Fourth Grade

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Of course in fourth grade, a student studies their state’s history.  So for us, I needed to find Indiana history!  Way easier said than done, surprisingly. I had found an Indiana Social Studies fourth grade textbook at a thrift store and purchased it.  However, the depth was minimal and the big picture was lacking.  Personally, I wanted to know how Indiana’s history fit into the bigger picture as well as the areas around Indiana.  So…the hunt began.

                  Meanwhile, I had determined that we had enjoyed having a history/geography based curriculum so far. And with our older son in fourth grade and our younger son in 2nd grade, I needed to think about quite a few factors.  Should I just do Indiana history? Should I also do US History with the Indiana history (to tie in the big picture of both)?  Should I move beyond the more Colonial US History and tackle the Civil War and beyond?  Should I…? Well, you get the point. I had a lot of scenarios playing through my head.  Once again, I headed to the homeschool convention hoping to be able to look through some curriculums and identify my best options.

                  Ultimately, I decided to repeat American history and tie in the Indiana history. In reality, I started with the Indiana pre-history and added in the US History…intertwining the two throughout the year. For American history, I had come across a book series at the library titled The Story of US. I ended up purchasing a copy and also utilizing the Abeka American History book I had been given.

                  So, what about Indiana History? My search for “a book” came up way short.  So, I ended up literally scouring the internet and using some resources I found on the Indiana Historical Society website. They had so much more depth and detail than anything else I could find. Library books provided maps and information on forts and Indian tribes prior to Indiana becoming a state. We did quite a few field trips…including to the Indiana Historical Society.  And, ironically, the following year (being Indiana’s 200th birthday) at the State Fair, I came across a textbook written by an Indiana University professor that detailed the kinds of information I had compiled off of various websites over the course of the year—being sold by the Indiana Historical Society.  So, I was able to purchase a great Indiana History textbook…for next time around with Indiana history!

                  At this point, we had enjoyed Rod and Staff textbooks so much that we kept on with the Grade 4 Bible/Reading (Exploring with God) book and the English (Building with Diligence) book.  You might remember from a previous blog post that before we had decided to homeschool a friend had given me all of her 4th and 5th grade Abeka curriculum.  So, since I had a lot of the curriculum, we used Abeka for math (Arithmetic 4),  Science (Understanding God’s World), and Health (Developing Good Health). I also combined spelling lists from the teacher’s manual of the Abeka Language curriculum as well as some lists I found online that incorporated terminology from different subjects within the spelling list each week (such as “multiplication” or “delta” or “scientific” etc).

                  I also supplemented the work with phonics review, our GeoSafari (which quizzes all kinds of facts and subject matters…especially great for reviewing things like countries, states, capitals), cursive, brain teasers (for critical thinking skills), writing prompts and current events, literature, art (using the Rod and Staff ArtPac), typing lessons, vocabulary word of the day, memorization of material, and various flashcards.

                  Also, during the first half of the year, my sister (a former teacher, too) used Skype-ing with our older son to give him a course on writing skills.  He loved “meeting” with Aunt Jen each week. She incorporated various reading materials which ultimately combined writing and reading skills.

                  Then, during the second half of the school year, my mom used Skype-ing to teach family history (Polish) and culture which led the boys through the journey to one of our ancestors… William Bradford.  This helped the boys understand cultural differences, geography, and family history. And they enjoyed “seeing” Grammie each week! (Grandpa made debuts at times, too! J)

                  Overall, it was a fun year of learning. We did a lot of field trips near and far to see historical places first hand…and learn more along the way!