History/geography ideas please

[DawnMcD]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading along for a little while now and enjoying and learning from you all. I am homeschooling my 4 children 13,8,7 and 5 and this is our first full year. I took them out of public school in January.

My trouble is with History/Geography For the younger 3. I currently use alpha omega 3rd grade for the 3rd grader and five in a row for the 1st grader and kindergartner. But I feel it is soo difficult to do different topics for them and I also feel like history and geography should be so much more fun and engaging for the 3rd Grader. I do feel as if I need a curriculum and do not feel comfortable writing it on my own. I would love one that incorporates reading of good books, activities and some writing - maybe ones I could make lapbooks with. I need to be able to customize it to the 3 levels.

boy that was long winded. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

[TeacherMom]

I have not used it but I have heard that Mystery of History is supposed to be good for using for different ages.
I am using Exploring American History this year wiht my 5th grader, we are doing little projects on the side but the main book is reading stories about the Explorers themselves and other people of noriety.
(sp)
Do you have the teacher book with the life pak 3s? because they have some suggestions for making things more exciting, you could use the Life Paks as a basis to explore the world... If I recall though its just the Kansas and that one right? SO study on each state you read about with more interest.
We did a report on each state, with a map and a few important things about each state that was mentioned when we did LPS.
There are no doubt going to be lots of replies to this they have some great ideas here!

[CelticRose]

Hi. I don't have a curriculum to recommend but you might like to try this book: Geography Crafts for Kids. 50 cool projects & activities for exploring the world, by Joe Rhatigan & Heather Smith.
ISBN 1-57990-196-4 Published by Lark Books N.Y 2002.

The activities include making a mariner's astrolabe, water filter, solar oven, weather station, maps, time zone clocks ~ even a compass. I've borrowed one from the library, which is always a cheap alternative.

[MonkeyMamma]

Mystery of History can be used for a variety of ages. At the end of each lesson there are different activities for all age groups. I think the website is www.themysteryofhistory.com

You can get all the info there. We use it and like it.

[dalynnrmc]

DAWN!!!! HI GIRL!!!! WELCOME TO THE BOARD! You will love it here! I've been wondering how your hs was going - tried to IM you last night and you were gone already. (Guess I'll turn on my yahoo now. LOL)


Oh, right. History and Geography.

I agree, check out Mystery of History. History in chronological order, Biblical history included right alongside "secular" world history (Daniel and Aesop!). Activity guides and mapwork, suggestions for activities for kids on any level. We're going to start it soon too!! There's a yahoogroup for the first book if you're interested. The author, Linda Hobar, is on it too!

I am so excited to see you here!

[homeschooler06]

We are using Story of the World. I even include the preschoolers they color. I have the actitivty book to go with it. It has some quesions you can ask and activities for younger and older kids, list of books for extra reading. I have an apologia science book that can be done with different age groups. We do notebooking for science, it's like lapbooking without the folders. DD just prefers notebooking to lapbooking.

[rmcx5]

We're using Sonlight. You can usually combine topics with it (depending on the age differences and abilities).

I'm using Core 3 (early Am. history) for my 9,7, and 5 year old.....tweaking it a bit as needed for the younger ones.

Rhonda C.

[cynderella]

We love the history of the world book. My oldest has already finished the first 3 books and I thought I would challenge him a little more this year and we are using Around the World in 180 days for him this year. He is in 9th grade and the AtW book takes a look at history/geography by breaking the sections into the continents. Each continent is broken up into a geography, culture, government, historical, and current event topics. The challenging part about this book is that it only gives you the student workbook and teacher workbook.. no text to derive the answers from. This requires the student to do a lot of research (inthe library or online) to find out the answers for him/her-self. I really like it for the highschool lvl because it is forcing him to really search and learn to use resources and to FIND reliable resources to get his information. The student then places all the gathered information into a three ring binder for that continent and you have a neat packet of info for each continent when you are done with it. The teacher's book also gives you suggested reading for books to check out at the library and it gives you the answers to the questions if your child comes across an answer that he or she just can't find.

Side note.. the AtW book would be VERY easy to use across grade lvls as you could easily pick which questions you think are appropriate for each age group.

[AussieMum]

tapestry of grace includes lessons for all ages on the same topics. I am using a bit of the free sample at the moment - looks quite good. if you go to their site, you can download 3 weeks on egypt and some other sample stuff for free. It is christian, don't know if thats a plus or a minus to you.

[crazymama]

Have you looked at this site? http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xp...ns/matrix.html

ETA: I have used some of the K-2 stuff with my 3rd grader and he didn't feel I was "talking down" to him.