We really like History. It's so much fun to walk through the world, through time and see so many different events that have led us to today. Well, I suppose it isn't always fun, there have been too many gruesome events for that, but it's always interesting.
And often fun.
This is our third year using The Story of the World and we're still enjoying it.
The only negative we've encountered (I've encountered) is that there are too many chapters for our school year. And that's only a negative because I have this inexplicable drive to finish every bit of every curriculum (which I can suppress, but not willingly).
While we love the stories, our favorite part is the Activity Book. Projects are always a hit, there's just something about getting your hands "dirty" that makes anything more fun.
Last year Makenna joined with us in our Story of the World adventures as a 6th grader and, like science, it just wasn't quite enough of a challenge for her. So, I looked around and found another curriculum that travels through history in a four year cycle just like Story of the World (so she'd be studying the same time period as us) that was more age appropriate.
In fact, History Odyssey is very challenging. It's got reading, writing and geography all wrapped up into one curriculum. I love how hard she has to work (although she isn't always such a big fan). This is one of my very favorite things about Homeschooling Makenna, I can make sure she's challenged.
For a little bit of fun, I've also added Confessions of a Homeschooler's Road Trip USA curriculum. We spend a week or two learning a few facts about each state. She has you make a notebook to put your papers in, but we decided to make a lap book (my kids love them) and have been having a lot of fun so far. I really like that you can choose how in depth you want to go into each state, we are just skimming, but you could use her curriculum as the spine for a more in depth study if that's what you wanted.
History also serves as the jumping off point for the required reading my kids are assigned. It's fun to read about people and from authors who lived at the same time period you're studying. It adds a different viewpoint, helps our learning to be a little more in depth and well rounded.
What do you do for history?
Leah
If you want to check out more of our curriculum choices, visit our 2013-14 outline.
I appreciate your recommendations for a more challenging History curriculum. I'll have to keep that in mind for the future! We use Story of the World, too, and are also using Latter-day Learning's Family School curriculum for History. I've always wanted to purchase the workbook for Story of the World, but have never yet made the investment. Maybe this year will be the year we can spring for it! History is one of my weaknesses, so the more help I get from workbooks and a formal curriculum, the better!
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