Chaos to Order

We are using Math U See for Aaron's math studies. 

He absolutely loves it.  It is very hands-on, and it teaches math in a slow but steady way that allows him to grasp his math concepts.  

We are using Sing, Spell, Read and Write for Aaron's reading.

Again, he loves it.  It, too, is very hands-on.  It, too, teaches one thing at a time, constantly building on the concepts that Aaron's already learned.

Both Math and Reading must be taught in order.

You don't ask kindergartners to solve Algebra problems, or expect a child who hardly knows her alphabet to read War and Peace.

You start them at the beginning.

Just about everyone who is reading this post would almost certainly agree with me.

Why, then, do we treat history differently?

Why do schools and homeschooling curriculums jump kids all over the place when they're teaching them history?

Why?

This teaching strategy is CHAOTIC.  And quite frankly, kids don't get it.  

They may remember certain events from history. They may be able to recall certain dates in order to pass their tests. They may even be straight-A students in their social studies or history classes.  But in truth, very few of them actually GET very much of what they're studying.  

In the schools where I grew up, our history curriculum was a hodgepodge.  One year we studied about U.S. history, and then the next we jumped over to Ancient History.  Then back for more U.S. history, and then maybe we jumped over to Asia for a unit or two.  I remember a few whatnots from Africa and other exotic cultures, with perhaps a bit of Geography mixed in; but it was all a hodgepodge.  The vast majority of the time we studied U.S. History but never in the context of World History.  I memorized dates, took tests and never learned to love my history classes.  Ever.

Instead, I spent my spare time reading books.  Most of my favorites were history-related.  I read biographies and autobiographies.  I read historical fiction. I read some classics.  I read some memoirs.  I read dozens of books about World War II and the Holocaust.  I read and I read.

When I reached high school, I enrolled in a World History class for the first time. 

This class was my first introduction to the idea of studying the events of history in the order in which they happened.  It was first time in my life when one of my courses actually followed the Queen of Hearts' droll advice: "Begin at the beginning. Proceed until you come to the end; then Stop."

But it was too late for me.  By that time, I hated school.  History was a jumbled mess in my mind, and I suffered through the class showing as little interest as possible.  

How utterly sad.

I KNOW that I am not the only person who has experienced this.  I have spoken to too many people who have shared my experience.

This is why I tend to be very very passionate about teaching kids history in order, just as we teach math and reading in order.   

Not just once.  This is what is so important: They need to see history unfold OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Once is not enough.

Most children will only begin to see the patterns in history when they hear the stories in order more than once.  They need to see kingdoms rise and fall over and over again, and they need to understand WHY it's all happening.  They need to see God's story and the stories of His people woven into the pages of their history books.  They need to see the seeds of philosophies like communism and fascism planted before they can understand how they grew and bore fruit.  They need to understand the value of our United States Constitution over and against those philosophies. They need to watch the world map change and see geography unfolding in the same way that history unfolds.   

They need to see all of these things over and over again.  They need to see them presented in a way that teaches them to love history, and creates a hunger for more understanding.

BiblioPlan is one way to teach history in order.  There are numerous other programs also.  If you are not using the classical approach consider it.  If you have questions or need some advice on homeschooling - please feel free to FB friend me or e-mail - covenantb@yahoo.com.

I'd love to chat.

History

I have a confession to make.

 I love history. I love reading history books.  I love writing history curriculum. I love teaching history at a Christian homeschooling co-op. I most especially love studying history with my own kids.

But for the last two years... I have not done history at home with the boys.

I MISS IT.

Last year Ben started taking classes at our local Community College. He took two wonderful semesters of U.S. History. He had outgrown me. Elijah took my class at our Co-op that same year, so we didn't do it at home. This year Elijah is doing history on his own. Next year he probably will be taking classes at the community college. He has outgrown me too.

Aaron is not ready for me to start history yet, although he does play on the floor while I teach my middle school history class.

I MISS DOING HISTORY WITH THE BOYS.

It was the highlight of our early homeschooling years.

We spent time reading history together every single day.  We had great discussions.  After we read our history together, they read literature books that matched what we were studying.  We did it as a family.  For two of those years, I had several other children that I was "homeschooling" along with my own, and even though each of them was in a different grade, it didn't matter. We all still did history together. 

Studying it in order, from  beginning to end.

I didn't start out doing history that way.

When I first started homeschooling, Ben had been attending a Christian school, and I just continued the history curriculum that his school had been following. I hated it. It was primarily U.S. history, and its focuses were memorizing and testing. We went through the motions for the remainder of that year while I scoured the internet for better options.

I found one. Right in my own backyard.

BiblioPlan.

Originally written by some ladies at our Christian homeschooling co-op, BiblioPlan was designed around two ideas: (1) integrating the study of history and literature (studying both at the same time), and (2) studying the events of history chronologically (as much as possible).  BiblioPlan students followed a four-year plan: They studied the Ancient era, the Medieval era, the Early Modern era and then the Modern era. When they reached the Early Modern era, they studied U.S. and World history at the same time. When they were finished, they started over with the Ancient era again-- only this time, they read more advanced literature and studied each topic in greater depth. In a perfect system, each student would cycle through the four years of study three times, getting more and more advanced as he or she grew. The repetition would cement their history lessons in their minds forever.

When we first started using it, BiblioPlan was just a reading guide that told you two things: (1) Which history lessons to read each week, and (2) What literature readings matched your history lessons for the week.

There were no maps.  No homework assignments.  No tests.  No books full of timeline figures.  No craft ideas.

Just a reading guide.

And we loved it.

My boys came to the table eagerly every single morning for our history readings.  Since the Guide didn't have bells and whistles, I scoured the internet to find maps.  I had to create my own questions to quiz the boys, and we had to find pictures to fill our timeline books.  I even found art projects to accompany what we were doing.  I spent hours pulling it all together.... Plus more hours at the library and on Amazon tracking down the good quality books that BiblioPlan suggested.

We were happy.

I miss it.

Rob and I are part-owners in BiblioPlan now.  We create all of the bells and whistles so that parents don't have to do all of the extra labor that we had to do when we first used BiblioPlan.  We now offer maps, question pages, timeline books, craft ideas and our own history texts that add in the Christian element.  All that parents have to do on their own now is find the suggested literature books in their libraries or on e-readers.

It is a good history program.

But I am not doing it with my own boys, and I miss it.

Teaching at the Co-op is not the same as sitting at a table with my own kids and reading stories of the past to them.

It makes me sad.

I'm looking forward to starting Aaron in BiblioPlan next year.

We'll start in Ancients... I definitely think he will like it!!

  

If you are a homeschooling family... And if you want to bring all of your children to the table together... And if you want to watch history unfold... And if you want to read good quality literature... And if you want to learn Geography as you learn history... and if you want to watch God's story woven into the human story... and if you want your children to LOVE your time together... then you ought to consider using BiblioPlan.  I'm not putting my heart and soul into a curriculum that I don't believe in 100%!!

We have Teacher's Guides to sell to Christian and Classical schools too!!

   

IT.IS.FINISHED.

ANCIENTS IS DONE!!

We finally finished writing the Ancient history Companion Textbook for BiblioPlan!!

It is finished.

330 pages long.

It is done.

IN FULL COLOR.

DONE...

I cannot begin to express how it feels to finally say that we have finished ONE YEAR completely.

Book.  Maps.  Timelines. Assignment pages for all ages. Tests and Exams for the oldest students. Answer Keys. Coloring Book. Craft book. 

DONE!

I just can't express the relief we are feeling at this moment. 

It has been a long time coming.

We didn't create BiblioPlan.  It was designed a number of years ago by some teachers at the homeschooling Co-op our boys attend. 

What they originally wrote was a history/literature guide.  It didn't have any bells and whistles.  No maps.  No assignment pages.  No timelines.  No coloring books.  No tests.  No art or family fun ideas.   It was basically an excellent reading guide.

And we loved it.  We did it as a family and we thought it was the best program in the world.  But to get the most out of it, I had to do a lot of intensive work to find maps and timeline figures and other supplemental material to make the history element more than just reading the text. 

Then I was hired to teach at our Co-op.

A Hands-on Medieval history class.

Yikes. 

I had access to the previous teacher's notes for which I was extremely grateful (she was one of the original writers of BiblioPlan) but I also looked everywhere for resources to use.  There just wasn't anything out there that I liked.

Nobody was writing Homeschooling History curriculum for Co-ops!

So I started making my own maps, question pages and timeline figures.  I used BiblioPlan as my guide for teaching the class, but I had to tweak it to fit my Co-op classes.  I spent hours and hours and hours putting together a curriculum that I liked. 

It was challenging, but fun.  I had no dreams of doing anymore more than just teaching history to a few kids each year at a Co-op.

I certainly never thought I would be writing a history book.  Never in my wildest imaginings did I consider writing a history book as part of my life's aspirations.

I did want to write a book though.  My desire was to write a book on the Old Testament law.  Seriously.  I graduated from seminary years ago.  While I was there I gained a profound love for the Old Testament. After I graduated, I wanted to write a book on the beauty of the law that God gave to Moses.  I started that project, but children and life took over, and I set my notes aside.  They are still in a box in our house somewhere gathering dust. 

But writing a history book? Not on my radar.

However, one of my students in that first Medieval hands-on history class was the son of another teacher, Rusty Gorby, who had just bought the BiblioPlan business from the original writers.

And as I taught Rusty's son, she realized that what I was doing with BiblioPlan was exactly what she needed to take that curriculum to the next level.

And that is how we became a partnership.  Our families began to work together to take a wonderful program and make it better.  Rob and I focused on the history, and Rusty focused on the literature and on running the business.

And our families have grown in love and admiration for each other as we seek to honor God in all that we do.

It has been difficult, exhausting and extremely time consuming.

BiblioPlan is a four-year history/literature/geography/art/writing/Bible/church history curriculum. The four years cover Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern history. Our program is designed to allow all of the children in the family to study the same topics of history, geography and Bible at the same time, while also providing each child with age-appropriate history and literature readings.

I have taught all four years of the program more than once now.  As I have taught, we have been building and creating the curriculum.  We have written, created and changed; then we have written some more and changed some more; then we have listened to customers who have used it and acted on their suggestions; and now finally, finally, ANCIENT HISTORY is done.

It is finished.

Our names are on the book:

Rob and Julia Nalle. 

I'm proud to stand beside my husband on this project.  God graced us both with complementary gifts that have allowed us to work together on this project with little conflict and a great deal of love.  My love for children, teaching, research, and the Bible. His knowledge of history and skill with words and research.

God is good.

And in this particular book, which covers a lot of Biblical history, I was able to give glimpses here and there of my great love for the Old Testament and the Old Testament law.

This is my favorite book of the four, by far.

I'm just sayin'.

And the coolest part of this book, the page that I like the very most, is this one: 

Brings tears to my eyes.

But alas, we are not done.  We have three more books to go, so I can only shout Hurrah! for a few minutes.  We have another huge deadline to meet, because we're still planning to release the final version of the fourth year, MODERN history, by the end of August.

So stay tuned.....

For more BIBLIOPLAN!!

And while you are waiting, if you like, please go order yourself a copy of our new book.  It is currently selling on our website for $50 (discounted from the sticker price of $59.95). Even if you aren't using BiblioPlan, this book is honestly a great Ancient History/Bible resource for everyone in your family, and it  fits beautifully with other history programs!  Is it perfect?  No.  Does it have some mistakes?  Most likely.  We are human. 

If you have a Kindle or other fancy type reader then you can purchase our book as an e-reader. 

P.S.: Because we are now ordering bundles of professionally printed copies of our Ancients materials, they may take a couple of weeks to arrive. Right now we have a limited amount of copies of the new book available to ship out right away, and more are on the way.  We will order even more when we (hopefully) need more.

Direct link to buy the Ancients book alone:  ANCIENTS HARDCOPY COMPANION

Link to buy all Ancient products:  ANCIENT PRODUCTS

BIBLIOPLAN LINK

BiblioPlan

YES THIS POST IS AN ADVERTISEMENT BUT PLEASE READ...IT HELPS AARON!!  

  In the next several weeks I will be attending two different Homeschooling Conventions.  I will be helping to sell a history curriculum that Rob and I have spent the last two years working on almost daily - BiblioPlan.  In light of needing to still raise almost 10,000 dollars, these Conventions are rather important for us. 

     If you are a Homeschooling family OR a family who loves history - PLEASE CHECK OUT this out:  BIBLIOPLAN - It is an all-in-one history/geography/art/literature/writing curriculum.  It is a four year program - Ancients, Medieval, Early America and World and Modern America and World.  It is designed so that all your children can do it together.  It is the least expensive history program on the market!!  Rob and I wrote the Parent Companions and created the Maps, Craft booklet and Cool History Packet and those are the items where we make a cut of the profits. 
    
     The really neat part about the e-book Parent Companions is that EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT USING THE BIBLIOPLAN GUIDE or EVEN IF YOU DON'T HOMESCHOOL, the Companions are so rich in information that they will go with ANY history program you are using.  They are e-books in order to keep the price down to a very cheap 16.95 for Ancients (it is both World and Bible history combined) and 12.95 for the other two. 

Medieval is still being written.  We plan on selling Medieval to those who are interested and e-mailing it piecemeal so if you are interested in Medieval - LET ME KNOW!!  I started writing the first lesson this past week...

Please check out BIBLIOPLAN and tell your friends!  If you are part of a Co-op - We have a whole section on the website for you!!