What is my problem? History Question

[TN Mama]

Just finished our first year and really enjoyed most everything. The plan was to use SOTW Ancients, but we only made it about 8 weeks. I'm not sure why we stopped, but after Christmas it just stopped getting done. We ended up using a workbook for "Social Studies" which was more mapwork & community/civics lessons.

 

In my planning for next year I decided we needed to get through Ancients, so I purchased SL Core 1. Now I'm thinking I'm not going to love how it is scheduled. The thought of reading several books at once does not appeal to me and I'm curious how my daughters (will be 1st & 3rd) will respond. Is there not a choppy feeling?

 

Should I sell SL Core 1? Should I give SOTW another shot? Am I losing my mind? :lol: Perhaps it's better than you don't answer the last question. Whatever I decide on, I want it to get done. History was the only thing we started last year that we didn't complete and I don't want to have to say that two years in a row.

 

I'd love some advice.

[arcara]

I would do SOTW and add in the SL readings the way you want to do them :)

 

It helps me to have a schedule to be more responsible about completing everything. My girls BEGGED to do history last year (we were doing SOTW 1) and we weren't even doing activities -- Just reading, maps, and narrations. They loved for me to read from the book.

[Willow]

We have done SL and Winter promise, and we never chop up the books as they do. I sort them into a rough order and we read the interesting ones ;). I read the spine daily, and just add in the others. It helps that we all love read alouds though. My ds draws to my reading and you should see his art....

[TN Mama]

I suppose if there was a list of SL books that correlated with SOTW, I would have seen it posted here, yes? On the off chance that it exists and I've somehow missed it could someone please point me in the right direction?

[sagira]

These might help. These are Sonlight's books rearranged by chronological order.

[Starr]

I would go back to SOTW and additional reading that interests you. Sometimes we just listened to the SOTW on cd in the car when we traveled.

[TengoFive]

I highly, highly recommend the cds of Story of the World. It allows us to do history on the road to anywhere! I don't think I could do history without it.

[Chloe]

I agree. We listened to the cd in the car as we did weekly running around, then just read books at home that corresponded to the time period.

[Jacklyn]

is sometimes simpler is better. I, too, was frustrated at SL's choppiness. But the first year I tried SOTW I, I added in too many extra books and did too many activities. I found the "flow" of SOTW got lost in all my big intentions.

 

My DC love SOTW, and I have used all four of the SOTW books. Here is how I do it now:

 

I have my breakfast before I wake the children. Then, while they are eating, I sit at the table and read to them--first from whatever we are using for Bible time (usually a missionary story), then I read from a book related to the general time-frame of history we are studying (usually fiction, but sometimes non-fiction. Right now it's "Abraham Lincoln: A Photobiography"). BTW, I used to do our read-aloud book in the evening, but now I'm too tired at night! Next, I read from SOTW--just one section of the chapter (usually there's two).

 

Because we are in book 4, and there are no coloring pages, my little one colors the map page while I read. The others fill out their outlines. Afterwards, they complete the map assignment. The following day, before I start reading the next section, I ask the questions in the Activity Guide.

 

All my "morning" books, reproducible pages, and file folders holding the children's completed work are kept in a basket near the kitchen table. The other things we keep handy are pencils, colored pencils, and the globe.

 

That's it. That's all we do for history. I do preview the Activity Guide for simple projects and activities, but I shy away from the longer ones that would hold us up. My children LOVE history, and they remember a lot of what I have read. And, at the age of your dc, I would focus more on enjoyment and exposure than anything else.

 

HTH,

Jacklyn

[Osaubi]

I started using SOTW 1 last year, and quickly fell off track. Then I found these free workbook pages. She puts things in a very easy to use 2 days a week format. I skipped most of the activities for the first 6 months we did the program. Now that we have a regular schedule for history I can schedule an activity or 2 into my plans.

 

Here is the link for the workbook pages: http://www.lulu.com/content/796912

 

HTH