son (5th grade last year) learned so much, grew spiritually, and truly enjoyed learning with CTC. We were finishing up school today (using RTR) by lunch time and I was just thinking about how we had easily finished our lessons and yet how MUCH we have already learned and accomplished in just a few weeks. Sometimes it takes a little while to see the cumulative effects, but based on what you've said you are looking for, I think you'll be pleased as you delve deeper into CTC.

[arstephia]

I know what you mean about coming from a classical approach. We did that with the older child. There is a lot of depth, but retention is another thing. I am so surprised at what we are retaining with HOD! DD is still talking about the things she learned in Preparing. As far as depth, this is no kiddy pool! Strong swimming skills required. The other posts have clued you into content. But the CM style of narration, copywork, projects, etc. really keeps what they learn with them as they move into the next time period. My DH has a degree in history and he is very pleased with what he is getting out of them when they talk about their day and their books, which really sets my mind at ease. When we were doing textbooks for a short time, he was concerned that they could spit out dates but had not context or understanding of what really went on from one date to the next. He is very happy with what he is seeing with HOD.

[Aimee]

Thanks, all, for your reassurance and advice; it is good to hear how rich you have all found this curriculum to be. I appreciate the heads-up about the storytime books as well, LynnH. I hadn't purchased "Boy of the Pyramids" because I own so many of the boy favorites and because I have so much on my shelves for this time period, but I'll go ahead and order that, and pull out my copy of "God King." I appreciate all the input so much! Have a good night, all.