Thank you for your reply. My kids are very excited to start volume 4 and we have already started the audio. My second grader, especially, loves listening to it in the car. So I'm not sure that I could do something different with him, exactly. He actually reads at a very high level, but both of my kids have also enjoy and benefited tremendously from reading picture books. I also think he'd be ok with the upsetting content, or at least as OK as my fourth grader, so I'm not as concerned from that standpoint now. I would really like to continue using STOW as we have the past three years: one chapter a week, lots of supplemental reading, a project/activity, and map work, but as I look through the activity guide, I see that the map work is also more advanced. Thank you for the recommendation of SCM module 6, I'll take a look at that and see what we can do. I can't imagine I'm the only person who has run into this problem with volume 4 and the content of the activity guide. It seems like a BIG jump from Volume 3!

Thank you! I'll add these to my list. I know have about 6 different sources to compile into one list, organized by chapter. Quite a project!

I have always taken a peak at the Sunlight lists for ideas. The "problem" I have with SOTW 4 is that the activity guide lists mainly chapter books and longer books. I find the Sunlight books that correspond with history are also longer books, especially when you get to the modern history stuff, because of the way the program is designed and because modern history isn't touched on until upper elementary (same problem I'm having with the SOTW guide, actually). I really want picture books and short nonfiction books or even short stories. I also have found in the past that the activity guides includes books that are appropriate for the time period/region but are things that are not specifically mentioned in the chapter, and they are always excellent suggestions. So I can easily look at the chapters and do library searches, but I feel like there will be some gaps in our list vs. previous years, if that makes sense. Plus, sometimes it's nice to have that blurb in the activity guide describing the book, and just knowing that it's going to be worthwhile because it made it into the guide! :)

I have always taken a peak at the Sunlight lists for ideas. The "problem" I have with SOTW 4 is that the activity guide lists mainly chapter books and longer books. I find the Sunlight books that correspond with history are also longer books, especially when you get to the modern history stuff, because of the way the program is designed and because modern history isn't touched on until upper elementary (same problem I'm having with the SOTW guide, actually). I really want picture books and short nonfiction books or even short stories. I also have found in the past that the activity guides includes books that are appropriate for the time period/region but are things that are not specifically mentioned in the chapter, and they are always excellent suggestions. So I can easily look at the chapters and do library searches, but I feel like there will be some gaps in our list vs. previous years, if that makes sense. Plus, sometimes it's nice to have that blurb in the activity guide describing the book, and just knowing that it's going to be worthwhile because it made it into the guide! :)

This is AWESOME, Ruth!!!! Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I'm going to take your list plus a few others and combine them now so it's easier to choose books throughout the year. Thank you, thank you thank you!!!

This is so good to know. We can easily take a day trip to DC, but I wasn't sure about the content in the Holocaust Museum. I was reluctant to go and debating whether to wait until the next time we get to SOTW 4. Thank you for the info! My six year old is the same way--he reads board books up to young adult books. Both him and my 8 year old will definitely read many of the chapter books recommended in SOTW 4 (after I have previewed them, in some cases), but I also find that they read and enjoy picture books--both fiction and nonfiction. The fiction adds the element of art/illustrations that often reflect the time and culture. They also can spark interest that may encourage them to read something longer on the subject. Nonfiction, the pictures are even more important.

Thank you for the pics, Parkway Academy!

Thanks, everyone. So far it sounds like I will still have to do my own book hunting. I sometimes add to the SOTW lists with other books that our library has or ones I find on other lists, I just really like having what I know is a good, solid list of books. It's also nice that sometimes the activity guide will include topics that may not be specifically mentioned in the chapter but relate to that region and time period, like books on composer, artists, scientists, etc. I will not do so well with pulling that together with the right timing, so I know there will be some good books that just won't make it into our house. :(

That would be wonderful, thank you! If you could list them by chapter, that would be even better! Sometimes it's obvious, but sometimes it's harder to tell how the fit best. I was looking at the Biblioplan list for modern, but it was alphabetical. It's good to have a list of books, but even better if they are organized. Yes, I guess I'm lazy! :)

Yes. It's a good starting point, but I'd like more than two per chapter. I'm assuming there must be more out there, at least for some subjects.

Hi! We are getting ready to start Story of the World Vol 4 this year. I have a fourth grader, second grader, and a tagalog preschooler. I realize some of the material is a bit sensitive in the book, so we are working on how to handle that with the younger ones. Meanwhile, I have been looking through the Activity Guide and I see that it is quite different from the guides for previous versions. A big part of how we use Story of the World has included lots and lots of supplemental reading. Although my kids can and will read chapter books like those in the Vol 4 Activity Guide, I also want to include picture books for the younger ones, and even the fourth grader, both fiction and nonfiction. Of course I can pull books together myself, but I am so spoiled by having the lists right in the activity guide and a bit disappointed that we will need to change things up. Ideal would be a list of book ideas by chapter. I found one blogger who listed picture books by chapter, but she only has about two books for each chapter. We are used to easily having 10-12 books per week! I was hoping maybe you knew of a list available somewhere and could point me in the right direction. I have debated switching to History Odyssey Level 1 this year because they include book lists for older kids, but we have really loved SOTW thus far, and I already have the text, activity guide, audiobook, and test book. I hate to buy something else for history when I thought we were all set. Thank you for your help!

Thank you for sharing! I think I could take some of the cards with me to judge size, and see what I can find at local stores, maybe make use of a homeschooling discount. I am going to have to do this for next year or our cards are just not going to hold up! Thanks again!

I love the individual containers for the cards. I've seen some good ideas for how to organize RS stuff, but we often work away from home (a co-op room or Nanna's house), so I'd like something that would protect the cards and keep them in better condition. Where did you get the small containers? Do you know the brand name? Also, what do you do with your fraction chart (assuming you have the plastic one...)? I would like to find a way to protect it and the longest pieces when I put it into a larger contaienr with everything else. Thank you for sharing! Joanne

We're doing first grade this year, so I don't know if our needs will change over time, but this is what we did... For WWE, I had the binding cut off the book, had the teacher pages spiral bound, and had 3 hole punched copies made of the student pages. At the beginning of the year, dd was a reluctant writer, so I thought should would be more willing to write on the student pages because of the pictures, as opposed to copying onto plain paper. Also, I think it was easier for her to do the copywork when the sentence was already right on the page. I have the originials, so I plan to copy those for future children. At the time, I calculated the cost of printing at home, and it was about 9 to 10 cents/copy. I had Staples do all the work for less because of the volume discount. We now have a better copier, and it's much cheaper, so in the future I may copy myself. SOTW--I had the binding cut and the whole thing 3 hole punched. I put the teacher pages in a 3 ring binder. In retrospect, I probably should have had this sprial bound; not sure why didn't. I went through the student pages and picked out the maps and non-coloring pages. My kids (6 and 4) are not that into coloring and seem to do enough of it elsewhere. I figured if they started to show interest, I could go back and copy them individually. I had two copies made of these pages so my 4 year old could participate. I like the other poster's idea about shrinking the maps. I think the bigger map is better for my first grader, but as she gets older, that might work well. DD does like to take the tests from the test book, but so far I have just made copies out of the book rather than copying everything at once. I kept thinking she wouldn't want to do them any more or we'd go to narrations, but she really likes the tests! FLL--I bought a used copy that has two years in it, but no student pages, so we just used lined paper. I hope this helps! Joanne

Thank you, this is awesome advice! I think I'm also getting spelling vs reading confused since at this age, since learning the phonics rules for reading sort of leads to spelling correctly, too. I also think she is the type of child who catches on very quickly (most of the time), but then once she knows it she wants to move on. It's hard to keep a step ahead (thank goodness she's not in school!). I'm going to check out the spelling options boscopup recommended. Also, we had taken a break from OPGTR, and then I brought it out again today and we went through about 4-5 lessons. She has had almost no problems reading anything. We're now at lesson 100. Some of the games have helped make things more fun. I think we'll work through it as we can while I investigate other spelling options. And of course we'll keep working on reading all the time.

Thank you, this is awesome advice! I think I'm also getting spelling vs reading confused since at this age, since learning the phonics rules for reading sort of leads to spelling correctly, too. I also think she is the type of child who catches on very quickly (most of the time), but then once she knows it she wants to move on. It's hard to keep a step ahead (thank goodness she's not in school!). I'm going to check out the spelling options boscopup recommended. Also, we had taken a break from OPGTR, and then I brought it out again today and we went through about 4-5 lessons. She has had almost no problems reading anything. We're now at lesson 100. Some of the games have helped make things more fun. I think we'll work through it as we can while I investigate other spelling options. And of course we'll keep working on reading all the time.

Thank you so much for the advice! I think I'm a bit overwhelmed with Language Arts because there are so many components. My dd is almost 6, so she's only starting 1st grade. She's reading on a 2nd grade level, but her handwriting needs work. For handwriting we are using the Zaner-Bloser style and I am having her copy one word per day six times (using colored pencils, each of the colors of the rainbow). I like the idea of having the handwriting correspond to the phonics lesson, but I think the handwriting is tiring for her so I have tried to use fun words related to things in our life at the time (tent, party, turtle,friends' names). We have the ZB workbook, but she is not excited about copying the same letter over and over. I looked at All About Spelling, but all of the reviews made it sound like it was best for those needing remedial help, so I didn't know if it was more involved than we needed. Now I'm thinking that might be the way to go to establish a solid foundation in phonics, and I'm thinking (hoping) that she will find it interesting and fun. When I looked at Spelling Workout, I was concerned that SW combined with Explode the Code would just be too many worksheets. I'm thinking I'll look at the ETC placement and choose a more difficult level, but hold off on any spelling workbooks until she's done ETC. I may still pick away at OPGTR over the summer, and will definitely start First Language Lessons in the fall for first grade. What do folks use for writing? I was going to just add in our own writing assignments here and there for 1st, but if there's a specific program or book that folks recommend, I'd love to hear about it. Sorry to be all over the place with my thoughts! Joanne

Check out progressivephonics.com Also, I ended up going to the library and looking through the easy readers. There are some out there (Green Light, some by David McPhail) that are fairly basic, although this may be more for when you are ready to move beyond BOB Books.

I was hoping for some advice. I have "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading". I started working with my daughter when she could read CVC words and we did about 1/4 of the book, but she really wasn't interested and I found it painful to get through them. She was in preschool at the time, so she was also doing some prereading/reading work there. We took a break, then I went back to it again with a new approach--I no longer pushed her to read all of the practice sentences. Frankly, I found the sentences rather awkward and boring, and I think she did, too. Instead I had her practice with easy readers. She is now reading on a 2nd grade level but we are only about halfway through the book. My thought was to continue with it so she'd think about the spelling/pronunciation in terms of phonetic rules. I was going to wait until we were finished and then start with "First Language Lessons" (hopefully in the fall). She is still reading easy readers and some picture books, and is showing a lot of interest/ability in reading what she sees in the world (signs, menus, instructions, emails over my shoulder (lol), etc.). Here's my question--do you think I should continue with OPGTR, or is there something else I could use to teach spelling rules ("Spelling Workout?"). She is still not very excited about reading the words in OPGTR, but she rarely has any problems when she does. We also have Explode the Code 1 1/2 (leftover from her preschool), although I think that may be too easy for her and she doesn't seem that excited about it. I was thinking of trying a harder workbook, but I didn't know if it's better to go through them from the beginning? And would ETC replace OPGTR? How can I make sure she learns and understand spelling rules while keeping her interested in what we're doing? Obviously we would continue reading books in addition to this work. Thanks for the feedback!