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Hi, again!

Does HOD include a study of international cultures? I see there is no year dedicated to that end, but will that somehow be interwoven into the four year history cycle?

Thanks!

TeacherMom,

International cultures are taught within the scope of history and literature. Within Preparing Hearts the geography goes along with the span of world history, so kiddos spend time all over the globe. Hillyer also gives a great feel for the various cultures of the world in his retellings of world history. Hands-on history projects reflect the various cultures as well.

Cultures will continue to be addressed throughout the study of history each year as they arise. This gives a purpose for learning about the culture and puts the development of the cultures into perspective. It helps explain why various cultures do what they do and where their belief system came from. By learning about the influential people within each culture's history, it is easy to see how and why cultures change over time as well.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:TeacherMom,

International cultures are taught within the scope of history and literature. Within Preparing Hearts the geography goes along with the span of world history, so kiddos spend time all over the globe. Hillyer also gives a great feel for the various cultures of the world in his retellings of world history. Hands-on history projects reflect the various cultures as well.

Cultures will continue to be addressed throughout the study of history each year as they arise. This gives a purpose for learning about the culture and puts the development of the cultures into perspective. It helps explain why various cultures do what they do and where their belief system came from. By learning about the influential people within each culture's history, it is easy to see how and why cultures change over time as well.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you, Carrie, for your response. My hat is off to you for being able to hs your own children while continuing to write curriculum. I have trouble just hsing my kids and keeping my house clean!

I have two school-aged children, an eight year old boy and a six year old girl. I also have an extremely rowdy three year old in the mix. I began hsing when my oldest was in K, so this is my fourth year. So far I have used only SL (core K) and MFW (their first grade program, their one year American history/states' study, and currently their world cultures/geography study).

At this point I am not planning on continuing with MFW Creation to the Greeks next year. I would either like to use SL's one year world history or your Preparing. My oldest will be in fourth grade then, but he is still a very "young" boy who struggles with the physical act of writing.

I have yet to have a school year with my oldest in which I really felt like I had things pulled together for him. This is extremely frustrating to me, especially since I have a BA in education and eight years of classroom teaching experience (at the middle and high school level)!

Anyway, I'm seeking the Lord's direction and wisdom in how to proceed.

Blessings to you!

And this is exactly why I love HOD. Sorry just had to throw that out there.

Carrie wrote:
Cultures will continue to be addressed throughout the study of history each year as they arise. This gives a purpose for learning about the culture and puts the development of the cultures into perspective. It helps explain why various cultures do what they do and where their belief system came from. By learning about the influential people within each culture's history, it is easy to see how and why cultures change over time as well.

Blessings,
Carrie

TeacherMom,

I know that feeling, as I have a rowdy 2 year old running around too (although not as rowdy as some of his brothers were at that age PTL! )

I also know the feeling of NOT having everything as pulled together as I'd like for my oldest son (7th grade), as he's always the poor test child since he's going first. Although, he seems to enjoy his school and actually likes being first in most areas!

I would think that Preparing would be a good fit for your 4th grade son. My 4th grader is enjoying it himself this year. You may want to peek at the weekly check-in to see more about that.

Sonlight's one year world history will be a pretty aggressive reading schedule for you, which you may want to weigh. The Sonlight philosophy and ours are also quite different, so you may find an answer there as to which would be a better fit for your family. We were Sonlight users for quite a few years, which is part of the reason why we now write our own guides.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you for your response, Carrie. I know you are busy, so I certainly appreciate the time you are taking to chat with me.

Preparing does look quite interesting, and I am giving it strong consideration for next year.

I do have a concern, however, about one of the books you are considering for your ancients' study. It is the first one you listed and provided a link for on your post concerning your new guide. I read through the sample of the author's narrative about Cain and Abel and was quite surprised about some of the details he included about Cain's life after he killed Abel. For example, he talked about his use of weights and measures and his making land boundaries and then moving boundary lines for his profit. He elaborated on his lack of repentance, his wickedness, and his taking advantage of people for his own profit.

In rereading the Genesis account I verified that those details are not included in that portion of Scripture. Are they referred to elsewhere in the Bible, some place that I am not remembering? I called my father-in-law, who holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies, and he indicated that he did not think they were. He was completing last minute preparations to leave on a trip to Lagos, Nigeria where he will be teaching a seminary class and was unable to take the time to check for me.

Anyway, the author presents that information as factual, so if it is, in fact, not information set forth in the Scripture, I would have concerns about other liberties he may have taken via author license.

Thank you for your graciousness in asking for input about your new ancients' guide. I hope it is okay that I am questioning that particular book.

Thank you again, Carrie. I look forward to learning more about HOD.

Blessings!

TeacherMom,

I have the ancients book you are referring to, and the publisher - Christine Miller - tells you this in her preface:

"Any of the details of the ancient world which emerge in this book, then, which may seem suprising to modern readers because they are little known in our day, are not new, but were gleaned from one or more of these five sources,* (she named them previously in the preface) and have in some cases been supported, often unwittingly, by modern books which deny the historicity of the Old Testament. A complete study of these sources will confirm, I trust, the history told in this book."

*The five books she referred to are: The Defender's Study Bible by Henry M. Morris; Josephus: Complete Works by William Whitson; The Annals of the World by James Ussher, revised by Larry and Marion Pierce; A New System, or An Analysis of Ancient Mythology by Jacob Bryant; and The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World by George Rawlinson.

I am not a Bible scholar, but my Dad was a pastor and I know he referred to Josephus in regard to Biblical history and Morris and Ussher are names I recognize as being respected in this area as well.


I understand your concern in adding to Scripture what we think happened and writing it as fact. I taught Bible to 30 first graders at a Christian Academy, and every week we had a Bible meeting where we went over the lessons for the Bible classes that upcoming week. One of our main concerns was that what we said was not what we thought, but what the Bible said was true. We wanted to make sure that our own concepts did not overshadow the truth.

That being said, I believe this to be a well-researched, true historical writing that has gone beyond the pages of Scripture to outside sources to glean valuable information that will give us a fuller, richer picture of the Bible narrative.

I applaud your concerns. God wants us to be vigilant for the truth.

In His love,
RuthAnn

TeacherMom,

I'm sorry I missed this part of the thread, but thankfully RuthAnn did an excellent job of answering your question exactly the way I would have (or even better!)

I'll also link you to the entire Publisher's Preface, so you can read all of Christine Miller's comments as to how she rewrote Guerber's book and on the purpose of this particular book in the series: http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ ... face2.html

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you, RuthAnn and Carrie, for addressing my concerns regarding the history book. (Please forgive my delay in responding. I was out of town until last night.)

I'm going to enjoy looking into the source books used for research for the history book. Thank you, RuthAnn, for posting them.

Blessings!

Sonlight's one year world history will be a pretty aggressive reading schedule for you, which you may want to weigh. The Sonlight philosophy and ours are also quite different, so you may find an answer there as to which would be a better fit for your family. We were Sonlight users for quite a few years, which is part of the reason why we now write our own guides.

Blessings,
Carrie[/quote]

Carrie,
I am very interested to know more about how HOD's and Sonlight's philosophies differ - specifically the exposure to and discussion of other religions and cultures. I feel that now more than ever it is important for our children to understand the concept of "worldview" as well as to have controlled exposure within the context of home so that as they go out they will already be prepared with a biblical worldview.
Can you speak to how worldview will be adressed in older guides (I have a rising 7th grader, 5/6th grader, 1st, and PK). We have by the way thoroughly enjoyed and learned with Preparing this year.

Thank you,
Jennifer