Heart of Dakota-The Fine Details-Part 3 History

For the month of January I am contributing to a Virtual Curriculum Fair.. Each week is based off a certain subject. This week's subject is History/Social Studies. My sole purpose is to post about how I use the Heart of Dakota curriculum with my 10 year old. We are currently using the Preparing His Heart for His Glory set.

If you'd like to read about Part 1- Language Arts and Part 2- Science that I posted previously you can go HERE and HERE to read up on them. I also touched base on the basics of this curriculum as well.

Heart of Dakota History
Using the H.O.D curriculum you will see that alot of the daily lessons are focused off that days history lesson. Here is a break down of the history portion of this curriculum.

Reading About History-
The first section that will build a foundation for that day's history lesson is 'Reading About History'. Read a chapter in a history living book that corresponds with the time period that's being studied. After the day's reading you will ask questions to your child that will help him/her in comprehension, application, and analysis. This is done all orally.

Day 2 of 'Reading About History' they include a chapter to read like the previous day but then add in some scripture that pertains to the reading to study. There are several questions to read outloud to your child that pertains to the scripture and your child answers orally.

Day 3 of 'Reading About History' you read the chapter together and then your child spends a few minutes orally narrating what he/she has read or heard read using the Narration Tips that are included in the study.

Day 4 of 'Reading About History' you read another chapter together and this time you will ask your child a series of questions pertaining to the story and he/she will then write down their answers in a 3-5 sentence summary.



Research-

On Day 1 your child will work on 'Research' You will have a subject or item that was in the day's reading that your child will then look up either in an encyclopedia or online to help in him/her's understanding. Research is done once a week on Day 1.



History Project-
On Day 1 you will be given a topic or an item that you will be putting together or creating This project usually takes the entire week to work on, a little each day and by Day 4 you will have a completed project to showcase. This is typically made with materials you already have at your home such as paper, aluminum foil, pencils, straws etc.. This section is done everyday of the study.



Independant History Study-

This section is supposed to be done by your student independently, hence the title of this section. Most of the work I can have my child do by himself but since he's not a strong reader when it's time to read something we do that together. The writing portion of this he can handle on his own. This section can either be a time to read a chapter in a book that relates to the time period, scripture, or work in the book 'Draw and Write through History'. This section is done everyday of the study.

Somedays your child will do some copywork by writing scripture passages in his Common Place Book (which is described in the curriculum). They also get the opportunity to read aloud a storybook that pertains to the time period that they are studying. Somedays after their reading they will orally narrate what they've read or what you read together.

Storytime-

I'm including the storytime section in with the history because the books that are offered for this subject are history books. Fiction books that go along with the time period studied. I do know that you can also take this storytime slot and ommit the historical reading books and put your own books in its place. The lesson plan only gives you the chapters for their suggested history books but you can take a genre a month and read it in it's place. I may do that next year as these stories this year were actually difficult to read and understand. Lot's of big words that went over my son's head and I could tell he just wasn't getting it. We'll see how the remainder of the year pans out for the history books to see if we will switch to the genre option. This section is done everyday of the study.

Vocabulary-

I spoke about this section during Part 1-Language Arts a couple weeks ago but I felt it's worth mentioning again here because the vocabulary words that they are using come directly from the 'Reading About History' story for that day. There are 5 words to choose from and they want your child to take 3 of them, write them down with their definitions and place them into an index card file box. This teaches them how to use the dictionary as well as alphabetizing their cards as they get them. This has really helped my son with this. Vocabulary is done once a week.



Geography-

Once a week your child will get a geography lesson that pertains to the day's reading. Most of these activities use a globe and the storybook that you are currently reading. You do a small study on geography and then some review from previous geography lessons to keep it fresh in your child's mind. Geography is done once a week.



Timeline-

On Day 4 your child will build a timeline. Each week he/she will have 1-3 cards to write on about special events or people studied that week. They write the name/title on top of the card/ date and draw a picture to represent it. I have my son taping them one right after each other to save on space. It just accordian folds into a ziplock bag. They have other options in the book on how to make your timeline. This was just space saving for us.

Well, here is some information about the history portion of this curriculum. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.. Would love to help you out with whatever I can.. Come back next week for more information about Heart of Dakota and how we are using it.. Until then....

Check out the other homeschool bloggers that have participated in this week's curriculum fair by clicking on the links below.. Let them know you stopped by, by leaving a comment..

Science and Worldview by Beth @ Ozark Ramblings

Nature Study as Science by Christine @ Crunchy Country Catholic

Virtual Curriculum Fair Week 3- Social Studies and more Science by Leah Courtney @ The Courtney Six Homeschool Family

Curriculum Fair–Exploring Our World by Angie @ Petra School

Paths of Exploration by Jen @ Forever, For Always

Learning Geography at Our House by Jessica @ Modest Mama

Mapping Out Our Social Studies by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

The Fascinating Wrld Around Us by Cindy Horton @ Fenced in Family

More Heart of Dakota Praises by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun

Our History by Melissa @ Grace Christian Homeschool

Playful US Geography for First Grade by Pam @ Everyday Snapshots

Exploring Our World Through History & Science by Brenda Emmett @ Garden of Learning

Two History Must-haves by Letha @ justpitchingmytent

Learning About The World Around Us by Laura O from AK

Social Studies and Science - What do we do? by Joelle @ Homechooling for His Glory

History Chronologically and with Living Books by Debbie @ Debbie's Digest

Why History? by MissMOE @ Homeschooling While Living the Life of Easier

Exploring Our World by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy