As I mentioned in another post, we're going to start using Story of the World again. When we used it before (1st grade), the kids would color in their map or pictures while I read the story. I could go into a long reason for why I stopped using it, but I will just say that we fell so far behind in it and I was happy just to be making it through the core lessons and letting them watch videos or something like that for history. The kids never really stopped being interested in it. Anyhow, I digress.... My questions: How long do you usually spend on a chapter (the kids will be 4th grade when we start)? What type of extra activities do you do with it? I know there are some listed in the front section. And I do have the history encyclopedia book that accompanies it. I was thinking that it looks like 1 chapter/week (which is a lot longer than we were taking, we were reading a chapter/day and doing it about 3 times a week but again, we weren't getting as detailed into it as I want to this time around). We still only got about 1/4 of the way through the book though, so there should be no problem with the kids being "bored" with it because they've already seen it. I would be surprised if they remember it at all. I did show it to them today and they didn't remember until I showed them the maps. "oooooh, yeah, okay", lol.
Not sure if this helps: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm it's a basic outline. I used to have another one...one that I used...it was awesome. Sadly, I cannot find it. You must get the SOTW activity book. It's the best! I almost bought just the activity book for my kids this year. My kids are a bit old for SOTW...but the activity book is wonderful.
Thanks Ava, I'll check that out. I really want to get more into it this time around because last time we only scratched the surface and I don't think they can remember any of it.
I might also add that the site Ava listed is also one of my main sites for "living books" to go along with history!!!
whcih books are you using Autumn? I Just found out they have US history! Wow! Anyone of you used that one? as for how much time, I did the reading on Monday, ds did the activities whileI read. We often did a second set of reading to do the next activity another day of the week. We also looked for LIbrary videos or books to go with for another day of History.
I am hoping to do a chapter a week, which would be 3 days worth of actual work. I didn't know they had U.S. history. Pretty cool. We're watching Liberty's Kids for that right now. Then I plan on taking us through the 4 years of SOTW. That'll be around the time that we'll be starting h.s. history when we get through that. That's the plan anyway, you know how that goes.
Sounds like a great plan! and the 3 days should work fine! We did the liberty kids as well in our earlier years.
We do one chapter a week and spend three days on each chapter. The first day they listen to it read on the audiobook while they color the sheets. Then we complete the mapwork. On the second day they read it aloud to me, we read through other books on the topic from the library and we do one of the activities or they write about what they have learned and what they think about it. The last day we either review the chapter and discuss it or they read their essay to me. Then we take the test.
I haven't used SOTW myself, I will have to look into that AND the activity book for my youngest for next fall. I'm doing World History with all three, although they will be in different levels of work. Autumn, is the age of your kids still current? You have the six yr old doing 4th grade work in the fall? About how long do you spend on each subject then? (I'm thinking the attention span might be shorter than someone a little older.) Just curious, as my 10 yr old will be in mostly 5th grade work this fall, with two middle school subjects added. MT3
She just turned 7 (I haven't changed it yet), but they'll be starting 4th grade in the fall, but I was thinking that it would be nice to jump into our new curriculum a little earlier because we've had a rough year and we need a fresh start. And we're going to start a new year round schedule. She actually has a better attention span than my ds. lol We aim to spend around 30 minutes per subject but sometimes...oftentimes, we run over quite a bit.
We are in our second year of SOTW. We do about one chapter a week. Our basic procedure: Since each chapter is divided usually into two or three sections, we will read a section a day. Sometimes I read, sometimes my oldest reads. Then we either narrate or, more usually, use the review questions. He really likes to read the review questions and see if I was listening. Interestingly, I have noted he can answer more review questions correctly when he does the reading. One day a week we do the mapwork. We don't always do the coloring pages, but I always print them because 1., they're nice to have available in case my boys need something to keep them busy, and 2., my 3yo really, really likes them for some reason. Some weeks, when chapters are short, we will squeeze in two chapters (like when the chapters have only one or two reading sections). Some weeks, we will do an additional enhancement activity from the activity book - this week, we're making Alfred Cakes. Also, I have been using the test questions orally just to see if my oldest (7) can handle them. He's surprised me with how well he's done. Honestly, with a 7yo, 5yo, and 3yo, there's no way I could do all or even most of the activities in the activity book, or even use all the resource books. So I pick and choose what I can manage. My thought is that once my oldest has "finished" book 4, we'll all start again, because I'll have a first grader again. Hopefully, by then it will be a bit easier for me to organize all the enhancements (activities and resource books) listed in the activity book. Anyway, we'll try it. FWIW, I have a friend who used SOTW with her daughter, and they did as much of the extra activities as they were interested in - cooking, projects, costumes, etc...and it took them three years to complete book 1. I think that's GREAT that it worked well for them. Myself, I need to have a little more forward momentum, but I don't mind returning in a few years.
Not having ever used SOTW..... I think one of the things that make it popular is that it's flexible to where you DON'T have to do all the activities. I understand there's a large variety, and the author expects you to pick and chose what works best for you. She doesn't expect anyone to "do it all".
