Mommyfaithe Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 It is almost November and we have not started our History yet...sigh... I have SOTW 3 & 4 just sitting here looking at me. I have read the little guys the D'Aulaire books and my olders have read some Hx on there own to qualify for a 1st quarter report...BUT I NEEEEEEEDDDDD a spark. Something FUN to get this going. I just can not bring myself to get going...AAAAHHHHH!!!! Help in the fun department is desparately needed. !~~Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Maybe just start reading the SOTW to them a few days a week. Do oral narrations for now to get things going. Once you are in a routine add in written narrations and additional reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Is there something YOU want to learn about? I would forego any textbooks or other traditional books that you have used. Pick something unique. My 8th grader has read some really obscure books this yr and has learned more general history than from many of the other books we have read in the past.......the Spanish Main, Pirates, Clipper Ships, Trappers and Mountain Men.....He has loved every minute of them. All parts of history are important. We miss so many of them b/c we have "more important" sub-categories to study. But sometimes, the ones we skip can really spark some real interest! :grouphug: I'm just plain ole sick of school right now. Only 3 more weeks of school until Thanksgiving vacation and then 3 more before Christmas vacation and hopefully the arrival our new little one.......those are they only things that are keeping me going!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 I don't know if it's the fun spark you need, but what helped me get going was to identify a character we would focus on in each chapter. Sometimes they are mythical or legendary (Sindbad, King Arthur) and sometimes historical (Saladin, Joan of Arc). We read the chapter from SOTW, look at relevant pages in our encylopedia, and focus our attention on the "fun" reading. Sometimes it's a read-aloud, sometimes a self-read, ideally both. I also regrouped the SOTW chapters around "themes", but that's perhaps another issue - it works for me, but takes them out of strictly chronological order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 I experienced this earlier this year, as the time approached to begin the first go-round through the SOTW books with my boys. I'd already been through the history rotation once with my oldest and was having a hard time getting motivated to begin it again. I had also gotten into a really good groove with the basics with my boys (3rd & 1st grade) and knew that adding something else onto our already busy day was going to not be fun for anyone. History and Science are fun, yet I was dreading them and knew that they would likely get neglected most days. So here is what I've done, and so far, so good! One week a month we take a break from all school except History and Science. We have one week devoted to nothing except those two subjects. We read, read, read; we do adapted projects from a History Pockets book and turn those into a lapbook; we do simple science experiments. We've done this for two months now and are loving it. The pressure is off to fit everything in, the boys love their week off from the other subjects, and we are having fun learning together. You have olders, too, so this may or may not be what you need (my oldest takes a co-op class for History, so I'm off the hook there). But I can tell you that I am enjoying teaching history and science again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammaruss Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 I was having the same sort of difficulty---just could not open the history book to get going. I was able to put the SOTW cd in the player and ds listened to that.....which mysteriously led him to listening to the book, "The Kite Rider" ........which has now led him to other books on Chinese culture.....so whether I feel like it or not, ds is off on his own self guided learning adventure! It may not be what I had on his schedule that I wanted him to learn--but he is definitely learning! I am dealing with some pain from an auto accident and have had some really tough days. This has led me to stock up on HUGE piles of books on tape. When I am having an awful day, ds is more than happy to play with legos and listen to a story--which somehow always leads to him learning something--or he will find something to learn! I just cannot figure out how this has happened! :001_huh: LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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