Leaving Rome Behind

We have been trying to study history chronologically. We have used Story of the World. Hated it! Then we did nothing for a while as time did not allow it because of family illness. Then we tried Diana Waring's Ancient Civilization and the Bible. Although I liked it better, it was not a good suit for our family. I think the problem is me but my children get bored with history. Well they get bored with the dates and memorization. I have a hard time making it "real."

I bought a book called All Through the Ages. It is a resource book but it has been the greatest help. It is a list of great books to read, listed chronologically and by grade level in each group. It is also divided into regions should you want to study history that way.

You see, when we started homeschooling, David wanted me to classically educate our children. I read a few books and researched on the computer. There was NO WAY I could teach kindergarten classically. It was too rigorous. Erin could read well, but it was going to be torture for me and I would be the one teaching. At the time we only had the one child but knew we would have others. I just couldn't do it.

I liked the idea of doing history chronologically but that was it. Nothing else. Copywork. I never did understand how to do science using the trivium. Language arts- well, there's not really a classical way to educate your children in English, is there?

Last year, I had had enough of figuring out how to do history. I haven't always been but I am now a "whole books" kind of teacher. To teach English means to read classical literature (or just the history book) then write a report or tell me about the book. Science, for now, is Apologia's Botany. But, we are only doing the experiments. History is the same as English really. Read a biography, historical fiction, or nonfiction book, then discuss or write a report.

We have studied Ancient Greece and Rome for so long it isn't funny- since Erin was in kindergarten! She's in 7th grade now. I thought the kids NEEDED to learn about these times in history before we could move on. I mean IN DEPTH study. But, I have decided we have officially skimmed through the ancients and it has been mastered and we are moving on to conquering the Dark and Middle Ages now. Knights, castles, and dragons are sooo much more interesting! Hopefully this will get the kids interested in history now!

So, as an intro to our study we borrowed A Knight's Tale from the library. We are watching it as we speak. It not true to life but it's a good introduction. We also got Ivanhoe and Excalibur.

Question: Why did they call it the Dark Ages? We will need to find out during our study.