I will look into the A Beka. I've never really checked it out before.
You are right. I looked at the book (What your First...) and it is chronological. It just goes too far, too fast, IMHO. I think in first grade we will only cover the ancients, following a classical model. From what I've seen of the classical model, if it is followed strictly from the beginning, a child will go through all of world history three times. Once in the grammar stage, once in the logic stage, and once in the rhetoric stage. I don't know really how fast it is done yet, but I really like the way this series (http://www.homeschooljourney.com/) has broken history down into four parts: ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern. It would make sense then to cover the ancients in 1st, 5th, and 9th grade, the medieval in 2nd, 6th, and 10th...you get the idea. I don't know though. I'm just guessing at this stage. You'll get some American History and some other history thrown in non-chronological times just by celebrating the holidays of the American calendar. I really like the general breakdown of the History Portfolio though because it is less focused on Amercan history and more on the world. I like that I would have a lot more time to teach things like Byzantine and Asian history, things that were virtually ignored in my education. So...I'm totally just thinking out loud here...I don't know where I'm going with this. Just saying I LIKE what the "What your..." books do, especially in the math and language arts sections, but I think the history would bother me. I need to look at it a little more closely though...
no subject
You are right. I looked at the book (What your First...) and it is chronological. It just goes too far, too fast, IMHO. I think in first grade we will only cover the ancients, following a classical model. From what I've seen of the classical model, if it is followed strictly from the beginning, a child will go through all of world history three times. Once in the grammar stage, once in the logic stage, and once in the rhetoric stage. I don't know really how fast it is done yet, but I really like the way this series (http://www.homeschooljourney.com/) has broken history down into four parts: ancient, medieval, renaissance, and modern. It would make sense then to cover the ancients in 1st, 5th, and 9th grade, the medieval in 2nd, 6th, and 10th...you get the idea. I don't know though. I'm just guessing at this stage. You'll get some American History and some other history thrown in non-chronological times just by celebrating the holidays of the American calendar. I really like the general breakdown of the History Portfolio though because it is less focused on Amercan history and more on the world. I like that I would have a lot more time to teach things like Byzantine and Asian history, things that were virtually ignored in my education. So...I'm totally just thinking out loud here...I don't know where I'm going with this. Just saying I LIKE what the "What your..." books do, especially in the math and language arts sections, but I think the history would bother me. I need to look at it a little more closely though...