HCECF - Homeschool Cooperative

There are two different SOTW History Coops currently scheduled in HCECF

Both use the same text/curriculum for their spine, Story Of The World. The two history coops are focusing on different time periods in the same curriculum. 

Story of the World, SOTW, is a history program written on a 1st thru 4th grade grammar stage level, but is easily adapted to lower and higher levels. It starts at the begining (well depends on what you consider the beginning, but that is easily changed if you need to) and tells history as a story until you reach the present time. SOTW is a mostly secular curriculum, but does not ignore the historical Christian contribution to history. It provides enough flexibility for each family to add in additional material appropriate for their family or to skip a chapter if desired. SOTW does NOT teach religion, nor is one religion promoted at the history coops since HCECF has families of many faiths and beliefs.

SOTW provides WAY beyond the "people in your neighborhood" and only "American History highlights" type of history/social studies that the elementary aged child normally gets. The story is told through reading the SOTW book or listening to the audio cds. There is also an activity guide with many great hands on projects and additional reading suggestions for each culture. These activity guides serve as the starting point for the different coop groups. There are 4 books in the SOTW program, each one is designed to take a year to complete.  If you follow a classical model of education, you would then start all over again with history from the beginning, but at a higher level and in more depth. Publishers information on this curriculum can be found on the publishers website www.peacehillpress.net

Below is information specific to each coop. Both groups freely share information and resources, but the coops are adapted to meet the needs and goals of the specific families attending at each location.

Don't forget to also check out HCECF's Homeschool Faires, Culture Club, "Booking-It" Through the States Coops and Re-enacting for more history fun!

Story Of The World Ancient Times - SOTW 1 Ancient Times

2008 - now forming

2005/2006 - finished

2004/2005 - finished

This popular program has been a staple of HCECF since 2004. HCECF is now on it's third round of SOTW 1 coops for families who missed the fun in previous years.

Story of the World Middle Ages - SOTW 2 Middle Ages 

This coop consists of families with grammar stage children & their younger siblings. Meets on the first and third Fridays of the month in Apopka.

Story Of The World Early Modern Times - SOTW 3 Early Modern Times

2008 - new SOTW 3 coop now forming, projected start date March 2008 in Tangerine, after the current SOTW 2 coop finishes.

Geared for kids in the upper grammar and logic stages.

Coop participants read or listen to SOTW at home prior to the coop to assure familiarity with the material. We present the material in the same manner as the book does, that way families know if there's any sections they prefer to skip. Times below are aproximate guidelines. Coops last about 2 hours or so.

1. Discussion, narration or storytime - snacks are often had at this time & colouring pages are available. (10 minutes)

2. Timeline - add this chapters figures to timeline and name figures up to present. (10 minutes) 

3. SOTW museum - show and tell of related things or past projects that were done at home. Themed prop boxes based on the chapters are often available. (10 minutes)

4. Map work -  using the chapters map transferred onto a piece of posterboard, so we have a big example, this way we can talk the smaller kids through doing the map work on their individual maps. (10 minutes)

5. Hands on project(s) - ideally, having theme music in background, often using other related projects not found in the SOTW activity guide. We encourage others to bring their ideas. We may not be able to do all of them, but it can be a great resource of additional things to do at home. Don't forget to bring them back for the museum show and tell period! (30 minutes)

6. Play game with that chapters review questions or maybe turn the narration into a game where each child gets to add on one sentence. (10 minutes)

7. Copywork using a vocabulary word from the chapter. (10 minutes) 

8. Play time and lunch. Lunch is often themed potluck with food from the culture we are studying. (30 minutes)

*HCECF's Art and Art History class often ties into the same time period we're studying.