Well, Allison gets a gold star for those on the spot answers!!!
I'll just add my 2 cents to a few of these questions
#4.
What is the benefit of doing this one year overview of world history rather than just jumping in at the
beginning with the ancients?
I like the one year overview before jumping into the ancients because it puts the ancients in their proper "slot" in the overview of all of history. It also gives my ds "pegs" to hang the rest of his 4 year history cycles of learning upon. He'll essentially know something of the ancients prior to doing it, and he'll have a bit of a flavor for it. He'll have the excitement of revisiting the big ideas he learned about the ancients already, but become fully immersed in the details of it next year. It's a bit like knowing how amazing the Bible is after reading it in its entirety, but then completely loving the details of the Gospels when going back and just looking at Jesus' life (something I did this last year, and am now reading the gospels again I'm able to appreciate them so much more from reading the whole Bible first). Plus, the ancients require an older more mature student - the ancients were a time period full of the worship of many gods, confusion about what really happened and what was mythology, lots of violence that can be somewhat graphic, etc. I am confident in HOD's ability to handle all this, but I'm thankful my ds will be 1 more year older before he delves into the ancients.
5. I have an ongoing list of just-great-books that I want to read to my children. Is my HOD schedule going
to be so full that I am not realistically going to have time to read aloud books of my choice to my dc?
We finished PHFHG by noon today (about 4 hours). It took me longer the first month, but now in the second month we are clipping along beautifully. I have an entire "independent reading" shelf devoted to other books I want my dc to read independently or listen to on audio. I replenish the shelf at least once or twice a year, and there are a lot of books on it. I see you share my love of books too! Rest assured - they'll be time.
6. Is picture and music study included?
We're doing the Bible Music CD and loving it. It has been a helpful aid to my ds (and me
) in learning the scripture memory verses. We sing it together, and God touches my heart with that every time. My ds is getting older, and it's just an amazing feeling to praise God in that way together, after we've just talked about the verse and shared so much - the music is a heart-tugging way to end it.
7. What types of writing assignments are included? Are they primarily written summaries of the history readings?
I am LOVING the writing in PHFHG. You may have read any of my recent posts about how thrilled I am that my ds has come out of his shell and begun to write creatively so happily! The creative writing parallels the poetry, and it's got my ds doing personification, metaphors, similes, detailed descriptions - you name it - whatever is in the poetry, he is emulating beautifully, and believe me, that's an amazing thing for a boy not so into writing previously. The notebooking is so beneficial and laid out, the common place book has a special almost journal-like or diary -like feel to it, the vocabulary cards and 5 question answers have a research component to them, the lab report writing reinforces the scientific method, the written narrations are excellent paired with the lessons we do together on it, the dictation continues to improve my ds's spelling - well, as you can see there are many different forms of writing in PHFHG. All with a different skill involved, all with a different - but necessary - purpose.
Hope some of this helps! We couldn't be happier with PHFHG - it is simply a wonderful program!
In Christ,
Julie
