Is there somewhere where I can see the exact dates or period of time that is covered within each guide from Bigger on up? Especially the history cycle of CTC, RtR, RevtoRev and the new Modern coming up. Also, I'm curious to know what time periods will be covered in the Geography Through History and World History guides.
Another question.......would someone be able to use, say, RevtoRev for younger kids and the high school American Hist up to 1900 and have them match up at all? They are the same time period, but I guess I'm just wondering if doing both of these guides at the same time would allow for any overlap of themes or topics, etc. Same question for the Modern Times guide as well as the final high school guide, American Hist 1900 to Present. I know these aren't written yet so there may not be an answer to this question just yet. I will assume, however, that they are the same general time period, even if completely different topics and themes throughout.
Also,is there someplace where Carrie has shared what she plans to cover in the Geography Through History guide as well as the World History guide? I'd really like to know why she chose these instead of another 4 year cycle with Ancients and Medieval/Reformation time periods. I assume these two time periods will be touched on briefly in the Geography and World guides?
I apologize if this information is somewhere easily found......I did a search on the board but didn't come up with anything.
Thanks!
Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
Jennifer in TX
Re: Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
I can try to answer the questions about the high school sequence. I remember Carrie saying she would be doing this sequence because it is the typical course of study in high school and what colleges want to see on a transcript. A typical high school course of study includes a year of World Geography, a year of World History, a year of American History, one semester of government and one semester of economics. These last two will be included in the last 2 guides. I do remember her sharing that one resource the Geography guide would use is Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World with Art. I am not sure if that is still the plan or not.
Mom to:
dd 22 college graduate and employed as an Intervention Specialist
ds 18 US2, Loved Preparing, CTC , RTR , Rev to Rev, MTMM ,WG, WH and US1
http://www.graceandfur.blogspot.com/
dd 22 college graduate and employed as an Intervention Specialist
ds 18 US2, Loved Preparing, CTC , RTR , Rev to Rev, MTMM ,WG, WH and US1
http://www.graceandfur.blogspot.com/
Re: Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
Thanks Lynn!
Let me add, I understand that the history cycle is considered a secondary factor when choosing your HOD guide, still, I would just like to know what time periods or dates in history are covered in each guide out of curiousity.
Let me add, I understand that the history cycle is considered a secondary factor when choosing your HOD guide, still, I would just like to know what time periods or dates in history are covered in each guide out of curiousity.
Jennifer in TX
Re: Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
I hope this link will help. It gives the scope and sequence...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php
In Christ,
Julie
http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php
In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie
Re: Exact Dates of time periods covered within each guide?
Jennifer,
This link should help with the first part of your question
. The time periods are noted for the guides you mentioned. Link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php
Thanks for your patience in hearing back on this! I wanted to take the time to answer your question thoroughly, and I knew I would need a chunk of time in which to do it.
As far as the world geography year for high school goes, we will begin with the start of map-making and move through time toward more modern map-making. Kiddos will be mapping the entire world bit by bit, learning to draw and label from memory each part of the world (with reviews in between). We will read stories from history that coordinate with the history of map-making and exploration. It will be done chronologically.
The year of world history for high school will be a one-year sweep of world history with Biblical history integrated within secular world history. So, we'll begin in Bible times and move forward to present day.
The two years of American history for high school will be split either before the Civil War or shortly after it, depending on the resources that we end up using for these years of history.
At HOD, we choose for kiddos to have a one-year overview of history prior to delving more deeply into the layers of history for several reasons. First, we find it very helpful for kiddos to see the big picture before trying to fit together the individual pieces of history. To illustrate why this is important think about this example: Just imagine that I asked you to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I poured the pieces out on the table, but I did not give you the puzzle box with the picture of the puzzle upon it for you to refer to as you put the puzzle together. In essence, I left you in the dark as to the big picture you were trying to recreate. How difficult would it be to put together the 1000 different pieces of the puzzle? This is the same challenge that our children face when we give them the pieces of history without the big picture.
As adults, we often think that the 4 year history cycle is the best way to teach history, and I agree that it does have merit (which is why we do a 4 year cycle with part of our guide progression). However, it is also important to remember that when we look at the study of history from our adult perspective, we are bringing to the study our own "big picture" of history that we already have from our past experiences. This helps make the individual pieces of history fall into place more easily for us. Even if our past study of history was less than stellar, we do still have many informational pegs already in our mind that help us make sense of the pieces of history. Our children do not have this past experience to draw upon. They have been given no big picture of history and are in need of a framework with pegs on which to hang future information. So, at HOD we seek to give them the big picture first, providing the framework and some mental pegs on which to hang future information. LHTH, LHFHG, PHFHG, the geography year, and the world history year are each one year overview type years which seek to provide the big picture. These years are each followed up with more in-depth years full of many pieces of history. These pieces all work together to fill in the details of the big picture.
LHTH begins with an overview of the Bible done chronologically. This is a big picture year of the Bible. The next layer is an overview of world history, with Biblical history integrated within it. This is a big picture year of world history and is done in LHFHG. After LHFHG, Beyond delves more deeply into early American history, exploring the reasons that various cultures settled in North America and the diverse backgrounds they brought with them. This is a pieces year, where the details are fleshed out better. Bigger then does a biographical look at American history so that kiddos can see the people who were important in the flow of American history and how we got to be where we are today. Bigger is a pieces year too, as the pieces of the various lives of important Americans slide into the big picture of world and American history.
After Bigger, we head into Preparing Hearts, which is a one-year overview of world history (this time much deeper than what was covered in LHFHG). Plus, with kiddos just coming out of Bigger, they can see where the American history pieces fit into the world history picture. After Preparing Hearts, we head into a 4 year chronological look at the various historical time periods. Students are now ready for the more mature content that a deeper study of world history brings. They already have many mental pegs on which to hang information, have a better idea of where events fit in the big picture, and have a more defined faith and understanding of the Bible that they will need as they study the difficult areas of history that are revealed more fully in the in-depth years of study.
After the 4 year history cycle, our next step will be an overview of world geography. At HOD, we cover geography in each of our guides, integrating the study of geography with the study of history. In this way, students see how geography affected history and how boundaries and borders changed over time. With the start of high school, students are now ready for an in-depth study of world geography. It makes sense to do this prior to a one-year overview of world history, as it will help students place the geography they learned in context and make the geography they have learned instantly useful. It will also help acquaint students with the world of today, which is much different than the world of the past.
Last, we'll move into the two years of American history. Since we will not have neglected world history with our previous various guides, it makes sense to look at American history more deeply in these final two guides. Knowing a history of one's country is necessary, and if American history is only studied within the context of world history we'll miss the opportunity for students to learn important details and facts about the country in which they live. This is a golden opportunity to help our students learn from America's past mistakes, learn what sacrifices were made so that America could be a free nation, gain a feeling of patriotism and honor, discover how America differs from other countries in the world, and form opinions on how to help our nation move forward in the future.
We did the four year history cycle rotation multiple times with my own oldest son after becoming convinced this was the "only" way to teach world history. We found some problems with this type of path that led us to approach the study of history differently with our next three children. When studying history with the 4 year cycle in mind, you begin with the ancients first. We found starting with the ancients difficult, as the study was much more focused on pagan cultures like Greece, Rome, Egypt, and China than we desired for our K-2nd grade student. The topics were often weighty and there were many instances of barbaric behavior, so much so that we found ourselves skipping much material in the "ancient" time period. The 4 year cycle also did not have us reaching the study of American history until our son was in 3rd and 4th grade. This also felt backward to us, as it left our son in the dark as to much of the history of the country in which he lived until he was older.
Another problem with the four year cycle is that families who change from one curriculum to another often find themselves repeating a history cycle in order to place their children correctly, and the children may actually never get to all four time periods of history before middle school or even high school if they switch often enough.
This can lead to families doing multiple years of the ancients (or a different period) and can result in the child never reaching American history for many years! Or it can also result in the parent feeling the need to jump a child into a level of a curriculum that he/she is not ready for... simply to stay on the correct history rotation. In either case, making the history cycle supreme can result in overlooking needed skills that will prepare a child for future studies.
One other challenge is that students who repeat the 4 year history cycle two or three times, as many curriculums advocate, can actually "burn out" or wear out on a certain time period that they feel they have visited too many times. Or, on the flipside, it can leave students feeling like they have many years before they get to revisit a favorite time period they may have really enjoyed.
We seek to avoid many of these pitfalls that we experienced ourselves by changing up the flow of the history plan and including overview years in between. This plan provides a framework with needed mental pegs on which students can hang information, provides a layered approach to history, keeps the history study fresh from year to year, allows families to place children in our programs based on skills rather than based on the historical time period, allows students to revisit a favorite time period more often due to the overview years, keeps a child from developing a dislike or dread for a certain time period that he/she must study for a full year, and makes sure a child does not "miss" a certain time period simply due to switching curriculums. I'm sure this is much more information than you needed, but I wanted to fully explain our thinking and reasoning behind the design of our program.
Blessings,
Carrie
This link should help with the first part of your question
. The time periods are noted for the guides you mentioned. Link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.phpThanks for your patience in hearing back on this! I wanted to take the time to answer your question thoroughly, and I knew I would need a chunk of time in which to do it.
As far as the world geography year for high school goes, we will begin with the start of map-making and move through time toward more modern map-making. Kiddos will be mapping the entire world bit by bit, learning to draw and label from memory each part of the world (with reviews in between). We will read stories from history that coordinate with the history of map-making and exploration. It will be done chronologically. The year of world history for high school will be a one-year sweep of world history with Biblical history integrated within secular world history.
So, we'll begin in Bible times and move forward to present day. The two years of American history for high school will be split either before the Civil War or shortly after it, depending on the resources that we end up using for these years of history.
At HOD, we choose for kiddos to have a one-year overview of history prior to delving more deeply into the layers of history for several reasons. First, we find it very helpful for kiddos to see the big picture before trying to fit together the individual pieces of history.
To illustrate why this is important think about this example: Just imagine that I asked you to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I poured the pieces out on the table, but I did not give you the puzzle box with the picture of the puzzle upon it for you to refer to as you put the puzzle together. In essence, I left you in the dark as to the big picture you were trying to recreate. How difficult would it be to put together the 1000 different pieces of the puzzle? This is the same challenge that our children face when we give them the pieces of history without the big picture. As adults, we often think that the 4 year history cycle is the best way to teach history, and I agree that it does have merit (which is why we do a 4 year cycle with part of our guide progression).
However, it is also important to remember that when we look at the study of history from our adult perspective, we are bringing to the study our own "big picture" of history that we already have from our past experiences. This helps make the individual pieces of history fall into place more easily for us. Even if our past study of history was less than stellar, we do still have many informational pegs already in our mind that help us make sense of the pieces of history. Our children do not have this past experience to draw upon. They have been given no big picture of history and are in need of a framework with pegs on which to hang future information. So, at HOD we seek to give them the big picture first, providing the framework and some mental pegs on which to hang future information. LHTH, LHFHG, PHFHG, the geography year, and the world history year are each one year overview type years which seek to provide the big picture. These years are each followed up with more in-depth years full of many pieces of history. These pieces all work together to fill in the details of the big picture. LHTH begins with an overview of the Bible done chronologically. This is a big picture year of the Bible. The next layer is an overview of world history, with Biblical history integrated within it. This is a big picture year of world history and is done in LHFHG. After LHFHG, Beyond delves more deeply into early American history, exploring the reasons that various cultures settled in North America and the diverse backgrounds they brought with them. This is a pieces year, where the details are fleshed out better. Bigger then does a biographical look at American history so that kiddos can see the people who were important in the flow of American history and how we got to be where we are today. Bigger is a pieces year too, as the pieces of the various lives of important Americans slide into the big picture of world and American history.
After Bigger, we head into Preparing Hearts, which is a one-year overview of world history (this time much deeper than what was covered in LHFHG). Plus, with kiddos just coming out of Bigger, they can see where the American history pieces fit into the world history picture.
After Preparing Hearts, we head into a 4 year chronological look at the various historical time periods. Students are now ready for the more mature content that a deeper study of world history brings. They already have many mental pegs on which to hang information, have a better idea of where events fit in the big picture, and have a more defined faith and understanding of the Bible that they will need as they study the difficult areas of history that are revealed more fully in the in-depth years of study. After the 4 year history cycle, our next step will be an overview of world geography. At HOD, we cover geography in each of our guides, integrating the study of geography with the study of history. In this way, students see how geography affected history and how boundaries and borders changed over time.
With the start of high school, students are now ready for an in-depth study of world geography. It makes sense to do this prior to a one-year overview of world history, as it will help students place the geography they learned in context and make the geography they have learned instantly useful. It will also help acquaint students with the world of today, which is much different than the world of the past. Last, we'll move into the two years of American history. Since we will not have neglected world history with our previous various guides, it makes sense to look at American history more deeply in these final two guides. Knowing a history of one's country is necessary, and if American history is only studied within the context of world history we'll miss the opportunity for students to learn important details and facts about the country in which they live. This is a golden opportunity to help our students learn from America's past mistakes, learn what sacrifices were made so that America could be a free nation, gain a feeling of patriotism and honor, discover how America differs from other countries in the world, and form opinions on how to help our nation move forward in the future.
We did the four year history cycle rotation multiple times with my own oldest son after becoming convinced this was the "only" way to teach world history. We found some problems with this type of path that led us to approach the study of history differently with our next three children. When studying history with the 4 year cycle in mind, you begin with the ancients first. We found starting with the ancients difficult, as the study was much more focused on pagan cultures like Greece, Rome, Egypt, and China than we desired for our K-2nd grade student. The topics were often weighty and there were many instances of barbaric behavior, so much so that we found ourselves skipping much material in the "ancient" time period. The 4 year cycle also did not have us reaching the study of American history until our son was in 3rd and 4th grade. This also felt backward to us, as it left our son in the dark as to much of the history of the country in which he lived until he was older.
Another problem with the four year cycle is that families who change from one curriculum to another often find themselves repeating a history cycle in order to place their children correctly, and the children may actually never get to all four time periods of history before middle school or even high school if they switch often enough.
This can lead to families doing multiple years of the ancients (or a different period) and can result in the child never reaching American history for many years! Or it can also result in the parent feeling the need to jump a child into a level of a curriculum that he/she is not ready for... simply to stay on the correct history rotation. In either case, making the history cycle supreme can result in overlooking needed skills that will prepare a child for future studies. One other challenge is that students who repeat the 4 year history cycle two or three times, as many curriculums advocate, can actually "burn out" or wear out on a certain time period that they feel they have visited too many times. Or, on the flipside, it can leave students feeling like they have many years before they get to revisit a favorite time period they may have really enjoyed.
We seek to avoid many of these pitfalls that we experienced ourselves by changing up the flow of the history plan and including overview years in between. This plan provides a framework with needed mental pegs on which students can hang information, provides a layered approach to history, keeps the history study fresh from year to year, allows families to place children in our programs based on skills rather than based on the historical time period, allows students to revisit a favorite time period more often due to the overview years, keeps a child from developing a dislike or dread for a certain time period that he/she must study for a full year, and makes sure a child does not "miss" a certain time period simply due to switching curriculums.
I'm sure this is much more information than you needed, but I wanted to fully explain our thinking and reasoning behind the design of our program. Blessings,
Carrie