i have decided on rod and staff and christian liberty press for most of our subjects for fall. this will be my first year hs. i am trouble figuring out how to teach hist and science at same time to kind and 3rd grader. i thought of consierring god's creation which is for 2nd -7th, but would my kind be confused? how about exploring god's creation from christian liberty press? can i use 3rd for both or get seperate? for history is beautiful feet ok for kind / 3rd? or should i buy seperate workbk levels ? thanks for helping me get it all together
I taught my dd (2nd) and ds (prek3) science, some reading and social studies together. If he got bored he would go play which was not a problem for me...he was only 3 and then turned 4 during the year. Anyway, it can easily be done. I used the Beautiful Feet books (no workbook) and just read and discussed and then brought in some of my own activities to do with them. I also taught science like that. I actually used dd's 3rd grade Scott-Foresman text and read it to them ( she read also). We then discussed it and had experiments and projects. Most of those they did together. DD did the written question/answers herself however that were in the book. I also used Scott-Foresman for reading and went the same apporach. We read and then discussed. DS even answered some the comprehension type questions they put at the end of each story. I love including him and he loves it too. I have to add that the books we used were 90% picture books/texts. In other words, a little guy like my son could look at the pictures if he didn't understand or got bored. I know Rod & Staff is not so big on the pictures and if there are pictures a lot of times it's black/white. That would bore my son. :roll: I can't tell you much about the others. I did use God's Creation by CLP and I loved it for K and 1st. I did switch when dd hit 2nd. It's perfect for the little ones. You might like it though for the older crowd. I'd get some more opinions about that one for sure. I just felt it wasn't teaching enough? maybe.
My girls are currently 8 and 10, (soon to be 9 amd 11), and my son is 5. I used CGC and am planning on using it next year, with all three (my son to a lesser extent). I also use The Myster of History with all three kids. These books are designed to be used with children of different age groups at the same time, and it DOES work. They have the main lesson, which all take part in, and then have suggestions for younger, middle, and older children. I can give my older one additional reports, etc. that the others don't have to take part in. I love being able to do it all together! If I had to teach science and history three times, it'd drive me crazy!
We just finished the "Our American Heritage" textbook for American History from Abeka. It was just great! It was filled with interesting stories about famous people from American history and nice color illustrations. I have a 2 and 3rd grader. I'm sure it would be just fine as a read-aloud text for your K and 3rd grader. You could buy the Quizes and Tests booklet for your older child. Sometimes I used these for tests, other times I used them as worksheets. You could read the story aloud to both children and then have only the older one do the page from the Quizes and Tests work book. We just started doing the same thing with "A Child's History of the World" from Calvert this month. I read the chapter, the kids do the worksheet and activity pages from the workbook. As long as your K likes to listen to stories read aloud, you should be able to do this with any history book (or science book) that you like.
Also, you could give the quizes/worksheets to your K, just read the questions aloud and write down his responses. Sometimes they think they're important to do the "same work" the older ones are doing, and you'd be amazed at their answers!
Jackie, You are so right! I have found that to be true with my 4yo. Last night, dd was orally answering some multiplication problems I was giving her. Well, ds piped up and answered one of them correctly....6 x 8 = 48! He really must be listening when she practices, lol! :wink:
Huck 4 History and science have to be two of the most favorite subjects for us homeschoolers :wink: I enjoy the Apologia series. Not the one for the older students, but the young explorer series. I used the astronomy one this past year and we absolutely loved it. It is written on a 4th grade level..The pictures are beautiful. I think pictures are very important in history and science. Again, Rod and Staff,imho is wonderful on your skill subjects like reading,writing and math. But they wouldn;'t be my choice for science and history since so much other is available that is beautiful. Another suggestion for your this year, since it is your first year is to do something real easy and inexpensive.. For example, I did this last year when I had a third grader, first grader and 3yo. I would just check out a good science book from the library on one animal, or plant, or body, or planet,etc..basically any ONE things and use it for a week or two. The Usborne, Dorling Kindersly,Eyewitness books and Seymour Simons books are wonderful for this.. They exist in huge volumes at your local library. I followed some of the advice of the book called The Well Trained Mind where we study one animal for like two weeks or so..My boys picked out the animals, we made a list and we studies them one by one. My oldest wrote a one paragraph report on each animal from the book I read aloud. My middle one narrated what I read to them both from the book, and we colored pictures. Thats it good enough for this age level. We kept all the work in a small 3 ring binder. Your goal at this level, is to let the children *bathe* in God's creation. To lap up learning and not turn science and history into language arts. I read aloud almost all of our science and history last year. I didn't want to turn it into a reading assignment for oldest (well unless he needed it :lol: ) But not really. We did our language arts and reading earlier in the day. i wanted my children to be able to concentrate on what they learning instead of trying to read it as well. There are tons of wonderful websites on line such as www.enchantedlearning.com that has animals to color, even sheets to print off to name body parts,etc. Add in some crafts and fun things to make for the younger kids and add in some vocabulary word like 5 or 6 words for for your third grader to learn and memorize. If its something that you can make to eat like a recipe do that too. For example, we studied rocks and we made rock crystal candy to eat. Cooking and finger foods that are themed always go over real well in our house. We talked about the seasons and my younger kids made marshmellow snowmen with pretzel sticks and raisin eyes. EASy, EASY, EASy, especially since we had everything on hand. Popping popcorn works well on learning about air,etc. Goldfish and gummy fish taste good while studying about the ocean. It requires a tad bit of preparation on mom's part, but easy enough when you stay on one subject or theme for a couple of weeks. :wink: You can almost do your own science this first year on line.. History is the same way....you have two choices, you can either follow it chronologically or do it like unit studies where you study one peroson or one event at a time. I happen to use Story of the World and love it. It is in chronological order. It probably gets more heat for being secular even though the author is christian. I enjoy it because I don't need another Biblical source. I like to add in my own Biblical view where appropriate. So I was looking for a *strictly history* source as opposed to both Bible study and history. Just remember, there is a difference between content and skill subjects. Skill subject like your 3 R's are most important at your children's ages. If they don't get tons of your content subjects like science,history, music and foreign language that will be okay, because they can add it the next year and so on. However, if you don't get those basic skills down, a child can limp along handicapped, so to speak. If a child can read and write well, he can learn ANY other subject. Since this is your first year, be *kind to yourself* and realize it won't go as all planned :wink: Sometimes in talking to newbies, it seems over and over again, we become our own worst critiques of what we DIDN"T do for the year ,instead of what we did. Also, they may focus on what we consider more *fun* subjects, like history and science and not get enough of the 3 R's in. So remember, when you are having a bad day and you will have plenty of them that if you can't get anything else in for that day or YEAR, stick to the 3 R's. I PROMISE you that your second, third and fourth year will only get better if you do. By then you will be a pro, and will be adding in ALL kinds of things. Hope that helps Blessings
