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Which SotW Activity Book is your favorite?


poiema
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Which SotW activity book is your favorite?  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Which SotW activity book is your favorite?

    • Volume 1
      5
    • Volume 2
      4
    • Volume 3
      1
    • Volume 4
      1


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I want to start using SotW and I would like to try an activity book as well, but I don't honestly see us using all four books (they are pricey and my kids don't usually go for crafts, coloring and projects). I'm leaning towards just starting with volume 1, but if it's a miss I would never know if there is a better volume. So I guess I am just asking which activity book gives the most bang for the buck? If we love it then I would feel better about buying another book in the future. 

 

FWIW, my boys are 6 and 8 and we have already done a year each of world history, countries and cultures, and American history. 

 

TiA!

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Thanks. I know that the the activity books go with the text, but I honestly don't see us using all 4 activity books so I wanted to make sure we don't miss out on the best one(s). So if vol. 2 (for example) was the most enjoyable then I would probably just do vol. 1 without the activity book and then use the activity book when we start vol. 2. Or possibly just start in vol. 2. Make sense? I just wanted to know if there was one volume that really stood out as a favorite. 

 

ETA If we started with vol. 1 and loved it then I would be much more likely to order the next book. We just haven't done many activities (mostly just reading nonfiction) so I am afraid to get my feet wet. We did try HOD's LHFHG one year and we really didn't like a thing about it, including the activities. My boys thought the activities were babyish. But I also am not looking forward to mummifying a chicken either, so maybe projects just aren't our thing. I saw that one of the guides had an activity where they make a labyrinth out of Legos. That would be a hit. :)

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I feel like I'm on overdrive because we've only started Vol 4 (we are in American History) and I bought the test book AND the Activity Guide. But I only have one child and I'm using this as an extra to make our History study all the more deep. I love the test book because my daughter communicates better thru writing than orally. She gets frustrated because her brain thinks faster than she can form the sentences.

 

I don't have experience with the other 3 volumes but have already purchased the Activity Guides. :blush:

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I have only used 1 and 2 and if I have to choose I will choose vol 1. I felt we did a lot more of that period than we have with vol 2. Vol 2 is also really neat with Middle Ages and so but I have used it more for the craft than the coloring so we do more with vol 1. I haven't used 3 or 4 so can't comment on them yet.

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Some of them have more cooking, some have more crafts. I would have to pick "other" as my poll answer because it depends on what type activities your kids like. My kids have liked things like Eat Like The Romans, Making Prehistoric Cave Paintings, Making the Pantheon out of Gingerbread, and playing some of the games (both board games & Sheeps/Rocks type). I can't even remember all the things my kids enjoyed. They are looking forward to doing the activity in SOTW2 where you go visit someone as if they are people from a foreign land. They still have their reports from last time (named "The F Family are Frog-Hunters" and "The N Family are Not Nomads"). 

 

Everyone gets something different out of each of them. All my kids enjoy the extra books (from the lists), the coloring pages, and whatever activities I let them do.

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Having expected the activity books to be of a similar high standard to the actual SOTW textbooks, I found them distinctly underwhelming. The majority of the activities were not very exciting (except a few notable ones such as the famous mummified chicken), and the coloring sheets and maps weren't great quality (you can usually find better ones online). I found the reading suggestions were the most useful thing for us.

 

If you can't afford all the activity books, I'd suggest just buying volume 1. Then if you love it, you can plan to buy the rest as you get to them. Alternatively, you'll get an idea of the sort of stuff included, which will help if you end up deciding to pull together your own stuff for volume 2 through 4.

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I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't just get the one that's for the history you're on at that time and then try it and use the others for the periods you study if you like them and not if you don't.  The cost would be pretty minimal spread over the four years they're intended to be used.  Or relatively small for a single year mistake.

 

That said, I'm with Isabel.  I didn't like them at all.  If I was going to recommend a project book for history, it would be one of these series:

Hands On History

You Can Build Yourself

For Kids Series

Kaleidoscope Kids

 

There are several others in this vein.  We have enjoyed many different ones and usually get them from the library.

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We don't use many of the activities, mostly because I have many young children so it seems a bit overwhelming.  But I still love the activity guide for the extra book suggestions and the maps.  My boys both loooove coloring the maps while I read and they usually HATE coloring.  I would just buy activity book 1 if you are doing book 1.  Then you will know if you like them or not.  I can't imagine the quality changes much from level to level. 

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I have Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 from the first time through the cycle (we jumped ship to U.S. history towards the end of Vol. 2). My oldest proclaimed the main SOTW text "boring" so we used the AG + the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia + library resources. This time through the cycle, DS is using the SOTW text + the tests and we have barely done anything out of the AG. I already did the crafts once and that was plenty. DS would rather just read & fill out a quick worksheet (he's also older than DD was). I doubt that I'll bother getting the 3rd and 4th volumes of the AG unless I see them at our charter's lending library.

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I have all 4 activity books. They get more complicated as they go along. The later volumes have outline work and more advanced activities. They increase in "grade" level (for lack of another word at the minute).

 

So for those who haven't bought all of them, or seen all of them, they are not all the same. So yes, the quality does change from level to level.

 

ETA: I voted for all 4 of them because I truly like these books. 

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I think they're worth it just for reference. I guess I'm easy to impress :) I actually have all of the books spirally bound and even though my son will be in 6th next year, I can't part with them. He still loves to listen to the cds, and I like to be able to pull out the books and look through options (Both the SOTW books and Teacher's book)  I don't buy any tests, for any curriculum. We do mastery :)

 

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