There is an interesting question at the TOG forum, about permission to start teaching the curriculum in the 1800's instead of the ancients. She doesn't enjoy the ancients, so she wants to start with her favorite era. Homeschoolers of other history curriculums also weigh in the pros and cons of which era to begin with, especially when starting new curriculum.

     Of course, each homeschooler is free to begin where they think best. Even college history classes are not taken in sequence from the beginning of time to the present. Furthermore, I have known many perfectly content TOGgers who have started in the middle. When we started TOG three years ago, I knew we had to start with the Ancients, even though I'm not personally keen on the era myself. My favorite is the American Revolution.  However my kids and I were asking too many questions about the foundations of our country's history, that kept taking us to the past, where everything was sort of murky and confusing. My 9 year old son would ask questions about how our government is structured, as we studied the Constitution, and I'd say, "Well....I know it has something to do with democracy in Ancient Greece vs the republic in Ancient Rome, although I don't understand the difference between the two."  My feeble attempt to answer his question resulted in a look of discouragement on his face. Oh dear, jumping into the American History text book in 4th grade was losing him. Promising him an Old World History text for 5th grade was not exciting him. There were too many gaps on the pages. That's about the time I found TOG.

     Although I was not excited to learn Ancient History, I was excited about how it would fill in the blanks. Did it ever! Surprisingly we had a blast! We studied Ancient Egypt and were surprised at how that made the Bible make more sense, studying in context with Moses.  Therefore the Mosaic law made more sense. Studying the Mesopotamian cultures helped us understand the Middle East more today, where a lot hasn't changed. The ground work was being laid for Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great and then Rome.  That was TOG Year 1.

     Then we started Year 2 and I wasn't sure about studying the Middle Ages. They were sort of dark. Transitioning into the Middle Ages from the Fall of Rome turned on light bulbs in our mind. Understanding the background, reasoning, purpose and need for the Feudal System helped us to enjoy it immensely. As we studied this fascinating era, we quickly saw the future downfall.  As England became more "modern" we watched France and Russia continue to struggle with their Feudal Systems. Obviously England became the powerhouse, whereas the other countries were setting up a fiasco in their future. We learned about the Norman, William the Conqueror who took over England and forevermore set up tensions between Britain and France. 

    Then we entered the Renaissance, the Reformation, the exploration of the New World and the opening to new ideas. We finally got to my favorite era and we camped out for extra weeks, studying George Washington, Lafayette, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the battles of the American Revolution.  We went into far more depth than TOG took us, because I felt this era was pivotal. Besides it was the most fun era we had encountered. As we poured over the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the lessons from Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Magna Charta, and Oliver Cromwell gave more meaning to the decisions the Founding Fathers gave.  When we come back to this at the Rhetoric level, we will understand more when we study the philosophers of the time. There is always more to learn. 

     Then we went on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, where we would be able to be more interactive now that we understood more of the big picture.  The most exciting time, which validated our taking our history studies from the beginning, was a meeting with the Marquis de Lafayette.  After an incredible presentation, the guests were allowed to ask questions. My 12 year old son asked if the tensions between the British and French during the American Revolution and the French and Indian War goes all the way back to the Hundred Years War.  Lafayette was speechless.  Then he complimented  my son, calling him "the Young Historian," before launching into a terrific explanation of my son's question.  We saw Lafayette two more times and my son had more questions for him. My son has asked more questions of him the two days we saw him than he has for all the other Founding Fathers put together, in all the visits we have made.  Lafayette is more elusive so we don't get to see him as often as the others.

     My son has transitioned from being totally bored with a textbook, to having an interest in history. He still isn't a history buff. Picking up a history book still isn't his favorite thing in the world. But after he reads it he is excited about all the connections he can wow people with. And I really thank Lafayette for calling him "the Young Historian". That story gets a lot of mileage around here, as I use it to encourage him to persevere with those history books. Crafts, field trips and other hands on activities are great, and we certainly do a lot of them. However there comes a time when one needs to read the information and process it themselvs.  My son sees this and actually appreciates it. The results now are far better than his previous sense of frustration at textbooks leaving too many gaps on the pages. Furthermore, this "Young Historian" is able to make the connections between historical events because we started our history studies from the top.