Please help me figure out output for history and science!

[Laura Cook]

I am feeling more than a little lost here. Up till now we've used things that are generally planned out like SOTW and RSO, so I'm having a hard time coming up with my own stuff. I'd like my 6th grade DS to use the History of US concise books A and B and also the Holt Science and Technology Earth Science book this year. I have no idea what to do as output. He will read and we will discuss, but what else? That doesn't seem like it's enough for his age but I'm not sure what is appropriate either.

 

I looked at summarizing and outlining per TWTM. That, plus some experiments will probably be fine for science. Ha, look at that! I think I just figured science out.

 

I think the History of US books are going to be a pain to outline because of the chatty style they are written in and there is no way doing a summary for every single chapter is going to fly with him. I can have him keep a timeline. Maybe a short report on a topic of interest related to history every few weeks? See, I have no clue here! Any other ideas for me?

[2_girls_mommy]

Go with summaries instead of outlines for the history. Do the timeline dates, do a map in the Geography coloring book ala WTM, and do a summary and put in the proper section in the history notebook also ala WTM. 

 

After a while when we started logic stage, it became almost open and go for us with this style of work. Kids knew to read, outline, dates on timlime, do a map, and then extra reading and summary. It just  became a matter of which step are you on as we started each session and carry on from there. 

[MerryAtHope]

You could have him take notes instead of outlining. I taught my kids how to do T-Notes (like Cornell Notes, shown here), where the wrote down the things they felt were important from the chapter. We would discuss the things they took notes on and what interested them, and I would also model what I would have put down as important from the reading, to help them learn how to take notes.

 

[EKS]

Have him write one short paper each week about what he's learning in history and science.  The prompt can be simple as in "Tell me about the Stamp Act" or "Tell me about plate tectonics."  These sorts of prompts will allow you as a teacher to see what was retained by your student, which is valuable, but they don't necessarily encourage the student to engage in more complex analysis.

 

A somewhat more complex prompt might be something like "Write a defense of the Stamp Act where you take the side of the British" or "Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift was not widely accepted during his lifetime--what was Wegener's hypothesis, why were other scientists critical of it, and what findings eventually convinced them that Wegener was correct?"

 

Or, if your son enjoys creative writing, the prompt could be "Write a story from the point of view of a 12 year old boy in Colonial America where you explore how the Stamp Act has impacted his life and the lives of those around him" or "Write a poem titled 'Pangaea to Present' where you trace the physical and natural history of a landmass of your choosing."

 

Also, not all output needs to be in the form of written work.  You could mix it up and have him create a drawing or painting, cartoon, video, presentation, game, model, etc. that speaks to a particular prompt.

 

 

[stlily]

I posted this on another thread about history output for the logic stage.  I'll include the link so that you can see what other families are doing too.

 

Monday

 

Medieval – early Renaissance (400-1600)

â–¡ SOTW Vol. 2: Chap. 30, â€œIndia Under the Moghuls†pp. 272-280. (She reads the SOTW chapter, in addition to the spine, because she didn't go through it in the grammar stage.  In TWTM, SWB says, if you're doing history with multiple age children, read the SOTW together, then ask the older student to 1) read the pages from the more difficult core text that correspond to the topic in SOTW, and 2) complete the other work described. I follow these recommendation for my student who didn't go through SOTW, in the grammar stage).

â–¡ Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: â€œIndia: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219.

â–¡ Facts: Write down 6-8 of the most important facts in complete sentences.

â–¡ Additional Reading: Sometimes I'll assign a library book.  It's depends on what her work load looks like for the day.

 

Tuesday

â–¡ Time Line: Mark important dates along with accompanying caption. I have her choose the most important dates in the Kingfisher encyclopedia. Sometimes I have her add all the dates.

â–¡ Map Work: I give her a blank map, in a sheet protector, of the area under study and I have her label it with a dry erase marker. She does this first, without referring to an atlas to see what she knows. Then I have her look at an atlas, compare, and label and color the map.  Finally, she is to locate the area under study on a wall map and globe.

â–¡ Outline: Write a two-level outline on what you read in the Kingfisher encyclopedia, â€œIndia: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219.

â–¡ Additional Reading: If I assigned reading on Monday, she can finish that or she can start a new book, or I assign nothing (again, depending on her work load for the day)

 

Wednesday

â–¡ Additional Reading: Choose a topic to do additional reading on (or choose a topic from a book she read Monday or Tuesday).

â–¡ Summary: Prepare a written summary, 1/2 to 1 page (200-400 words), in length, on the chosen topic 

 

Another thing I consider when assigning outlines and summaries is, how much writing she has to do for her writing program (Writing With Skill) that day. I also try to remind myself of what SWB says about logic stage history study, that the goal is not to do an exhaustive survey of all possible history topics, but to teach the student how to study history.  Hope this helps   :001_smile: .      Lily

 

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/614225-history-output-for-a-6th-grader/

[stlily]

This is what my logic stage student does for science.

 

I do follow the recommendations for science pretty closely.  However, we were doing something different our first year of homeschool so we our science study is kind of "out of order".  Other than that, we follow TWTM recommendations.  Our science study is experiment focused.  SWB says, "In the middle grades, your goal is to teach the young student to think critically about doing science.  He'll learn how scientists in each field...use experimentation to confirm their theories. And through experimentation, he'll practice using the scientific method himself. This experiment-focused study will help the student learn the basics of each scientific field." (TWTM, 3rd ed., p. 358)  Our study looks like this:

 

Day 1:

*Experiment following the scientific method

*Proper documentation of the experiment--My 7th grader uses a lab book.

*Draw, color, and label related sketches

Day 2:

*Additional reading (from a science encyclopedia or library book)

*Write an outline or summary.  I alternate with our history study.  If she writes a summary for history then she'll write an outline for science.  We switch the following week.

 

 

To document the science experiment I bought a science journal for her.  This is the one we've used in the past https://www.amazon.c...science journal

The one I purchased for our physics study this year is:

https://www.amazon.c...cience notebook

The second one is prettier but it doesn't have a table of contents.  You definitely need a table of contents so I'm either going to add it myself or purchase something else.

Hope this helps.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/622237-logic-stage-science-as-described-in-the-new-edition-of-twtm/

[Peaceseeker]

NM lost all my typing, sigh...

Edited August 14, 2017 by CaliforniaDreaming

[dori123]

For the Hakim history books, I generally assign a Minecraft build and they have to produce some kind of text to go along with it, such as explaining the historical significance of the build, posing and answering questions about it, writing paragraphs about it, etc. This is all done in Minecraft. 

 

We do enough writing elsewhere that I'm not concerned about adding more here. Besides, our history class is always such a great discussion / current events / sociology class as well. I really think the discussion is the heart of it. 

 

Good luck. : )

[Sarawarden]

Thank you so much for this post. I was feeling over my head as we entered doing history for the logic stage, and this post completely put me at ease and clarified all my questions. So appreciated!

 

 

 

I posted this on another thread about history output for the logic stage.  I'll include the link so that you can see what other families are doing too.

 

Monday

 

Medieval – early Renaissance (400-1600)

â–¡ SOTW Vol. 2: Chap. 30, â€œIndia Under the Moghuls†pp. 272-280. (She reads the SOTW chapter, in addition to the spine, because she didn't go through it in the grammar stage.  In TWTM, SWB says, if you're doing history with multiple age children, read the SOTW together, then ask the older student to 1) read the pages from the more difficult core text that correspond to the topic in SOTW, and 2) complete the other work described. I follow these recommendation for my student who didn't go through SOTW, in the grammar stage).

â–¡ Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: â€œIndia: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219.

â–¡ Facts: Write down 6-8 of the most important facts in complete sentences.

â–¡ Additional Reading: Sometimes I'll assign a library book.  It's depends on what her work load looks like for the day.

 

Tuesday

â–¡ Time Line: Mark important dates along with accompanying caption. I have her choose the most important dates in the Kingfisher encyclopedia. Sometimes I have her add all the dates.

â–¡ Map Work: I give her a blank map, in a sheet protector, of the area under study and I have her label it with a dry erase marker. She does this first, without referring to an atlas to see what she knows. Then I have her look at an atlas, compare, and label and color the map.  Finally, she is to locate the area under study on a wall map and globe.

â–¡ Outline: Write a two-level outline on what you read in the Kingfisher encyclopedia, â€œIndia: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219.

â–¡ Additional Reading: If I assigned reading on Monday, she can finish that or she can start a new book, or I assign nothing (again, depending on her work load for the day)

 

Wednesday

â–¡ Additional Reading: Choose a topic to do additional reading on (or choose a topic from a book she read Monday or Tuesday).

â–¡ Summary: Prepare a written summary, 1/2 to 1 page (200-400 words), in length, on the chosen topic 

 

Another thing I consider when assigning outlines and summaries is, how much writing she has to do for her writing program (Writing With Skill) that day. I also try to remind myself of what SWB says about logic stage history study, that the goal is not to do an exhaustive survey of all possible history topics, but to teach the student how to study history.  Hope this helps   :001_smile: .      Lily

 

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/614225-history-output-for-a-6th-grader/

 

 

[Spryte]

When we did Hakim's History of the US, I followed the plan for that outlined in BYL.  I didn't use the entire BYL plan because we were doing other things for some subjects, but I liked her ideas for going through History of the US.  I think she schedules History of the US in 5th and 6th grades, IIRC.  

 

We didn't do the concise version, so this might not apply, but I'm just going to throw out a plug for the audiobooks - they are on audible, and definitely credit-worthy.  My DS still listens to them over and over.  They were well read, and a nice addition if you have an audiobook lover.

 

My kiddo also enjoyed the type of Minecraft extras that a PP mentioned - we don't do that often, but I should add it in more, it's always appreciated!  Fun is good.

[LMD]

I gave my dd a list of suggested 'responses'

Things like, dot point outline, narration paragraph, power point slides (she did this for Carbon Chemistry and it turned out great!) Draw a comic strip, Q & A article.

 

I used to have her do a short essay as per WTM, which worked well, but she's working through WWS now and I didn't want to overwhelm with writing. I basically just want her to interact with the material, think it through and express her understanding.