What Should We Expect - Reading About History

[StephanieU]

I have seen people ask similar questions, but I am not sure if there has ever been an official answer on this.
If a box says to read certain pages, and the pages include questions in the book, are we to have our students answer them?
In the early guides (LHFHG and Beyond especially), are we to have them narrate or do something to check for understanding? Or are we just to read the history and then state the key idea?

I know that having them narrate or answer the questions isn't necessarily a bad thing. But is it what is intended? I have heard people ask how we are to know they have learned anything if we just read...

[MomtoJGJE]

I've learned that the more I ask questions about it, the less they will retain later. If I just do exactly what it says to do in the guide (ie, narration or ask questions or discuss things etc.) then they will put the information in that we've read before. So for me, unless it specifically tells me to do something, I just read.

[luv2homeschool]

I don't ever ask the comprehension questions in the book.

[Kteni]

I don't ask them to do any Q's unless they are specifically assigned. I too find it lessens the impact of the reading because they just regergitate info just heard, instead of taking a bit of time to think about what they have just heard and make a connection with it. Makes it less textbooky and more living booky, Kwim?

Looking forward to Carrie or Julie's answer!

[Motherjoy]

I asked the questions when my three middle guys went through those guides. They never seem to have an issue with it. I didn't always require answers, especially from the youngest, but it was very helpful for me to make sure they heard me, were listening, and that all ages were being correctly targeted with the level of material. Also, I rarely state the key idea. I figured that was a note for teacher (or the student when they become independent.)

[my3sons]

Good question! The entire left side of the plans is coordinated to go with the history readings, so each of the boxes you are doing are a follow-up 'assessment' to the readings. They are intentionally varied, using some narrations, some hands-on activities, some questions, some geography/mapping exercises, some artistic elements, some timelines, etc. Some connections are more directly linked to the readings, while others are more indirectly linked, but all fit within the history theme. I have found that years later my sons can recount various history assignments with total clarity, but they are doing so through a memory that was retained in a different way from each other. I've also found that things I thought they didn't retain well they had a broader sense of what happened historically in place, and when we revisited the famous person, famous event, time period, etc. that they were able to add in more details to their repertoire of knowledge on the subject.

This is similar to Charlotte Mason's theory of first giving dc the backdrop and then adding the 'hooks' to that backdrop (which is why HOD does the order of history it does - 1 year sweep - LHFHG, American event focused - Beyond, American biographically focused - BHFHG, 1 year sweep - PHFHG, and then into the 4 time periods - CTC through Modern). We have found this approach to be very effective, and our sons can often speak quite knowledgeably off the cuff about history in unplanned settings (i.e. our pastor referencing/quoting people who shaped church history - or missionaries who have impacted the spread of the Gospel). As far as reading the key idea at the close of completing each box, that is optional. I often do it with the younger guides (from LHTH through PHFHG), as it is a nice summation of the connections made. In the older guides, I do it sometimes, but also just encourage my dc themselves to read them as they work. However, that is totally a personal preference.

So, as long as dc are doing the entire left side of the plans, they are meeting the expectation of what is intended to be completed and assessed in the guide. Other questions need not be done unless you'd like, and if they are done, it can be in an informal, conversational way with mom helping as needed. We often did some of the questions in this informal conversational way in the Eggleston books in BHFHG. However, we never did them with the intent of assessment, but rather for good conversation together. The assessment was already completed by doing the left side of the guide. In the earlier guides, such as LHFHG or Beyond, I rarely discussed any extra questions not in the plans but in the books, as the attention spans of our dc were shorter, and I wanted to maximize the rest of impact of the learning we were doing before they were doing somersaults across the floor. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[StephanieU]

Thanks Julie! That is what I thought, but I had heard of people asking the questions, requiring narration when it wasn't asked, etc, so i thought I would ask.
I am surprised at what my daughter remembers, and we are only in Beyond. She was able to answer during church on Sunday that the Pilgrims were from Plymouth (they were talking about a missionary from Plymouth, so the teachers ask who else lived in Plymouth). Hopefully this will be helpful to other too just starting their journey through HOD, as I think we tend to think we need to do more than what is actually written in the guides

[my3sons]

...Hopefully this will be helpful to other too just starting their journey through HOD, as I think we tend to think we need to do more than what is actually written in the guides

So true! Thank you for mentioning this! As I visit with moms on the phone for HOD, the happiest ones able to successfully stay the course within homeschooling year after year are those not adding, adding, adding or tweaking, tweaking, tweaking the plans. Homeschooling is, hopefully , a marathon and not a race. As such, to have endurance and also to enjoy the journey, I've found it is best to take the most delight out of my actual teaching time, as that is the time I am actually with my dc and making an impact on them. Certainly it is fun to research, or to plan this or that, but I've realized that sometimes one can research or plan so much, spending so much time on the computer or on the phone or wherever, that there really isn't time left to actually teach - to actually homeschool. So, I've stopped that. I put my time in my teaching, and my researching 'desire/need' into other things that don't sway me from the course (such as healthy ways to cook, how to actually keep our house clean, how to manage the never-ending laundry, how to teach our dc how to do chores and maintain a house/acreage, how to speak politely to the family doctor or neighbor, how to properly research things before buying them, how to have an allowance and money that must be managed and chosen how to spend or how to save, etc.). These necessary things in my job as a 'mom' fill my need to research and plan, and they don't prevent me from teaching consistently in a balanced way each day because I have HOD for that.

Once I began to think of it that way, such a burden was lifted. Carrie once said 'the best homeschool curriculum may just be the one that actually gets done.' Blessedly HOD helps me be able to do that day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade even... as Carrie lays the plans out so beautifully. She pours 1000+ hours into writing a guide, and she can do this because Mike and she have dedicated themselves to working as a team on everything. I don't have that time, nor do I have a dh whose job allows him to be a partner with me in teaching. Carrie is a teacher with her master's degree with 25+ years of experience teaching and homeschooling who has given up her life to write these guides. No amount of research on my part will equal what has been poured into HOD already. So, homeschooling is one thing - maybe the only thing - in my life I allow myself to breathe a great sigh of relief about and feel a large burden lifted off of my back and feel like by doing all of HOD as it is written, I am doing a good job. I am doing enough. I am a success in this one area. My dc will remember me as a committed teacher who loved to teach them, who made homeschooling them in the day to day the priority, and who stayed the course. That is 'enough' for me, and I hope it can be for others, because the delight it adds to the actual teaching of homeschooling is immeasurable!

In Christ,
Julie

[mommybelle]

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply! I am so amazed at the wisdom provided by all of these wonderful homeschool mamas on this board! Carrie commented on an entry I wrote months ago recommending I make forward, steady progress in the guide I was using. I heeded her advice, and I feel more confident as a homeschooling mom everyday. It was definitely a rough season for me!

And I have gleaned even more from your comments on this post. For years I thought I wasn't doing enough with my kids. If I instead had just followed the guides as written, and no more, we would not have struggled as much with schooling. And the ride would have certainly been more beautiful!

It also hit home for me that we should not compare our journey to others. My husband works a lot of hours, so the kids are pretty much mine from 7 am - 7 pm (often later). But sometimes it is hard when I see everything that other moms are able to accomplish. But the dynamics of the family are different for everyone, so I need to trust that The Lord will provide a way for us to homeschool successfully if it is His will. And that I physically will not be able to accomplish as much as some moms based on the dynamics of our family and my husband's work schedule.

Thank you so much for the time you take to share your wisdom!

[my3sons]

Julie,

Thank you so much for your reply! I am so amazed at the wisdom provided by all of these wonderful homeschool mamas on this board! Carrie commented on an entry I wrote months ago recommending I make forward, steady progress in the guide I was using. I heeded her advice, and I feel more confident as a homeschooling mom everyday. It was definitely a rough season for me!

And I have gleaned even more from your comments on this post. For years I thought I wasn't doing enough with my kids. If I instead had just followed the guides as written, and no more, we would not have struggled as much with schooling. And the ride would have certainly been more beautiful!

It also hit home for me that we should not compare our journey to others. My husband works a lot of hours, so the kids are pretty much mine from 7 am - 7 pm (often later). But sometimes it is hard when I see everything that other moms are able to accomplish. But the dynamics of the family are different for everyone, so I need to trust that The Lord will provide a way for us to homeschool successfully if it is His will. And that I physically will not be able to accomplish as much as some moms based on the dynamics of our family and my husband's work schedule.

Thank you so much for the time you take to share your wisdom!

Thank you for your encouraging words, mommybelle! I am so glad that you are having confidence and more joy in your homeschooling, as you celebrate steady progress forward. Bravo!!! I think most moms, me included, have felt or do feel that they are not doing enough with their kids. For me, these thoughts creep into my mind because I often choose the best feature in each lady I know, and long to have that best feature myself. This is self-defeating, of course, as the best me will never be the best of everyone I know all rolled up into 'me!' My new plan is I'm trying to feel good about what I am doing well, and celebrate that. I'm also in prayer about what God's purpose is for me, as well as for clarity about what His will is for me. Like you, I have a husband who works many hours and travels often. I physically cannot accomplish all that I wish I could nor as much as other moms with the aid of their dh's are accomplishing - but that is alright. What I am accomplishing is beautiful in the Lord's eyes! Being home with my dc, teaching them about Him, this is a high calling. The world does not recognize this endeavor as worthy, but God does, and therefore, I do, and I recognize your endeavor as a high calling, and you as a beautiful person for taking it on too.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Thanks for sharing here, and may we be blessed as we press on toward the goal set before us, with forward, steady progress!

In Christ,
Julie