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As I ponder the future and the day (it is coming soon) my oldest begins studying history more independently I am wondering how to help him process what he is reading. I am not familiar with the inner workings of any guide past PHFHG so I don't know whether or not Carrie has built a discussion time into the guides. I do see that history is handled very independently by the kiddos beginning woth CTC. History is an ideal platform for discussion on so many levels and I want to be totally engaged with what my kids are studying. I anticipate pre-reading their books although I truly have no clue how it will work out in real life. I will make intense efforts to stay with it though.

Any thoughts or ideas here? Do you have discussions? Do you pre-read? Is discussion scheduled?

My daughter has worked through CTC and this year RTR. With CTC we didn't get much discussion time in, however this year my husband has been reading along (slightly behind my daughter) and then using breakfast to discuss the history portion. He's especially enjoying MOH which is a really fascinating read. I think the discussion is really important, especaily in the junior high/highschool years. I also think the "review" is good for her and another opportunity to learn the material.

Shannon

Carrie and Julie both recommend having scheduled discussion times with your dc in the older guides. Since they are teaching multiple kiddos they have a few set meeting times during the day. This is facilitated for in the guide in several ways one I can remember is in the history reading box it may ask questions and then say "be prepared to share your answers". My ds doing HOD is my youngest so I don't have set times, he just comes to me after he finishes an Independent box and shares with me what he learned. I pre-read all his books in the summer, but the key idea in the box always helps me to remember what the reading was about. I see so many people think that the Independent boxes means hands off totally and that they will never know what their dc are studying and not have any meaningful conversations with their older dc. That really just isn't the case. Here is a link to a post I made last year that outlined in just 1 day the interactions ds and I had during RTR and Julie then posts the interactions with her ds doing Rev to Rev and Carrie shares some good thoughts. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10939

I didn't have HOD with my oldest (high school wasn't available), but I made time to discuss history. Honestly, some of our best discussions came out of discussing history. There's such a richness in using living books that His-story comes alive and that opens a whole new world of discussion with teens.

As a side note, we used textbooks for 7th grade (his first year at home) and we never discussed history. I corrected his papers, maybe asked if he enjoyed it, occasionally he'd tell me about a battle or something he found "cool". That was it. Very thankful to have quickly learned a different approach. He's thankful too.

The link LynnH provided already shares some of my thoughts about this, but I'll just add a bit more here. I knew my role would be changing as my dc matured, and I was not sure how to embrace that. The meeting times I have planned in my school routine have been the answer to this transition.

A little background on how the "meeting time checkpoints" were added to my day in the first place... I knew I should be doing the follow-ups in each of the boxes, checking my older ds's work more consistently, giving feedback to his work routinely, etc. I did not do a very good job of this when Wyatt started CTC. I sort of didn't do my teacher part, I guess. I figured out the hard way that "Independent" work still requires my involvement in the form of checking it, informally discussing it, and making sure my ds did all he was supposed to do. Fast forward to RTR and RevtoRev - the midpoint meeting checkpoint was born. Wyatt and I both LOVE this time together. We each get our favorite beverage (he usually gets hot tea and I have strong coffee), and I look at the boxes he has initialized to show he completed that work. He shows me the maps he did, and I spot check any 'trace this route', 'find this country', type things he did. He says his Bible memory work for me, and I look over his Bible Quiet Time written work, again informally commenting on this or that, as he does as well. I ask any questions in the box, help with any editing using the Appendix tips and sheets, listen to him read his written narrations and use the helps again to fix, hear his oral narrations - etc. I guess I am probably repeating some of what I said in the link already given. I just wanted to try to explain how I am completely in touch with what Wyatt is doing, how we really enjoy this time together, how he likes being treated like a more 'grown-up' person during his school time with me, and how our role has changed to be more on the same playing field. It's kind of like coming out from behind the teacher's desk, and pulling up a chair to chat and work through things collaboratively, team player fashion. I also let him determine the order of what we'll go through, other than I first do my teaching lessons (i.e. math, R & S English, writing, etc.).

This kind of interaction has not only let me get a handle on what he is doing independently, it has also built our relationship to be a deep, loving, sharing one. He sees himself as a mature, active participant in his learning, and he sees me letting him embrace that new role, while still giving him support. This kind of together time and fashion of education goes so much more deep than reading history books together or constant formal assessment can go. I'm trying to explain this well, but not sure I am. Can you come over?!? Seriously, HOD has helped me figure out how to help my ds grow up, how to hang onto our relationship through these rocky teen years, and how to navigate my changing role as his teacher. I think he loves me as his teacher in this capacity. I know I love him as my student in this capacity. It is just great fun to go from teaching Emmett phonics, to talking about how to do a written narration with Riley, to talking about primary source documents and why that person wrote what they did and what he must have been thinking and how that impacted history and isn't it so incredible we can still read those words today and wow his faith sure impacted his decisions, and so on and so on with Wyatt! His being older and me focusing just on him (as his younger brothers do not place in the same guide as he does) have helped us just really go deep sometimes and move quicker at others, to sort of have the ebb and flow of the day be ours as we want it. I hope something here helps, but you can probably guess my advice would be for you to add some meeting times, checkpoint type times, to your day with your older(s), and enjoy it to the hilt!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

Thank-you for sharing about your day with Wyatt and how you meet for discussion. You are encouraging and joyful in all of your responses. It is so valued here.

abrightmom wrote:... You are encouraging and joyful in all of your responses. It is so valued here.

Thank you, and I would say the very same thing about you! What a blessing you are part of this board!
In Christ,
Julie