SOTW 2 help/plans?

[newhsmommy]

This year I want to try to base most of our year around SOTW 2. Last year we listened to the CD's and not much more than that. With the exception of math, how do you use SOTW 2 with art, music and science? Does anyone have any lesson plans or ideas? What are your favorite sites? I want to try and have a more fluid year.

 

Thanks SOOOOOOOO much! :grouphug:

[2_girls_mommy]

We will be doing vol. 2 this year also, so I haven't used it yet. I can't give specifics. I can only say what we did this past year w/vol. 1.

 

We did Science by following the plan in WTM which was life science. For vol. 2 it is Earth Science & Astronomy. For tie ins with SOTW, we used any suggestions from the activity book, but not exclusively. But when we had a book from SOTW suggestions that was science related we read it and did any experiements or things that came up in it, whether it corresponded to our currenct science topic or not. For example, we made a volcano during the chapter that talked about Crete and the island near it that were damaged by a major volcano. We read a little about volcanos (science) and made one out of clay and painted it (art) and exploded it. We also did some L.A. worksheets I had on volcano stories. We read science books on things that came out of Ancient Egypt and Africa and followed up on those too.

For art, we followed the plan from What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know. It actually began with cave art and Ancient Egyptian art, so it tied right in. We did selections from SOTW A.G. and any that came up as we went in WYFGNTK. It did not follow completely follow history chronologically. We covered other things like lines, colors, shapes in art and studied some more recent paintings too. They have a core knowledge website with some lesson plans for the What Your xth grader needs to know that I used for ideas sometimes. We also went to many museum exhibits to see actual ancient art. My dd6 loves to look at books after an exhibit and find things we have seen in one of her books.

For music we followed WYFGNTK too, and used a music curric to teach music theory. We checked out C.D.s when possible that related to SOTW (not really much for vol. 1, but things are looking up for next year as we move forward in history.) Currently we are into the Celts, and I did find a Celtic music C.D. So I try to tie it in however I can. This has been a good combination for us. So I am continuing next year with the Well Trained Mind Science, SOTW 2, and What Your 2nd Grader Needs to Know Art and Music (among other things...)

Edited June 10, 2009 by 2_girls_mommy

[Chris in VA]

Are you thinking it's a unit study, or are you looking for someone who made it into a unit study? It's just history as it stands, although some of the activities in the guide are art/craft related, or a little science-y (few in that direction).

[Sara in WA]

Get the Activity Guide, which as map work, coloring pages, activities and reading lists (history and literature). Also see WTM's section on science, and find that second year, which connects to the year of history. For music and art, you can see in WTM or in the index of SOTW the various artists and composers of that time period. Get books, CDS and so on. If you use SOTW, the AG and WTM list of books for science, biographies and great artists - that will be a lot!

[Pata]

We will be doing SOTW2 next year and I'm currently putting everything together for that. I've put my plans up on my yahoo group, there's a link to it in my signature below. I'm working on our artist/composer study that includes artists and composers from the time period (as much as possible). I'm hoping to get that up to the yahoo group soon. here's the list that we will study...

Composers...

-Von Bingen

-Correlli

-Vivaldi

-Scarlatti

-Telemann

-Handel

Artists (all these are available at AO Art Prints group)...

-Giotto

-Jan van Eyck

-Botticelli

-Leonardo da Vinci

-Michelangelo

-Raphael

For science, we will be using my plans for Earth Science and Astronomy. I'm also working on pulling together all those free resources out there that talk about the scientists of the middle ages. My hope is to then put together a book that we be freely available for others to use as well (I've already done this for the Ancients). Whew, that seems like alot, but hopefully it will help!

[Mom-ninja.]

Paige, I will be using your Earth science as well. :D

 

For art/music I'm thinking of http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/index.php

[Pata]

Good to hear!

 

Barb's stuff does look good, I just think it's too hard for me to get and implement from here :(. Highly reccomend it though, everything I used from her has been top notch!

[Suzannah]

We used SOTW2 this year (2nd time around for DS.) Get the activity guide and this summer go ahead and photo copy every map and coloring page you intend to use. Put these in a folder for each child. This alone will make your life easier than you can imagine! Then go through the Well-Trained Mind and find the recommended memory work for each grade you are teaching. Type or print out those suggestions (kings of England, planets, layers of the earth, Puck's monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream, etc.) and put them in a folder for each child. Find the recommended reading lists for your children's ages and print it out. Put it in a folder for each child and have them file their narrations along with it. We did the above and it made this year go so much more smoothly than previous years. Art and music were a little hit-or-miss, but we did manage to get them in too and I'm trying to come up with a better system for next year. We used Apologia Astronomy for the fall and printed out the notebook pages for it from Jeannie Fullbright's site. We did earth science in the spring following WTm and it wasn't quite as organized, but that's my fault because I didn't set it up in advance as I did with everything else.

 

Blessings!