dcjlkplus3 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Planning, planning, always planning. How do you fit 42 chapters of SOTW into approximately 36 weeks of school? It is important to both my husband and I that we finish the book before moving on. This year we switched to covering one chapter a week, which I really like. Last year we did one section a day 3 days per week, which was okay, but made it harder for me to get library books and do stuff. We may have go back to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Planning, planning, always planning. How do you fit 42 chapters of SOTW into approximately 36 weeks of school? It is important to both my husband and I that we finish the book before moving on. This year we switched to covering one chapter a week, which I really like. Last year we did one section a day 3 days per week, which was okay, but made it harder for me to get library books and do stuff. We may have go back to that. Combine chapters; just read chapter/do map work; ditch extra activities; do more than one chapter/week; don't read/have your kids read loads of extra books for each chapter (heretical, I know, but you did ask); don't do the narrations/dictation/questions for each section/chapter; skip chapters <gasp>. Just remember this first go-around is for exposure only for your little ones. They'll more than likely have at least one, if not two, cycles through history (I assume you're doing a 4/5 year history rotation). They don't need to learn everything right now. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I look for times when there are two shorter or less-important chapters, and squish them together into one week. If you don't do this enough, you wind up like me, cramming the entire Renaissance into two weeks...:willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Are you doing SOTW 3? There are about 3 chapters where I didn't find any stellar activities in the AG, and there are a few where we are not doing outside reading. I agree with Brehon--it's just for exposure, and it's ok to skip or skim, just as it's ok to go into a little more detail if you want. BTW, I only did one written narration per chapter in SOTW 2, and just asked for what I call a recap on the parts dd didn't make a notebook page about. Works fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laylamcb Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 How do you fit 42 chapters of SOTW into approximately 36 weeks of school? I don't. ;) We've started on SOTW2 already because there are several chapters that I want to cover more heavily with supplemental readings, so we'll spend a couple of weeks on that one topic. To be able to finish SOTW2 by NEXT May, I had to start THIS May. (Disclaimer: We'll be taking all of July and Thanksgiving-New Year's off of school.) Having said that, we didn't read every chapter of SOTW1. We focused in on the Near East, Greece, and Rome and let the other chapters go. So really, you don't HAVE to read everything. Similarly, though I'm planning on reading every chapter in SOTW2, we won't be doing additional reading and Activity Guide projects for all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Well, we liked SOTW 1 so much that we did EVERYTHING we could, and took TWO years for ancients! By the end of two years we were getting tired of Ancients, but we had a blast going through and learning it all. My kids were in grades 1&2 (dd), 4&5 (ds the younger), and 7&8 (ds the older). Ds the older did some of the activities with us, but he did higher level books for his main studies. At your childrens ages you could do something like that. Or, as a PP stated, this is just to "get their feet wet", so to speak, so combining and shortening wouldn't hurt them at all. If you stick with the WTM method, they'll get ancients again later when they'll be able to study it more in depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 We aren't big activity people. We do read quite a bit of supplemental stuff though. We usually do a notebook page and narration for each chapter. It took us almost two years to finish SOTW 1 because I kept trying to do activities. My kids just don't want to do them and they don't help the information sink in any better. So, since we started SOTW 2 we are just cruising through it. We are reading 2-3 chapters a week. I just try to keep similar ones together and we don't do any Science on those days. We like to snack while we read, too. We are trying to get through it before September. We are eager to get some more modern History in. Plus, I would like my oldest to get two cycles of History in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 It took us almost two years to finish SOTW 1 because I kept trying to do activities. My kids just don't want to do them and they don't help the information sink in any better. Well, it DID help the ideas sink in better with my kids, and my kids LOVED the activities! They thought it was boring when we didn't do the activities! Every family is different in what works for them, that's why it's good we homeschool so we can do what's best for our kids!:001_smile: I often feel sorry for new homeschoolers, since they get such a variety of answers--some love it, others hate it, oh help!:tongue_smilie: But I know as time goes by they'll settle in and get in a groove for what's best for them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 We are doing SOTW 2 and starting 3 in Sept. There doesn't really seem to be any overlap between them like there was with 1 & 2. I'm thinking of switching from 3-4 days per week for the next two months or so and also doing that for science (we are just getting to astronomy). Maybe we should skip the questions and narrations for the most part and read and listen to the chapters, really try to get mapwork and some of the fun stuff done. I'll have to talk to dh about it. Please keep the ideas coming. They are helping a lot. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 There are a few weeks when I cover two chapters in a week. I only do this for chapters in which there are not many available extra library books or other readings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 It's been my experience that the activities *do* help information sink in better. It may depend upon the learning style of the child but mine remember the Greek helmet, boat, etc and connect that back to the lessons. As far as getting through all of the chapters-we just read and do no activities or summaries for some chapters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted May 15, 2009 Author Share Posted May 15, 2009 Thanks everyone so much for your suggestions. Well, thinking backwards... I was able to plan out next year, by planning on a few weeks where we will do two chapters instead of one. It's a great plan - I am very happy with it - I only hope that it works! As for finishing this year...I am planning on changing to doing history everyday. We will read a section a day and verbally either narrate or answer questions. We will still do the maps with whatever section they seem to go with. We will still have a few sections left to do over the summer, but only a few (hopefully). We will try to do any interesting activities wherever we can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 There are a few weeks when I cover two chapters in a week. I only do this for chapters in which there are not many available extra library books or other readings.:iagree:Some chapters in SOTW 1 I have chopped up in order to do over 2-3 weeks along with the chapters scheduled for those weeks. That way you aren't doing 2 whole chapters over one week. We would love to know how you adapt SOTW 3 for younger siblings.:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 We're going to do 42 weeks of school. This solves the problem and at the same time we can linger over every chapter and let it sink in. This way we can really dig into our science too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I forgot about these planners. http://barefootmeandering.com/homeschool/planning/ I use the SOTW to keep track of what we did/read that week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I forgot about these planners. http://barefootmeandering.com/homeschool/planning/ I use the SOTW to keep track of what we did/read that week. Thanks for the link! :001_smile: Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strawberry Queen Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 It's okay to skip doing narrations and writing for every chapter. I'm finally coming to terms with this but I think I can do it next year.;) I want my kids to love history. If I make it too schooly and pressure them to hurry through, then they start to hate it. If I back off and approach it more casually, then they're more excited about doing it. My current plan for next year is to do ten chapters every 3 months. We kind of school year round and having this goal will let me take breaks without getting behind. Oh, and as a Canadian I just skip the highly american stuff(in sotw3 and4) HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 (edited) It's okay to skip doing narrations and writing for every chapter. :iagree:Not all of it is important for them to remember, and then some will be remembered just due to the value of a good story and repetition. I will have to look into indicating if/ when to skip it in my curriculum. I am glad that you mentioned it. Edited May 22, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I forgot about these planners. http://barefootmeandering.com/homeschool/planning/ OMG! I'm in love! It took me HOURS and HOURS to plan this out by myself, and yet ... here it is, all done for me! (Ok, I loved every minute of planning, but this still rocks my socks!) Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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