History
Hello everyone,
I've used The Well Trained Mind/Classical Homeschooling for most of of my homeschooling but I'm getting overwhelmed. And honestly, tired of the mass of material, so finding The Latin Centered Curriculum was a Godsend.
I added in Mounce's Greek which I am enjoying myself, stopped God's Gift of Language (Abeka) but kept Spelling Workout because she loves it. (She's on Latina Christiana 2 and grammar was repititious-but I was afraid to cull it before now) I'm thinking of switching from Writing Strands to Classical Composition also.
With my oldest son I used Omnibus as a crutch, having never encountered classics myself, but I refuse to do so again. This year with Dd I used the outlining of Kingfishers, but it's still too much. And, it's no better than a textbook-which she hates. I'm loathe to switch the era she's (and my 4th grader) in and wanted to know if there was anything like Artner's for European history?
It seems that out of all the subjects, history is the one I bounce around most in, using a new approach every year. Not something that I want to do, but as as I learned more in homeschooling I found I didn't like certain curriculums and tried different approaches. So, now she's a mish mash. This is where I wish I had had the wisdom to preread history curriculum.
My 4th grade son loves the knights and castles, the trebuchets and catapults and all of the Dorling Kindersly books I've accumulated, but again, I want to find something I can stick to.
Should I just scrap it all and go back to American History for which we were using The Story of the 13 Colonies and The story of the Great Republic last year? I had thought having the kids repeat classical stories at different learning stages would be good, but now I'm not so sure.
Thanks for any insights.
Briana
Have you seen...
Reading Your Way Through History? It's a living books approach to history, and while it doesn't have the memory work material that Artner's does, it's a great list. It's got a Catholic emphasis, but picking and choosing is fine.
I don't think it's necessary to backtrack with American history. Start where you are, and most of all, don't become a slave to your curriculum! :) As you can tell, I'm not wedded to the idea of chronological history as the way to go. It's one way, and a good way, but not the only way. I would probably capitalize on student interest even if it meant "bending" my plans a bit. If that means the Middle Ages for now, no harm.
HTH!
-Drew
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"I wonder how far I shall carry any opinion with me when I plead for active effort to revive the general use of Latin?" - Hilaire Belloc
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A Response
I'm so sad that no one responded to this entry! I feel Briana's pain. I would like to know if anyone has any insight? Or, perhaps Briana has gained some insight herself and has an update for us?
I think a lot of us WTM burnouts have welcomed a LCE. I know I have. Let me know how it's going.
Sandi