HFClassicalAcademy Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 We fell behind in our study of the Ancients this year for our 2nd semester due to morning sickness and such. Now I am catching up and nearly finished doing the readings through SOTW 1. In looking through our history notebook, I feel a little sad that the first half of the book was accompanied by crafts, narrations, and activities...all of which went into the history notebook. The second half, however, doesn't look as great. I only have some of the coloring and maps, and hardly any extra activities or narrations (these were all done orally and I didn't bother to write them down). Does this matter??:confused: I just want to be able to start our middle ages study on time this new year. Am I going to regret not putting the same amount of time into history for the last half of 1st grade. Or should I stop feeling guilty and think, "it's only 1st grade...we'll come back to it 2 more times."???? Liz in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Definitely move on. I was just telling a df that my dd, now in 3rd grade, doesn't even remember half the stuff we did in SOTW1. You will hit it again two more times!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkgumby Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 I'm in the same boat, except we did not keep a notebook and my excuses for falling behind are not as valid as yours. ;) After consulting with my sister/mentor whose daughter is about to graduate, I feel okay with the decision to start the new school year fresh with SOTW2, even though we did not get to all the fun activities and extras with SOTW1. The main thing is that they are getting a sense of the flow of history, and like you said, the Ancients will be back again! I think you will have lots of fun doing Middle Ages activities this coming year, and do not need to waste time in regrets. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Stop feeling guilty. It's only 1st grade... you'll come back to it 2 more times.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Go ahead and move on. If you really feel bad you can do some of the crafts and cooing for fun/review over the summer, but don't pressure yourself. You had a good reason and if you freak out it will not be fun. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Or should I stop feeling guilty and think, "it's only 1st grade...we'll come back to it 2 more times."???? Liz in NC Move on. My son doesn't like projects very much, and I never include them in the "time" I spend on a topic. They are extras, IMO. So, you had some extras but not all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 We started late and I'm thinking, the second time around we'll do lots of projects and the third time around we'll hit all the extra books. It's the only way we would catch up. As long as you've laid a good ground work (at least read the stories), I would not worry about it at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 We never do the projects. We just read the chapter, do the mapping and read any extra books I've found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Don't worry about it. You'll have plenty of opportunity to do stuff later. We did a lot of activities in the elementary grades and my son doesn't remember any of it. In later years he saw pictures of some of the projects that he did. He remarked, "Wow, that looks fun. We should've done stuff like that." *sigh* Have fun in the middle ages! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangearrow Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I've had to move on. I'll still do some of the crafty projects with ds this year (1st grade) - but for the girls I had to make a decision. Either we make time for fun/cool science projects, or we do history projects. Most weeks, the science wins hands-down. I try to encourage a lot of additional reading relating to their history topic - but the hands-on stuff is pretty much all-science now. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I would definitely not worry about it. We do a dual secular/Jewish curriculum and for history (1st grade) we're just doing each section followed by a brief narration/discussion + map work. We also usually have a historical fiction readaloud book going, and when we finish it I get another one that's wherever-ish we are at the time. Some weeks we just read the stories and I don't even worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I like your blog :) Your children are young, so I would just move on. By third grade we go for one meaningful activity a week (not a project every day) and by sixth grade I expect there to be good mastery of factual material and the completion of several solid project every semester. Quality is more important than quantity. I didn't figure that out until my oldest was in high school and couldn't recall much of what he had learned before the age of 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Or should I stop feeling guilty and think, "it's only 1st grade...we'll come back to it 2 more times."???? YES!!! Don't beat yourself up, Liz -- you'll cover the same information again later, anyway. The most important thing (IMO) in the early grades is helping your dd develop a love of learning, and to see that school can be fun and interesting. Really, when you think about it, how many details do you remember about the history you learned in first grade? ;) Don't feel guilty! And I can say that as someone who has been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. (Ok, I still do it, but I try not to...) Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolash Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I second/third/fourth the advice to just move on. And remind yourself that you're only in first grade!! We did our third SOTW last year and it finally sunk in with me that it's ok to just skim some things. After two years of worrying over all the projects/activites we'd left undone, I let it go. We don't do a project for every chapter or even have a "schedule" as to when we'll do one. I'll look ahead and see if there's something that will interest my very non-crafty/non-coloring all-boy ds. If something jumps out at me, we'll do it. I've found that when I do a well thought out craft/activity (such as making a chinese blue and white vase from sculpey or making a zulu spear) he tends to remember the chapter a bit better. Of course, this same kid also remembers well when I let him "act out" the story as I read it so......! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFClassicalAcademy Posted July 5, 2009 Author Share Posted July 5, 2009 Thanks to everyone!! Guilt....be gone!!!!:D Liz in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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