I know that it's best to wait until the child can be responsible for his/her own BOC unless doing one together as a family and that each child's readiness may be at a different age, but in general what grade/age do you guys have your children begin their own BOC? And, if they don't express an interest in it do you "encourage" them, making it a requirement at some point?
When to begin a Book of Centuries
(10 posts) (5 voices)-
mj
MemberPosted 2 years ago # Report Post -
I start the individual BOC around grades 5-7, because that fits with my 6-year history rotation and the ages of my kids. And, yes, I require it. I don't think any of them have considered the BOC to be the highlight of their learning experience yet. But since I know the value of it, it's part of their school work assignments. :-)
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
CJKJ
MemberWould you do a BOC with younger children? I have a 1st and 4th grader and we'll be starting our first year of a 4 year history rotation.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
mj
MemberSonya, it's so good to be reminded that it's ok (and even important) to require things of our children even when they don't particularly enjoy it or see the value in it yet. Thanks!
CJKJ- From our experience, the younger ones don't make the connections between events in time yet. But I would think you could do a modified version, like putting together a notebook of what they're learning. We've done that for science before and they enjoy going back and looking through the "book they made". It really ended up being sort of a compilation of narrations, drawings, etc.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
I like to do a Family BOC with the younger children.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
CJKJ
MemberSonya, what does a Family BOC look like? Is it the same but Mom records all the events or do you modify it in some way?
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
Esby
MemberI started a BOC with my kids when they were young. It took a couple of years for my DD to get excited about the BOC...not until the pages started filling in and she could make connections. Up until that point, it was a rather tedious task her mom asked her to do. :) Now, she loves it. My son hasn't seen the point yet, but he does like to turn to the page with his birth recorded!
I LOVE the BOC and seeing how everything fits together. I've always loved history, but the BOC makes it so much more meaningful to me.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
A Family BOC is a regular one, but it's a collaborative effort. When Mom says, "Let's put that in our Book of Centuries," the book comes out where all the kids can see it and either Mom or a "writing child" makes the entry. Then they look at the page to see what other connections they can find and share those aloud.
I look at it as sort of a training ground for when a child has his or her own BOC. They've watched how Mom uses the Family one, contributed to it, figured out how to put the BC dates on the pages, learned to look for connections, etc.
Each family's BOC can look different. Some Moms include pictures or typed oral narrations of historic characters. Some use historic timeline figures that the children can color and stick on the pages. Feel free to personalize it to make it work best for your family situation.
And I agree with Esby: almost the first dates we entered in it were our birthdays. Somehow it helps the child to see how many, many pages before his birthday something happened. :-)
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
CJKJ
MemberThanks Sony and Esby. That is what I had been planning to do.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
We are starting our HS adventure this fall with a 5th grade DS, 2nd grade DS and 4 yr old DS. We are going to use the Genesis through Deut to start. My older son will start his own BOC when we start this study. I'm kind of concerned that he is really not going to get through all of history twice so I'm definetly starting him this year. We **might** try to do history year round so we can cycle through it in 5 years and give him a chance to have another exposure to several of the modules...any opinions on that?
I'd been planning to just put up a timeine for this year to use my with my younger son....it would only have dates of early times since that is what we are studying so I think I can fit it in my dining room/office/school room. I think this will help him "see" the flow of time this way....anyone else tried this or have opinions to share?
Posted 1 year ago # Report Post
Reply
You must log in to post.