Tuesday, March 27, 2012

One More Thing off the List

Some weeks ago, as I thought about which school subjects we could finish before the baby's birth and which we would carry into late spring/summer, I decided that one thing I definitely wanted to finish before Baby Girl's birth was history.  And today, we did!
We've been using The Story of the World, Volume One, as our history text this year; but now it's over.  The Roman Empire has fallen.  The barbarians are taking control of Italy.  The last Roman emperor has been chased out of the swamp where he had taken refuge.  It's done.  The book is shut...and not only shut, but also put away in the homeschool closet, to be taken out at some future date when my next batch of homeschoolers is ready to study it.

I've had to laugh at myself recently: when we started studying this back in the fall, I was so enthusiastic about it and eagerly used the extra activities listed in the supplemental book and, from the library, got a variety of other books related to the topics we were studying.  I was gung-ho, and we were going to go DEEP in our study of ancient Egypt, Assyria, etc.  But as we've gotten closer to the end and as my thoughts have turned more and more to the newest member of our family, I've been completely ignoring the other activities we could be doing, I haven't checked any additional books out of the library that relate to the topic, I haven't copied the coloring/activity pages, etc.  I hereby confess that my mindset has been purely, "Let's read these chapters and GET IT DONE."  ;-)  We have done the review questions for each chapter, and occasionally over the supper table I'll have Josiah and David share with the rest of the family something interesting they learned that day in our history study (i.e. tonight David informed everyone about how Attila the Hun died...from a nosebleed!).  But that's about it.  It's obvious that the boys are "suffering" from a case of spring fever, and I'm afflicted with a strong spell of baby fever!

Oh well.  Both Josiah and David will get another round (or two) of world history before they graduate from high school, and I'm betting that when that time comes, they'll remember more than just the fact that Attila died from a nosebleed!  ;-)

Meanwhile, I'm a step closer to meeting this sweet girl face to face.  Not that she was necessarily waiting until we finished the history book or anything.  ;-)

5 comments:

Sally said...

That's funny, because I haven't done more than a few chapters in this history book with Paul this past year, and I've thought I'd read it to him while I was nursing our new baby this summer. What you were sure you wanted to finish before your baby comes, I'm intentionally saving for after our baby comes!

Congratulations on finishing!

Unknown said...

We have been working on the history of the space program. That is all my four year old wants to know about.

Oh! We need to work on time more. JDaniel asked if I was alive to see Jesus.

Elizabeth said...

Good for you! At least it is done! It does sound interesting though. Have you enjoyed the curriculum? You're getting so close!!

Sarah-Anne said...

congrats on finishing history!

Davene Grace said...

Beth - yes, we have enjoyed the curriculum! It's been a good fit for us this year--not so hands-on that I felt like I was going crazy with tons of projects, but interactive enough to keep the attention of my wiggly first-grader. :)